00:00For anyone growing up, following West English cricket in the 1970s, late 1970s, even the early 1980s, the name Bernard Julian was one of the great enigmas, someone with immense talent, but maybe it was a curse that he was branded as the next Garfield Sobers.
00:18And you could understand why. A hundred in his first test match at Lourdes, in his first test series in 1973, in the same innings where the great Sir Garfield and Ron Kanai, the captain, got hundreds, excellent left arm swing, bowled a bit of left arm spin as well, multi-talented, and he had the looks, the ultimate Saga boy of the 70s with the big afro, the smile, very popular, very charismatic, both on and off the field.
00:43But in the end, his numbers really didn't do justice to that immense ability. 24 test matches, a batting average of just over 30, a bowling average of getting 50 wickets at over 35, won five wicket innings whole.
00:59But of course, a member of the 1975 World Cup winning team, where he played a key role, man of the match in the opening encounter against Sri Lanka, four wickets in the semi-final against New Zealand, 26 not out in the final against Australia, where the Westernies won by 17 runs.
01:16So yes, at that time, he was very much a pivotal man into the Westernies team. But indeed, Bernard Julian, for his service to the game, will remember as one of the great talents of the 1970s, but still, the lingering feeling would have been what could have been.
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