GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 148
April 2015
World Cup Reflections
Well after all the talk of batting dominating the WC it is widely agreed that it was the bowling that decided it. In baseball the same set of batters in identical conditions can score 14(a lot!) one day and only 1 the next because the opposition will have a different quality pitcher on the mound. Everyone got very excited about NZ batting against most opposition but against the best bowling they twice failed to score 200, although admittedly they did win the first game. I previously suggested that it was their bowling which was their strong suit as they regularly rolled sides over. Ultimately, their batters didn’t give them enough to play with in Melbourne. The South African bowling was strong but their sides always lacked a fifth bowler which they failed to disguise. India bowled sides out until they came up against Australia.
So what does this suggest for the Ashes? As usual in English conditions the weather will play a key role. If there is cloud cover Anderson will start swinging the ball and Broad will be encouraged to support him. In these conditions we must remember that Anderson is the best in the world and could again prove a match or even series winner. If it is hot and the wickets are good England will probably manage to put up some decent scores although it could be incredibly tedious if that features Cook and Trott. It has to be unlikely that Ali, if fit, will be treated with as much respect as last year. He will definitely be targeted and may not even feature much as a bowler.
The Prof in an email called McCullum a slogger. I strongly refuted this but then got to thinking about modern batting innovators. First let’s try to define a slogger. We used to call someone a slogger if they played attacking shots to inappropriate length or width balls. This often resulted in the ball travelling in the air and in particular towards cow corner. The slogger didn’t obey the batting techniques as laid out in the MCC coaching manual.
a. The MCC coaching manual first and foremost wanted the ball played along the ground.
b. It wants bat and pad together
c. It wants stillness at the crease, particularly the head
Probably the biggest change over the last forty years is that no one expects the ball to played along the ground any more. In fact many shots have been developed which actively encourage aerial routes. In particular the angled bat cut and lift shots on the off side which take the ball over the slip/gully area towards or over third man. Does this qualify as a slog?
Many of the top batsmen now move about their creases. Some do it laterally to give themselves room to play off side shots to balls pitching on the line of the stumps or to get inside deliveries so that they can be worked or indeed hit into the legside. Others advance down the wicket to get to the pitch of the ball or to force the bowler to change his line and/or length. Does this qualify as a slog?
Very few sloggers last long at the crease unless it is their day. I suggest that we are witnessing a whole new level of batting, by which I don’t mean the power hitters such as Finch, Warner, Gayle, Miller, Dhoni and Watson. I think that we have seen extraordinary batting in this WC by Maxwell, de Villiers and McCullum. In one of the “Sky Verdicts” Jacques Kallis noted that recently de Villiers had told him that he had decided to bat differently in one day matches and create a new range of shots for himself. McCullum has always been an attacking batsman but recently has adopted a new style of batting at the top of the order which is different from the pinch hitting of a few years back. Maxwell is as comfortable hitting over extra cover for six as he is reverse sweeping or slog sweeping. All of these three routinely hit the ball in the air, move around the crease and score consistently at exceptional rates. But they do keep their heads still. I think that they are the vanguard of a whole new style of batting.
Talking of big hitting – who saw Guptill slap a full toss onto the roof of the stand at Edens Park? The measuring machine came up with it as a hit of 110 metres. I won’t get into how this measurement is made or calculated here but the distance is worth considering. When I was playing I doubt whether any of the few sixes I hit carried more than forty or fifty yards. Few of the boundaries on London club grounds offered boundaries over sixty yards (yes I accept that there were some long ones) and in most games there were very few sixes. When KP (remember him?) was playing in test matches for England he would just clear the fence and the monitor would say 72 or 78 metres. Owais was a bigger hitter and would sometimes clock in the nineties. Guptill’s effort was another 20 metres a tribute to modern bats and his timing.
When the camera zoomed in on Quentin de Kock after he had taken a catch, Hamburger blurted out “he’s only twelve, he should be playing in the Under 13s”. Presumably he would find himself alongside Trent Boult.
Sweet moment – When Dilshan hit all six balls of a Mitchell Johnson over for four.
Most overlooked feat - Sangakkara’s four consecutive hundreds.
I have struggled to get to grips with metric bowling speeds. I suspect that most club cricketers of my generation would have found 75mph quick, and the standard for first class outright quick bowlers was to get up above 90 mph unless you were Shoaib Aktar who once clocked 100mph. I eventually worked out that 144kph is about 90mph and therefore anything above that is quick. Needless to say the England guys, including Finn, failed to reach this mark but plenty of others did. Most surprising was the bunch of Indian seamers who all bowled fast. Then there was the great spell by Wahab Riaz against Shane Watson. This was particularly difficult to face as Wahab bowled left arm over and got a short line up into Watson’s upper chest at something over 90 mph for about six overs. Credit goes to Watson for not showing his experience and managing a leg bye off some part of his body to get down the other end.
There were plenty of good games at the WC due in no small part to the general excellence of the wickets, some of which were drop ins, but the two outstanding matches probably featured New Zealand in their Quarter and Semi Finals. First they racked up a mammoth 393 for 6 against the West Indians with Martin Guptill making an extraordinary 237 not out including 11 sixes and 24 fours from 163 balls. In reply the West Indians typically decided on a shit or bust route and were bowled out for 250 in just 30 overs. Their innings contained sixteen sixes which was more than New Zealand had managed.
In the semi final South Africa batted first and after a rain break Miller scored 49 from 18 balls leaving a D/L adjusted total of 298 from 43 overs for New Zealand to win. McCullum made his customary initial assault scoring 59 from 26 balls against Stein, Philander and Morkel but by the half way stage they were 149 for 4. Elliott and Anderson progressed matters but then Anderson and Ronchi were dismissed. New Zealand needed 5 from the final two balls and Elliott clubbed the penultimate delivery for six. The tension during the final stages in front of a massive crowd was unbelievable.
400 is the new 300.
The Professor sent me this
As is so often the case (always excepting the 4th March 1967) the Final was a bit of a damp squib. It was almost as if NZ had exhausted themselves by getting there, or at least didn't think they deserved it. My own view was that they weren't quite as good a side as everybody seemed to think and a few (like Guptill and Elliott) played well above themselves. Home advantage for every previous game was a big advantage and playing the semi-final in a rugby ground - while the same for both sides - was another. In fact, had SA finished the match with 11 fit men I don't think NZ would have made it to Melbourne. What seems certain is that the way the successful teams played in this competition must put down markers for the future and, hopefully, for the way England play. At Headingley yesterday there was much talk about changing the way Yorkshire approach one day cricket and, since six of the Yorkshire side are in the England squad that must presumably mean the way England play as well. What certainly can't happen is that the openers shoulder arms to ball after ball as if it were a Test. Australia, it seems, are planning now for four years time...I wonder if we are.
