C&G 180
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 180
December 2017
Caption Competition
1. Paul Stirling: Of course, the head butt is OK. In the Irish team we greet each other with a jovial kick in the bollox.
2. Patrice Evra: I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. In France we think nothing of drop kicking friends and acquaintances.
3. Man in Street: I didn’t know the Ashes had started. Its not on my TV.
4. Joe Root: Nass told me if you can’t put them in at Brisbane then you must do so at Adelaide.
Out and About with the Professor -1
They have played cricket in Hong Kong, so I was told, since the 1850s. The original ground was on the Island next to the barracks. The story goes that the high command in the Army (possibly even as high as The Duke himself) decided that while sports were obviously good for morale, games like football and "ruggar" (ye gods) were not suitable since they involved physical contact. By contrast cricket being (generally) a non-contact sport, was suitable for officers and men to play together and even (on rare occasions, and only for the highest class) with "natives". Accordingly, regiments stationed overseas - protecting indigenous populations from themselves - were required to construct cricket grounds. The Hong Kong one lasted until the 1970s when it gave way to "progress" and is now under some multi-storey finance house. The cricket club moved near to the Happy Valley racetrack where a very smart ground was constructed. Several other grounds also exist in the former colony, with the Kowloon Cricket Club being perhaps the best known. It is, it would be fair to say, pretty well-appointed as cricket clubs go.
The Head Coach (they have several) is a very nice young man called Scott McKechnie who learned his cricket in Kent and came up through the junior ranks there. He appears to have a very pleasant job. The Club has also, of course, a head chef, a couple of restaurants and the odd asset not regularly seen in English club cricket, like a full-sized swimming pool. In all probability some Googlies readers have played on these or other Hong Kong grounds: it would be good to hear of their memories.
The national side, of course, play competitively in the ICC and ACC competitions. I have a vague memory of Dermot Reeve playing 20 or so years' back having been born in Hong Kong (thereby adding his name, of course, to the list of those who, in the view of some, should never have been permitted to play for England). International matches normally take place at a third, less attractive but larger ground, which can accommodate today's big bats.
The downside of cricket in Hong Kong is the air quality. It would not have troubled the Victorian troops but today asthma sufferers might find it all a bit stressful. A significant minority of the population walk around wearing masks which might be, I imagine, something of an impediment if you were opening the bowling. Nevertheless, interest in cricket is high and increasing. Master McKechnie has more students than he can handle on his own and the sport is thriving at school and club level.
If only the same could be said for the country that sent the game here in the first place.
Out and About with the Professor -2
The Adelaide ground, as everyone knows, has been redeveloped and, to my eye, the outcome is a great success. Cricket grounds range between the collections of a job-lot of buildings (Headingley, Chelmsford...add your own favourite) to the unified Colliseum-style arena of the Gabba. Adelaide has placed itself nicely between the two. The new stands give a harmony to the structure while the decision to keep the one end open to allow a view of the Cathedral was just right. As was the rather nostalgic decision to keep the old manually-operated score box. It prevents the whole thing just becoming another soulless stadium. The outcome is a subtle aesthetic success of the type for which Australians are so well renowned.
It is not cricket that supplies the money, of course, a 50,000 plus seater stadium is required for the famously misnamed Aussie "Rules". I read that this game was invented in Melbourne as a way for cricketers to keep fit in the winter. The child has now outgrown the parent, and so Rules rules and cricket is very much the second sport at the Oval.
The cricket has changed too. The last time I was here, Australia batted first and after 10 glorious minutes were 2-3. Trott had run out Katich from mid wicket and Ponting and Clarke had "nicked-off" (as we are now obliged to say) to Swann in the slips. It's a long way back from 2-3 and happily Australia didn't make it following a stunning double century from Pietersen and, somewhat less predictably, KP also managing to dismiss Clarke for 90.
Saturday wasn't quite like that...with the exception of the run out to start. England's decision to bowl short and miles wide of Smith's off stump did not generate much in the way of attacking cricket. This was supported (if that's the right word) by 7-2 fields which meant that the bowlers couldn't bowl straight if they wanted to. I don't know what proportion of Test wickets are bowled/LBW/caught but it must be of the order of 90%. To abandon the first two of those seems very odd indeed. Add to that, of course, the batsman knows exactly what is intended. Correct tactics or not, it produced an attritional day’s cricket. Not uninteresting but also not overly exciting.
The Australian Press were predictably hostile...both before and after the first day. It is not just that they are partial - they are vitriolic, full of undiluted bile. Bairstow is a "thug", Anderson a "foul-mouthed Pom who shouldn't be allowed near a cricket ground" and on and on. In another context it would be called hate-speech. It isn't even humorous, just pure aggression. I don't know why they hate us so much...it's not as if we are the ex-convicts.
The much- discussed day/night formula also didn't feel like a great success. More than 50,000 people were there for kick-off but by 10 pm only those who had travelled half way round the world were still in the ground. The pink ball shows up pretty well in the gloom but gives the illusion of being larger than a normal ball and more slow moving. Perhaps the slow moving bit will disappear when Australia bowl today...assuming we can bowl straight enough to get 6 more wickets.
On the GJM’s Couch
Jack is getting his info online and from the G
Ex-Middlesex man C Silverwood will become England's new bowling coach from Jan '18.
Bulawayo: West Indies went on to 448 a/o (S Dowrich 103 at no 8, J Holder 110 at no 9). The BBC web says that somebody called Butt took 5-99 but Butt was not actually playing in the game and the G gives the 5-99 to Sikandar Raza, who was playing in the game! Are they using pseudonyms to cover up ringers? The Zims are 140-4. The Zims held on for a comfortable draw at Bulawayo on 301-7. The Beeb says that the mysterious Mr Butt made 89, so I am assuming that the G will give these runs to Sikandar Raza.
I was astonished to hear that promising allrounder Ryan Higgins has been allowed to join Gloucestershire.
BBC Sport's All-Time Ashes XI includes 4 Englishmen: Hobbs, Boycott, Botham and Anderson. The stats agree there should be 4 English in the team, but these should be: Sutcliffe, Hutton, Barrington and Laker!
As a life member, I do not usually get any communications from Middlesex about renewing membership, but I did get an e-mailed circular from them today on this subject for the first time for many years and I was shocked to find that membership costs £265 pa! I had no idea it was that expensive and it certainly makes my decision to go for life membership in the mid-80s (£459 if memory serves) look like a very shrewd move!
JSCR met JWJC in Ruislip library recently and Jeff passed on the news that N Compton has got a benefit next season! This has probably been on the website, but I rarely look at it these days. It is not about how well he is doing, it is about how many years he has put in...and as he had 5 years at Somerset, I reckon he barely qualifies by traditional standards: 10 years with Middlesex since his debut (in 2 spells), but only 8 since his cap, but I suppose they will feel free to sack him when he has had his year of celebration and cash!
Well, the Ashes starts tonight and I am far from confident about our lads' chances. The bowlers are probably about as good as we could muster (though the Aussies are better), but I am not convinced about our batting, but then Oz have also made some odd selections. Trying to hang on for a draw is not a very sound strategy, yet I am hoping they can do so as I think winning (particularly in Brisbane) is beyond them. Ball is apparently fit and likely to be preferred to Overton. Total disaster at the Gabba: Eng 195 a/o (Root 51, Moeen 40, Bairstow 42); Oz 114-0 and need only 55. How can they strengthen the side?
The Rangers scored twice after 93 and 94 mins to secure a home draw with Brentford. This seems a bit like a victory after 3 consecutive defeats and being 2 down at 90 mins... it just shows how bad things have got.
I have just received the Middlesex fixtures for next season and all 7 CC matches are at Lord's: brilliant! But only one RLC game is at Lord's, but we have another one-dayer there v Oz!
The December Cricketer was an enormous thing of 130 pages or so, but when I got to the letters page (102), I found that they had awarded the Star letter prize (a signed bottle of James Anderson's exclusive wine range) to Mx supporter Les Skinner from Luton who made some valid points, but was quite wrong with others... so I had to write in to put readers straight:
“Les Skinner (Star letter, December 2017) has a point about the omission of Nathan Sowter, but he really should have mentioned that Middlesex were deprived through injury of their no 1 spinner, Ollie Rayner. Even so, Ravi Patel (slow left arm, 12-173) was not quite the "lone spinner" that Les claims him to be because Paul Stirling filled in for Ollie and took 3 for 95 with his off-spin. There was even some additional spin from Adam Voges (slow left arm, 0-20) and Dawid Malan (leg spin, 0-14), who did not bowl many overs, but are not negligible spinners and might have been used more in preference to Stirling or to give Patel a break.”
I have now received this response: "Good knowledge Jack; a good one for the letters page."
This and That
I have always thought that Compton was brought back to Lord’s to captain the side and would not be surprised to see him in that role soon. Surely Franklin has no claim to a place following relegation and his low performance level?
I have not been able to generate any interest in the Ashes. I was looking forward to the excellent two-hour highlights and assessment sessions on Sky which are broadcast repeatedly during the day and so I would be able to select the most convenient time to watch. I have never stayed up late or got up early to watch the live broadcasts from Australia. However, late on I discovered that the only channel showing it was a BT one. Sky do not even have the dismissals in their news progs. I consequently have not got involved and have little interest.
How far will the Brexiteers, now renamed Brassoles, want to go with their isolationism? Will it upset them so much to consume foreign owned electricity and water that they will insist on purchasing back the supplier companies? As there are also no UK owners of car manufacturers, will these businesses have to be nationalised to get rid of Jonny Foreigner? And what about the Premier League. All of these big clubs enjoy (sic) foreign ownership; will they need nationalising? And then there are the overseas players; will they be able to get work permits in what will surely become Corbyn’s Britain?
We live in strange times. Evra was sent off during the warm up not for attacking the oppo or an official but for drop kicking a fan. The true irony was that because play had not started his team were able to still commence the game with a substitute and not be disadvantaged by his loss.
Colin Munro now opens for New Zealand’s T20 side. In the T20 international at Rajkot against India he scored 109 not out from 58 deliveries with 7 sixes. Only Kohli got any in reply and NZ won by the substantial margin of 40 runs.
My earliest memory of a big money transfer was when Denis Law was transferred for £55k from Huddersfield to Manchester City. Nowadays what can you get for £40m? A member of Arsenal’s sub bench transfers to Liverpool’s sub bench. Iceland’s star midfielder guides Everton to the brink of the relegation zone. The success story of this costly trio is Tottenham’s number 2 who joined Manchester City, but who pays £40m for a full back? I know - you have to call him a wing back today.
What’s with all the Premier League players having double barrelled names? When I stood on the terraces there weren’t any and if there had been they would have taken so much stick that they would have soon dropped one leg of their name. Nowadays no side is complete without one. What next - titled players?
Good News, Bad News
The Good, albeit unexpected, News is that you have been appointed Manager of Canterbury in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield. The Bad News is that under Health & Safety Regulations you now have to perform a Risk Assessment particularly with regards to your new international signing.
1. You give your new man a lift to the ground. A boy racer cuts you up and then when you pull up alongside him at the lights he gives you the finger.
Do you:
a. Check that your passenger is in his seatbelt.
b. Immediately engage the central window and door locking mechanism.
c. Back up and attempt a U-turn.
2. Your new man is fielding on the boundary. The members of the crowd in close proximity get particularly vocal and make various suggestions, such as: “Hey Carrot Top, my brother is in the UK taking care of your missus”.
Do you:
a. Replace the boundary rope with your very own Mexican Wall.
b. Give free beer to the crowd members to lighten their mood.
c. Move your man to an infield position.
3. Your new man is put on to bowl but is having trouble with his run up. The umpire is lenient for the first two deliveries but when he oversteps by eighteen inches on the third he feels compelled to call “no ball”. Your new man having conceded boundaries from the first two deliveries turns purple and seems set to explode.
Do you:
a. Suggest he finishes the over with some gentle off spinners using a Bombers Wells run up.
b. Tell him the umpire is a well-known wanker and just to ignore him.
c. Feign a coughing fit and summon the medicos to slow things down.
4. Your new man is batting and there is a short leg in place who suggests that he’s looking out of form, couldn’t lay a hand on the ball if it was wrapped in a bra, and that he would not look out of place if he was marooned on Poofters’ Island.
Do you:
a. Rush out to the middle with a replacement bat.
b. Suggest to the opposing captain that on this wicket there is no point in having a short leg.
c. Ring the Fire Alarm to create a diversion.
5. Your new man is fielding at slip and he takes a stunning catch inches from the ground but the batsman stays put and the umpire seems undecided as to whether to raise his finger.
Do you:
a. Get all of the other fielders to circle your new man to stop him approaching the batsman and/or umpires.
b. Get all of the other fielders to circle the batsman to protect him.
c. Get all of the other fielders to circle the umpire to protect him.
6. The game is over and you have lost by a narrow margin. The opposing captain brings a jug of beer into your dressing room.
Do you:
a. Look for an umbrella
b. Suggest that paper cups will be fine rather than glasses.
c. Take your new man onto the outfield for some emergency fielding practice.
Golding Matters
I received the following from Paul Golding
My father played for South Hampstead between 1959 and 1962. Unfortunately he is now terminally ill with cancer so I am now doing some research into his playing career but also trying to make contact with some people who might remember him. He joined SH with Bob Cleaver and was very friendly with Roy Dodson who I believe was the secretary of SH for many years. The name Jon Bottrill also rings a bell. If you have any contact details for any of those individuals I would be grateful if you could put me in touch with them as a matter of some urgency. If you would prefer to give them my e-mail address and contact details that would be fine.
I have seen the wonderful archives that you have on your site. They are fantastic and a great resource for my research. I have a hard copy of the SH aggregate averages for the 1959 season if that would be of any interest to anybody at the club and I also have fixture cards for 1959 -62 in case anybody wants them. If there are aggregate averages for seasons 1960 - 62 that anybody can provide to me I would be very grateful.
Paul’s contact details are [email protected]
T: +44 (0) 1483 730303 | M: +44 (0) 7974351750
Danes at Lord’s
Gary Rhoades sent me this
The enclosed photograph is of the St Clement Danes Under-15 cricket team at Lords on the 14th July 1967. Of course, the scene is not instantly recognisable today because Lords now has its huge press and media stand at the Nursery end. The occasion was the final of the Middlesex and North London Grammar Schools 8-a-Side Competition with SCD representing London against Hampton Grammar School representing Middlesex.
In the photograph: Phil Edmunds, Tony King, Dave Howes, Simon Fraser, Gary Rhoades, Dave Vincent and Bill Marle; kneeling Dave Heley, Dave Fox and Paul Rubie (can’t remember who was 9th man, probably Bill Marle).
The 8-a-side game was of twelve overs per side that allowed games to be completed in about eighty minutes: about the length of a Games lesson. The rules were that everyone batted for three overs: the first pair of batsmen (1&2) faced the first three overs and were followed by the second pair (3&4), who faced the next three and so on. There were four bowlers on each side, and so each bowled three overs. The batting side donated two fielders to the bowling side at all times, so that in the field you were just one short of a full complement. The routine for the batting side was a cycle of being padded up, batting, umpiring and then fielding. The only other rules of note were that the number of wickets that fell were divided into your side’s score (you could be out more than once in your three overs) to give you ‘your final score’ and that a wicket was lost if a maiden over was played. So padded up in the photograph are Dave Heley and Paul Rubie, our opening couple.
We had played through several rounds to meet the final and just before the final rounds had lost our captain Phil Edmunds to appendicitis (hence he’s in school uniform). We also learnt then that the final would be played at Lords in early July. We had few problems getting through the early rounds and didn’t really have a tough game until the semi-final. Our weakness seemed to be the ability to score runs (our strength was losing few wickets) so a couple of us lobbied our Cricket Master to add an under-14 batsman to our team to replace Edmunds (who was a fair batsman and bowler)and that was how Dave Heley played. We were fairly confident going into the game but through a mixture of a slog too far, some thoughtless captaincy and especially a piece of gamesmanship we managed to lose the game.
