GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 23
November 2004
Fatman in the Bathtub
For reasons that no one has explained to me the best test series this year is not being screened through Uncle Rupert’s good offices. It is, therefore, even more difficult to establish the progress made by the England team. Suffice it to say that Australia are winning in difficult circumstances for them, away from home and without much contribution from Hayden and none from Ponting. Warne seems somewhere near his best and McGrath and Gillespie have made alarming returns to form. Martin’s batting appears to be reaching maturity and Clarke has made an auspicious debut. On the Indian side Kumble continues to take stacks of expensive wickets and no one has accused Harbhajan Singh of throwing his Doosra, yet.
Bob Denley sent me this note after the South Hampstead re-union: “It was amazing that so many had not really changed- just aged gracefully. They were good times in the sixties when cricket was played hard- without the dreaded leagues. The opposition was often inserted which resulted in a late declaration, which was followed usually by a successful run chase. I must admit I did not recognise Bob Peach initially- until he looked sideways thro' his glasses. We all must have seen this in the past and experienced what was to follow.”
Bob Denley has touched on a subject which I have managed to avoid covering through twenty three issues of this organ, namely the introduction of league cricket in the early seventies which more or less divides my playing career into pre and post league. Maybe this will prompt me to revisit the cause of the demise of the club game which many of us grew up with. But not in this issue where we will stick to more cheery matters.
Does anyone know why the wicket turned at Lords this year? Having got the surface in magnificent shape with Surrey Loam and the magical ingredient Ongar Clay it started to get too dry. One theory is that the new drainage on the outfield is too good and is drying the square out faster than in the old days. To produce five day non turning belters they will have to water the wicket more but they will have to find the key to the tap first, which will be in Ashley’s pocket somewhere far from the ground.
I have produced a pictorial commemorative brochure of the South Hampstead Re-union held on 5th September. The file is over 10 mb even when zipped and so distribution can only be by hard copy. If you would like one please provide me with your postal address.
Out and about with the Professor
The Professor updates on his end of season activities
I’m sorry to have missed your re-union. I recognised several of the names and it would have been good to have come along but, as you know, I spent most of September in South Africa. Your patriotic readers will be pleased to hear that there is much gloom and doom in that country about the state of their cricket team and their prospects against us this winter. Cricket is big news in the popular press in South Africa (as, sadly it is not here) and the “senior players” are taking most of the blame (Kallis, Gibbs, et al) for not “stepping up to the plate” (or some other ghastly American metaphor) when it matters. The despondency was enhanced by their early exit from the ICC competition, although Gibbs was praised for “coming to the party” (ye gods) with his hundred.
You have been good enough to enquire about Welwyn Garden City CC over the year and the final outcome was that we finished third in the League but won the County Cup and had two sides (2nds and 4ths) promoted. All in all pretty satisfactory, although we had targeted winning the League for the 1st XI and, with all the players having minor county (or better) experience, we were a little disappointed at the end. There is much talk of winter signings to strengthen the squad, but then there always is at this time of year.
C&G 21 included a slightly tart repost from the Great Jack Morgan to my gentle teasing and the suggestion that I was accusing him and you of being “Old Fogeys”. Now I must make it perfectly clear that I am not suggesting that someone who sits on his own at the Nursery End watching county matches, almost stark naked, surrounded by reference books and Tuppaware, and who has refused for the last ten years to go into the pavilion because of the dress code (i.e., they require you to wear some) is in any way eccentric. Oh no, my purpose was merely to point out that there might be some benefit in professional cricketers playing a version of the game that people might actually want to pay to see. At present, hardly anyone goes to watch the county championship, and the counties only keep going on the basis of £1 million handouts from the ECB (which they spend on overseas players – over 100 this year including EU registered). The Great Man is one of those who does actually go along but, sadly, he is almost alone.
In his contribution, Jack argues that the fact that “lots of people go to (Twenty/20) matches” does not make them “good cricket”. Now I’m not at all sure about this concept. I’ve seen good cricket matches and seen good cricketers. I’ve seen good cricketers play bad shots, which is perhaps the concern, but I don’t know that this is what constitutes “bad” cricket. I suppose that if WGCCC played the Australians we would lose by a very long way but I don’t think that means we play “bad” cricket – we are just not as talented. The two Twenty20 matches that I’ve been to bore ample evidence that slogging didn’t work – against world-class bowlers it is unlikely to do so. I grant that Twenty20 is a more tabloid version of the game, but most people read the tabloids. Jack supports his argument with an analogy about pop music – we shouldn’t think that just because a “crap record has been bought by thousands of eight-year-olds that this makes it good music.” Now this is domain about which, mercifully, I know almost nothing but if it is true that thousands of young people buy a record it must be succeeding in at least one of the objectives of popular music, namely, to be popular!
For myself, I don’t think it wise to set myself up as an arbiter of good taste in these matters. A couple of weeks ago I watched an improptu cricket match in Soweto. I doubt it would have passed Jack’s exacting standard of “good cricket”, but it was cricket and it was obviously fun. Moreover, in the South African context, black children playing cricket is rather important.
My concern is that playing and watching cricket for over 50 years has given me great satisfaction and I want to see the game survive. It is little played in the 3,500 state secondary schools and hardly reported in the popular press. I guess I would prefer it if thousands of people still flocked to the county championship games – but they don’t. The world has moved on and old fogies remain just that. If the price of the continued existence of county cricket is that professional players have to play a series of (in effect) beer matches that people want to watch, it seems to me to be well worth it. Both you and Jack have a remedy – you don’t have to go!
More Sartorial Matters
In the above article the Professor once again makes reference to the Great Jack Morgan’s dress sense. I was also to experience it when we went to Hove in September. It was a glorious day and when I picked him up he was already, wisely and appropriately, wearing shorts. When Cousin Jim Revier arrived he was dressed like me in a short-sleeved shirt and long pants.
No adjustment was made to clothing during the journey to the ground despite the ineffectiveness of the air conditioning system in my car. When we arrived we found a grassy area in the southeast corner and were able to sit in deck chairs that were provided. Before he had even started to make corrections to his scorecard the Great Jack Morgan had slipped off his polo shirt and was baring his naked torso for the benefit of all. Some banter was exchanged between the cousins about respective tans following Cousin Jim Revier’s recent vacation in Turkey and he soon removed his shirt to demonstrate his own sun worship.
I was beginning to feel decidedly overdressed sitting between these naked bodies but worse was to follow. Cousin Jim Revier suddenly raised his hips and in one deft manoeuvre skilfully thrust down his trousers, revealing that he was also wearing shorts.
The Great Jack Morgan Cousin Jim Revier
basking in the sun at Hove
I suppose that one of my options was to join these hedonists but I decided that I should hold the middle ground in the interests of fair play amongst my correspondents, although I fear that I shall fall foul of one if not both camps’ sartorial stance. I suspect that we have not heard the last of this intriguing topic.
More Dream Team Views
Nigel Ross sent me his thoughts on Steve Thompson’s seventies Dream team
Just one thought for you regarding Steve's seventies side, what about Lincoln Silburne who was a very talented left handed middle order batter (no left handers in Steve's side) and a wonderfully clean striker of the cricket ball? I'd have to find room for him in my side. Regardless of the fact that Steve has selected some top class slow bowlers, I'd always play Alan Cox because on flat tracks he could still get batters out through flight, loop and no little guile that I’m not sure the other bowlers possessed to the same degree. Although Alan's self belief could wane from time to time and my memory has never been great for cricketing facts and statistics, I think Alan was a prolific wicket taker during the mid seventies when South Hampstead won the league and also had such a fine Sunday record under that self effacing, mildly spoken, non bombastic, non confrontational character Wallis. Despite all this, I still have fond memories of playing for him on Sundays.
I forwarded this to Steve Thompson and he agreed it would be fun to include Alan Cox if only to get another sighting of his famous wafer thin pads.
At the South Hampstead re-union there was some heated discussion over Bill Hart’s selections for his sixties Dream Teams. Bob Peach, like me, would not have selected George Cole for starters. When Bill first sent me his teams I replied as follows:
Comparing players from different periods is very difficult. In addition to those you covered John Anderson would be very close, as would Steve Thompson. Alf Langley was never given full opportunity at South Hampstead but went on three CCC tours to Australia after he went to the Bush, Nigel Ross could do everything if he concentrated for more than twenty minutes at a time. Derek Battrum beat Terry Cordaroy's scoring records. Stephen Doughty may have been one of the most talented players ever at South Hampstead but again we let a black lad slip off to the Bush. I didn't rate George Cole as highly as you did- I think his rating was on the back of just a couple of timely innings and he was only around for one season. I never played in the same side as Alvin Nienow, but played against him a couple of times in Old Boys games. You will hear about Lee Deller on the 5th. I've never seen or met him but he broke all batting records in the League in 1993.
The against team is even harder. I played in my first 1st XI game against Ealing at South Hampstead. Alan Coxon played and top scored with 40 odd but otherwise I didn't play with him again. Trevor Rosier didn't score many on the only occasion I played against him. I have no problems with Daisy, Roger Pearman and David Hays who all scored big. Hugh I don't recall getting runs and I found him easier to bat against than other spinners. Marriott, Read and Price look sound selections. Don Nute, the Old Meadonian who played for Hornsey when he became their groundsman always seemed to score runs and get wickets. Dav Whatmore made a superb hundred for Wembley against South Hampstead but he probably falls into your “pro” category. Chris Payne (Southgate) would make my side and his teammate Mike Smethers would probably keep wicket. John Poore (Ealing) scored heavily against us as did Alan Heighes (Paddington et al). Brian Puddephat couldn't bat but always scored stacks against us. Dudley Owen-Thomas (Teddington) was classy but again a sometime “pro”. Ross Chiese and Arthur Ferry were both useful quicks from Stanmore. Gary Black was one of the best all rounders I played against. Micky Dunn and Malcolm Lawford were ahead of their time applying, very successfully, modern techniques to opening the batting. Dunn could also bowl. Many would put John Cox (Paddington) in the frame. Terry Cordaroy use to play maiden after maiden treating him with enormous respect. Mike Selvey was a handful before he became a “pro”. Just some initial thoughts. I will try to sort them out in due course
Magical Milestones
At the South Hampstead re-union someone, say Robin Ager, mentioned that an extra game had been arranged at the end of one season so that a bowler, say Bill Hart, who had taken ninety-nine wickets in the scheduled games would have the chance to complete one hundred for the season. This seems like a generous gesture on behalf of the fixture secretary to help a player reach a laudable landmark. Those listening to the tale seemed a little embarrassed by its re-telling and no one said whether the landmark had been achieved or not.
It is, of course, fraught with problems. Suppose that the extra fixture is rained off or the individual fails to take a wicket or, even worse, the captain elects not to give him a bowl in the match. What happens then? Is a further extra fixture arranged to accommodate the wannabee centurion? On this basis additional games could be arranged right up until Christmas in an attempt to achieve the desired result. In following years having seen say ten extra games played previously a player on eighty five wickets at the end of the scheduled season could ask for a repeat to enable him to reach his goal.
And would it ‘count’ anyway? Since the achievement did not come within the regular season would the extra wickets rank in the record books? Perhaps in reviewing a career it would be necessary to distinguish between genuine and artificial hundred wicket seasons. As in so and so twice took a hundred wickets in the season and on two other occasions reached the landmark with the help of additional fixtures.
And what’s more who decides whether the extra games should be played? Is it just the fixture secretary or is it a cricket committee decision? Should the captain be consulted or is it down to the player himself? If the precise decision making formula were known wouldn’t it be open to payola or other undesirable practices?
And would it just be bowlers who could plead extra access to the means of fulfilling their special goals? Should a batsman on 975 runs be given a chance of getting those extra runs? What about a wicket keeper on 49 dismissals or a gully fielder with 24 catches? How about the umpire who had reached 99 LBW decisions in the regular season-shouldn’t he be given a chance? And what about the statisticians, why should they be left out of it? If a scorer has recorded 49 sixes in the regular season shouldn’t he be given the chance to pass his personal milestone? And so it goes on. Suppose that the tea lady had made two thousand nine hundred sandwiches during the regular season – shouldn’t she have the chance to reach the coveted three thousand mark?
Perhaps you now see that this is a highly complex matter and maybe there should be no extra games. But the tea lady has the best justification since her sandwiches will get eaten even if the extra game is rained off.
Match Report The following match took place between South Hampstead and Dulwich at Dulwich on Saturday 14th July 1962. Bill Hart gave me the details and the background material.
Bob Peach first encountered the Legendary Len Stubbs in the army whilst they were both doing National Service. During this period Len went to Taunton for a trial for Somerset with a view to signing on when he was demobbed. Apparently A.C. "Campbell” Shirreff, who was pretty senior there, made derogatory remarks both about Len's appearance and about his "slogging”. Len felt that these comments had gone a long way towards his being rejected.
Shirreff played for the county for some years, during his RAF leave, and for many years for Dulwich. He was a good, attacking bat and quite a decent seam bowler. In the South Hampstead centenary booklet "Nosher" Robertson included him in his team of the best that he had played against.
After leaving the Army Bob Peach managed to persuade Len to exhibit his talents at Milverton Road rather than in Raines Park. It was inevitable that a fixture against Dulwich would come round and it duly did.
There had been rain that made the playing surface difficult and also delayed the start until 2.50pm. Dulwich batted first and Bill Hart and Don Wallis opened the bowling for South Hampstead. Bill started with a maiden and then Don Wallis cheered Len up by dismissing Shirreff caught and bowled second ball. Progress was slow with the wicket being far from easy and wickets fell steadily. Bob Peach bowled ten overs for only sixteen runs but didn’t take a wicket. Bob Cleaver was the only other bowler used and he picked up a couple. Wallis and Hart took three and two wickets respectively. Brian Jeacocke was undefeated on 57 when the innings was declared closed at127 for 7 at 5.19pm.
The Legendary Len Stubbs generally batted in the middle order but on this occasion asked Peach if he could open, which he duly did with John Weale. He then proceeded to ignore the sharp movement off the seam and hit the Dulwich bowlers all over the ground. When John Weale was dismissed Bruce Tutton added 65 with him in 43 minutes. Alvin Nienow succeeded Bruce but by now the end was in sight. Len had seen Shirreff off with a salvo of boundaries and when Burton began what was to be the final over thirteen were required. Len hit three of the first four balls to the boundary and then with the scores level strode down the wicket and hit the fifth ball for six. In Bill Hart’s words “Len tucked his bat under his arm, made some comment to "Campbell" and walked off. As far as he was concerned honour was satisfied”.
For the record, the South Hampstead innings of 133 for 2 had lasted just eighty-three minutes and the Legendary Len Stubbs finished up on 94 not out.
Player Identity Update The Great Jack Morgan progresses this fascinating debate
There is little point in having names on shirts as the lettering is far too small to be read from the boundary. We could therefore choose the old plan of just having numbers from 1 to 11 and refer to the scorecard to check who is who. This also avoids the ludicrous situation that prevails at present, where a player is no 2 on the scorecard/ scoreboard, but wears no 69 on his back. At Lord’s they still insist on giving players “scorecard” numbers, which are never, in fact, used on the electronic scoreboards.
Also, some teams have numbers on their shirts, but when they put on their sweaters, their identity disappears! In the Bucks/ Cumberland match, a solitary player, R Mason of Cumberland, wore a number (6) on his back and, incredibly, batted in that position. Jim Revier and I debated whether bringing a number 6 shirt with him entitled him to bat at 6 in whichever team he was selected to play for, or whether he had a whole bag of numbered shirts in the dressing room and simply selected the appropriate shirt when the captain told him where he was going to bat!
Captain’s Little Helper All captains enjoy the benefit of other players’ wisdom whether they want it or not. They have to develop their own way of dealing with it. It cannot be dismissed out of hand since sometimes it is actually a penetrating insight and useful. It is even harder to deal with when players take it upon themselves to do your job for you and start moving fielders off their own bat. I would suggest that it becomes almost impossible to manage this situation when the captain is also keeping wicket.
When I succeeded Don Wallis as captain of the South Hampstead Sunday side in the mid seventies I often tried to pick another wicket keeper to free myself to run things from mid off or some similarly undemanding position in the field, but this did not always work out and I sometimes still found myself keeping wicket.
Terry Cordaroy fielded in the gully and I had to keep a sideways eye on him as he was always trying to move fielders around after I had set the field. On one occasion I spotted him flapping a hand behind his back trying to move third man finer. In exasperation I said “ Terry will you please leave the field”. He misunderstood, went white and said, “You want me to go off?” I cannot say that the temptation to create South Hampstead history did not fleetingly cross my mind but I composed myself and responded “ No, just leave the fielders where I have put them, please”.
Rangers Reminiscences
I first went to the Rangers in 1952 on the back of my dad’s bike. This is not so strange as it now sounds since it was a common means of transport in the post war pre car era. On the Ellerslie Road side of the ground there were local residents who would charge a few pence for cyclists to lock their bikes to their railings or place them in their basement stairwell for the duration of the match.
My earliest visits would have been to Reserve team matches but by the mid-fifties with a custom built stool I was attending first team games. At this time, under George Taylor’s uninspired managership, the Rangers came tenth each year in the Third Division South. They won all their home games by the odd goal and lost the away games by a similar margin. This was mainly because they had a solid defense that never changed from game to game, season to season: Ron Springett, Pat Woods, Tony Ingham, George Petchey, Keith Rutter, Peter Angell. Tony Ingham was an ever present but if Pat Woods became unavailable for selection his deputies would be the splendidly named Albert Pounder or Walter Colgan.
The forward line was more variable and could include on any given day some of the following: Bobby Cameron, Arthur Longbottom, Pat Kerrins, Mike Hellawell, Joby Dean, Bernard Evans, Norman Golding and Brian Bedford. The UK’s first black player, Tesi Balogan, would also appear in this exalted company. The crowd referred to him as OMO, which would nowadays have more than ruffled feathers at the Race Relations Board.
Attendance became more obligatory than exciting since you knew exactly what to expect. The boredom of it may explain why Rangers fans have, uniquely, always taken the piss out of their own players. I can remember being on the South Africa Road side in the late fifties for a Reserve team match and after a frail Rangers winger had been unceremoniously dumped by an opponent, being advised to “Hit ‘im wiv your ‘andbag”.
Around 1960 Alec Stock took over from George Taylor and things would never be the same.
Evanston CC Many of you know that my wife, Rosemary, is American and that we live for part of the time in Evanston, which is the first suburb north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Earlier this year Rosemary saw an article in the local paper about cricket and when I was there in July I went to see a game. I’ve been there on and off for sixteen years and had no inkling that any cricket was played in the area. It turns out that there are forty local teams who play in structured leagues. The game I watched was played in a park. The wicket was a mat stretched out on the asphalt path between two soccer pitches. The Evanston team is made up almost exclusively of Jamaicans; their opposition on the day was The Jolly Rovers who were predominantly of Indian extraction, although they did have an Australian. The boundaries were a good distance but were almost impossible to reach, at least along the ground, because the park authorities keep the grass long during the hot summer months. It is unusual to see grass less than three or four inches long anywhere in the mid west.
An umpire is allocated to each game and he officiates from the bowlers end all the time. The one I saw was very strict in giving as a wide anything that went down the leg side. The game started at 10am and comprised 45 overs a side. We arrived around 3.30pm and when we left at about 4.15 there were still twenty overs left. Presumably they do not get docked match fees for slow over rates. Shortly after I arrived one of the Evanston bowlers, who they called Big Foot, completed a hat trick, all bowled. There were about a hundred spectators congregated around the small tents that had been erected for the occasion. There were huge amounts of food being prepared and presumably after the game they have a big party.
The standard was difficult to assess but I would put it at around club third XI.
Irritating trends in modern cricket-number 22 If you were unlucky enough to watch any of the Sunday Slog matches this year you will probably have witnessed the ludicrous free hit which is awarded to the batsman when a bowler bowls a no ball. First the Umpire signals an elevated wrist twirling action after the no ball has been called as if he were operating an invisible old style football rattle. Then the fielders are allowed to disperse to far flung corners of the ground. The penalized bowler then has to deliver a ball from which he cannot take a wicket, hence the free hit. This, of course, generates heated excitement from the football type crowds who are devotees of this form of the game. It makes no difference, though, to Shahid Red Mist Afridi who treats every delivery as if it were a free hit.