Match Report
The play off match for thirteenth place in the WC got surprisingly little media coverage. England were scheduled to play against Afghanistan but nobody told them about it and so they had already flown home. Fortunately the Namibia team was on a team building outing and agreed to step into the breach.
In an attempt to strengthen their side England recalled the much missed Jade Dernbach and decided to give Simon Kerrigan another shot at immortality. Jonathan Trott returned to the top of the order and he opened with Ian Bell after Morgan had won the toss. Both looked solid and in good touch and they reached their fifties in the thirty second and thirty third overs respectively. Unfortunately Bell’s first aggressive shot when straight to mid off and England then suffered something of a collapse as the middle order (sic) tried to up the tempo. This included an enormous clean hit by Morgan which ended up being caught on the boundary. Morgan made 0 but is expected to return to form shortly.
There were lusty blows by Buttler, Jordan and Bopara but wickets fell regularly and when Dernbach was comically run out without facing a ball England were all out for 220 with three overs not utilized. Trott was 79 not out.
Dernbach was soon back into the action as he bowled an eleven ball opening over and was single handedly responsible for the explosive start to the Namibian innings. When other bowlers started to land the ball on the strip the scoring rate slowed and the Namibian batsmen looked unsurprisingly rusty. In fact so much so that it looked for much of the power play that they would not get close to the England total. That is until Kerrigan was called into the attack. Some wag told him that Shane Watson was guesting for Namibia and that seemed to throw him out as he bowled a series of long hops and full tosses which were dealt with appropriately.
It was left to Anderson to clean up the tail and England grabbed the all important thirteenth place after a win by 9 runs. After the match Morgan said that the team had “backed itself to win” and it was a fitting way to end the competition. Peter Moores said that he was pleased with the “energy and intensity” that his side had shown.
Out and About with the Professor
At last, Spring has come to North Yorkshire! All the traditional signs are there: daffodils have popped up on all the roundabouts, someone has written to the local newspaper claiming to be the first person to hear the sound of a lawnmower in Harrogate, and the annual geriatric migration to Headingley - otherwise known as the Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s AGM – has taken place.
This year's meeting was particularly notable for two things: the celebration of the Championship and the departure of the Chairman. The former was easy - we all celebrated (again) - but the latter took a bit longer since Colin Graves is off to Chair the ECB. All the usual stuff of an AGM was there: thanks to everyone for all their hard work during the season; how hard “the lads” had worked at their game and how well it had come off; what a good year it had been financially (only losing £300,000); and sadness at the loss of thirty or so members including Ted Lester and Bob Appleyard who died during the year. We re-elected Dickie Bird as President (how could we not) and Michael Vaughan left the committee having, seemingly, never attended a meeting. Yorkshire are, we were told, the best supported county side, but membership is now below 4,000 for the first time anyone can remember and it would appear that all (?) other counties are in a similar position. As we have said before in this journal, many times, who is going to watch county cricket when our generation is gone?
At the same time as membership is declining there is an ever-present need to improve the stadia and Headingley now has floodlights (shaped like a rose…isn’t that nice?) and a new players’ balcony affixed to the “iconic” pavilion that seemingly was left out of the original architects plans. The balcony was financed by a gift of £125,000 from our President – it seems he gave the undertaking before he knew the size of the bill, (“’ow much?”). There are also plans for a new stand at the southern end of the ground so that by 2017 Headingley will look very smart indeed.
Yorkshire got a little over £2 million from the ECB in 2014 (a sum which more-or-less matches the wages bill) including a prize for winning the Championship. The ECB don’t like to use the word “prize” so a £158,100 “enhanced county performance payment” was added to the income column. No one knew why the prize was so called or how the sum had been calculated. Notwithstanding the above the Club stills owes about £25 million (about half to the “Colin Graves Foundation”). Presumably if we win the Championship another 200 times we will be clear of debt.
A lot was made of one of the inevitable outcomes of success – England call-ups. Six of the First team are on their way to the West Indies with the England squad and that leaves considerable pressure on the others. Thus the overseas recruitment of: Younus Khan (for the start of the season), Finch and Maxwell (after the IPL) and Williamson for the end of the season. It is hoped that this quartet will help Yorkshire improve their dire performances at the shorter versions of the game. In addition, Maxwell and Finch could make an early start on the demolition of the South Stand.
And so to the Chairman’s valedictory. This was of more than parochial interest because of where Colin Graves goes next. He began by re-running the story, previously told in this journal, of being rung-up by Geoff Cope, some 12 years’ ago, (“I’m going t’ kill Copey one day”) to say that the Club was bankrupt and could he help. He could and did, to the tune, initially, of £5 million. At that time the Club had £5 million debts and no assets: “We didn’t own a blade of grass”. He and Geoff Cope met a day or two later, went out to the middle and Graves asked: “What does this Club need Geoff”? “New pavilion, new stand, new changing facilities for the players, ground levelling, floodlights, buy the freehold of the ground, proper practice facilities…” A long list. 12 years and £40 million later it is almost all done. And… the Championship. You can see why the membership are rather keen on Mr Graves.
But will the Country be? Already he has been caricatured as a dour humourless money- focussed Yorkshireman and vilified by various folk, some of them contributors to this journal. So I think he is going to have a tough challenge ahead…as does he. He won’t be helped by the fact that, notwithstanding a grammar school education, he is guilty of the occasional malaprop, and he has, somewhere along the way, swallowed (at least part of) a management phrase book, so that he is a serial “going forward” offender (when what he means to say is: “the future”) and is comfortable with any number of homely clichés: “root and branch”, “part and parcel”, “bums on seats”. He also has the habit of declaring something to be “a fact” when it is, fairly obviously, an opinion. Personally I am happy with all this and if a bit of “straight talking” can wipe the smug smile off the current incumbent’s face, so much the better. But he might have a bit of trouble with the Torygraph et al when he slips into the vernacular. Fortunately I think he will be largely immune from the Tabloid attack since they have no interest in cricket anyway.
The other problem he may have is that his wealth will not be an issue in the new role. In a pecuniary culture, deference is paid to wealth (rich men’s jokes are always funny) and the wherewithal to sort out financial problems with a signature brings a good deal of deference…especially in Yorkshire. But it will not be relevant at the ECB. Indeed I imagine some of those associated with cricket in India or the UAE would regard him as almost impoverished. A challenge indeed.
And what will he do? Well the AGM was about Yorkshire of course but one or two things were let slip. Graves regarded things at the ECB as similar to Yorkshire when he took over…”only worse”. It took him four months to decide to take the job and only did so in order: “to change the culture of English cricket”. To talk to everybody, “no consultants, no outsiders – just proper cricket people”, about the direction of English cricket “going forward”. A “root and branch” review of the structure of cricket: village green to Test side. A renewed emphasis on the importance of recreational cricket; the role of women’s cricket (which is apparently in disarray); coaching and the role that Loughborough plays; a review of the money coming into English cricket and mechanisms to see it isn’t wasted; the international schedule (17 Tests for England in the next 12 months, which is “absolutely stupid…and that’s a fact”); expanding the number of World Cup finalists not contracting them, and so on. In short, it is going to be interesting. According to Colin Graves, there has never been a Yorkshireman on the ECB. Well…they’ve got one now.
England Matters
The following is extracted from an article by George Dobell which appeared on ESPNcricinfo
England were thrashed by Australia, humiliated by New Zealand - never have they lost an ODI with more deliveries remaining unused - and comfortably defeated by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. England were second best on every occasion. Yet they were extended every advantage. The ECB rescheduled the Ashes so they could commit all their preparation time to this tournament. They arranged five months of ODIs as a lead-up. They were party to the scheduling of the tournament that rendered it most unlikely that they could be eliminated at this stage and their wealth - the facilities, the support, the coaching - is the envy of just about every team that has beaten them. They have no excuses.
It is inevitable, in such moments, that a focal point is found for the anger. Someone to blame. And it is inevitable that the coach, Peter Moores, and the MD of England cricket, Paul Downton, will be in the firing line. Neither can feel secure in their job. While Moores has a decent record for identifying talented players, there is limited evidence of an ability to coax the best out of them. The decision to change the team on the eve of the tournament not only squandered much of the preparation time, but spread unease within the camp.
England looked fearful and timid. They looked overawed by the occasion at the MCG, outclassed in Wellington and nervous in Adelaide. It is Moores' job to create the environment in which they players are able to play their best cricket and the evidence would suggest he has failed to do it. While he denies he is over-reliant upon statistics, his insistence in the immediate aftermath of defeat that he would have to "look at the data" before drawing conclusions over England's World Cup exit risked adding ridicule to pain. It seems unlikely that Downton could survive Moores' sacking. Only a year ago, Downton described Moores as "the coach of his generation" in an appointment process that many feel was stacked in Moores' favour from the start. Having backed his man so forcibly, it would be almost impossible for Downton to sack him and remain in position. It is probably Downton's position that is more precarious. After a week in which he has been publically undermined by the ECB's new chairman over the stance towards Kevin Pietersen, it is hard to think of one area in which Downton has benefited England cricket.
But it is hard to predict their immediate future. The ECB have a new CEO - Tom Harrison - and a new chairman - Colin Graves - who have yet to officially take office. While Graves' record at Yorkshire would suggest he will not react well to this reverse, he is not currently in a position to take action. Besides, just as it is asking a great deal of a new coach to revive the fortunes of England, so it is simplistic to blame the failures of the current team on one, two or even three men.
Sacking Downton and Moores will not change the over-coaching that pervades almost every level of English cricket. It will not change the prioritising of money over merit, the schedule that now sees England play 17 Tests in nine months, the dilution in the standard of county cricket that has occurred over the last half-dozen years or a culture that promotes coaches who are better equipped to make Powerpoint presentations than actually improve a player's performance. Equally, it would be naive to suggest that recalling Kevin Pietersen - for all his ability - would have provided a silver-bullet solution. Pietersen's inclusion would not have helped with the absence of a left-arm spinner or left-arm seamer. It would not have taught the bowlers to deliver yorkers or generate the pace that might have unsettled opposition batsmen. It might, perhaps, have masked some problems. But it would not have solved them.
The England management believe that the recruits they gather from the county game are not up to standard. While that is partially true - England's best yorker bowler, Luke Fletcher of Nottinghamshire, has something of Samit Patel about his frame - the England system may be equally at fault. After years of taking their best players out of county cricket, the England management have created a divide between the domestic and international games. Furthermore, by identifying the most talented young players and taking them into the national academy system, they have played a part in ruining them. It is at Loughborough - Bluffborough as it should be known - where fast bowlers are homogenised, where individuality is crushed and where a game that should be largely instinctive and joyful becomes scientific and filled with fear. At every level, coaches and support staff motivated by justifying their own continued employment, tinker and tamper with natural talent. Players prosper despite, not because, of their involvement.
England have, for some time, preferred pliable characters in their team. They have preferred graft over flair. They have alienated difference and given too much credit to those "from the right sort of family" rather than those who might win games. In England, the greater crime is to be caught at long-on rather than leaving a straight ball. Could AB de Villiers or Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan have developed in England? Could Mitchell Starc or Chris Gayle survived? Could Brendon McCullum have been given the freedom or Glenn Maxwell the backing? It seems doubtful. There has been denial within England cricket for a long time. They have denied the poor form of their captains - be it Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook or Eoin Morgan - they have denied the lack of pace in their seamers or the lack of bite from their spinners. They have denied the evidence of defeat after defeat in global tournaments. They have sought excuses rather than answers.
So good may come of this debacle. Now, after England have been shown to belong among the also-rans of world cricket - and remember it is only a year since they were defeated by Netherlands in the last global limited-overs tournament in which they participated - the mask has slipped, the cloak has been removed. There can be no concealing the poverty of England's cricket now. This setback will empower Graves to make the changes he wants within the domestic and international games. It will be used to justify revolution. There will be radical change. This performance - or lack of it - cannot be tolerated.
The Great jack Morgan sent me this
Some are calling for wholesale sackings of managers/ coaches/ players/ coach drivers et al, but I do not think that that would produce top class one day players overnight. There were some mistakes made in selection, but if we had obvious world beaters they would have been selected. Sure, there is a case for bringing back Stokes and promoting Roy/ Vince/ Billings et al, but the main popular one-day hero, Hales, has not been a wild success, so they have to be sensible and phase in new guys with the best of the old guys, as has always been best practice.
