Dylan Cleaver: Cricketers brave in deed

Steve Waugh's heroics in the 2001 Ashes resulted in a life-threatening condition. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Graeme Smith's heroics in Sydney saw himself added to a Boy's Own collection of cricketers who have battled through the pain barrier in test cricket to perform heroic deeds.

Not all of these deeds led to famous victories - see numbers 10, 9, 6, 5, 2 and 1 for example - but they gave their teams hope when there was little beforehand.

There had to be something extraordinary about them, too. There are plenty of examples of batsmen pulling muscles at the crease and battling on with one leg - you could fill a feature with such Gordon Greenidge yarns - but, aside from Steve Waugh's extraordinary effort in 2001, they don't make the grade.

You might ask why Ewen Chatfield is missing, given his heart stopped after he was hit on the head by a Peter Lever bouncer. Well, for the harsh fact that he didn't continue in that same test (it, in fact, ended at that moment) and by the time he returned, the scars were mental rather than actual.

In a similar vein, Mike Gatting deserves a medal for flying back to the West Indies for the test series after a Malcolm Marshall bouncer in a one-dayer left shards from the bones around his nose embedded in the ball but it doesn't qualify.

It's a tough game, is cricket.

10. Denis Compton, Manchester, 1948
Sometime Arsenal winger Compton was on just 12 and the total 33-2 when he received one from Ray Lindwall that cannoned into his face. He left the field distressed and possibly concussed but returned, swathed in bandages, with the score at 119-5.

He received a bouncer from Lindwall first ball back which gave the Manc chavs something to spit about but Compton just grinned. When the innings ended, he was not out 145. This was the only test of this series England did not lose, though the delightful Manchester weather prevented them winning it as well.

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9. Martin Crowe, Christchurch, 1986
These were the days when many a class batsman wore just the shell of a helmet without the distracting perspex visors.

Crowe must have regretted that when, on 51, Bruce Reid cut his jaw with a steepler. New Zealand were in some trouble at 117-4, chasing Australia's Allan Border-inspired first innings of 364 and things were little better when he returned with the total at 190-6. When he was last man out, his side had got to within 25 runs of Australia and he had scored 137.

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