GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 145
January 2015
New Year Quiz
1. Ian Botham – Watchers of the one sided One Day series in Sri Lanka cannot help to have noticed a remarkable change in Beefy’s demeanour. The once British Bulldog, aggressive, contentious opinionated style has gone to be replaced by a monotone dullness. What is the reason for this metamorphosis?
b. KP
c. Freddie Flintoff
Out & About with the Professor
Geoffrey Cope is a lovely man. I first met him six or seven years’ ago and he and his wife have become good chums. He watches and knows a very great deal about cricket and so an invitation to go for a beer and chin-wag is not to be given up; so just before Christmas I took myself off to the outskirts of Leeds to meet the great man.
If the name is unknown to some Googlies readers, Geoff Cope played for Yorkshire between 1966 and 1980 in some 230 first-class matches, taking 630 wickets, and he also played just three times for England. In the early part of his career he joined the all-conquering Yorkshire side that won seven Championships, where his opportunities were largely limited to substituting for Illingworth when he was on Test duty. Later he played through the years of decline under Boycott’s captaincy and retired at the age of 33 when Yorkshire could only offer him a game-by-game contract.
Geoff is also something of a local celebrity these days because he is now visually handicapped and has done a great deal of charity work on behalf of groups that supply and train guide dogs. “Queenie”, his latest dog, stayed behind (looking, I have to say, a little put out) while Geoff and I toddled off to the local boozer to talk about cricket.
We covered all the topics you might expect – the upcoming World Cup, Cook’s place in the side (it was the day before he got the chop), the case for Gary Ballance in the ODI team, Yorkshire’s prospects for next season and possible overseas signings (looks like it might be Miller and Finch again), and so on and so on. Geoff is still employed at Headingley as “Host” on match days; not, I understand, too onerous a role, but one that he plays with care and affability as befits the very nice man that he is. He also played a key role in the governance of the Club in the past and is thus very well-connected and happy to be an avuncular advisor to players and administrators.
But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to him about. For many who know the name Geoff Cope it will be forever linked with controversy about his action. It would be fair to say it blighted his career and certainly limited his Test opportunities. It was, of course, a long time ago, but his recall of the details suggests that it is, in a sense, still with him. I think, for Geoff, the worst aspect seems to have been the secrecy that prevailed at that time (the early 1970s). Sid Buller (an eminent “caller” if ever there was one) had pronounced his action OK, as had Dickie Bird, but a Lord’s committee decided there needed to be changes but did not specify what. Geoff thus had to guess exactly what they wanted changing and do it. The person he turned to was Johnny Wardle and he worked for hundreds of hours with Wardle correcting what he hoped was the committee’s concern (he didn’t even know the names of the committee members). He eventually played a fair amount of county cricket with his new action but the issue never quite went away.
“So, Geoff, what do you think about all these offies having their actions challenged now: Ajmal, Wlliamson, Senanayake, et al? Why has it suddenly become fashionable to question the actions of bowlers, some of whom have been playing for some years? ” I think these were rhetorical questions on my part but it was good to have Geoff’s confirmation. “It’s political, how can you question Kane Williamson’s action when the worst offender of all time is still playing. Once he retired from Test cricket they could start looking at others.” Seems about right to me. Geoff also thinks that no orthodox off-spinner can bowl a doozra with a straight arm, and I think that’s about right as well.
Geoff has, as might be imagined, a host of stories from his playing days. Lots of them, inevitably, about Boycott. His tales are more gentle than those of the men who played with Boycott and came to loathe and despise him (and still do) but Geoff was always the appeaser. Indeed, at one time he was the go-between for the Yorkshire committee and “Sir Geoffrey” – if the Chairman wanted to talk to his captain he ‘phoned Copey first; he then had to call Boycs to see if he would accept the call. Strange stuff indeed.
However Googlies readers will appreciate this small remembrance. Geoff Cope had, in his time, scored a reasonable amount of runs at various levels and so in a benefit match it was decided that he should open the batting with Boycott. So the two Geoffs took to the field; but it wasn’t a very successful outing as far as Geoff Cope was concerned. He was (perhaps inevitably) run out…for 0…without facing…on the last ball of the 19th over.
England matters I sent the following to Jack Morgan
I think that Cook should find his demotion a merciful release. He was never going to do the job well and even if, wholly unlikely, England were to win the WC it would be despite him not because of him. But where does that leave Eion? He must have been close to being omitted himself and now finds himself having to skipper. He seems to be surrounded by a bunch of six hitting men-Hales, Ali, Taylor, himself, Buttler, Bopara, Stokes. Is it the new England plan to go out in a blaze of glory with a shower of maximums and an early plane home?
Where does Bell fit in? If he is an alternate for Root then he probably won’t get a place. But he is the big survivor in the England set up and is probably better than most of the others. But their all guns blazing approach may force him out. Australia is the scene of Stokes’ international success and I am sure that they will try to crank him into the side, which would no doubt keep Finn out. Anderson will be ineffectual but an automatic selection and Broad will make up the seam team. So I think they will go for:
Ali
Hales
Taylor
Root
Bopara
Morgan
Buttler
Stokes
Broad
Tredwell
Anderson
I find it incredible that Tredwell has become an automatic choice for this side and I suspect that the serious sides in the WC will be queuing up to have a go at him even in the enormous acres of Melbourne. I remember when we saw him looking ineffectual at Hove a few years back. One of the problems with this side is that it presumes that Stokes will bowl his full allocation and ten overs will have to be squeezed out of Bopara and Root. This may give Finn his way in instead of Stokes.
