Decades before Jonty Rhodes revolutionized fielding standards in international cricket, Colin Bland redefined the art during the 1960s and 70s. An exceptional fielder with buzzing speed and relentless accuracy, Bland was a terror for batsmen, stationing himself at cover and barely letting anything past him at all. In the modern era of television and glamour, he would definitely have been an outright superstar, particularly in this T20 age. Such was Bland’s popularity in those days that people would queue up even during his team’s practice sessions, just to get a view of his drills. He in return, would show off his acrobatics and throwing abilities by firing away at a single stump, hitting it with ridiculous ease and frequency. Much like his successor Rhodes, Bland was an automatic pick in the side on his fielding prowess alone. That is not to say that he wasn’t a useful batsman.

On the contrary, Bland was an enigmatic batsman who could light up the stands with his cavalier approach. He not only loved to attack but also preferred to chip the ball in the air quite often. This tendency did at times deny him of bigger scores after getting a start. Nevertheless, he remained highly consistent and had a mighty impressive average which was effectively bigger due to his antics as a fielder. For an entertainer like him, it was tragic that his career had to end the way it did. Known to give it his all on the field, Bland gave a long chase to the boundary during the 1966-67 Johannesburg Test against Australia and ended up crashing into the fence. The result was a disastrous knee injury that virtually ended his career. He did return later on to play first-class cricket for a while but could never make a Test comeback. Bland was also a useful medium pacer in FC cricket, albeit barely used for South Africa.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan