by Abhishek Mukherjee

Here is an anecdote involving Phil DeFreitas, who was born on Feb 18, 1966.

This dates back to 1986-87, when England won the Ashes on Australian soil (they have done that only once since, in 2010-11). There was also a plethora of ODIs, including the Perth Cup – a sports festival that included a tournament hosted entirely at WACA, Perth. The teams were Australia, England, West Indies, and Pakistan.

The incident is from the league match between England and Pakistan, a contest of little relevance, as the finalists had already been decided.

Quizzers remember this match for Rameez Raja's run out. Rameez had hit a no-ball to Bill Athey at mid-wicket, and had started to walk off, taking no notice of the call or signal. Athey ran him out, and the decision was upheld.

But before all that, Qasim Umar and Shoaib Mohammad negotiated a spell of surprising pace from DeFreitas, who was on his first international tour. This was his second ODI.

Now DeFreitas was an honest, committed bowler who thrived in English conditions. He was, however, not express. All databases classify him as medium-fast, and rightly so. He thrived on accuracy and guile, not pace.

On that day, however, he left everyone confused with some genuine quick bowling. The extra effort was visible. Nobody had seen him in this avatar.

The explanation eventually came from Ian Botham, who was next to DeFreitas when the fielders had jogged on to the ground.

You see, they had passed a television set on their way out, where DeFreitas had overheard a Channel 9 commentator read out the names of the England players. "Phil DeFreitas, medium paced," he had read out.

DeFreitas, only 20, had kept murmuring "I'll show them" throughout the journey to the pitch.

And once Gatting gave him first over, adrenaline made DeFreitas notch up pace he had never bowled at.

The figures, 9-1-24-1, do not tell the story… or maybe they do: he was the most economical bowler from either side in the match.