Jack replied
I only found out today that the group of pace bowlers attending England's bootcamp at Potchefstroom comprises Anderson, Broad, Brooks, Dunn, Footitt, Plunkett and Rankin. It is hard to keep up to date with the form of everyone in the country, but most of those blokes have impressed me when I have seen them, so I will be very interested in their progress. It is also interesting that Matt Dunn (22) is the only one who could be described as a youngster, all the others are between 28 and 32 and it is heartening that the likes of Brooks and Footitt might still have a chance of international cricket despite being 30 and 29 respectively. Jimmy Harris was desperately disappointed to miss out.
Fortunately, Marksy was wrong and Cooky has been replaced by Eoin as captain and Ballance as batsman. I am an admirer of Eoin, of course, and I hope he does well, but I just do not think he is in sufficiently good form to be going to the WC let alone as captain. I think my idea (Broad) was better: did the non-walking business count against him? I would probably have done a bit more tinkering too: this makes it look as if Cooky was the only underachiever, which he was not.
You have been misinformed if you think that Stokesy has made the WC squad: he and Gurney made way for Anderson and Broad. I find it very hard to predict the England side and I am guessing that several places are still wide open. I would like to see Hales do well (he is a Middlesex boy and I used to watch him play for Bucks), but he has been disappointing when I have seen him in recent years, so he needs runs to secure his place. They need two bowlers in the top six if Buttler is to bat at 7 and you have Moeen and Bopara in the top six, but I never feel that Ravi is certain of his place and I might prefer Buttler at six. I think Root will be regarded as the seventh bowler rather than one of the six.
Tredders does better in one-dayers than in the Championship these days (Kent preferred Riley last season), he usually manages to keep it fairly tight and he is important in avoiding slow over rate penalties. Ravi's bowling can look plain on good wickets and two spinners might not be required on anything greenish. I think there are six certainties (Moeen, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Broad and Anderson) and it then depends on form closer to the time and the state of the wickets, but this is how I see it at the moment: Moeen, Taylor, Bell, Root, Bopara or Ballance, Morgan, Buttler, Woakes, Broad, Tredwell or Jordan, Anderson.
Middlesex Matters The Great Jack Morgan updates on matters Middlesex
Middlesex's Andy Balbirnie made 129 from 96 balls as Ireland beat NZA by 4 wickets in Dubai.
The Middlesex Annual Review told us that the Oxford MCCU v Middlesex match in June was not first class, but I could not see why it should not be, so I queried it with them and was told that it was not first class because it was Oxford's third match of the season against a first class county and they are only allowed two. Have you ever heard of this before? This means that all my first class figures for the season were wrong. So am I going to go back and revise them? You must be joking!
And finally we get the news that Compo has signed for Middlesex. How about a couple of bowlers now Gus? JWJC's rumour about J Franklin was interesting: he is a useful all-rounder whose batting seems to have improved at the expense of his bowling: we would prefer a bowling all-rounder, I think, unless Gus has more bowlers up his sleeve?
McCullum Matters
When Brendon McCullum scored 302 against India earlier this year it was only the 28th time that this milestone has been achieved in test cricket and he was only the 24th batsman to do it. He was also the first New Zealander. This puts him in exalted company and leaves many apparently more illustrious colleagues in his wake. Those without triple centuries include: Tendulkar, Javed Miandad, Graham Smith, Viv Richards and all Englishmen since Gooch. Incidentally the four who have scored two triple centuries are: Lara, Sehwag, Gayle and Bradman.
McCullum has been in a purple patch since assuming the captaincy and giving up his wicket keeping gloves. He has now scored four double hundreds in test cricket and narrowly missed a fifth in the current match against Sri Lanka when he scored 195 off 134 balls with 18 fours and 11 sixes. McCullum's Test century at Sharjah was the fastest ever by a Kiwi, and he then went on to the fourth fastest ever Test double century, 202 off 188 balls with 21 fours and 11 sixes. His four test double centuries put him among the all time greats. Also on four double centuries are Zaheer Abbas and Gordon Greenidge. The only batsmen with more are:
12 – Bradman
10 - Sangakkara
9 – Lara
7 – Hammond, Jayawardene
6 – Sehwag, Atapattu, Tendulkar, Ponting
5 – Younis Khan, Javed Miandad, Graeme Smith, Rahul Dravid
The position of Kumar Sangakkara on this list is surprising but draws attention to his status in the modern game. The inclusion of three Sri Lankans is the more remarkable in that their country has only been a test playing one for a short period of time.
Those who were upset by Hayden passing Lara’s 375 will be comforted by the fact that he only reached a double century on one other occasion. My favourite double centurion is Jason Gillespie who came in as a night watchman and then went onto 201 not out in a test against Bangla Desh in Chittagong. Serves the wimps who pushed him up the order right. They missed out.
Hughes Matters Steve Wright sent me this
Congratulations to you and your contributors on the sensible and respectful tributes they paid to Phil Hughes who died shortly before your last edition hit the streets and also their thoughts on the dangers facing sportsmen these days. These include the comments from Bill Hart (I can’t believe I’ve just written that!) who played the game as most of us playing in the 60’s and 70’s would have wanted to play it. I too faced John Price - three times in one week. Thighs and hands were at risk but nothing higher up the body. He was captain in one of those matches and hearing him say “as for me” was not particularly comforting.
My recollections of protective equipment for batsmen date from my schooldays in the 50’s.There were pads with stuffing oozing out of them, white gloves which would have been just the job for a state reception had they not been covered with strips of pimpled rubber. I don’t think boxes have changed much but then the game is evolving rather quicker than the human anatomy. On leaving school and joining the Old Actonians I became acquainted with the “club bag”. This included several pairs of completely useless sausage like gloves where you inserted your fingers and then wound the thumb around your wrist about thirty times hoping you could achieve some tension from the perished elastic attached to the thumb. I never managed that.
