Gideon Haigh
The window
Each month Gideon Haigh writes about a favourite photograph of his
s
DAILY MIRROR/MIRRORPIX/GETTY IMAGES
Going straight
Wandsworth, June 8, 1960
In 1960, South African Geoff Griffin was as quick a bowler as anyone in the world. He was also unusual in having a kink in his arm from a childhood injury, rendered more obvious by an open action, front foot pointing to first slip. After the most recent Ashes (1958/59), cricket was undergoing one of those phases of looking minutely at every action: as another bowler in the same predicament, Harold Rhodes, put it, this was tantamount to being called a cheat. The Springboks sought to head the matter off by sending Griffin for seven days remedial coaching by the former England fast bowler Alf Gover at his Surrey indoor school.