Though we changed in the pavilion dressing rooms we didn’t get to walk down the steps to the wicket but were positioned to the right of the pavilion. As you would expect the pitch was right on the edge of the square nearest to the Tavern. As it was a final, we were excused the need to umpire and had two Middlesex (and England) stalwarts umpiring the game. At the Nursery End was Jack Robertson and at the Pavilion End was Jim Sims (who I knew slightly as he used to live on the same estate as me (and Jim Revier and the GJM) in the early ‘60s).
We lost the toss and were put in and the first 3 overs went well. It was the next 3 that were to harm us as we lost 2 wickets (one of them a maiden over) and halfway through our innings we were about 25 for 2. It is fair to say that this was the best bowling side we had met all competition. Fortunately our best batsman was in next and Dave Vincent was so much better than us at that age that he was already playing in the 1st XI. He enjoyed his time and slogged the Hampton bowling all around the ground. Unfortunately in his last over he played a loose shot and was caught. Thanks to his hitting and the last pair adding runs without loss we managed a good score of 75 but lost 3 wickets.
You could not say we had a particularly strong bowling side. Edmunds was lost to us and our 3 main bowlers were the consistent trio of Paul Rubie, Dave Howes and Simon Fraser (at this distance I’m sorry to say I can’t recall the 4th bowler). Having brought in Heley to replace Edmunds’ batting loss, we probably should have brought in another Under-14 bowler too. Heley was there because Dave Howes and I (both Bush Colts) had lobbied for him as he was the best Under-14 batsman, another Bush Colt and so well known to us. We could have gone a step further and got Alan Holley in the team, a fellow Under-14 and Bush Colt. The problem with that is that this was an Under-15 team and it would have been unfair on Under-15 boys to lose a place. In retrospect I think the choice of Holley instead of Heley would have been the smarter move, as Holley was an excellent bowler and would have performed well on this fast wicket..
As it was the team bowled and fielded magnificently, but they were just not penetrative enough. In the final over Hampton had scored barely 40 runs but had lost only 1 wicket. On the penultimate ball the Hampton batsman played a loose wipe to a Simon Fraser (I think) ball, and getting a top edge the ball spiralled in an agonisingly slow arc towards square-leg. It was an easy catch, down square-leg’s throat, a dolly and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in that split-second to think ‘Christ, we’ve won’. The ball went to hand, of that I’m sure, but the fielder made a pathetic attempt at holding on to it and the ball tumbled onto the green carpet of the square: the square-leg was one of our loaned Hampton fielders.
The batsmen crossed and the last ball was safely patted back down the pitch. We had lost. We walked off the pitch, watched a presentation to Hampton and after changing made our way back home. We all felt down about it and there was no relief at school because the fact that we’d played at Lords was made nothing of. It was probably due to our Cricket Master being suspended at the time, but some announcement could have been made.
Looking back now I know it was a fantastic thing to do and something even really good cricketers never get the chance to do: to play at Lords. There are three things that still make a big impression on me. The first was the speed and bounce of the pitch (very different from the Bush track). The second was the really fast outfield. The third was, surprisingly, the dressing rooms. Being used to benches with hooks and maybe a small locker it was something else to go into the Lords dressing room. It was like a huge untidy living room, with large, worn, leather armchairs and sofas all over the place. Instead of hooks or lockers there were these strange individual wardrobes. Funny what stays with you. A great day and a shame we lost.
King Cricket Matters
Alex Bowden writes
Hurray! Four-day Tests! They’ll be much like five-day Tests, only with the unique selling point somewhat compromised. Who can fail to support an idea as clear and appealing as that one? The thinking seems to be, ‘well, maybe if each match isn’t quite such a big commitment, some countries might play a few more’.
It’s also been announced that there’s going to be a Test championship – the ICC delaying the move for many years until precisely the point at which everyone’s already tired of it. Confusingly, every Test in the championship will be a five-day affair. They haven’t worked out the points system yet because you don’t want to rush these things. “I would like to congratulate our members on reaching this agreement,” said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, whose congratulatory bar seems set sufficiently low that he’d doubtless give you a hearty handshake for successfully scaling a flight of stairs.
We still believe that administrators would be far better off making some effort to bind the formats together rather than forever pitting them against one another.
We know the format-spanning points system is widely-ridiculed because no-one cares about it, but there is a nugget of something in there in our opinion.
As we’ve written before, whatever the current state of the longest format, cricket, in a broader sense, is in relatively rude health. The problem really is that the formats are cannibalising each other when they should be working together. A Test world championship is symptomatic of that thinking. It reflects an insular view of the game where T20s, ODIs and Tests are all different. In reality, they’re all cricket – so why not treat them as one?
A format-spanning cricket world championship would provide context for everything and an incentive to play and perform well in the longest format as a by-product of that. Alternatively, you could just implicitly diminish the status of a bunch of Test matches and hope that this somehow provides the format’s salvation
Googlies Distribution
I normally send Googlies out by email from two different computers on alternate months. Recipients with a BT email address are having their email returned from one of these saying that it is spam! The very thought of it! If you want to receive each edition you need to find a way of persuading your email host to accept Googlies from my SBC global email address: [email protected]
Alternatively, you can read it on the Googlies website, where I post each edition.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 180
December 2017
Caption Competition
1. Paul Stirling: Of course, the head butt is OK. In the Irish team we greet each other with a jovial kick in the bollox.
2. Patrice Evra: I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. In France we think nothing of drop kicking friends and acquaintances.
3. Man in Street: I didn’t know the Ashes had started. Its not on my TV.
4. Joe Root: Nass told me if you can’t put them in at Brisbane then you must do so at Adelaide.
Out and About with the Professor -1
They have played cricket in Hong Kong, so I was told, since the 1850s. The original ground was on the Island next to the barracks. The story goes that the high command in the Army (possibly even as high as The Duke himself) decided that while sports were obviously good for morale, games like football and "ruggar" (ye gods) were not suitable since they involved physical contact. By contrast cricket being (generally) a non-contact sport, was suitable for officers and men to play together and even (on rare occasions, and only for the highest class) with "natives". Accordingly, regiments stationed overseas - protecting indigenous populations from themselves - were required to construct cricket grounds. The Hong Kong one lasted until the 1970s when it gave way to "progress" and is now under some multi-storey finance house. The cricket club moved near to the Happy Valley racetrack where a very smart ground was constructed. Several other grounds also exist in the former colony, with the Kowloon Cricket Club being perhaps the best known. It is, it would be fair to say, pretty well-appointed as cricket clubs go.
The Head Coach (they have several) is a very nice young man called Scott McKechnie who learned his cricket in Kent and came up through the junior ranks there. He appears to have a very pleasant job. The Club has also, of course, a head chef, a couple of restaurants and the odd asset not regularly seen in English club cricket, like a full-sized swimming pool. In all probability some Googlies readers have played on these or other Hong Kong grounds: it would be good to hear of their memories.
The national side, of course, play competitively in the ICC and ACC competitions. I have a vague memory of Dermot Reeve playing 20 or so years' back having been born in Hong Kong (thereby adding his name, of course, to the list of those who, in the view of some, should never have been permitted to play for England). International matches normally take place at a third, less attractive but larger ground, which can accommodate today's big bats.
The downside of cricket in Hong Kong is the air quality. It would not have troubled the Victorian troops but today asthma sufferers might find it all a bit stressful. A significant minority of the population walk around wearing masks which might be, I imagine, something of an impediment if you were opening the bowling. Nevertheless, interest in cricket is high and increasing. Master McKechnie has more students than he can handle on his own and the sport is thriving at school and club level.
If only the same could be said for the country that sent the game here in the first place.
Out and About with the Professor -2
The Adelaide ground, as everyone knows, has been redeveloped and, to my eye, the outcome is a great success. Cricket grounds range between the collections of a job-lot of buildings (Headingley, Chelmsford...add your own favourite) to the unified Colliseum-style arena of the Gabba. Adelaide has placed itself nicely between the two. The new stands give a harmony to the structure while the decision to keep the one end open to allow a view of the Cathedral was just right. As was the rather nostalgic decision to keep the old manually-operated score box. It prevents the whole thing just becoming another soulless stadium. The outcome is a subtle aesthetic success of the type for which Australians are so well renowned.
It is not cricket that supplies the money, of course, a 50,000 plus seater stadium is required for the famously misnamed Aussie "Rules". I read that this game was invented in Melbourne as a way for cricketers to keep fit in the winter. The child has now outgrown the parent, and so Rules rules and cricket is very much the second sport at the Oval.
The cricket has changed too. The last time I was here, Australia batted first and after 10 glorious minutes were 2-3. Trott had run out Katich from mid wicket and Ponting and Clarke had "nicked-off" (as we are now obliged to say) to Swann in the slips. It's a long way back from 2-3 and happily Australia didn't make it following a stunning double century from Pietersen and, somewhat less predictably, KP also managing to dismiss Clarke for 90.
Saturday wasn't quite like that...with the exception of the run out to start. England's decision to bowl short and miles wide of Smith's off stump did not generate much in the way of attacking cricket. This was supported (if that's the right word) by 7-2 fields which meant that the bowlers couldn't bowl straight if they wanted to. I don't know what proportion of Test wickets are bowled/LBW/caught but it must be of the order of 90%. To abandon the first two of those seems very odd indeed. Add to that, of course, the batsman knows exactly what is intended. Correct tactics or not, it produced an attritional day’s cricket. Not uninteresting but also not overly exciting.
The Australian Press were predictably hostile...both before and after the first day. It is not just that they are partial - they are vitriolic, full of undiluted bile. Bairstow is a "thug", Anderson a "foul-mouthed Pom who shouldn't be allowed near a cricket ground" and on and on. In another context it would be called hate-speech. It isn't even humorous, just pure aggression. I don't know why they hate us so much...it's not as if we are the ex-convicts.
The much- discussed day/night formula also didn't feel like a great success. More than 50,000 people were there for kick-off but by 10 pm only those who had travelled half way round the world were still in the ground. The pink ball shows up pretty well in the gloom but gives the illusion of being larger than a normal ball and more slow moving. Perhaps the slow moving bit will disappear when Australia bowl today...assuming we can bowl straight enough to get 6 more wickets.
On the GJM’s Couch
Jack is getting his info online and from the G
Ex-Middlesex man C Silverwood will become England's new bowling coach from Jan '18.
