World Cup Express: A giant from another era at Adelaide Oval

It doesn’t just record the contribution of the batsmen and bowlers; it also acknowledges the contribution of the fielders. Adelaide is the only ground in the world where a fielder can’t hide or be anonymous. Be it a stunning catch, a drop or even a regular pick up and throw, the scoreboard will recognise every fielding effort on the ground.

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Crompton doesn’t trust anyone with the most difficult job of recognising the fielder. “There’s this old apparatus with 11 switches on blackboard. I put the names of all the fielders on the board. At the change of innings I wipe the board and put new names,” he says matter-of-factly, making his job sound much simpler than it really is. But how do you recognise the players, especially in Tests? The lean man who looks half his age elaborates. “I don’t look at their built so much, I watch their gait. See someone like Michael Clarke and Steven Smith, they don’t stop fidgeting, so they are very easy to pick,” he says.

When it comes to the Indians, the man with the binoculars, sitting on the second of the four floors inside the scoreboard, doesn’t always bank on their mannerism. “They wear flashy boots, some wear blue, some pink, so it’s easy to spot them. Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay do walk differently. Shikhar Dhawan, who wears a Greg Chappell hat, is easy to pick because of his diamond earring,” says the man whose day job is at a shipping firm which keeps him at port for 24 hours, this extra time getting him four days off and thus being available for match days.

On second thoughts, managing the scoreboard isn’t a job for Crompton nor can Adelaide be labeled his work place. Actually, it’s his second home. He has been coming to this famous venue since the time he was 5, holding his cricket nut father’s hand. Around the venue, Crompton senior is known as the greatest cricket nut in the region.

Simon explains: “While bringing my mother home after she had delivered my eldest sibling, my sister, my father’s car passed Adelaide Oval. He remembered that South Australia was playing the Bill Lawry-led Victoria. Leaving my mother and his first born child in the car he went in to check the score.”

He would return to the car and tell his wife that since the game was tense, he would have to return inside. However, there was a problem. “Those days it was illegal to breast feed a child in public so my father told my mother to sit under the fig trees near the grass banks. Even today, he asks my mother to tape the games he has watched from the stands. After returning home from the game, he watches them again by forwarding the run up of bowlers.”

Treasure trove of stories
By the time Simon turned 10, he would mostly be found at Adelaide with a bat and a tennis ball in hand.

“So many times I had walked Sir Don Bradman to the car park. I would try to hand the bat to him and pester him to bat against my bowling. The great man would say, “I have retired” but I would insist,” says Simon.

From that period in history, he remembers the running battle that Bradman and Ian Chappell were having because of World Series. This was to be the reason behind Chappell allegedly ‘mooning’ Sir Don. Simon was there. “I was at the ground with my mother when Chappell dropped his trousers with his backside towards Bradman who was sitting in the stands.  I still remember my mother putting a hand in front of my eyes.”

Simon went on to play junior cricket and be part of the Adelaide cricket circuit, in the process got a chance to brush shoulders with the legends of the game. He would be the designated driver to Joel Garner, South Australia’s overseas player. Simon can’t forget those days, or the nights.
“He took 55 wickets that season but he didn’t sleep 55 nights at home. He loved to party. He would walk in to the ground sleepy and tell the captain David Hookes to bat so that he can catch up on some sleep,” he said. It wasn’t just the girls that loved Garner. “Once a cop stopped his car when he was heading home after a party. As soon as they came to know it was Garner, they froze. They didn’t test his breath. ‘Sorry to stop you Mr Garner’ they said.”

Hookes, too, features prominently in his tales. He recalls the time when Hookes, while leading South Australia, ran out Dean Jones. “Jones was at Adelaide taunting the local players and boasting about his speed between wickets. He also stood way outside the crease against the modest SA pacers. Hookes spotted a chance and asked his bowler to bowl an outsinger that was pitched way outside off stump. Hookes was in slips, the bowler did what he was told. Jones missed the ball, Hookes grabbed it before the wicket keeper could and ran out Jones, who was stunned.”

It’s these memories that keep bringing Simon back to Adelaide, climb the scoreboard and go through very exhaustive days like the one in 2010 when Australia lost 3 wickets in about two overs early on the first day of Ashes Test.

“First Simon Katich was run out for a diamond duck. The next ball James Anderson had Ricky Ponting caught at second slip and then Clarke also gets out. We were running up and down the stairs. I was seeing the English field but had to leave everything. That day I should have lost more than 5 kgs.”