The worst injury I ever witnessed was playing for The Old Actonians. I can’t remember the name of the opposition but the match was on a Sunday and was probably a “Conference” fixture. It was a decent ground but not a great wicket. We batted first and got a fair score and one of our opening bowlers was Mike Wilson. I don’t know whether or not anybody reading this will remember Mike. He was a very handy bowler, accurate and reasonably lively. The opposition opening bat had got married the previous day and delayed his honeymoon by a day so that he could play cricket. Big mistake! He wanted to pull every ball regardless of where it pitched. He failed to make contact with the first two but got a top edge on the third which deflected the ball into his mouth. It was carnage. There was blood and teeth everywhere. His new wife came running out to the wicket to help him and he was carted off to hospital. Number three coming in did not look very happy and even less so when taking guard he had to remove one of the opening batsman’s teeth which was lying on the crease and had been overlooked in the search.
It wasn’t so long ago that Alec Stewart seemed to break a finger every week but now it seems more common for fielders to be injured rather than batsmen. There is the odd unfortunate breakdown in equipment ( Stuart Broad getting a ball that went through the grill) but nothing as bad as some of the previous near tragedies e.g. Chatfield and Contractor. Sadly Phil Hughes was just unlucky.
All sports have become more gladiatorial haven’t they? Bill refers to “hits” in Rugby Union rather than tackles. The scrum is on average three stones per man heavier than it was ten years ago. There will be a fatality in this sport because the increase in weight is so that players can hit each other harder.
Why has sport developed in such an aggressive way? More money, more television, a requirement for more drama in every match. If it stopped us fighting wars it would be worth it but there are more of those as well.
Colin Price sent me the following by Darshak Mehta who is Chairman of The LBW Trust. The Learning for a Better World Trust is a cricket-focused charity which provides tertiary education to over 1000 students in seven developing, cricket playing countries.
I have been trying to delve deep to find some reasons why the highly tragic and ridiculously premature death of Phillip Hughes has touched us all so much. Frankly, I struggle to articulate the reasons. All I have is some theories and the anecdotal evidence of conversations with friends in cricket and outside. So, what sort of bloke was he?
I met him when he was almost 18 and had come to the big smoke (Sydney), a few months prior, to work on his cricket. His mentor and coach, Neil D’Costa wanted me to meet him and we spent a most pleasant three hours over dinner at Abhi’s in Strathfield, shooting the breeze. Neil D’Costa had been talking him up as the Next Big Thing, and given that Neil had delivered Michael Clarke to this country, who could doubt him?
Phillip was respectful, a keen listener and politely took in all the unsolicited advice and “insights” I thought I was obliged to give him, given what Neil must have told him! I was impressed as he was a warm, cheerful country kid who, as per his coach, had a formidable work ethic combined with an appetite for batting for long periods of time. When we get paid for something we would do for free, it is never more than a hobby and I sensed that cricket was merely a game for Phillip and he was surprised that he could make a motza out of his magnificent obsession – batting.
Subsequently, I saw him around at the cricket and he always came up to have a yarn or chin-wag (a quality few cricketers have!) He did not have to do this. After all, he was in the middle of some serious cricket for his country, and occasionally even his place in the team was in jeopardy, but it always seemed to be just a game to him and he was still very much the warm, joyous, unspoilt country kid.
On Australia Day in 2009, Phil generously came to the Reg Bartley Oval, Rushcutters Bay, at my request for an LBW Trust charity fundraiser – a cricket match. He stayed for a couple of hours, spoke to hundreds of supporters and refused to even let me get him a taxi back home. Our Directors were all frankly astonished to see a cricketer behave in such an unassuming, modest and heart-warming manner.
Everyone knows about his rather unique and highly unorthodox batting technique. However, despite this (or is it because of it?) he was able to score a prodigious amount of runs in all forms of the game. I think he had worked it out that though the critics, old timers, coaches, journalists and the public had an opinion on his technique, he would be most successful if he ignored their advice and continued to have faith in what had worked for him, rather than tinker with it and tempt fate. Nevertheless, he put in the hard slog and made minor adjustments, working unsparingly with Neil D’Costa. He even sought out Sachin Tendulkar, by specially visiting India in the off-season, to seek his counsel on improving his game. Sachin was absolutely touched.
In September 2010, when he was wanting to travel to India directly from London, he contacted me in a desperate rush to seek my help in obtaining his visa. Generally, every country requires visa applicants to lodge their applications in their country of residence. To the credit of India’s Foreign Service, they went out of their way and obliged Phil in a trice. To his great delight he was able to make it for the start of the Australian cricket team’s tour of India, at very short notice.
My last memory of Phillip is bumping into him in February 2013, at the team hotel, the Taj Coromandel in Madras. I was going out to dinner and he was going back up to his room after having already eaten. We had a nice chat near the elevator. The Australians had a rough day on the field, but that was not at all obvious when we were talking. Typical of the bloke, I thought.
And now, here we are, mourning a gentle soul, so cruelly snatched from our midst, in the very prime of his life. The only consolation is that he went whilst indulging in his passion. Phillip Hughes was a laconic, humble, generous, uncomplaining, unspoilt character who did not have tickets on himself. He was a pleasure to be in the company of. He had a joie de vivre about him. He had a commitment to excellence, and worked tirelessly to iron out the flaws in his game. These were all extremely endearing qualities that everyone could recognise and admired in him. Australia, and I dare say, the world, is a much poorer place for his absence. He will certainly be starring in the Elysian Fields.
