Promise unfulfilled
Michael Henderson
SOME sportsmen are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. Many more, however, are denied greatness when they seem well set. They may know remarkable days in their youth, and accomplish feats that mark them down for future reference, but in the final reckoning they fall short. Every generation produces them, but that knowledge never diminishes the sense of disappointment.
This week cricket says goodbye to Neil Fairbrother. He is 39, and his body's rebellion prevented him from playing much this season for Lancashire. But when he was a young man he batted brilliantly, fielded sharply and was a proper little bobby-dazzler. Yet he never fulfilled all the hopes that people invested in him as a teenager.
Fairbrother played ten Tests for England and never made a hundred. He lacked defensive rigour at the highest level, people said. He lacked Test match temperament, said others. There was something in both criticisms. 'Harvey' — Fairbrother's middle name, and his sobriquet — never looked happy in Test cricket, though he was an important member of the one-day side, playing in the World Cup final in 1992, when England lost to Pakistan in Melbourne.
Yet anybody who saw Fairbrother in his curly-haired youth knew that he had the talent to conquer the world. He played the first of his ten Lord's one-day finals for Lancashire when he was 20, and he looked an outstanding player in the making. Now that he takes his leave, 21 seasons after his debut, he goes with everybody's best wishes and a fair few regrets.
Fairbrother is not alone among his generation. Earlier this summer Rob Bailey announced his retirement. Bailey emerged around the same time as Fairbrother and, like the Lancastrian, he never made a Test hundred. Having declined the chance to tour South Africa in 1989/90 as a member of the unofficial party led by Mike Gatting, he longed to establish himself as an England batsman, and could not do so. He, too, leaves the game unfulfilled.
What must those gifted players feel when they see Michael Vaughan making so many runs for England? This summer, in seven matches against Sri Lanka and India. Vaughan made four centuries — four more than Fairbrother and Bailey made jointly in their Test careers. He batted with increasing fluency, making scores of 197 and 195 against India with a style that bordered on the masterly. Yet it was not so long ago that people wondered whether he would become the Test batsman that his admirers hoped he would be.
Confidence is all, and it need take only one innings to acquire it. Fairbrother's Test career began on a murky night at Old Trafford, his home ground, in 1987, when he made a fourth-ball duck. Try as he did to put that setback out of his mind, he never could. He was a fine batsman but, at the very highest level, an unlucky one. Vaughan, after a start ruined by injury, has come through as an opener of some class.
Australia, where England go next month, could bring Out the best in him. Alternatively, it could stuff him completely. The Aussies will be waiting for this talented Lancashire-born Yorkie, and will not be shy about giving him what-for. It should also be said that he is aware of the challenge ahead, and he appears good enough to thrive on the quicker, bouncier pitches out there.
Meanwhile 'Harvey' prepares for his new life, as an agent. He is not bitter, nor should he be. He may not have touched the absolute heights but he spent two decades doing what he enjoyed most, which must be a kind of blessing.
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