The background

Inaugural World Cup semi-final - England vs. Australia: Here is England batsman Tony Greig is out, caught by a diving wicketkeeper Rod Marsh off the bowling of Gary Gilmour for seven runs at Headingley in Leeds on 18 June 1975. Australia won by four wickets. What the photo reveals

This famous Patrick Eagar photograph depicts the home team’s predicament: They were bowled out for 93 runs in 36.2 overs in this 60-over match. Only two England batsmen got into the double figures. Greig was the third wicket to fall when their total was 26. Skipper Mike Denness top-scored for England with 27 runs, made in 60 deliveries. Gilmour took six wickets for 14 runs in a quota of 12 overs. Australia underwent a few hiccups, though, in their reply when they lost six wickets for 39 runs. Doug Walters and Gilmour saw them home in 28.4 overs, with 20 and 28 unbeaten runs, respectively, sharing an unfinished 55 for the seventh wicket. Gilmour was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Analysis

Classic rhythm. Sheer beauty. Exhilarating action. The beholder is stilled and stunned. What else do you expect from a cricket photo? Not only “us”, the four heads on the right too are looking so eagerly at the “red cherry” trapped in the wicketkeeper’s right-hand glove. The slip fielder (Australian Captain Ian Chappell) has got his eyes too fixed on the ball. In the vast expanse of the greenery, including on the Headingley pitch, the white-clad human figures, and the white background, it is the “red cherry” that derives our full attention. Though air-born after diving far to his right, Rod Marsh’s figure seems like a statue, stilled and frozen. No wonder this is considered one of the best-ever cricket photographs and one of the most famous ones taken by Patrick Eager.

Photographer

[caption id="attachment_143316" align="aligncenter" width="397"] Patrick Eager in 1988. Now he is 77 years old[/caption]

Patrick Eagar is a revered British cricket photographer born in 1944. Eagar’s first camera was given to him by his grandmother when he was eight or nine years old. Eagar studied at Cambridge University. He particularly liked the photography in the magazine Sports Illustrated. The first Test match where Eagar took photos was the 1965 match at Headingley between England and New Zealand. After a rise in freelance photographers, Eagar began to cover matches on a more frequent basis, beginning with the 1972 Ashes series in England. During the 1970s, he produced photographs for the Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Cricketer magazines.

In an interview, Eagar once said that his favourite photo was of Gordon Greenidge playing cricket on the beach in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1973 and that his favourite player to photograph was former Australian Captain Kim Hughes, due to his improvisation at the crease.

An afterword

Three days later at Lord’s, Australia gave a stiff resistance against strong West Indies under Clive Lloyd. Though they lost this first-ever World Cup final by 17 runs, the Aussies were chasing the Windies’ total of 291/8 in 60 overs effectively until the 59th over of their innings before they were bowled out for 274 in 58.4 overs.