RIP, Hughesy. You truly, madly, deeply touched us.
Cricket Academy Pays Dividends George sent me the following
In the late 1950s the Willesden branch of the Middlesex set up was one of the first of its kind to focus on the identification and nurturing of precocious talent. Here at the annual summer school in Eccles, Norfolk young Jim Sharp demonstrates a textbook forward defensive stroke.
Note the calm relaxed look on his face, that of a player completely in the zone. There’s no shortage of courage either, as young Sharp has the confident ease to disdain pads, whilst sensibly not discarding gloves. And that means there’s no discernible gap between bat and pad, as there are no pads. Also, note the panther-like agility of wicket keeper Graham. Perhaps the only disappointing factor in this historic testament to excellence is the absence of a ball.
Coiffeur Fashionistas will also note Graham’s challenging fringe, almost certainly a creation of his artistic mother. Unfortunately this was one of the experimental looks that didn’t quite make it. Nevertheless it remains an example of the prevailing creative spirit.
CCC Matters Steve Wright sent me this
The Club Cricket Conference has its centenary next year and to mark the occasion we are producing a Centenary book on the history of club cricket over the last 100 years and the part played by the Conference. The working title is “The Show Must Go On”.
The book is being produced by All Out Cricket and among the contributors will be Phil Walker and Ed Kemp respectively the Editor and Features Editor of All Out Cricket, Andrew Miller former Editor of The Cricketer, Simon Hughes,Vithushan Ehantharajah young cricket journalist of the year, a prominent cricket historian and many other cricket writers. David Perrin will also be a contributor and will be covering “cricket writing” over the last 100
years.
The book will be on sale in March 2015 (officially the start of our Centenary year) at a price of £20. Talking about “Price” by the way the book will include an interview with John Price who was part of the Conference side which defeated the Australian tourists (including Richie Benaud and other luminaries) 50 years ago.
I am Treasurer of the Conference and am pleased to offer the book for sale to “Googlies” readers at a special pre-publication price of £15.
Will anyone wanting to take advantage of this offer please send their cheque for £15 made payable to The Club Cricket Conference to:
Club Cricket Conference,
Top Floor,
24-26 High Street,
Hampton,
Middlesex,
TW12 1PD
King Cricket Matters
Tom writes:
I sort of watched the T20 World Cup final. Here is roughly what happened.
A motley crew of myself, and myself’s pals William, Lottie and Millie assembled at my house for the purposes of watching something approximating cricket. This was convenient for me as it is closer to where I live than any of my comrades’ dwellings. However, I do not have Sky television and thus do not have the channel briefly known as Sky Sports Ashes, now referred to as Sky Sports 2, which broadcasts international cricket.
After much deciding it was decided that we would decide how to decide how to watch the cricket over lunch. I have the good fortune to live opposite a very nice pub called the Highwayman, so we went there to eat. They didn’t have Sky either. The Highwayman doesn’t have a TV – it’s not that sort of pub. Three of us had roast beef and; I shan’t name any names, but Millie had something off the regular weekday menu. We ordered extra roast potatoes. Always order extra roast potatoes.
We returned to my house, thus far puddingless, to indulge in some fruit pastille ice lollies. ESPN Cricinfo reliably informed us (mainly just me and William) that fifteen overs of the first innings had already been bowled and that some runs had probably been scored. This meant, for unobvious reasons, that it was time to take my housemates Teasle and Moppet – who happen to be dogs – for a walk. We just went for a quick one up the road, because Teasle cut her paw recently and we didn’t want to aggravate the injury.
When we returned from the walk, we decided that it was such a nice day that we would have a drink in the garden. We had a drink in the garden (each, not between us). Between sips, the significance of the offside rule to cricket was explained for the benefit of some. At the end of the day, some people went home, some people didn’t, and some people were already at home. I think Barcelona won after Kevin Pietersen scored the winner.
Statistical Bollox Matters
I rarely go onto the cricket websites but the statisticians have been spoiled by computer software. I noticed the following alongside a report on a recent test:
“Fifty sixes in Test cricket for Tim Southee - all of them have been when he has batted at No. 8 or lower in the batting order, which equals the highest by any batsman batting in the last four positions. Wasim Akram has 50 sixes from 110 innings when he has batted at No. 8 or lower, while Southee has 50 sixes from 60 innings. For New Zealand, only three batsmen - Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum and Craig McMillan – have struck more sixes.”
I am sure that we all feel more knowledgeable for that nugget.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 145
January 2015
New Year Quiz
1. Ian Botham – Watchers of the one sided One Day series in Sri Lanka cannot help to have noticed a remarkable change in Beefy’s demeanour. The once British Bulldog, aggressive, contentious opinionated style has gone to be replaced by a monotone dullness. What is the reason for this metamorphosis?
- He has started to suffer from hangovers like normal mortals.
- He was pining for the missing David Gower.
- He is in the process of becoming Jim Laker.
- Ollie Rayner – What does the coming season hold for Middlesex’ number one off spinner?
- Lord’s continues to prepare green tops to suit its ageing medium paced seamers and Ollie doesn’t make his debut until July.
- He assumes the role as super sub and takes a record number of catches at second slip.
- The Oval prepares another dustbowl for Middlesex’ visit and Ollie cleans up with another huge haul. He gets his contract extended by a further three years.
- Jimmy Anderson - England’s swing master shrewdly missed out on the tour to Sri Lanka but he is probably wishing that he could do the same for the World Cup outing in the Antipodes. How will it go for him?
- The non swinging white balls perform to type and Jimmy doesn’t deviate a single delivery.