Strange Elevens
The mixed bag of aristocrats in the last edition all played at some time or other for Middlesex. The Great Jack Morgan has compiled the following side to test your skill in identifying which Jazz Hat they have worn in common:
Will Jefferson
Michael Brown
John Francis
Robert White (Northants)
Alex Loudon
Jon Batty (w/k)
Robin Martin-Jenkins
John Stephenson
Simon Francis
Simon Hughes
Alan Richardson
Earlier Editions
I will be please to email you a copy of the earlier editions of Googlies & Chinamen, if you missed or have mislaid them. If you received this edition through a third party, please send me your email address to ensure that you get on the main mailing list for future editions.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 23
November 2004
Fatman in the Bathtub
For reasons that no one has explained to me the best test series this year is not being screened through Uncle Rupert’s good offices. It is, therefore, even more difficult to establish the progress made by the England team. Suffice it to say that Australia are winning in difficult circumstances for them, away from home and without much contribution from Hayden and none from Ponting. Warne seems somewhere near his best and McGrath and Gillespie have made alarming returns to form. Martin’s batting appears to be reaching maturity and Clarke has made an auspicious debut. On the Indian side Kumble continues to take stacks of expensive wickets and no one has accused Harbhajan Singh of throwing his Doosra, yet.
Bob Denley sent me this note after the South Hampstead re-union: “It was amazing that so many had not really changed- just aged gracefully. They were good times in the sixties when cricket was played hard- without the dreaded leagues. The opposition was often inserted which resulted in a late declaration, which was followed usually by a successful run chase. I must admit I did not recognise Bob Peach initially- until he looked sideways thro' his glasses. We all must have seen this in the past and experienced what was to follow.”
Bob Denley has touched on a subject which I have managed to avoid covering through twenty three issues of this organ, namely the introduction of league cricket in the early seventies which more or less divides my playing career into pre and post league. Maybe this will prompt me to revisit the cause of the demise of the club game which many of us grew up with. But not in this issue where we will stick to more cheery matters.
Does anyone know why the wicket turned at Lords this year? Having got the surface in magnificent shape with Surrey Loam and the magical ingredient Ongar Clay it started to get too dry. One theory is that the new drainage on the outfield is too good and is drying the square out faster than in the old days. To produce five day non turning belters they will have to water the wicket more but they will have to find the key to the tap first, which will be in Ashley’s pocket somewhere far from the ground.
I have produced a pictorial commemorative brochure of the South Hampstead Re-union held on 5th September. The file is over 10 mb even when zipped and so distribution can only be by hard copy. If you would like one please provide me with your postal address.
Out and about with the Professor
The Professor updates on his end of season activities
I’m sorry to have missed your re-union. I recognised several of the names and it would have been good to have come along but, as you know, I spent most of September in South Africa. Your patriotic readers will be pleased to hear that there is much gloom and doom in that country about the state of their cricket team and their prospects against us this winter. Cricket is big news in the popular press in South Africa (as, sadly it is not here) and the “senior players” are taking most of the blame (Kallis, Gibbs, et al) for not “stepping up to the plate” (or some other ghastly American metaphor) when it matters. The despondency was enhanced by their early exit from the ICC competition, although Gibbs was praised for “coming to the party” (ye gods) with his hundred.
You have been good enough to enquire about Welwyn Garden City CC over the year and the final outcome was that we finished third in the League but won the County Cup and had two sides (2nds and 4ths) promoted. All in all pretty satisfactory, although we had targeted winning the League for the 1st XI and, with all the players having minor county (or better) experience, we were a little disappointed at the end. There is much talk of winter signings to strengthen the squad, but then there always is at this time of year.
C&G 21 included a slightly tart repost from the Great Jack Morgan to my gentle teasing and the suggestion that I was accusing him and you of being “Old Fogeys”. Now I must make it perfectly clear that I am not suggesting that someone who sits on his own at the Nursery End watching county matches, almost stark naked, surrounded by reference books and Tuppaware, and who has refused for the last ten years to go into the pavilion because of the dress code (i.e., they require you to wear some) is in any way eccentric. Oh no, my purpose was merely to point out that there might be some benefit in professional cricketers playing a version of the game that people might actually want to pay to see. At present, hardly anyone goes to watch the county championship, and the counties only keep going on the basis of £1 million handouts from the ECB (which they spend on overseas players – over 100 this year including EU registered). The Great Man is one of those who does actually go along but, sadly, he is almost alone.
In his contribution, Jack argues that the fact that “lots of people go to (Twenty/20) matches” does not make them “good cricket”. Now I’m not at all sure about this concept. I’ve seen good cricket matches and seen good cricketers. I’ve seen good cricketers play bad shots, which is perhaps the concern, but I don’t know that this is what constitutes “bad” cricket. I suppose that if WGCCC played the Australians we would lose by a very long way but I don’t think that means we play “bad” cricket – we are just not as talented. The two Twenty20 matches that I’ve been to bore ample evidence that slogging didn’t work – against world-class bowlers it is unlikely to do so. I grant that Twenty20 is a more tabloid version of the game, but most people read the tabloids. Jack supports his argument with an analogy about pop music – we shouldn’t think that just because a “crap record has been bought by thousands of eight-year-olds that this makes it good music.” Now this is domain about which, mercifully, I know almost nothing but if it is true that thousands of young people buy a record it must be succeeding in at least one of the objectives of popular music, namely, to be popular!
For myself, I don’t think it wise to set myself up as an arbiter of good taste in these matters. A couple of weeks ago I watched an improptu cricket match in Soweto. I doubt it would have passed Jack’s exacting standard of “good cricket”, but it was cricket and it was obviously fun. Moreover, in the South African context, black children playing cricket is rather important.
