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Tony Greig is a name Sri Lankans will never forget for all the nice words he spoke about Sri Lanka’s beauty, the cricketers, the food and the people during his cricket commentaries. We can’t expect any commentator to reach his level ever.
I have just finished reading a lovely book written on Tony G. authored by his mother, Joycie and his eldest son, Mark. It is a fitting tribute to a man described as “a fearless cricketer, a born entertainer, a stalwart friend, a loving son and father”.
An Australian publication, it is titled ‘Tony Greig – Love, War and Cricket – A family memoir’.
“The real Tony Grieg”
In the preface itself, son Mark captures the profile of “the real Tony Grieg”: “When he wasn’t being the man who taunted Australian cricketers on the field, or stuck keys into cricket pitches as a commentator, he was the wonderful father who taught his children the simple game of ‘unders and overs’ when we went to Bondi Beach (in Sydney). To people watching, it must have been an amusing sight, all six foot seven inches of my dad holding hands with his young children and yelling out ‘over’ or ‘under’ as the waves rolled in and then either jumping or diving with us. He was also the man who gave us so much joy taking us fishing, kite flying, on holidays, to the park or to the cricket.”
Tony’s has been a rich and fascinating life.
The 400+ page book is well-written, tracking down the family history of the Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Sandy Greig, Tony’s father, through Tony’s cricketing career as player, captain and later commentator until his death on 29 December 2012 at the age of 66 years 84 days. His career as a player and captain is dealt with in detail and the book provides a fine history of all the tours he took part in.
Relationship with Sri Lanka
While reading, I was most keen on what the book contained regarding Tony’s close relationship with Sri Lanka. There was constant reference to this association in the book. It all started in the early 1970s. “During the tour of India in 1972-73, Dad fell in love with India, a love that eventually extended to Sri Lanka”, Mark G writes. “He also made it his business to have India fall in love with him. Because of his height and blond hair he stood out wherever he was in the world, which was magnified in India, where he began playing up to the crowds.”
During this tour, Tony scored his first Test century in Bombay (now Mumbai). He was named the Man of the Match.
At the end of the trip, back in England, he had to face a disciplinary hearing. In the Calcutta Test, he had caught Indian captain, Ajit Wadekar in the slips. The dismissal was clear to everyone but the umpire. “Dad lost his patience, big time. He ran down the pitch yelling and screaming at the umpire. It worked – Wadekar was eventually given out, but, as Dad agreed afterwards, it just wasn’t cricket. He accepted an official reprimand.” Mark adds that India taught Tony patience, off the field and on it, as his marathon-inning show in Calcutta in 1977.
His first trip to Sri Lanka was in 1977. “He was smitten by the serene people of the ‘teardrop’ nation. Here was another cricket-mad country he could share his love for the game with. Some might raise an eyebrow at the thought of the highly excitable Tony Greig absorbing the serenity of Sri Lanka, but in a crisis there would always be a certain calmness about Dad.”
Mark continues, “Over the years Tony not only went back to Sri Lanka many times, he also urged others to go there to see its wonders for themselves. One of the people who responded to his urgings was my sister, Sam. The time she spent there is a highlight in her career as a school teacher.” She joined Elizabeth Moir School hoping to spend three months there but stayed for a full year. This is was in 2000.
“He certainly made some very special friends in Sri Lanka and I feel extremely fortunate to have shared some wonderful times with him in this part of the world. All I can say is that Dad just loved Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan people adored him,” Sam sums up her stay.
Mark adds that since Tony’s death, he had heard many stories about him and the way the people of Sri Lanka felt about him.
“These little Sri Lankans”
It was really during the 1996 World Cup that the relationship between Tony and Sri Lanka prospered. “I just love the way these Sri Lankans play,” he said during one of the group matches and added, “I really think that they can win the World Cup if they play well.”
He started referring to “these little Sri Lankans” and “little Kalu”. He was commentating as Arjuna and Aravinda were taking Sri Lanka close to victory. “These Sri Lankans are giving the Aussies a real hiding,” he said as Arjuna hit a full toss from Shane Warne for a six.