- He decides to test the oppo with a series of bouncers which even the hectares of Melbourne’s outfield cannot contain as he is mercilessly hooked out of the park.
- Reverting to line and length he is treated like a bowling machine in the nets as he is powerfully driven on the up wide of mid on and mid off.
- Alistair Cook – The deposed leader is better off out of it but how will he spend the imposed exile in the Spring?
- Sitting on a beach with KP talking about the good old days.
- Commentating for the BBC as England succumb.
- Working in the nets with Goochie developing the new Cook Scoop.
- Rohit Sharma - Sharma has single-handedly moved the goalposts of batting in ODIs. Its not long ago that everyone thought it extraordinary that Tendulkar had reached a double century in fifty overs. Sharma does it for fun and as if to take the piss out of everyone else he only starts slogging once he has reached 200. What will the World Cup bring for Nohit Rhohit?
- India agree to bat second to reduce the carnage.
- When some daft outfit puts India in to bat Sharma strolls to 300.
- He fails to read Ravi’s slower than slow, back of the hand delivery and is bowled for 0.
- Ben Stokes – Anyone who has seen Stokes bat will agree that he is right up there with Taylor, Vince & Hales as a prodigious talent and powerful hitter. However, his hitting is not confined to bat on ball and his recent arm on locker incident reduced his number of appearances in 2014. What will be his next accident?
- Head on umpire’s nose
- Fist in journalist’s face
- Foot up coach’s ass
- Peter Moores – The jury is out on whether he can do the job any better the second time round. If his squad suffer injuries at the World Cup he could well be judged by who he calls up as replacement. Who will he select?
b. KP
c. Freddie Flintoff
Out & About with the Professor
Geoffrey Cope is a lovely man. I first met him six or seven years’ ago and he and his wife have become good chums. He watches and knows a very great deal about cricket and so an invitation to go for a beer and chin-wag is not to be given up; so just before Christmas I took myself off to the outskirts of Leeds to meet the great man.
If the name is unknown to some Googlies readers, Geoff Cope played for Yorkshire between 1966 and 1980 in some 230 first-class matches, taking 630 wickets, and he also played just three times for England. In the early part of his career he joined the all-conquering Yorkshire side that won seven Championships, where his opportunities were largely limited to substituting for Illingworth when he was on Test duty. Later he played through the years of decline under Boycott’s captaincy and retired at the age of 33 when Yorkshire could only offer him a game-by-game contract.
Geoff is also something of a local celebrity these days because he is now visually handicapped and has done a great deal of charity work on behalf of groups that supply and train guide dogs. “Queenie”, his latest dog, stayed behind (looking, I have to say, a little put out) while Geoff and I toddled off to the local boozer to talk about cricket.
We covered all the topics you might expect – the upcoming World Cup, Cook’s place in the side (it was the day before he got the chop), the case for Gary Ballance in the ODI team, Yorkshire’s prospects for next season and possible overseas signings (looks like it might be Miller and Finch again), and so on and so on. Geoff is still employed at Headingley as “Host” on match days; not, I understand, too onerous a role, but one that he plays with care and affability as befits the very nice man that he is. He also played a key role in the governance of the Club in the past and is thus very well-connected and happy to be an avuncular advisor to players and administrators.
But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to him about. For many who know the name Geoff Cope it will be forever linked with controversy about his action. It would be fair to say it blighted his career and certainly limited his Test opportunities. It was, of course, a long time ago, but his recall of the details suggests that it is, in a sense, still with him. I think, for Geoff, the worst aspect seems to have been the secrecy that prevailed at that time (the early 1970s). Sid Buller (an eminent “caller” if ever there was one) had pronounced his action OK, as had Dickie Bird, but a Lord’s committee decided there needed to be changes but did not specify what. Geoff thus had to guess exactly what they wanted changing and do it. The person he turned to was Johnny Wardle and he worked for hundreds of hours with Wardle correcting what he hoped was the committee’s concern (he didn’t even know the names of the committee members). He eventually played a fair amount of county cricket with his new action but the issue never quite went away.
“So, Geoff, what do you think about all these offies having their actions challenged now: Ajmal, Wlliamson, Senanayake, et al? Why has it suddenly become fashionable to question the actions of bowlers, some of whom have been playing for some years? ” I think these were rhetorical questions on my part but it was good to have Geoff’s confirmation. “It’s political, how can you question Kane Williamson’s action when the worst offender of all time is still playing. Once he retired from Test cricket they could start looking at others.” Seems about right to me. Geoff also thinks that no orthodox off-spinner can bowl a doozra with a straight arm, and I think that’s about right as well.
Geoff has, as might be imagined, a host of stories from his playing days. Lots of them, inevitably, about Boycott. His tales are more gentle than those of the men who played with Boycott and came to loathe and despise him (and still do) but Geoff was always the appeaser. Indeed, at one time he was the go-between for the Yorkshire committee and “Sir Geoffrey” – if the Chairman wanted to talk to his captain he ‘phoned Copey first; he then had to call Boycs to see if he would accept the call. Strange stuff indeed.
However Googlies readers will appreciate this small remembrance. Geoff Cope had, in his time, scored a reasonable amount of runs at various levels and so in a benefit match it was decided that he should open the batting with Boycott. So the two Geoffs took to the field; but it wasn’t a very successful outing as far as Geoff Cope was concerned. He was (perhaps inevitably) run out…for 0…without facing…on the last ball of the 19th over.
England matters I sent the following to Jack Morgan
I think that Cook should find his demotion a merciful release. He was never going to do the job well and even if, wholly unlikely, England were to win the WC it would be despite him not because of him. But where does that leave Eion? He must have been close to being omitted himself and now finds himself having to skipper. He seems to be surrounded by a bunch of six hitting men-Hales, Ali, Taylor, himself, Buttler, Bopara, Stokes. Is it the new England plan to go out in a blaze of glory with a shower of maximums and an early plane home?