My concern is that playing and watching cricket for over 50 years has given me great satisfaction and I want to see the game survive. It is little played in the 3,500 state secondary schools and hardly reported in the popular press. I guess I would prefer it if thousands of people still flocked to the county championship games – but they don’t. The world has moved on and old fogies remain just that. If the price of the continued existence of county cricket is that professional players have to play a series of (in effect) beer matches that people want to watch, it seems to me to be well worth it. Both you and Jack have a remedy – you don’t have to go!
More Sartorial Matters
In the above article the Professor once again makes reference to the Great Jack Morgan’s dress sense. I was also to experience it when we went to Hove in September. It was a glorious day and when I picked him up he was already, wisely and appropriately, wearing shorts. When Cousin Jim Revier arrived he was dressed like me in a short-sleeved shirt and long pants.
No adjustment was made to clothing during the journey to the ground despite the ineffectiveness of the air conditioning system in my car. When we arrived we found a grassy area in the southeast corner and were able to sit in deck chairs that were provided. Before he had even started to make corrections to his scorecard the Great Jack Morgan had slipped off his polo shirt and was baring his naked torso for the benefit of all. Some banter was exchanged between the cousins about respective tans following Cousin Jim Revier’s recent vacation in Turkey and he soon removed his shirt to demonstrate his own sun worship.
I was beginning to feel decidedly overdressed sitting between these naked bodies but worse was to follow. Cousin Jim Revier suddenly raised his hips and in one deft manoeuvre skilfully thrust down his trousers, revealing that he was also wearing shorts.
The Great Jack Morgan Cousin Jim Revier
basking in the sun at Hove
I suppose that one of my options was to join these hedonists but I decided that I should hold the middle ground in the interests of fair play amongst my correspondents, although I fear that I shall fall foul of one if not both camps’ sartorial stance. I suspect that we have not heard the last of this intriguing topic.
More Dream Team Views
Nigel Ross sent me his thoughts on Steve Thompson’s seventies Dream team
Just one thought for you regarding Steve's seventies side, what about Lincoln Silburne who was a very talented left handed middle order batter (no left handers in Steve's side) and a wonderfully clean striker of the cricket ball? I'd have to find room for him in my side. Regardless of the fact that Steve has selected some top class slow bowlers, I'd always play Alan Cox because on flat tracks he could still get batters out through flight, loop and no little guile that I’m not sure the other bowlers possessed to the same degree. Although Alan's self belief could wane from time to time and my memory has never been great for cricketing facts and statistics, I think Alan was a prolific wicket taker during the mid seventies when South Hampstead won the league and also had such a fine Sunday record under that self effacing, mildly spoken, non bombastic, non confrontational character Wallis. Despite all this, I still have fond memories of playing for him on Sundays.
I forwarded this to Steve Thompson and he agreed it would be fun to include Alan Cox if only to get another sighting of his famous wafer thin pads.
At the South Hampstead re-union there was some heated discussion over Bill Hart’s selections for his sixties Dream Teams. Bob Peach, like me, would not have selected George Cole for starters. When Bill first sent me his teams I replied as follows:
Comparing players from different periods is very difficult. In addition to those you covered John Anderson would be very close, as would Steve Thompson. Alf Langley was never given full opportunity at South Hampstead but went on three CCC tours to Australia after he went to the Bush, Nigel Ross could do everything if he concentrated for more than twenty minutes at a time. Derek Battrum beat Terry Cordaroy's scoring records. Stephen Doughty may have been one of the most talented players ever at South Hampstead but again we let a black lad slip off to the Bush. I didn't rate George Cole as highly as you did- I think his rating was on the back of just a couple of timely innings and he was only around for one season. I never played in the same side as Alvin Nienow, but played against him a couple of times in Old Boys games. You will hear about Lee Deller on the 5th. I've never seen or met him but he broke all batting records in the League in 1993.
The against team is even harder. I played in my first 1st XI game against Ealing at South Hampstead. Alan Coxon played and top scored with 40 odd but otherwise I didn't play with him again. Trevor Rosier didn't score many on the only occasion I played against him. I have no problems with Daisy, Roger Pearman and David Hays who all scored big. Hugh I don't recall getting runs and I found him easier to bat against than other spinners. Marriott, Read and Price look sound selections. Don Nute, the Old Meadonian who played for Hornsey when he became their groundsman always seemed to score runs and get wickets. Dav Whatmore made a superb hundred for Wembley against South Hampstead but he probably falls into your “pro” category. Chris Payne (Southgate) would make my side and his teammate Mike Smethers would probably keep wicket. John Poore (Ealing) scored heavily against us as did Alan Heighes (Paddington et al). Brian Puddephat couldn't bat but always scored stacks against us. Dudley Owen-Thomas (Teddington) was classy but again a sometime “pro”. Ross Chiese and Arthur Ferry were both useful quicks from Stanmore. Gary Black was one of the best all rounders I played against. Micky Dunn and Malcolm Lawford were ahead of their time applying, very successfully, modern techniques to opening the batting. Dunn could also bowl. Many would put John Cox (Paddington) in the frame. Terry Cordaroy use to play maiden after maiden treating him with enormous respect. Mike Selvey was a handful before he became a “pro”. Just some initial thoughts. I will try to sort them out in due course
Magical Milestones
At the South Hampstead re-union someone, say Robin Ager, mentioned that an extra game had been arranged at the end of one season so that a bowler, say Bill Hart, who had taken ninety-nine wickets in the scheduled games would have the chance to complete one hundred for the season. This seems like a generous gesture on behalf of the fixture secretary to help a player reach a laudable landmark. Those listening to the tale seemed a little embarrassed by its re-telling and no one said whether the landmark had been achieved or not.
It is, of course, fraught with problems. Suppose that the extra fixture is rained off or the individual fails to take a wicket or, even worse, the captain elects not to give him a bowl in the match. What happens then? Is a further extra fixture arranged to accommodate the wannabee centurion? On this basis additional games could be arranged right up until Christmas in an attempt to achieve the desired result. In following years having seen say ten extra games played previously a player on eighty five wickets at the end of the scheduled season could ask for a repeat to enable him to reach his goal.
And would it ‘count’ anyway? Since the achievement did not come within the regular season would the extra wickets rank in the record books? Perhaps in reviewing a career it would be necessary to distinguish between genuine and artificial hundred wicket seasons. As in so and so twice took a hundred wickets in the season and on two other occasions reached the landmark with the help of additional fixtures.
And what’s more who decides whether the extra games should be played? Is it just the fixture secretary or is it a cricket committee decision? Should the captain be consulted or is it down to the player himself? If the precise decision making formula were known wouldn’t it be open to payola or other undesirable practices?
And would it just be bowlers who could plead extra access to the means of fulfilling their special goals? Should a batsman on 975 runs be given a chance of getting those extra runs? What about a wicket keeper on 49 dismissals or a gully fielder with 24 catches? How about the umpire who had reached 99 LBW decisions in the regular season-shouldn’t he be given a chance? And what about the statisticians, why should they be left out of it? If a scorer has recorded 49 sixes in the regular season shouldn’t he be given the chance to pass his personal milestone? And so it goes on. Suppose that the tea lady had made two thousand nine hundred sandwiches during the regular season – shouldn’t she have the chance to reach the coveted three thousand mark?
Perhaps you now see that this is a highly complex matter and maybe there should be no extra games. But the tea lady has the best justification since her sandwiches will get eaten even if the extra game is rained off.
Match Report The following match took place between South Hampstead and Dulwich at Dulwich on Saturday 14th July 1962. Bill Hart gave me the details and the background material.
Bob Peach first encountered the Legendary Len Stubbs in the army whilst they were both doing National Service. During this period Len went to Taunton for a trial for Somerset with a view to signing on when he was demobbed. Apparently A.C. "Campbell” Shirreff, who was pretty senior there, made derogatory remarks both about Len's appearance and about his "slogging”. Len felt that these comments had gone a long way towards his being rejected.
Shirreff played for the county for some years, during his RAF leave, and for many years for Dulwich. He was a good, attacking bat and quite a decent seam bowler. In the South Hampstead centenary booklet "Nosher" Robertson included him in his team of the best that he had played against.
After leaving the Army Bob Peach managed to persuade Len to exhibit his talents at Milverton Road rather than in Raines Park. It was inevitable that a fixture against Dulwich would come round and it duly did.
There had been rain that made the playing surface difficult and also delayed the start until 2.50pm. Dulwich batted first and Bill Hart and Don Wallis opened the bowling for South Hampstead. Bill started with a maiden and then Don Wallis cheered Len up by dismissing Shirreff caught and bowled second ball. Progress was slow with the wicket being far from easy and wickets fell steadily. Bob Peach bowled ten overs for only sixteen runs but didn’t take a wicket. Bob Cleaver was the only other bowler used and he picked up a couple. Wallis and Hart took three and two wickets respectively. Brian Jeacocke was undefeated on 57 when the innings was declared closed at127 for 7 at 5.19pm.
The Legendary Len Stubbs generally batted in the middle order but on this occasion asked Peach if he could open, which he duly did with John Weale. He then proceeded to ignore the sharp movement off the seam and hit the Dulwich bowlers all over the ground. When John Weale was dismissed Bruce Tutton added 65 with him in 43 minutes. Alvin Nienow succeeded Bruce but by now the end was in sight. Len had seen Shirreff off with a salvo of boundaries and when Burton began what was to be the final over thirteen were required. Len hit three of the first four balls to the boundary and then with the scores level strode down the wicket and hit the fifth ball for six. In Bill Hart’s words “Len tucked his bat under his arm, made some comment to "Campbell" and walked off. As far as he was concerned honour was satisfied”.
For the record, the South Hampstead innings of 133 for 2 had lasted just eighty-three minutes and the Legendary Len Stubbs finished up on 94 not out.
Player Identity Update The Great Jack Morgan progresses this fascinating debate
There is little point in having names on shirts as the lettering is far too small to be read from the boundary. We could therefore choose the old plan of just having numbers from 1 to 11 and refer to the scorecard to check who is who. This also avoids the ludicrous situation that prevails at present, where a player is no 2 on the scorecard/ scoreboard, but wears no 69 on his back. At Lord’s they still insist on giving players “scorecard” numbers, which are never, in fact, used on the electronic scoreboards.
Also, some teams have numbers on their shirts, but when they put on their sweaters, their identity disappears! In the Bucks/ Cumberland match, a solitary player, R Mason of Cumberland, wore a number (6) on his back and, incredibly, batted in that position. Jim Revier and I debated whether bringing a number 6 shirt with him entitled him to bat at 6 in whichever team he was selected to play for, or whether he had a whole bag of numbered shirts in the dressing room and simply selected the appropriate shirt when the captain told him where he was going to bat!