Neither Moeen nor Woakes made the squad for the West Indies, but Moeen might fly out later. Woakes is out until May, probably. Both Rashid and Tredders are included. Lyth, Wood and Stokes are all in. Some were expecting Robbo to be included, but I was not one of them. Finny has been axed. Test selection could be interesting: if they want four seamers, a spinner and a keeper (and this must be possible because Anderson is the only rabbit in the whole party) then only five batters can get in and assuming Cook, Bell and Root are certs, one of Trott, Ballance and Lyth has to miss out. The warm up matches should decide this, I suppose, as each has something to prove: Trott that he really is back to his best, Ballance that his crap WC form was just a blip and Lyth that he really is as good as many think. They could, of course, stick with the usual line-up of six batters, three seamers and a spinner, but this seems to me to be an ideal opportunity to select a full hand of bowlers because they can all bat (apart from one and even he has an 81 to his name in Tests).
Middlesex Matters
Jeff Coleman sent me the following
Further to my comments in last months G&C. I am led to believe that almost all of the 11 current members of the Executive Board are also MCC members, as are 4 of the 5 candidates for election at the AGM. I find it hard to believe that, with a virtual monopoly of MCC members on the Executive Board, such important matters as are in discussion with the MCC can properly be at arms length. I have concerns that this near monopoly will hinder MCCC in obtaining the best terms from the tenancy review. We are already informed that the MCC is taking over the running of the Middlesex shop. Hopefully more information will be available at the AGM on April 7.
The Great Jack Morgan sent me this
Amongst the huge amounts of paper just received from MCCC, is the information that NPD Ross is standing for the Middlesex Committee (sorry, "Executive Board"). He is proposed by JM Brears and seconded by MW Gatt. Apparently he has run his own sales agency business (what's one of those?) for 25 years and JMB says "he has done well in business". A photo of him is included and I would never have recognised him if you had given me a hundred clues. He looks nothing like the slim rather good-looking chap that I remember, he now looks like any other oldish, plumpish middle-aged man with glasses, though he still retains a decent head of dark hair. But then we all deteriorate, don't we?
Also amongst the Middlesex literature was a list of all the names and numbers of the contracted players... and there are twenty six of them. This seems an awful lot, but a few of them are still in full time education, so they are not all on full contracts.
Carlin Matters
Paddy Carlin sent me the following notes
I was in Sydney in February and so could experience much of the local press coverage of the astonishingly poor performance of England in the World Cup. They never really recovered from the terrible decision to insert Australia on a boiling hot day in Melbourne and then a few minutes into the game Woakes made a hash of a straightforward catch. It started badly and got worse. Heads should have rolled.
My trip to Oz was not to see the World Cup, I am not a closet member of the Barmy Army and the timing was coincidental. I attended the game at the SCG with Mike McLagan and saw the de Villiers assault on Holder which made Finn’s analysis against New Zealand appear economical.
In “old fart” mode I would like to give a flavour of the experience of the SCG. The cricket is not deemed interesting enough to hold the attention of the audience (not spectators) and to remedy this the Aussies serve up their own brand of tasteless crap. The PA system is very effective given the size of the ground and it was impossible to escape the incessant din. We arrived early to do some serious ale consumption in the pavilion and were subjected to interviews with various pundits over the PA, followed by an Aboriginal chief laying claim to the SCG as his land. Next up was a team of drummers who played a fifty minute cacophony. A hyped up event co-ordinator gathered groups of the audience together to photograph themselves. These air guitar cams, pepsi cams, kissing cams etc were enlarged on the big screen during the match to the accompaniment of maximum noise and hysteria. Between every over there was pop music, the drummers or an idiotic cam. Play was regularly held up or interrupted by these essential goings on. In addition during play every boundary was greeted with flares, fireworks and more deafening music.
ABV has worked out his hitting zone and has identified a new way of playing it. The field settings give some indication of the likely length and direction of the delivery and he has a new range of shots to take advantage of this. 64 runs came from the last two overs and the SCG is not small. I see the game increasingly looking like baseball with concentration on the hitting zone.
Mike and I watched from the old pavilion where we enjoyed 2% ale in half pints for £4 a glass. You would be broke before you ever got drunk. We left at the interval having predicted a West Indies collapse and to nurse our headaches created by the din.
Surrey Matters
Jim Revier - I can’t stand Pietersen and the thought of him turning out for the chocolate hatters again fills me with dread. However, the real reason it upsets me is that it will once again deprive a good young player of a place in the side. Surrey seem to have a useful looking batting line up (the bowling is another story) - Burns, Ansari, Sangakarra, Solanki, Davies, Roy, Foakes, Harinath and Wilson are vying for places in the order and to add KP to the mix is crazy. Of those 9 six are or have been wicketkeepers so we won’t be short in that field! I am impressed with Kelvin West's signings. If Redknapp had signed those three he'd still be in a job.
Paddy Carlin – Will the might of Leicesterchire, Glamorgan et al be able to withstand the KP enhanced Surrey? But they need have no fears from the Surrey bowling.
WGCCC Matters
Paddy Carlin updates us
The three Middlesex old boys, Hewitt, Laraman and Shah are back as is last season’s overseas star form Queensland, Scott Walter, but several players have left including two good youngsters and so it could be a season of struggle after last year’s second place.
Disgusted Matters
Chris Overson sent me this
As usual I much enjoyed Googlies.....However, I do think that the over emphasis on articles about cricket and football is rather gratuitous and does detract from the tasteful photographic section which I found both intellectually stimulating and thought provoking.
Regards
Disgusted of North Harrow
In memoriam
Carole Perham sent me the sad news that Brian Raven, a staunch South Hampstead man since the seventies, had died recently.
Jim Revier sent me this: Old Danes and musos will have been saddened to hear of the death on Wednesday16 March of Free bassist Andy Fraser. Expelled from the school for refusing to get his hair cut (how petty that seems now) he went on to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, before forming Free in 1968. He co wrote "All Right Now" with Paul Rodgers in 1970 aged just 18, and indeed continued to write prolifically (My Brother Jake, The Stealer, Fire and Water etc).Sadly he suffered from both cancer and AIDS in his later years.RIP
Jack Morgan: Andy Fraser has died aged 62 of “cancer and Aids”. Joel McIver’s obituary in the G included this sentence: “expelled from his grammar school, St Clement Danes in Chorleywood, Herts, for refusing to wear his hair short, Fraser enrolled at Hammersmith FE college, where he became friends with Sappho Korner”, daughter of Alexis. The obit did not say where he died, but I know that he had been living in California.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 148
April 2015
World Cup Reflections
Well after all the talk of batting dominating the WC it is widely agreed that it was the bowling that decided it. In baseball the same set of batters in identical conditions can score 14(a lot!) one day and only 1 the next because the opposition will have a different quality pitcher on the mound. Everyone got very excited about NZ batting against most opposition but against the best bowling they twice failed to score 200, although admittedly they did win the first game. I previously suggested that it was their bowling which was their strong suit as they regularly rolled sides over. Ultimately, their batters didn’t give them enough to play with in Melbourne. The South African bowling was strong but their sides always lacked a fifth bowler which they failed to disguise. India bowled sides out until they came up against Australia.