Referring to Sri Lanka’s victory as “a little fairy tale”, he said, “The thing that I like about these guys is that they not only win, but they win in style. It is only a small place. What a moment this is for the Sri Lankan people.”
Mark says Tony was “blown away” by the bodhi pooja held to bless him when he was critically ill and that two high-profile players (Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara) were there. He sent back a message to the people of Sri Lanka saying how much it had meant to him.
‘Sri Lanka’s biggest overseas fan’
The book carries the feature written by Andrew Fernando on the ESPN Cricinfo website the day after Tony passed away. The tribute paid to him by ‘Island’ Sports Editor, Rex Clementine under the heading ‘Tony Grieg – Sri Lanka’s biggest overseas fan’ has also been reproduced. So are several online messages from Sri Lankans. “There were literally thousands of messages on the internet which were great words of comfort at the time of Dad’s death and we will always be grateful to the Sri Lankan people for them,” Mark has written.
Mark refers to Shan Manukulasuriya who had lots of stories about Tony who he had first met in 1992. Three to four pages are devoted for these.
Mark has reproduced “a wonderful letter the family received” from Air Marshal Harsha Abeywickrema, Commander of the Air Force after Tony’s death. They had met at the Colombo Golf Club. The letter says, “I cannot recollect any celebrity who carved out for himself so deep and sacred a place in the hearts and minds of ‘all people’ of our highly diverse society in the recent past, so much so Tony ranks with the greatest and fondest cricketing idols this country has ever produced. What was most impressive was his humbleness. He loved the history, culture, traditions, hospitality, natural beauty, food and people of this country and we loved him back, and it will be so for centuries to come.”
Tributes paid by Australian journalists also refer to Tony’s relationship with Sri Lanka. “Greig was the character in the game all around the world. During the last Australian tour of Sri Lanka he was ubiquitous. His big head under his big hat stared sown at you from billboards and hoardings, insisting that you buy this or that, visit here or there. For some reason, Sri Lankans love Gregy like Australians did. He sold them mobile phones, he sold us breakfast cereal that apparently looked like a cricket bat with little holes in it,” wrote Peter Laloor in ‘The Australian’.
Omnipresent in Sri Lanka
Writing in ‘Daily Telegraph’, Malcolm Conn says: “He was adored in the sub-continent. And if there was a better connected cricket aficionado in Sri Lanka, I never met them. Greig was omnipresent in Sri Lanka, looking down from huge signs all round the country advertising a mobile phone network.
“‘Where is the best place for a traditional Sri Lankan meal?’ I asked him in the foyer of the Cinnamon Grand during the most recent tour there in September last year (2011). ‘Hang on’, he said. ‘I’ve got just the place’. A quick phone call and he pointed to a nondescript hotel a couple of kilometres up the Galle Road. Its basement opened up to a dining room that served great food and cold beer even at better prices. I’ll be going back there again next time I’m in Colombo to remember one of cricket’s most imposing characters.”
The well-illustrated book carries one picture related to Sri Lanka. It shows Tony amidst a heap of children at an orphanage in Mullaitivu which he visited in May 2012. “The children were mainly war orphans and other destitute kids. Tony was moved that they had put together a musical theatre just for them (Tony and his friend Shiran),” the caption said.
The pictures are a mixed black and white and colour lot presented in two blocks, capturing the family history, intimate family moments, and Tony’s career both as player and commentator. The last picture moves the reader very much while reading through the tributes paid to Tony. It shows Tony’s Panama hat sitting on the stumps prior to play commencing on day one of the Sydney Test in January 2013 just a few days after his death.
The book dusk cover is interesting with the front showing Tony, the player wearing a shirt with the World Series logo and the back showing Tony doing his pitch report in his trademark Panama hat at the WACA (Perth cricket ground) in the early 1990s.
The book is not only a record of a loveable human being but also a presentation of how the game had passed through a ‘revolution’ with the introduction of the World Series Cricket in 1977.