Bulawayo: West Indies went on to 448 a/o (S Dowrich 103 at no 8, J Holder 110 at no 9). The BBC web says that somebody called Butt took 5-99 but Butt was not actually playing in the game and the G gives the 5-99 to Sikandar Raza, who was playing in the game! Are they using pseudonyms to cover up ringers? The Zims are 140-4. The Zims held on for a comfortable draw at Bulawayo on 301-7. The Beeb says that the mysterious Mr Butt made 89, so I am assuming that the G will give these runs to Sikandar Raza.
I was astonished to hear that promising allrounder Ryan Higgins has been allowed to join Gloucestershire.
BBC Sport's All-Time Ashes XI includes 4 Englishmen: Hobbs, Boycott, Botham and Anderson. The stats agree there should be 4 English in the team, but these should be: Sutcliffe, Hutton, Barrington and Laker!
As a life member, I do not usually get any communications from Middlesex about renewing membership, but I did get an e-mailed circular from them today on this subject for the first time for many years and I was shocked to find that membership costs £265 pa! I had no idea it was that expensive and it certainly makes my decision to go for life membership in the mid-80s (£459 if memory serves) look like a very shrewd move!
JSCR met JWJC in Ruislip library recently and Jeff passed on the news that N Compton has got a benefit next season! This has probably been on the website, but I rarely look at it these days. It is not about how well he is doing, it is about how many years he has put in...and as he had 5 years at Somerset, I reckon he barely qualifies by traditional standards: 10 years with Middlesex since his debut (in 2 spells), but only 8 since his cap, but I suppose they will feel free to sack him when he has had his year of celebration and cash!
Well, the Ashes starts tonight and I am far from confident about our lads' chances. The bowlers are probably about as good as we could muster (though the Aussies are better), but I am not convinced about our batting, but then Oz have also made some odd selections. Trying to hang on for a draw is not a very sound strategy, yet I am hoping they can do so as I think winning (particularly in Brisbane) is beyond them. Ball is apparently fit and likely to be preferred to Overton. Total disaster at the Gabba: Eng 195 a/o (Root 51, Moeen 40, Bairstow 42); Oz 114-0 and need only 55. How can they strengthen the side?
The Rangers scored twice after 93 and 94 mins to secure a home draw with Brentford. This seems a bit like a victory after 3 consecutive defeats and being 2 down at 90 mins... it just shows how bad things have got.
I have just received the Middlesex fixtures for next season and all 7 CC matches are at Lord's: brilliant! But only one RLC game is at Lord's, but we have another one-dayer there v Oz!
The December Cricketer was an enormous thing of 130 pages or so, but when I got to the letters page (102), I found that they had awarded the Star letter prize (a signed bottle of James Anderson's exclusive wine range) to Mx supporter Les Skinner from Luton who made some valid points, but was quite wrong with others... so I had to write in to put readers straight:
“Les Skinner (Star letter, December 2017) has a point about the omission of Nathan Sowter, but he really should have mentioned that Middlesex were deprived through injury of their no 1 spinner, Ollie Rayner. Even so, Ravi Patel (slow left arm, 12-173) was not quite the "lone spinner" that Les claims him to be because Paul Stirling filled in for Ollie and took 3 for 95 with his off-spin. There was even some additional spin from Adam Voges (slow left arm, 0-20) and Dawid Malan (leg spin, 0-14), who did not bowl many overs, but are not negligible spinners and might have been used more in preference to Stirling or to give Patel a break.”
I have now received this response: "Good knowledge Jack; a good one for the letters page."
This and That
I have always thought that Compton was brought back to Lord’s to captain the side and would not be surprised to see him in that role soon. Surely Franklin has no claim to a place following relegation and his low performance level?
I have not been able to generate any interest in the Ashes. I was looking forward to the excellent two-hour highlights and assessment sessions on Sky which are broadcast repeatedly during the day and so I would be able to select the most convenient time to watch. I have never stayed up late or got up early to watch the live broadcasts from Australia. However, late on I discovered that the only channel showing it was a BT one. Sky do not even have the dismissals in their news progs. I consequently have not got involved and have little interest.
How far will the Brexiteers, now renamed Brassoles, want to go with their isolationism? Will it upset them so much to consume foreign owned electricity and water that they will insist on purchasing back the supplier companies? As there are also no UK owners of car manufacturers, will these businesses have to be nationalised to get rid of Jonny Foreigner? And what about the Premier League. All of these big clubs enjoy (sic) foreign ownership; will they need nationalising? And then there are the overseas players; will they be able to get work permits in what will surely become Corbyn’s Britain?
We live in strange times. Evra was sent off during the warm up not for attacking the oppo or an official but for drop kicking a fan. The true irony was that because play had not started his team were able to still commence the game with a substitute and not be disadvantaged by his loss.
Colin Munro now opens for New Zealand’s T20 side. In the T20 international at Rajkot against India he scored 109 not out from 58 deliveries with 7 sixes. Only Kohli got any in reply and NZ won by the substantial margin of 40 runs.
My earliest memory of a big money transfer was when Denis Law was transferred for £55k from Huddersfield to Manchester City. Nowadays what can you get for £40m? A member of Arsenal’s sub bench transfers to Liverpool’s sub bench. Iceland’s star midfielder guides Everton to the brink of the relegation zone. The success story of this costly trio is Tottenham’s number 2 who joined Manchester City, but who pays £40m for a full back? I know - you have to call him a wing back today.
What’s with all the Premier League players having double barrelled names? When I stood on the terraces there weren’t any and if there had been they would have taken so much stick that they would have soon dropped one leg of their name. Nowadays no side is complete without one. What next - titled players?
Good News, Bad News
The Good, albeit unexpected, News is that you have been appointed Manager of Canterbury in New Zealand’s Plunket Shield. The Bad News is that under Health & Safety Regulations you now have to perform a Risk Assessment particularly with regards to your new international signing.
1. You give your new man a lift to the ground. A boy racer cuts you up and then when you pull up alongside him at the lights he gives you the finger.
Do you:
a. Check that your passenger is in his seatbelt.
b. Immediately engage the central window and door locking mechanism.
c. Back up and attempt a U-turn.
2. Your new man is fielding on the boundary. The members of the crowd in close proximity get particularly vocal and make various suggestions, such as: “Hey Carrot Top, my brother is in the UK taking care of your missus”.
Do you:
a. Replace the boundary rope with your very own Mexican Wall.
b. Give free beer to the crowd members to lighten their mood.
c. Move your man to an infield position.
3. Your new man is put on to bowl but is having trouble with his run up. The umpire is lenient for the first two deliveries but when he oversteps by eighteen inches on the third he feels compelled to call “no ball”. Your new man having conceded boundaries from the first two deliveries turns purple and seems set to explode.
Do you:
a. Suggest he finishes the over with some gentle off spinners using a Bombers Wells run up.
b. Tell him the umpire is a well-known wanker and just to ignore him.
c. Feign a coughing fit and summon the medicos to slow things down.
4. Your new man is batting and there is a short leg in place who suggests that he’s looking out of form, couldn’t lay a hand on the ball if it was wrapped in a bra, and that he would not look out of place if he was marooned on Poofters’ Island.
Do you:
a. Rush out to the middle with a replacement bat.
b. Suggest to the opposing captain that on this wicket there is no point in having a short leg.
c. Ring the Fire Alarm to create a diversion.
5. Your new man is fielding at slip and he takes a stunning catch inches from the ground but the batsman stays put and the umpire seems undecided as to whether to raise his finger.
Do you:
a. Get all of the other fielders to circle your new man to stop him approaching the batsman and/or umpires.
b. Get all of the other fielders to circle the batsman to protect him.
c. Get all of the other fielders to circle the umpire to protect him.
6. The game is over and you have lost by a narrow margin. The opposing captain brings a jug of beer into your dressing room.
Do you:
a. Look for an umbrella
b. Suggest that paper cups will be fine rather than glasses.
c. Take your new man onto the outfield for some emergency fielding practice.
Golding Matters
I received the following from Paul Golding
My father played for South Hampstead between 1959 and 1962. Unfortunately he is now terminally ill with cancer so I am now doing some research into his playing career but also trying to make contact with some people who might remember him. He joined SH with Bob Cleaver and was very friendly with Roy Dodson who I believe was the secretary of SH for many years. The name Jon Bottrill also rings a bell. If you have any contact details for any of those individuals I would be grateful if you could put me in touch with them as a matter of some urgency. If you would prefer to give them my e-mail address and contact details that would be fine.
I have seen the wonderful archives that you have on your site. They are fantastic and a great resource for my research. I have a hard copy of the SH aggregate averages for the 1959 season if that would be of any interest to anybody at the club and I also have fixture cards for 1959 -62 in case anybody wants them. If there are aggregate averages for seasons 1960 - 62 that anybody can provide to me I would be very grateful.
Paul’s contact details are [email protected]
T: +44 (0) 1483 730303 | M: +44 (0) 7974351750
Danes at Lord’s
Gary Rhoades sent me this
The enclosed photograph is of the St Clement Danes Under-15 cricket team at Lords on the 14th July 1967. Of course, the scene is not instantly recognisable today because Lords now has its huge press and media stand at the Nursery end. The occasion was the final of the Middlesex and North London Grammar Schools 8-a-Side Competition with SCD representing London against Hampton Grammar School representing Middlesex.
In the photograph: Phil Edmunds, Tony King, Dave Howes, Simon Fraser, Gary Rhoades, Dave Vincent and Bill Marle; kneeling Dave Heley, Dave Fox and Paul Rubie (can’t remember who was 9th man, probably Bill Marle).
The 8-a-side game was of twelve overs per side that allowed games to be completed in about eighty minutes: about the length of a Games lesson. The rules were that everyone batted for three overs: the first pair of batsmen (1&2) faced the first three overs and were followed by the second pair (3&4), who faced the next three and so on. There were four bowlers on each side, and so each bowled three overs. The batting side donated two fielders to the bowling side at all times, so that in the field you were just one short of a full complement. The routine for the batting side was a cycle of being padded up, batting, umpiring and then fielding. The only other rules of note were that the number of wickets that fell were divided into your side’s score (you could be out more than once in your three overs) to give you ‘your final score’ and that a wicket was lost if a maiden over was played. So padded up in the photograph are Dave Heley and Paul Rubie, our opening couple.
We had played through several rounds to meet the final and just before the final rounds had lost our captain Phil Edmunds to appendicitis (hence he’s in school uniform). We also learnt then that the final would be played at Lords in early July. We had few problems getting through the early rounds and didn’t really have a tough game until the semi-final. Our weakness seemed to be the ability to score runs (our strength was losing few wickets) so a couple of us lobbied our Cricket Master to add an under-14 batsman to our team to replace Edmunds (who was a fair batsman and bowler)and that was how Dave Heley played. We were fairly confident going into the game but through a mixture of a slog too far, some thoughtless captaincy and especially a piece of gamesmanship we managed to lose the game.
Though we changed in the pavilion dressing rooms we didn’t get to walk down the steps to the wicket but were positioned to the right of the pavilion. As you would expect the pitch was right on the edge of the square nearest to the Tavern. As it was a final, we were excused the need to umpire and had two Middlesex (and England) stalwarts umpiring the game. At the Nursery End was Jack Robertson and at the Pavilion End was Jim Sims (who I knew slightly as he used to live on the same estate as me (and Jim Revier and the GJM) in the early ‘60s).
We lost the toss and were put in and the first 3 overs went well. It was the next 3 that were to harm us as we lost 2 wickets (one of them a maiden over) and halfway through our innings we were about 25 for 2. It is fair to say that this was the best bowling side we had met all competition. Fortunately our best batsman was in next and Dave Vincent was so much better than us at that age that he was already playing in the 1st XI. He enjoyed his time and slogged the Hampton bowling all around the ground. Unfortunately in his last over he played a loose shot and was caught. Thanks to his hitting and the last pair adding runs without loss we managed a good score of 75 but lost 3 wickets.
You could not say we had a particularly strong bowling side. Edmunds was lost to us and our 3 main bowlers were the consistent trio of Paul Rubie, Dave Howes and Simon Fraser (at this distance I’m sorry to say I can’t recall the 4th bowler). Having brought in Heley to replace Edmunds’ batting loss, we probably should have brought in another Under-14 bowler too. Heley was there because Dave Howes and I (both Bush Colts) had lobbied for him as he was the best Under-14 batsman, another Bush Colt and so well known to us. We could have gone a step further and got Alan Holley in the team, a fellow Under-14 and Bush Colt. The problem with that is that this was an Under-15 team and it would have been unfair on Under-15 boys to lose a place. In retrospect I think the choice of Holley instead of Heley would have been the smarter move, as Holley was an excellent bowler and would have performed well on this fast wicket..
As it was the team bowled and fielded magnificently, but they were just not penetrative enough. In the final over Hampton had scored barely 40 runs but had lost only 1 wicket. On the penultimate ball the Hampton batsman played a loose wipe to a Simon Fraser (I think) ball, and getting a top edge the ball spiralled in an agonisingly slow arc towards square-leg. It was an easy catch, down square-leg’s throat, a dolly and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in that split-second to think ‘Christ, we’ve won’. The ball went to hand, of that I’m sure, but the fielder made a pathetic attempt at holding on to it and the ball tumbled onto the green carpet of the square: the square-leg was one of our loaned Hampton fielders.
The batsmen crossed and the last ball was safely patted back down the pitch. We had lost. We walked off the pitch, watched a presentation to Hampton and after changing made our way back home. We all felt down about it and there was no relief at school because the fact that we’d played at Lords was made nothing of. It was probably due to our Cricket Master being suspended at the time, but some announcement could have been made.
Looking back now I know it was a fantastic thing to do and something even really good cricketers never get the chance to do: to play at Lords. There are three things that still make a big impression on me. The first was the speed and bounce of the pitch (very different from the Bush track). The second was the really fast outfield. The third was, surprisingly, the dressing rooms. Being used to benches with hooks and maybe a small locker it was something else to go into the Lords dressing room. It was like a huge untidy living room, with large, worn, leather armchairs and sofas all over the place. Instead of hooks or lockers there were these strange individual wardrobes. Funny what stays with you. A great day and a shame we lost.
King Cricket Matters
Alex Bowden writes
Hurray! Four-day Tests! They’ll be much like five-day Tests, only with the unique selling point somewhat compromised. Who can fail to support an idea as clear and appealing as that one? The thinking seems to be, ‘well, maybe if each match isn’t quite such a big commitment, some countries might play a few more’.
It’s also been announced that there’s going to be a Test championship – the ICC delaying the move for many years until precisely the point at which everyone’s already tired of it. Confusingly, every Test in the championship will be a five-day affair. They haven’t worked out the points system yet because you don’t want to rush these things. “I would like to congratulate our members on reaching this agreement,” said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, whose congratulatory bar seems set sufficiently low that he’d doubtless give you a hearty handshake for successfully scaling a flight of stairs.
We still believe that administrators would be far better off making some effort to bind the formats together rather than forever pitting them against one another.
We know the format-spanning points system is widely-ridiculed because no-one cares about it, but there is a nugget of something in there in our opinion.
As we’ve written before, whatever the current state of the longest format, cricket, in a broader sense, is in relatively rude health. The problem really is that the formats are cannibalising each other when they should be working together. A Test world championship is symptomatic of that thinking. It reflects an insular view of the game where T20s, ODIs and Tests are all different. In reality, they’re all cricket – so why not treat them as one?
A format-spanning cricket world championship would provide context for everything and an incentive to play and perform well in the longest format as a by-product of that. Alternatively, you could just implicitly diminish the status of a bunch of Test matches and hope that this somehow provides the format’s salvation
Googlies Distribution
I normally send Googlies out by email from two different computers on alternate months. Recipients with a BT email address are having their email returned from one of these saying that it is spam! The very thought of it! If you want to receive each edition you need to find a way of persuading your email host to accept Googlies from my SBC global email address: [email protected]
Alternatively, you can read it on the Googlies website, where I post each edition.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
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