So what does this suggest for the Ashes? As usual in English conditions the weather will play a key role. If there is cloud cover Anderson will start swinging the ball and Broad will be encouraged to support him. In these conditions we must remember that Anderson is the best in the world and could again prove a match or even series winner. If it is hot and the wickets are good England will probably manage to put up some decent scores although it could be incredibly tedious if that features Cook and Trott. It has to be unlikely that Ali, if fit, will be treated with as much respect as last year. He will definitely be targeted and may not even feature much as a bowler.
The Prof in an email called McCullum a slogger. I strongly refuted this but then got to thinking about modern batting innovators. First let’s try to define a slogger. We used to call someone a slogger if they played attacking shots to inappropriate length or width balls. This often resulted in the ball travelling in the air and in particular towards cow corner. The slogger didn’t obey the batting techniques as laid out in the MCC coaching manual.
a. The MCC coaching manual first and foremost wanted the ball played along the ground.
b. It wants bat and pad together
c. It wants stillness at the crease, particularly the head
Probably the biggest change over the last forty years is that no one expects the ball to played along the ground any more. In fact many shots have been developed which actively encourage aerial routes. In particular the angled bat cut and lift shots on the off side which take the ball over the slip/gully area towards or over third man. Does this qualify as a slog?
Many of the top batsmen now move about their creases. Some do it laterally to give themselves room to play off side shots to balls pitching on the line of the stumps or to get inside deliveries so that they can be worked or indeed hit into the legside. Others advance down the wicket to get to the pitch of the ball or to force the bowler to change his line and/or length. Does this qualify as a slog?
Very few sloggers last long at the crease unless it is their day. I suggest that we are witnessing a whole new level of batting, by which I don’t mean the power hitters such as Finch, Warner, Gayle, Miller, Dhoni and Watson. I think that we have seen extraordinary batting in this WC by Maxwell, de Villiers and McCullum. In one of the “Sky Verdicts” Jacques Kallis noted that recently de Villiers had told him that he had decided to bat differently in one day matches and create a new range of shots for himself. McCullum has always been an attacking batsman but recently has adopted a new style of batting at the top of the order which is different from the pinch hitting of a few years back. Maxwell is as comfortable hitting over extra cover for six as he is reverse sweeping or slog sweeping. All of these three routinely hit the ball in the air, move around the crease and score consistently at exceptional rates. But they do keep their heads still. I think that they are the vanguard of a whole new style of batting.
Talking of big hitting – who saw Guptill slap a full toss onto the roof of the stand at Edens Park? The measuring machine came up with it as a hit of 110 metres. I won’t get into how this measurement is made or calculated here but the distance is worth considering. When I was playing I doubt whether any of the few sixes I hit carried more than forty or fifty yards. Few of the boundaries on London club grounds offered boundaries over sixty yards (yes I accept that there were some long ones) and in most games there were very few sixes. When KP (remember him?) was playing in test matches for England he would just clear the fence and the monitor would say 72 or 78 metres. Owais was a bigger hitter and would sometimes clock in the nineties. Guptill’s effort was another 20 metres a tribute to modern bats and his timing.
When the camera zoomed in on Quentin de Kock after he had taken a catch, Hamburger blurted out “he’s only twelve, he should be playing in the Under 13s”. Presumably he would find himself alongside Trent Boult.
Sweet moment – When Dilshan hit all six balls of a Mitchell Johnson over for four.
Most overlooked feat - Sangakkara’s four consecutive hundreds.
I have struggled to get to grips with metric bowling speeds. I suspect that most club cricketers of my generation would have found 75mph quick, and the standard for first class outright quick bowlers was to get up above 90 mph unless you were Shoaib Aktar who once clocked 100mph. I eventually worked out that 144kph is about 90mph and therefore anything above that is quick. Needless to say the England guys, including Finn, failed to reach this mark but plenty of others did. Most surprising was the bunch of Indian seamers who all bowled fast. Then there was the great spell by Wahab Riaz against Shane Watson. This was particularly difficult to face as Wahab bowled left arm over and got a short line up into Watson’s upper chest at something over 90 mph for about six overs. Credit goes to Watson for not showing his experience and managing a leg bye off some part of his body to get down the other end.
There were plenty of good games at the WC due in no small part to the general excellence of the wickets, some of which were drop ins, but the two outstanding matches probably featured New Zealand in their Quarter and Semi Finals. First they racked up a mammoth 393 for 6 against the West Indians with Martin Guptill making an extraordinary 237 not out including 11 sixes and 24 fours from 163 balls. In reply the West Indians typically decided on a shit or bust route and were bowled out for 250 in just 30 overs. Their innings contained sixteen sixes which was more than New Zealand had managed.
In the semi final South Africa batted first and after a rain break Miller scored 49 from 18 balls leaving a D/L adjusted total of 298 from 43 overs for New Zealand to win. McCullum made his customary initial assault scoring 59 from 26 balls against Stein, Philander and Morkel but by the half way stage they were 149 for 4. Elliott and Anderson progressed matters but then Anderson and Ronchi were dismissed. New Zealand needed 5 from the final two balls and Elliott clubbed the penultimate delivery for six. The tension during the final stages in front of a massive crowd was unbelievable.
400 is the new 300.
The Professor sent me this
As is so often the case (always excepting the 4th March 1967) the Final was a bit of a damp squib. It was almost as if NZ had exhausted themselves by getting there, or at least didn't think they deserved it. My own view was that they weren't quite as good a side as everybody seemed to think and a few (like Guptill and Elliott) played well above themselves. Home advantage for every previous game was a big advantage and playing the semi-final in a rugby ground - while the same for both sides - was another. In fact, had SA finished the match with 11 fit men I don't think NZ would have made it to Melbourne. What seems certain is that the way the successful teams played in this competition must put down markers for the future and, hopefully, for the way England play. At Headingley yesterday there was much talk about changing the way Yorkshire approach one day cricket and, since six of the Yorkshire side are in the England squad that must presumably mean the way England play as well. What certainly can't happen is that the openers shoulder arms to ball after ball as if it were a Test. Australia, it seems, are planning now for four years time...I wonder if we are.