Where does Bell fit in? If he is an alternate for Root then he probably won’t get a place. But he is the big survivor in the England set up and is probably better than most of the others. But their all guns blazing approach may force him out. Australia is the scene of Stokes’ international success and I am sure that they will try to crank him into the side, which would no doubt keep Finn out. Anderson will be ineffectual but an automatic selection and Broad will make up the seam team. So I think they will go for:
Ali
Hales
Taylor
Root
Bopara
Morgan
Buttler
Stokes
Broad
Tredwell
Anderson
I find it incredible that Tredwell has become an automatic choice for this side and I suspect that the serious sides in the WC will be queuing up to have a go at him even in the enormous acres of Melbourne. I remember when we saw him looking ineffectual at Hove a few years back. One of the problems with this side is that it presumes that Stokes will bowl his full allocation and ten overs will have to be squeezed out of Bopara and Root. This may give Finn his way in instead of Stokes.
Jack replied
I only found out today that the group of pace bowlers attending England's bootcamp at Potchefstroom comprises Anderson, Broad, Brooks, Dunn, Footitt, Plunkett and Rankin. It is hard to keep up to date with the form of everyone in the country, but most of those blokes have impressed me when I have seen them, so I will be very interested in their progress. It is also interesting that Matt Dunn (22) is the only one who could be described as a youngster, all the others are between 28 and 32 and it is heartening that the likes of Brooks and Footitt might still have a chance of international cricket despite being 30 and 29 respectively. Jimmy Harris was desperately disappointed to miss out.
Fortunately, Marksy was wrong and Cooky has been replaced by Eoin as captain and Ballance as batsman. I am an admirer of Eoin, of course, and I hope he does well, but I just do not think he is in sufficiently good form to be going to the WC let alone as captain. I think my idea (Broad) was better: did the non-walking business count against him? I would probably have done a bit more tinkering too: this makes it look as if Cooky was the only underachiever, which he was not.
You have been misinformed if you think that Stokesy has made the WC squad: he and Gurney made way for Anderson and Broad. I find it very hard to predict the England side and I am guessing that several places are still wide open. I would like to see Hales do well (he is a Middlesex boy and I used to watch him play for Bucks), but he has been disappointing when I have seen him in recent years, so he needs runs to secure his place. They need two bowlers in the top six if Buttler is to bat at 7 and you have Moeen and Bopara in the top six, but I never feel that Ravi is certain of his place and I might prefer Buttler at six. I think Root will be regarded as the seventh bowler rather than one of the six.
Tredders does better in one-dayers than in the Championship these days (Kent preferred Riley last season), he usually manages to keep it fairly tight and he is important in avoiding slow over rate penalties. Ravi's bowling can look plain on good wickets and two spinners might not be required on anything greenish. I think there are six certainties (Moeen, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Broad and Anderson) and it then depends on form closer to the time and the state of the wickets, but this is how I see it at the moment: Moeen, Taylor, Bell, Root, Bopara or Ballance, Morgan, Buttler, Woakes, Broad, Tredwell or Jordan, Anderson.
Middlesex Matters The Great Jack Morgan updates on matters Middlesex
Middlesex's Andy Balbirnie made 129 from 96 balls as Ireland beat NZA by 4 wickets in Dubai.
The Middlesex Annual Review told us that the Oxford MCCU v Middlesex match in June was not first class, but I could not see why it should not be, so I queried it with them and was told that it was not first class because it was Oxford's third match of the season against a first class county and they are only allowed two. Have you ever heard of this before? This means that all my first class figures for the season were wrong. So am I going to go back and revise them? You must be joking!
And finally we get the news that Compo has signed for Middlesex. How about a couple of bowlers now Gus? JWJC's rumour about J Franklin was interesting: he is a useful all-rounder whose batting seems to have improved at the expense of his bowling: we would prefer a bowling all-rounder, I think, unless Gus has more bowlers up his sleeve?
McCullum Matters
When Brendon McCullum scored 302 against India earlier this year it was only the 28th time that this milestone has been achieved in test cricket and he was only the 24th batsman to do it. He was also the first New Zealander. This puts him in exalted company and leaves many apparently more illustrious colleagues in his wake. Those without triple centuries include: Tendulkar, Javed Miandad, Graham Smith, Viv Richards and all Englishmen since Gooch. Incidentally the four who have scored two triple centuries are: Lara, Sehwag, Gayle and Bradman.
McCullum has been in a purple patch since assuming the captaincy and giving up his wicket keeping gloves. He has now scored four double hundreds in test cricket and narrowly missed a fifth in the current match against Sri Lanka when he scored 195 off 134 balls with 18 fours and 11 sixes. McCullum's Test century at Sharjah was the fastest ever by a Kiwi, and he then went on to the fourth fastest ever Test double century, 202 off 188 balls with 21 fours and 11 sixes. His four test double centuries put him among the all time greats. Also on four double centuries are Zaheer Abbas and Gordon Greenidge. The only batsmen with more are:
12 – Bradman
10 - Sangakkara
9 – Lara
7 – Hammond, Jayawardene
6 – Sehwag, Atapattu, Tendulkar, Ponting
5 – Younis Khan, Javed Miandad, Graeme Smith, Rahul Dravid
The position of Kumar Sangakkara on this list is surprising but draws attention to his status in the modern game. The inclusion of three Sri Lankans is the more remarkable in that their country has only been a test playing one for a short period of time.
