India, England players wear black armbands to pay tribute to Wayne Larkins

BIRMINGHAM: Indian and England players were wearing a black armband before the start of play on Day 1 of the second Test in Birmingham on Wednesday to pay tribute to former England batter Wayne Larkins, who passed away on June 28 at the age of 71.

“Both teams are wearing black armbands to pay their respects to Wayne Larkins – the former England Cricketer, who has sadly passed away. There was a moment’s applause before the start of play on Day 1 of the second Test in Birmingham,” said BCCI.

Between 1979 and 1991, Larkins, well known as “Ned”, participated in 13 Tests and 25 One Day Internationals. His second appearance for England was at the 1979 World Cup final, where he batted at No. 7 and bowled two overs.

However, his greatest moment came when he scored the winning runs at Sabina Park, giving England a surprise 1-0 lead on the 1989-90 tour of the West Indies. That was Larkins’ seventh Test, coming more than eight years after his sixth.

He might have played more in between had he not been banned for three years for involvement in the 1982 rebel tour of South Africa.

Larkins played for Northamptonshire for the majority of his career, amassing over 700 games for the team, and was well-known for both his strokeplay and his vibrant demeanour off the field.

After that, he relocated to Durham, where he eventually retired after a career that saw him score 40,000 runs and 85 centuries. Larkins passed 1,000 first-class runs in every season between 1978 and 1985, and his magnificent purple patch in 1983 – hitting 236 against Derbyshire at Derby and 252 off Glamorgan’s attack at Swansea in the space of seven weeks – might well have earned a Test recall, had he not been banned at the time for joining the unofficial tour to South Africa in 1982.

Going into the second Test at Birmingham, India is trailing 0-1. During the last game, India failed to defend a 371-run target on the last day of the Leeds Test, despite having four fast bowling options in Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Siraj, and only one spinner, Ravindra Jadeja. (ANI)