Match Report
The play off match for thirteenth place in the WC got surprisingly little media coverage. England were scheduled to play against Afghanistan but nobody told them about it and so they had already flown home. Fortunately the Namibia team was on a team building outing and agreed to step into the breach.
In an attempt to strengthen their side England recalled the much missed Jade Dernbach and decided to give Simon Kerrigan another shot at immortality. Jonathan Trott returned to the top of the order and he opened with Ian Bell after Morgan had won the toss. Both looked solid and in good touch and they reached their fifties in the thirty second and thirty third overs respectively. Unfortunately Bell’s first aggressive shot when straight to mid off and England then suffered something of a collapse as the middle order (sic) tried to up the tempo. This included an enormous clean hit by Morgan which ended up being caught on the boundary. Morgan made 0 but is expected to return to form shortly.
There were lusty blows by Buttler, Jordan and Bopara but wickets fell regularly and when Dernbach was comically run out without facing a ball England were all out for 220 with three overs not utilized. Trott was 79 not out.
Dernbach was soon back into the action as he bowled an eleven ball opening over and was single handedly responsible for the explosive start to the Namibian innings. When other bowlers started to land the ball on the strip the scoring rate slowed and the Namibian batsmen looked unsurprisingly rusty. In fact so much so that it looked for much of the power play that they would not get close to the England total. That is until Kerrigan was called into the attack. Some wag told him that Shane Watson was guesting for Namibia and that seemed to throw him out as he bowled a series of long hops and full tosses which were dealt with appropriately.
It was left to Anderson to clean up the tail and England grabbed the all important thirteenth place after a win by 9 runs. After the match Morgan said that the team had “backed itself to win” and it was a fitting way to end the competition. Peter Moores said that he was pleased with the “energy and intensity” that his side had shown.
Out and About with the Professor
At last, Spring has come to North Yorkshire! All the traditional signs are there: daffodils have popped up on all the roundabouts, someone has written to the local newspaper claiming to be the first person to hear the sound of a lawnmower in Harrogate, and the annual geriatric migration to Headingley - otherwise known as the Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s AGM – has taken place.
This year's meeting was particularly notable for two things: the celebration of the Championship and the departure of the Chairman. The former was easy - we all celebrated (again) - but the latter took a bit longer since Colin Graves is off to Chair the ECB. All the usual stuff of an AGM was there: thanks to everyone for all their hard work during the season; how hard “the lads” had worked at their game and how well it had come off; what a good year it had been financially (only losing £300,000); and sadness at the loss of thirty or so members including Ted Lester and Bob Appleyard who died during the year. We re-elected Dickie Bird as President (how could we not) and Michael Vaughan left the committee having, seemingly, never attended a meeting. Yorkshire are, we were told, the best supported county side, but membership is now below 4,000 for the first time anyone can remember and it would appear that all (?) other counties are in a similar position. As we have said before in this journal, many times, who is going to watch county cricket when our generation is gone?
At the same time as membership is declining there is an ever-present need to improve the stadia and Headingley now has floodlights (shaped like a rose…isn’t that nice?) and a new players’ balcony affixed to the “iconic” pavilion that seemingly was left out of the original architects plans. The balcony was financed by a gift of £125,000 from our President – it seems he gave the undertaking before he knew the size of the bill, (“’ow much?”). There are also plans for a new stand at the southern end of the ground so that by 2017 Headingley will look very smart indeed.
Yorkshire got a little over £2 million from the ECB in 2014 (a sum which more-or-less matches the wages bill) including a prize for winning the Championship. The ECB don’t like to use the word “prize” so a £158,100 “enhanced county performance payment” was added to the income column. No one knew why the prize was so called or how the sum had been calculated. Notwithstanding the above the Club stills owes about £25 million (about half to the “Colin Graves Foundation”). Presumably if we win the Championship another 200 times we will be clear of debt.
A lot was made of one of the inevitable outcomes of success – England call-ups. Six of the First team are on their way to the West Indies with the England squad and that leaves considerable pressure on the others. Thus the overseas recruitment of: Younus Khan (for the start of the season), Finch and Maxwell (after the IPL) and Williamson for the end of the season. It is hoped that this quartet will help Yorkshire improve their dire performances at the shorter versions of the game. In addition, Maxwell and Finch could make an early start on the demolition of the South Stand.
And so to the Chairman’s valedictory. This was of more than parochial interest because of where Colin Graves goes next. He began by re-running the story, previously told in this journal, of being rung-up by Geoff Cope, some 12 years’ ago, (“I’m going t’ kill Copey one day”) to say that the Club was bankrupt and could he help. He could and did, to the tune, initially, of £5 million. At that time the Club had £5 million debts and no assets: “We didn’t own a blade of grass”. He and Geoff Cope met a day or two later, went out to the middle and Graves asked: “What does this Club need Geoff”? “New pavilion, new stand, new changing facilities for the players, ground levelling, floodlights, buy the freehold of the ground, proper practice facilities…” A long list. 12 years and £40 million later it is almost all done. And… the Championship. You can see why the membership are rather keen on Mr Graves.
But will the Country be? Already he has been caricatured as a dour humourless money- focussed Yorkshireman and vilified by various folk, some of them contributors to this journal. So I think he is going to have a tough challenge ahead…as does he. He won’t be helped by the fact that, notwithstanding a grammar school education, he is guilty of the occasional malaprop, and he has, somewhere along the way, swallowed (at least part of) a management phrase book, so that he is a serial “going forward” offender (when what he means to say is: “the future”) and is comfortable with any number of homely clichés: “root and branch”, “part and parcel”, “bums on seats”. He also has the habit of declaring something to be “a fact” when it is, fairly obviously, an opinion. Personally I am happy with all this and if a bit of “straight talking” can wipe the smug smile off the current incumbent’s face, so much the better. But he might have a bit of trouble with the Torygraph et al when he slips into the vernacular. Fortunately I think he will be largely immune from the Tabloid attack since they have no interest in cricket anyway.