Those who were upset by Hayden passing Lara’s 375 will be comforted by the fact that he only reached a double century on one other occasion. My favourite double centurion is Jason Gillespie who came in as a night watchman and then went onto 201 not out in a test against Bangla Desh in Chittagong. Serves the wimps who pushed him up the order right. They missed out.
Hughes Matters Steve Wright sent me this
Congratulations to you and your contributors on the sensible and respectful tributes they paid to Phil Hughes who died shortly before your last edition hit the streets and also their thoughts on the dangers facing sportsmen these days. These include the comments from Bill Hart (I can’t believe I’ve just written that!) who played the game as most of us playing in the 60’s and 70’s would have wanted to play it. I too faced John Price - three times in one week. Thighs and hands were at risk but nothing higher up the body. He was captain in one of those matches and hearing him say “as for me” was not particularly comforting.
My recollections of protective equipment for batsmen date from my schooldays in the 50’s.There were pads with stuffing oozing out of them, white gloves which would have been just the job for a state reception had they not been covered with strips of pimpled rubber. I don’t think boxes have changed much but then the game is evolving rather quicker than the human anatomy. On leaving school and joining the Old Actonians I became acquainted with the “club bag”. This included several pairs of completely useless sausage like gloves where you inserted your fingers and then wound the thumb around your wrist about thirty times hoping you could achieve some tension from the perished elastic attached to the thumb. I never managed that.
The worst injury I ever witnessed was playing for The Old Actonians. I can’t remember the name of the opposition but the match was on a Sunday and was probably a “Conference” fixture. It was a decent ground but not a great wicket. We batted first and got a fair score and one of our opening bowlers was Mike Wilson. I don’t know whether or not anybody reading this will remember Mike. He was a very handy bowler, accurate and reasonably lively. The opposition opening bat had got married the previous day and delayed his honeymoon by a day so that he could play cricket. Big mistake! He wanted to pull every ball regardless of where it pitched. He failed to make contact with the first two but got a top edge on the third which deflected the ball into his mouth. It was carnage. There was blood and teeth everywhere. His new wife came running out to the wicket to help him and he was carted off to hospital. Number three coming in did not look very happy and even less so when taking guard he had to remove one of the opening batsman’s teeth which was lying on the crease and had been overlooked in the search.
It wasn’t so long ago that Alec Stewart seemed to break a finger every week but now it seems more common for fielders to be injured rather than batsmen. There is the odd unfortunate breakdown in equipment ( Stuart Broad getting a ball that went through the grill) but nothing as bad as some of the previous near tragedies e.g. Chatfield and Contractor. Sadly Phil Hughes was just unlucky.
All sports have become more gladiatorial haven’t they? Bill refers to “hits” in Rugby Union rather than tackles. The scrum is on average three stones per man heavier than it was ten years ago. There will be a fatality in this sport because the increase in weight is so that players can hit each other harder.
Why has sport developed in such an aggressive way? More money, more television, a requirement for more drama in every match. If it stopped us fighting wars it would be worth it but there are more of those as well.
Colin Price sent me the following by Darshak Mehta who is Chairman of The LBW Trust. The Learning for a Better World Trust is a cricket-focused charity which provides tertiary education to over 1000 students in seven developing, cricket playing countries.
I have been trying to delve deep to find some reasons why the highly tragic and ridiculously premature death of Phillip Hughes has touched us all so much. Frankly, I struggle to articulate the reasons. All I have is some theories and the anecdotal evidence of conversations with friends in cricket and outside. So, what sort of bloke was he?
I met him when he was almost 18 and had come to the big smoke (Sydney), a few months prior, to work on his cricket. His mentor and coach, Neil D’Costa wanted me to meet him and we spent a most pleasant three hours over dinner at Abhi’s in Strathfield, shooting the breeze. Neil D’Costa had been talking him up as the Next Big Thing, and given that Neil had delivered Michael Clarke to this country, who could doubt him?
Phillip was respectful, a keen listener and politely took in all the unsolicited advice and “insights” I thought I was obliged to give him, given what Neil must have told him! I was impressed as he was a warm, cheerful country kid who, as per his coach, had a formidable work ethic combined with an appetite for batting for long periods of time. When we get paid for something we would do for free, it is never more than a hobby and I sensed that cricket was merely a game for Phillip and he was surprised that he could make a motza out of his magnificent obsession – batting.
Subsequently, I saw him around at the cricket and he always came up to have a yarn or chin-wag (a quality few cricketers have!) He did not have to do this. After all, he was in the middle of some serious cricket for his country, and occasionally even his place in the team was in jeopardy, but it always seemed to be just a game to him and he was still very much the warm, joyous, unspoilt country kid.
On Australia Day in 2009, Phil generously came to the Reg Bartley Oval, Rushcutters Bay, at my request for an LBW Trust charity fundraiser – a cricket match. He stayed for a couple of hours, spoke to hundreds of supporters and refused to even let me get him a taxi back home. Our Directors were all frankly astonished to see a cricketer behave in such an unassuming, modest and heart-warming manner.
Everyone knows about his rather unique and highly unorthodox batting technique. However, despite this (or is it because of it?) he was able to score a prodigious amount of runs in all forms of the game. I think he had worked it out that though the critics, old timers, coaches, journalists and the public had an opinion on his technique, he would be most successful if he ignored their advice and continued to have faith in what had worked for him, rather than tinker with it and tempt fate. Nevertheless, he put in the hard slog and made minor adjustments, working unsparingly with Neil D’Costa. He even sought out Sachin Tendulkar, by specially visiting India in the off-season, to seek his counsel on improving his game. Sachin was absolutely touched.