Captain’s Little Helper All captains enjoy the benefit of other players’ wisdom whether they want it or not. They have to develop their own way of dealing with it. It cannot be dismissed out of hand since sometimes it is actually a penetrating insight and useful. It is even harder to deal with when players take it upon themselves to do your job for you and start moving fielders off their own bat. I would suggest that it becomes almost impossible to manage this situation when the captain is also keeping wicket.
When I succeeded Don Wallis as captain of the South Hampstead Sunday side in the mid seventies I often tried to pick another wicket keeper to free myself to run things from mid off or some similarly undemanding position in the field, but this did not always work out and I sometimes still found myself keeping wicket.
Terry Cordaroy fielded in the gully and I had to keep a sideways eye on him as he was always trying to move fielders around after I had set the field. On one occasion I spotted him flapping a hand behind his back trying to move third man finer. In exasperation I said “ Terry will you please leave the field”. He misunderstood, went white and said, “You want me to go off?” I cannot say that the temptation to create South Hampstead history did not fleetingly cross my mind but I composed myself and responded “ No, just leave the fielders where I have put them, please”.
Rangers Reminiscences
I first went to the Rangers in 1952 on the back of my dad’s bike. This is not so strange as it now sounds since it was a common means of transport in the post war pre car era. On the Ellerslie Road side of the ground there were local residents who would charge a few pence for cyclists to lock their bikes to their railings or place them in their basement stairwell for the duration of the match.
My earliest visits would have been to Reserve team matches but by the mid-fifties with a custom built stool I was attending first team games. At this time, under George Taylor’s uninspired managership, the Rangers came tenth each year in the Third Division South. They won all their home games by the odd goal and lost the away games by a similar margin. This was mainly because they had a solid defense that never changed from game to game, season to season: Ron Springett, Pat Woods, Tony Ingham, George Petchey, Keith Rutter, Peter Angell. Tony Ingham was an ever present but if Pat Woods became unavailable for selection his deputies would be the splendidly named Albert Pounder or Walter Colgan.
The forward line was more variable and could include on any given day some of the following: Bobby Cameron, Arthur Longbottom, Pat Kerrins, Mike Hellawell, Joby Dean, Bernard Evans, Norman Golding and Brian Bedford. The UK’s first black player, Tesi Balogan, would also appear in this exalted company. The crowd referred to him as OMO, which would nowadays have more than ruffled feathers at the Race Relations Board.
Attendance became more obligatory than exciting since you knew exactly what to expect. The boredom of it may explain why Rangers fans have, uniquely, always taken the piss out of their own players. I can remember being on the South Africa Road side in the late fifties for a Reserve team match and after a frail Rangers winger had been unceremoniously dumped by an opponent, being advised to “Hit ‘im wiv your ‘andbag”.
Around 1960 Alec Stock took over from George Taylor and things would never be the same.
Evanston CC Many of you know that my wife, Rosemary, is American and that we live for part of the time in Evanston, which is the first suburb north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Earlier this year Rosemary saw an article in the local paper about cricket and when I was there in July I went to see a game. I’ve been there on and off for sixteen years and had no inkling that any cricket was played in the area. It turns out that there are forty local teams who play in structured leagues. The game I watched was played in a park. The wicket was a mat stretched out on the asphalt path between two soccer pitches. The Evanston team is made up almost exclusively of Jamaicans; their opposition on the day was The Jolly Rovers who were predominantly of Indian extraction, although they did have an Australian. The boundaries were a good distance but were almost impossible to reach, at least along the ground, because the park authorities keep the grass long during the hot summer months. It is unusual to see grass less than three or four inches long anywhere in the mid west.
An umpire is allocated to each game and he officiates from the bowlers end all the time. The one I saw was very strict in giving as a wide anything that went down the leg side. The game started at 10am and comprised 45 overs a side. We arrived around 3.30pm and when we left at about 4.15 there were still twenty overs left. Presumably they do not get docked match fees for slow over rates. Shortly after I arrived one of the Evanston bowlers, who they called Big Foot, completed a hat trick, all bowled. There were about a hundred spectators congregated around the small tents that had been erected for the occasion. There were huge amounts of food being prepared and presumably after the game they have a big party.
The standard was difficult to assess but I would put it at around club third XI.
Irritating trends in modern cricket-number 22 If you were unlucky enough to watch any of the Sunday Slog matches this year you will probably have witnessed the ludicrous free hit which is awarded to the batsman when a bowler bowls a no ball. First the Umpire signals an elevated wrist twirling action after the no ball has been called as if he were operating an invisible old style football rattle. Then the fielders are allowed to disperse to far flung corners of the ground. The penalized bowler then has to deliver a ball from which he cannot take a wicket, hence the free hit. This, of course, generates heated excitement from the football type crowds who are devotees of this form of the game. It makes no difference, though, to Shahid Red Mist Afridi who treats every delivery as if it were a free hit.
Strange Elevens
The mixed bag of aristocrats in the last edition all played at some time or other for Middlesex. The Great Jack Morgan has compiled the following side to test your skill in identifying which Jazz Hat they have worn in common:
Will Jefferson
Michael Brown
John Francis
Robert White (Northants)
Alex Loudon
Jon Batty (w/k)
Robin Martin-Jenkins
John Stephenson
Simon Francis
Simon Hughes
Alan Richardson
Earlier Editions
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