The other problem he may have is that his wealth will not be an issue in the new role. In a pecuniary culture, deference is paid to wealth (rich men’s jokes are always funny) and the wherewithal to sort out financial problems with a signature brings a good deal of deference…especially in Yorkshire. But it will not be relevant at the ECB. Indeed I imagine some of those associated with cricket in India or the UAE would regard him as almost impoverished. A challenge indeed.
And what will he do? Well the AGM was about Yorkshire of course but one or two things were let slip. Graves regarded things at the ECB as similar to Yorkshire when he took over…”only worse”. It took him four months to decide to take the job and only did so in order: “to change the culture of English cricket”. To talk to everybody, “no consultants, no outsiders – just proper cricket people”, about the direction of English cricket “going forward”. A “root and branch” review of the structure of cricket: village green to Test side. A renewed emphasis on the importance of recreational cricket; the role of women’s cricket (which is apparently in disarray); coaching and the role that Loughborough plays; a review of the money coming into English cricket and mechanisms to see it isn’t wasted; the international schedule (17 Tests for England in the next 12 months, which is “absolutely stupid…and that’s a fact”); expanding the number of World Cup finalists not contracting them, and so on. In short, it is going to be interesting. According to Colin Graves, there has never been a Yorkshireman on the ECB. Well…they’ve got one now.
England Matters
The following is extracted from an article by George Dobell which appeared on ESPNcricinfo
England were thrashed by Australia, humiliated by New Zealand - never have they lost an ODI with more deliveries remaining unused - and comfortably defeated by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. England were second best on every occasion. Yet they were extended every advantage. The ECB rescheduled the Ashes so they could commit all their preparation time to this tournament. They arranged five months of ODIs as a lead-up. They were party to the scheduling of the tournament that rendered it most unlikely that they could be eliminated at this stage and their wealth - the facilities, the support, the coaching - is the envy of just about every team that has beaten them. They have no excuses.
It is inevitable, in such moments, that a focal point is found for the anger. Someone to blame. And it is inevitable that the coach, Peter Moores, and the MD of England cricket, Paul Downton, will be in the firing line. Neither can feel secure in their job. While Moores has a decent record for identifying talented players, there is limited evidence of an ability to coax the best out of them. The decision to change the team on the eve of the tournament not only squandered much of the preparation time, but spread unease within the camp.
England looked fearful and timid. They looked overawed by the occasion at the MCG, outclassed in Wellington and nervous in Adelaide. It is Moores' job to create the environment in which they players are able to play their best cricket and the evidence would suggest he has failed to do it. While he denies he is over-reliant upon statistics, his insistence in the immediate aftermath of defeat that he would have to "look at the data" before drawing conclusions over England's World Cup exit risked adding ridicule to pain. It seems unlikely that Downton could survive Moores' sacking. Only a year ago, Downton described Moores as "the coach of his generation" in an appointment process that many feel was stacked in Moores' favour from the start. Having backed his man so forcibly, it would be almost impossible for Downton to sack him and remain in position. It is probably Downton's position that is more precarious. After a week in which he has been publically undermined by the ECB's new chairman over the stance towards Kevin Pietersen, it is hard to think of one area in which Downton has benefited England cricket.
But it is hard to predict their immediate future. The ECB have a new CEO - Tom Harrison - and a new chairman - Colin Graves - who have yet to officially take office. While Graves' record at Yorkshire would suggest he will not react well to this reverse, he is not currently in a position to take action. Besides, just as it is asking a great deal of a new coach to revive the fortunes of England, so it is simplistic to blame the failures of the current team on one, two or even three men.
Sacking Downton and Moores will not change the over-coaching that pervades almost every level of English cricket. It will not change the prioritising of money over merit, the schedule that now sees England play 17 Tests in nine months, the dilution in the standard of county cricket that has occurred over the last half-dozen years or a culture that promotes coaches who are better equipped to make Powerpoint presentations than actually improve a player's performance. Equally, it would be naive to suggest that recalling Kevin Pietersen - for all his ability - would have provided a silver-bullet solution. Pietersen's inclusion would not have helped with the absence of a left-arm spinner or left-arm seamer. It would not have taught the bowlers to deliver yorkers or generate the pace that might have unsettled opposition batsmen. It might, perhaps, have masked some problems. But it would not have solved them.
The England management believe that the recruits they gather from the county game are not up to standard. While that is partially true - England's best yorker bowler, Luke Fletcher of Nottinghamshire, has something of Samit Patel about his frame - the England system may be equally at fault. After years of taking their best players out of county cricket, the England management have created a divide between the domestic and international games. Furthermore, by identifying the most talented young players and taking them into the national academy system, they have played a part in ruining them. It is at Loughborough - Bluffborough as it should be known - where fast bowlers are homogenised, where individuality is crushed and where a game that should be largely instinctive and joyful becomes scientific and filled with fear. At every level, coaches and support staff motivated by justifying their own continued employment, tinker and tamper with natural talent. Players prosper despite, not because, of their involvement.
England have, for some time, preferred pliable characters in their team. They have preferred graft over flair. They have alienated difference and given too much credit to those "from the right sort of family" rather than those who might win games. In England, the greater crime is to be caught at long-on rather than leaving a straight ball. Could AB de Villiers or Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan have developed in England? Could Mitchell Starc or Chris Gayle survived? Could Brendon McCullum have been given the freedom or Glenn Maxwell the backing? It seems doubtful. There has been denial within England cricket for a long time. They have denied the poor form of their captains - be it Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook or Eoin Morgan - they have denied the lack of pace in their seamers or the lack of bite from their spinners. They have denied the evidence of defeat after defeat in global tournaments. They have sought excuses rather than answers.
So good may come of this debacle. Now, after England have been shown to belong among the also-rans of world cricket - and remember it is only a year since they were defeated by Netherlands in the last global limited-overs tournament in which they participated - the mask has slipped, the cloak has been removed. There can be no concealing the poverty of England's cricket now. This setback will empower Graves to make the changes he wants within the domestic and international games. It will be used to justify revolution. There will be radical change. This performance - or lack of it - cannot be tolerated.
The Great jack Morgan sent me this
Some are calling for wholesale sackings of managers/ coaches/ players/ coach drivers et al, but I do not think that that would produce top class one day players overnight. There were some mistakes made in selection, but if we had obvious world beaters they would have been selected. Sure, there is a case for bringing back Stokes and promoting Roy/ Vince/ Billings et al, but the main popular one-day hero, Hales, has not been a wild success, so they have to be sensible and phase in new guys with the best of the old guys, as has always been best practice.
