Inshan Ali
Encyclopedia
Inshan Ali was a West Indian
cricket
er who played in 12 Tests
from 1971 to 1977.
Born in Preysal, Trinidad and Tobago
, of Indian descent, Ali was a left-arm unorthodox spin
bowler who made his first-class cricket
debut for South Trinidad against North Trinidad on 15 April 1966, aged just 16 years and 202 days. He took three wickets for 89 runs.
In his second match, for Trinidad and Tobago
against Windward Islands
, Ali took 5/32, and, following further good performances, was selected in the West Indies Board President's team to play the touring Marylebone Cricket Club
side.
Ali continued to perform well, if unpredictably, at domestic level and was often a trump card for Trinidad at the spin friendly Port-of-Spain
, leading to his Test debut on 1 April 1971 against India
at Kensington Oval
, Bridgetown, Barbados, where he took 0/60 and 1/65.
During the 1971/72 home series against New Zealand
, Inshan was referred to as "astonishingly skilled and mature" for a player in his early twenties", who "is a small, slim man with short fingers; after a brisk little run his left arm flipped through quickly."
Ali had his best bowling performance in this series, taking 5/59 against New Zealand at Port-of-Spain, with the batsmen finding it very difficult to pick his chinaman and wrong 'un, leading one onlooker to write "properly handled, (Ali) could be a match-winner against the Australians
when they tour the Caribbean next summer."
As it turned out, Ali had a solid rather than spectacular series against Australia, taking ten wickets at 47.30 and made spasmodic national appearances afterwards, including one Test each in England and Australia, before his final Test, against Pakistan at Port-of-Spain in April 1977, where he had match figures of 5/159.
Ali's continuing success in domestic cricket (he took a record 27 wickets in the 1974 Shell Shield and a reputation as a mystery spinner however ensured that the West Indies hierarchy retained confidence in him when his results were poor. Prior to the 1975/76 tour of Australia, West Indies captain Clive Lloyd
claimed that Ali would be a key to a West Indies series victory, stating "I think Inshan now believes in himself... He's on top of the world and he feels there is no batsman he shouldn't get out."
Former Test cricketer Frank Tyson
also thought highly of Ali, stating that he "disguised his chinamen and his wrong 'uns with consummate artistry, spinning the ball quite prodigiously", although Tyson believed Ali's inability to counter batsmen who advanced down the pitch to him was his downfall.
Ali had a number of shortcomings as a Test cricketer, including his poor batting and his "annoying habit of running across the line of the stumps (while bowling), especially when he senses a caught-and-bowled chance." Opposition batsman complained and one umpire said he could not rule on an lbw decision because Ali had run across the umpire's line of sight.
Ali was also a poor fielder, described as "nervous" by one onlooker. Clive Lloyd was visibly displeased during the Second Test of the 1975/76 West Indies tour of Australia when Ali took the field as a substitute fielder, and even more so when he dropped a simple catch.
He was described as looking "increasingly out of place in the team as the emphasis switched to non-stop fast bowling, and his inability to translate his first-class form to Test level was one of the factors that encouraged West Indies to transform their game." It has been argued that Ali, like other West Indian spinners from the 1970s onwards, was treated poorly by West Indian selectors and captains too impatient to let spinners mature, and captains unable to set fields for spinners.
Ali retired from first-class cricket at the completion of the 1979/80 West Indies season but returned to playing club cricket in Trinidad shortly before developing throat cancer, of which he died, aged 45, in Port of Spain
, Trinidad and Tobago, on 24 June 1995.
Inshan Ali Oval in Preysal is named for him.
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in 12 Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
from 1971 to 1977.
Born in Preysal, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, of Indian descent, Ali was a left-arm unorthodox spin
Left-arm unorthodox spin
Left-arm unorthodox spin, or chinaman, is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket using the hand wrist. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use a wrist hand action to spin the ball which turns from off to leg side of the cricket pitch...
bowler who made his first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut for South Trinidad against North Trinidad on 15 April 1966, aged just 16 years and 202 days. He took three wickets for 89 runs.
In his second match, for Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago cricket team
The Trinidad and Tobago cricket team is the representative cricket team of the country of Trinidad and Tobago.The team takes part in inter-regional cricket competitions in the Caribbean, such as the Regional Four Day Competition and the WICB Cup, with the best players selected for the West Indies...
against Windward Islands
Windward Islands cricket team
The Windward Islands cricket team is a cricket team representing the member countries of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control. The team plays in the West Indies regional tournament....
, Ali took 5/32, and, following further good performances, was selected in the West Indies Board President's team to play the touring Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
side.
Ali continued to perform well, if unpredictably, at domestic level and was often a trump card for Trinidad at the spin friendly Port-of-Spain
Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the largest capacity cricket ground in the West Indies and has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean. It also hosted a number of matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is privately owned by the...
, leading to his Test debut on 1 April 1971 against India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
at Kensington Oval
Kensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...
, Bridgetown, Barbados, where he took 0/60 and 1/65.
During the 1971/72 home series against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
, Inshan was referred to as "astonishingly skilled and mature" for a player in his early twenties", who "is a small, slim man with short fingers; after a brisk little run his left arm flipped through quickly."
Ali had his best bowling performance in this series, taking 5/59 against New Zealand at Port-of-Spain, with the batsmen finding it very difficult to pick his chinaman and wrong 'un, leading one onlooker to write "properly handled, (Ali) could be a match-winner against the Australians
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
when they tour the Caribbean next summer."
As it turned out, Ali had a solid rather than spectacular series against Australia, taking ten wickets at 47.30 and made spasmodic national appearances afterwards, including one Test each in England and Australia, before his final Test, against Pakistan at Port-of-Spain in April 1977, where he had match figures of 5/159.
Ali's continuing success in domestic cricket (he took a record 27 wickets in the 1974 Shell Shield and a reputation as a mystery spinner however ensured that the West Indies hierarchy retained confidence in him when his results were poor. Prior to the 1975/76 tour of Australia, West Indies captain Clive Lloyd
Clive Lloyd
Clive Hubert Lloyd CBE AO is a former West Indies cricketer. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s...
claimed that Ali would be a key to a West Indies series victory, stating "I think Inshan now believes in himself... He's on top of the world and he feels there is no batsman he shouldn't get out."
Former Test cricketer Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank Holmes Tyson is an England cricketer of the 1950s who became a journalist and cricket commentator after he emigrated to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets in...
also thought highly of Ali, stating that he "disguised his chinamen and his wrong 'uns with consummate artistry, spinning the ball quite prodigiously", although Tyson believed Ali's inability to counter batsmen who advanced down the pitch to him was his downfall.
Ali had a number of shortcomings as a Test cricketer, including his poor batting and his "annoying habit of running across the line of the stumps (while bowling), especially when he senses a caught-and-bowled chance." Opposition batsman complained and one umpire said he could not rule on an lbw decision because Ali had run across the umpire's line of sight.
Ali was also a poor fielder, described as "nervous" by one onlooker. Clive Lloyd was visibly displeased during the Second Test of the 1975/76 West Indies tour of Australia when Ali took the field as a substitute fielder, and even more so when he dropped a simple catch.
He was described as looking "increasingly out of place in the team as the emphasis switched to non-stop fast bowling, and his inability to translate his first-class form to Test level was one of the factors that encouraged West Indies to transform their game." It has been argued that Ali, like other West Indian spinners from the 1970s onwards, was treated poorly by West Indian selectors and captains too impatient to let spinners mature, and captains unable to set fields for spinners.
Ali retired from first-class cricket at the completion of the 1979/80 West Indies season but returned to playing club cricket in Trinidad shortly before developing throat cancer, of which he died, aged 45, in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Trinidad and Tobago, on 24 June 1995.
Inshan Ali Oval in Preysal is named for him.