Cricket: Sudden hush prelude to Snippet's big moment

Noel McGregor

Noel McGregor can still see the ball arcing high into the Auckland sky, can still feel his heart thumping in a blind panic, and can still feel the sweet rush of adrenalin as he safely pouched what would be the most important catch of his test career.

Known to his mates as "Snippet" because of his diminutive stature, the little Otago batsman had been posted on the deep-square-leg boundary during the last innings of that fateful match 50 years ago, when New Zealand ended 26 years and 45 tests worth of heartache.

All the catches were important, but this one - this was the daddy of them all for McGregor, because it came from the bat of West Indies great Everton Weekes, who had already helped himself to a century in each of the previous three tests.

"It all started when John Reid brought [Jack] Alabaster on to bowl his leg-spinners," McGregor recalls. "I'd played alongside Jack for quite some time down in Otago, and when he bowled his second ball, it was so short that I started chuckling to myself.

"Jack very rarely gave the batsman anything very full or anything very short; he was very miserly and was known for his parsimony. But this was a rank long-hop and Everton did well to get underneath it and hit it as far as he did."

Now 74, McGregor says he still remembers the sudden hush of the crowd behind him, and the realisation that, far from being a joke delivery, this was going to be a moment that could change the game.

"He got a top-edge, and it flew out to me at deep square leg on the fence. I had the terrace crowd behind me, I'd been almost laughing moments earlier, and now I was under the most important catch of the test.

"I just remember thinking, 'I better catch this or I'll be history'.

"After Everton left, it was over quite quickly. We took all our catches in that game, and that's what made the difference. Then Harry Cave and Sammy Guillen wrapped it up and pandemonium set in."

McGregor had good reason to enjoy the aftermatch celebrations. He was one of just four team-mates who, a year earlier, had been part of the 1955 team dismissed by England for a world record low total of 26. He'd batted at five, and had fallen to Bob Appleyard's fast off-spin.

"The dressing room scene was really fascinating, given what happened the last time we were there. We got in there this time and it was just a complete contrast. Twelve months previous no one was saying anything; you could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet in there, so flat.

"It was a real rags to riches story. I remember one of us saying, 'This is a ******* sight better than last year, isn't it?"

One of McGregor's favourite memories of the post-match was the sight of New Zealand wicket-keeper Guillen, who played for the West Indies before emigrating to Christchurch taking a central role in the celebrations.

"Guillen was ecstatic," McGregor recalled. "He was probably more excited than any of us. Five years earlier he'd been here with the West Indian team and now he was back again, beating them.

"You couldn't hold him back. He led the celebrations, and in his own very funny way was claiming to have won the test match by himself. That was Sam."

Another point of interest for McGregor was the sight of his captain John R. Reid, indulging in his first ever alcoholic drink during the celebrations, after - at that stage - a lifetime of temperance.

"The corks started popping, we must have got hold of some champagne in a hurry, because the bubbly was flowing," he said.

"It was hilarious in a way, because, not only was history made by the result, it was also created at the aftermatch when Bogo [Reid] decided to have his first alcoholic drink."

McGregor said the appointment of Reid as captain during the series was an inspired choice by the selectors, as the great all-rounder brought a fresh sense of enthusiasm to the camp at a time when heads could have been down.

"Bogo was the best captain I ever played under," he said.

"When he took over the captaincy it was good for the side, and I mean no disrespect to Harry [Cave]. But Bogo's appointment was good for us.

"He was just so bloody positive. He was a 'can do' sort of guy and he led by example."