Neither Moeen nor Woakes made the squad for the West Indies, but Moeen might fly out later. Woakes is out until May, probably. Both Rashid and Tredders are included. Lyth, Wood and Stokes are all in. Some were expecting Robbo to be included, but I was not one of them. Finny has been axed. Test selection could be interesting: if they want four seamers, a spinner and a keeper (and this must be possible because Anderson is the only rabbit in the whole party) then only five batters can get in and assuming Cook, Bell and Root are certs, one of Trott, Ballance and Lyth has to miss out. The warm up matches should decide this, I suppose, as each has something to prove: Trott that he really is back to his best, Ballance that his crap WC form was just a blip and Lyth that he really is as good as many think. They could, of course, stick with the usual line-up of six batters, three seamers and a spinner, but this seems to me to be an ideal opportunity to select a full hand of bowlers because they can all bat (apart from one and even he has an 81 to his name in Tests).
Middlesex Matters
Jeff Coleman sent me the following
Further to my comments in last months G&C. I am led to believe that almost all of the 11 current members of the Executive Board are also MCC members, as are 4 of the 5 candidates for election at the AGM. I find it hard to believe that, with a virtual monopoly of MCC members on the Executive Board, such important matters as are in discussion with the MCC can properly be at arms length. I have concerns that this near monopoly will hinder MCCC in obtaining the best terms from the tenancy review. We are already informed that the MCC is taking over the running of the Middlesex shop. Hopefully more information will be available at the AGM on April 7.
The Great Jack Morgan sent me this
Amongst the huge amounts of paper just received from MCCC, is the information that NPD Ross is standing for the Middlesex Committee (sorry, "Executive Board"). He is proposed by JM Brears and seconded by MW Gatt. Apparently he has run his own sales agency business (what's one of those?) for 25 years and JMB says "he has done well in business". A photo of him is included and I would never have recognised him if you had given me a hundred clues. He looks nothing like the slim rather good-looking chap that I remember, he now looks like any other oldish, plumpish middle-aged man with glasses, though he still retains a decent head of dark hair. But then we all deteriorate, don't we?
Also amongst the Middlesex literature was a list of all the names and numbers of the contracted players... and there are twenty six of them. This seems an awful lot, but a few of them are still in full time education, so they are not all on full contracts.
Carlin Matters
Paddy Carlin sent me the following notes
I was in Sydney in February and so could experience much of the local press coverage of the astonishingly poor performance of England in the World Cup. They never really recovered from the terrible decision to insert Australia on a boiling hot day in Melbourne and then a few minutes into the game Woakes made a hash of a straightforward catch. It started badly and got worse. Heads should have rolled.
My trip to Oz was not to see the World Cup, I am not a closet member of the Barmy Army and the timing was coincidental. I attended the game at the SCG with Mike McLagan and saw the de Villiers assault on Holder which made Finn’s analysis against New Zealand appear economical.
In “old fart” mode I would like to give a flavour of the experience of the SCG. The cricket is not deemed interesting enough to hold the attention of the audience (not spectators) and to remedy this the Aussies serve up their own brand of tasteless crap. The PA system is very effective given the size of the ground and it was impossible to escape the incessant din. We arrived early to do some serious ale consumption in the pavilion and were subjected to interviews with various pundits over the PA, followed by an Aboriginal chief laying claim to the SCG as his land. Next up was a team of drummers who played a fifty minute cacophony. A hyped up event co-ordinator gathered groups of the audience together to photograph themselves. These air guitar cams, pepsi cams, kissing cams etc were enlarged on the big screen during the match to the accompaniment of maximum noise and hysteria. Between every over there was pop music, the drummers or an idiotic cam. Play was regularly held up or interrupted by these essential goings on. In addition during play every boundary was greeted with flares, fireworks and more deafening music.
ABV has worked out his hitting zone and has identified a new way of playing it. The field settings give some indication of the likely length and direction of the delivery and he has a new range of shots to take advantage of this. 64 runs came from the last two overs and the SCG is not small. I see the game increasingly looking like baseball with concentration on the hitting zone.
Mike and I watched from the old pavilion where we enjoyed 2% ale in half pints for £4 a glass. You would be broke before you ever got drunk. We left at the interval having predicted a West Indies collapse and to nurse our headaches created by the din.
Surrey Matters
Jim Revier - I can’t stand Pietersen and the thought of him turning out for the chocolate hatters again fills me with dread. However, the real reason it upsets me is that it will once again deprive a good young player of a place in the side. Surrey seem to have a useful looking batting line up (the bowling is another story) - Burns, Ansari, Sangakarra, Solanki, Davies, Roy, Foakes, Harinath and Wilson are vying for places in the order and to add KP to the mix is crazy. Of those 9 six are or have been wicketkeepers so we won’t be short in that field! I am impressed with Kelvin West's signings. If Redknapp had signed those three he'd still be in a job.
Paddy Carlin – Will the might of Leicesterchire, Glamorgan et al be able to withstand the KP enhanced Surrey? But they need have no fears from the Surrey bowling.
WGCCC Matters
Paddy Carlin updates us
The three Middlesex old boys, Hewitt, Laraman and Shah are back as is last season’s overseas star form Queensland, Scott Walter, but several players have left including two good youngsters and so it could be a season of struggle after last year’s second place.
Disgusted Matters
Chris Overson sent me this
As usual I much enjoyed Googlies.....However, I do think that the over emphasis on articles about cricket and football is rather gratuitous and does detract from the tasteful photographic section which I found both intellectually stimulating and thought provoking.
Regards
Disgusted of North Harrow
In memoriam
Carole Perham sent me the sad news that Brian Raven, a staunch South Hampstead man since the seventies, had died recently.
Jim Revier sent me this: Old Danes and musos will have been saddened to hear of the death on Wednesday16 March of Free bassist Andy Fraser. Expelled from the school for refusing to get his hair cut (how petty that seems now) he went on to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, before forming Free in 1968. He co wrote "All Right Now" with Paul Rodgers in 1970 aged just 18, and indeed continued to write prolifically (My Brother Jake, The Stealer, Fire and Water etc).Sadly he suffered from both cancer and AIDS in his later years.RIP
Jack Morgan: Andy Fraser has died aged 62 of “cancer and Aids”. Joel McIver’s obituary in the G included this sentence: “expelled from his grammar school, St Clement Danes in Chorleywood, Herts, for refusing to wear his hair short, Fraser enrolled at Hammersmith FE college, where he became friends with Sappho Korner”, daughter of Alexis. The obit did not say where he died, but I know that he had been living in California.
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