In September 2010, when he was wanting to travel to India directly from London, he contacted me in a desperate rush to seek my help in obtaining his visa. Generally, every country requires visa applicants to lodge their applications in their country of residence. To the credit of India’s Foreign Service, they went out of their way and obliged Phil in a trice. To his great delight he was able to make it for the start of the Australian cricket team’s tour of India, at very short notice.
My last memory of Phillip is bumping into him in February 2013, at the team hotel, the Taj Coromandel in Madras. I was going out to dinner and he was going back up to his room after having already eaten. We had a nice chat near the elevator. The Australians had a rough day on the field, but that was not at all obvious when we were talking. Typical of the bloke, I thought.
And now, here we are, mourning a gentle soul, so cruelly snatched from our midst, in the very prime of his life. The only consolation is that he went whilst indulging in his passion. Phillip Hughes was a laconic, humble, generous, uncomplaining, unspoilt character who did not have tickets on himself. He was a pleasure to be in the company of. He had a joie de vivre about him. He had a commitment to excellence, and worked tirelessly to iron out the flaws in his game. These were all extremely endearing qualities that everyone could recognise and admired in him. Australia, and I dare say, the world, is a much poorer place for his absence. He will certainly be starring in the Elysian Fields.
RIP, Hughesy. You truly, madly, deeply touched us.
Cricket Academy Pays Dividends George sent me the following
In the late 1950s the Willesden branch of the Middlesex set up was one of the first of its kind to focus on the identification and nurturing of precocious talent. Here at the annual summer school in Eccles, Norfolk young Jim Sharp demonstrates a textbook forward defensive stroke.
Note the calm relaxed look on his face, that of a player completely in the zone. There’s no shortage of courage either, as young Sharp has the confident ease to disdain pads, whilst sensibly not discarding gloves. And that means there’s no discernible gap between bat and pad, as there are no pads. Also, note the panther-like agility of wicket keeper Graham. Perhaps the only disappointing factor in this historic testament to excellence is the absence of a ball.
Coiffeur Fashionistas will also note Graham’s challenging fringe, almost certainly a creation of his artistic mother. Unfortunately this was one of the experimental looks that didn’t quite make it. Nevertheless it remains an example of the prevailing creative spirit.
CCC Matters Steve Wright sent me this
The Club Cricket Conference has its centenary next year and to mark the occasion we are producing a Centenary book on the history of club cricket over the last 100 years and the part played by the Conference. The working title is “The Show Must Go On”.
The book is being produced by All Out Cricket and among the contributors will be Phil Walker and Ed Kemp respectively the Editor and Features Editor of All Out Cricket, Andrew Miller former Editor of The Cricketer, Simon Hughes,Vithushan Ehantharajah young cricket journalist of the year, a prominent cricket historian and many other cricket writers. David Perrin will also be a contributor and will be covering “cricket writing” over the last 100
years.
The book will be on sale in March 2015 (officially the start of our Centenary year) at a price of £20. Talking about “Price” by the way the book will include an interview with John Price who was part of the Conference side which defeated the Australian tourists (including Richie Benaud and other luminaries) 50 years ago.
I am Treasurer of the Conference and am pleased to offer the book for sale to “Googlies” readers at a special pre-publication price of £15.
Will anyone wanting to take advantage of this offer please send their cheque for £15 made payable to The Club Cricket Conference to:
Club Cricket Conference,
Top Floor,
24-26 High Street,
Hampton,
Middlesex,
TW12 1PD
King Cricket Matters
Tom writes:
I sort of watched the T20 World Cup final. Here is roughly what happened.
A motley crew of myself, and myself’s pals William, Lottie and Millie assembled at my house for the purposes of watching something approximating cricket. This was convenient for me as it is closer to where I live than any of my comrades’ dwellings. However, I do not have Sky television and thus do not have the channel briefly known as Sky Sports Ashes, now referred to as Sky Sports 2, which broadcasts international cricket.
After much deciding it was decided that we would decide how to decide how to watch the cricket over lunch. I have the good fortune to live opposite a very nice pub called the Highwayman, so we went there to eat. They didn’t have Sky either. The Highwayman doesn’t have a TV – it’s not that sort of pub. Three of us had roast beef and; I shan’t name any names, but Millie had something off the regular weekday menu. We ordered extra roast potatoes. Always order extra roast potatoes.
We returned to my house, thus far puddingless, to indulge in some fruit pastille ice lollies. ESPN Cricinfo reliably informed us (mainly just me and William) that fifteen overs of the first innings had already been bowled and that some runs had probably been scored. This meant, for unobvious reasons, that it was time to take my housemates Teasle and Moppet – who happen to be dogs – for a walk. We just went for a quick one up the road, because Teasle cut her paw recently and we didn’t want to aggravate the injury.
When we returned from the walk, we decided that it was such a nice day that we would have a drink in the garden. We had a drink in the garden (each, not between us). Between sips, the significance of the offside rule to cricket was explained for the benefit of some. At the end of the day, some people went home, some people didn’t, and some people were already at home. I think Barcelona won after Kevin Pietersen scored the winner.
Statistical Bollox Matters
I rarely go onto the cricket websites but the statisticians have been spoiled by computer software. I noticed the following alongside a report on a recent test:
“Fifty sixes in Test cricket for Tim Southee - all of them have been when he has batted at No. 8 or lower in the batting order, which equals the highest by any batsman batting in the last four positions. Wasim Akram has 50 sixes from 110 innings when he has batted at No. 8 or lower, while Southee has 50 sixes from 60 innings. For New Zealand, only three batsmen - Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum and Craig McMillan – have struck more sixes.”
I am sure that we all feel more knowledgeable for that nugget.
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