G&C 242
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 242
February 2023
Spot the Ball
Michael Atherton: So why did you make all that fuss about too much cricket?
Jos Buttler: Oh that was before the franchise owners got their cheque books out.
Gary Linekar: Didn’t they wear snoods at one time?
Alan Shearer: Yes, but they were banned.
Gary Linekar: Why do they roll their sox up over their knees?
Alan Shearer: To keep them warm.
Gary Shearer: But Jack Grealish rolls his down and doesn’t wear shin pads.
Norman Hunter: He wouldn’t have done that for long playing against me.
Out and About with the Professor
Duncan Hamilton writes cricket books. Until this Christmas I only had one on the shelf, his very enjoyable biography of Harold Larwood, subtitle: “The authorized biography of the world’s fastest bowler”. Hamilton draws a picture of a very modest, polite and gentle man, far from the role of “enforcer” that I suppose today would be the inevitable description of his abilities. Larwood apparently hated Australia on his first visit: hated the heat, and the flies, and the barracking on the pitch, but it became his adopted home, of course, after the English establishment did to him what the English establishment always does to working men.
Hamilton’s latest book, which was in my Christmas stocking, is One Long and Beautiful Summer, with another telling subtitle: “A short elegy for red-ball cricket”. Indeed, the subtitle is so telling that you might think you need scarcely bother to read the book…but that would be a mistake. The conceit of the book is a series of trips around the country to various county (and some club) matches during one summer, starting at Trent Bridge in early April because: “it is always important to go somewhere on the season’s opening day” and ending up at the Oval. But it is not (mercifully) a ball by ball account of the matches he went to – rather it is a series of reflections: about each ground, about some of the players who had played there memorably in the past, and about the state of cricket in England – especially, county cricket.
The style is intended, I think, to be that of the reflections of a fellow spectator that you might meet on the terraces: “Do you remember when so-and-so played here?”, “Did you see the score in that match last week?” and so on. Mind you, the reflections are a touch more erudite than those of the folk I bump into on the North East Terrace (Upper) at Headingley, including references to any number of players past, from Ranji to Peel, and a fair few number of poets and fellow cricket writers: Blunden, Sassoon, Orwell, L P Hartley, Trevelyan and, of course, Cardus. You don’t, in truth, hear too many quotations from Sassoon on the Headingley terraces (nor even, I would care to venture, in the more rarefied debenture-only lounge of the hideous green pavilion).
Hamilton lives in Yorkshire, in the village of Menston, near Bradford. His local team can boast of two stellar names who have turned out for the club: Bill Bowes (a local) and Martin Crowe, who seems to have stopped off in Menston for a few weeks, on his way further north. The bespectacled Bowes (“there has probably never been a great cricketer who looked less like one” – Wisden) took 7-17 in his first game, and 72 at 8 for the season. The local tale is that his figures could have been better had not one substitute fielder refused a couple of simple catches on the grounds that a bowler of his class shouldn’t have to rely on catches: “You can bowl ‘em out”. Crowe averaged 67 in his seven matches, all, doubtless, elegant runs.
It is, however, on the subject of white ball cricket that Hamilton really gets going. I imagine a few Googlies readers share his feelings. It’s not quite clear how he feels about ODIs, he writes excitedly about the World Cup win where “the implausibility of each new twist outdid the last…” but T20 and the horror which is the Hundred are almost too much to bear. Hamilton is not that flattering about the ECB (something that might also be shared with readers) where decisions are taken that are “financially lucrative but catastrophically stupid”. With the Hundred: “The ECB’s strategy is to bastardise …the game to appeal to people who don’t like cricket”.
I thought that was such a good line that I made a note to plagiarise it at some time, but then I was listening to the radio early one morning and being interviewed was the ever-impressive Ebony Rainford-Brent. She is engaged on a mission to reverse yet another trend of which Hamilton would not approve – that of the decline in participation of people of Afro-Caribbean heritage in cricket. The reasons for that decline are not difficult to find and are grimly disturbing in the confines of Yorkshire CCC, although evidence of racism in cricket has been coming in to the ICEC (the independent commission set up in 2021) from around the country; often challenged but often ignored. Rainford-Brent had established ACE (the Afro-Caribbean Engagement programme) some three years’ ago and has over 140 “academy scholars” and has involved some 10,000 children. One of the catalysts for that change has been, she says, the Hundred. Racism is not the only issue, she says, for the vast majority of the ACE programme children, they have never had any engagement with cricket: “I think the bigger problem is class…when you look at the provision in low socio-economic groups…there is just a void that I want us to fill”. And are the kids enthusiastic when they have a go. Indeed they are, they have seen the Hundred and it looks exciting and fun…who wouldn’t want to have a go?
This is, I think, powerful testimony. Hamilton is clearly a man who loves cricket – his chapter on the last day of the Headingley Test splendidly titled: “We’ll get ‘em in fours and sixes”, is a delight. Also, he is very well aware that he sounds like the oldest of old fogies “to the generation raised on the white ball game I sound…(like) a croaky and whiskery veteran nostalgically summoning ghosts”, and above all he likes county cricket: “I like the nuanced complexity of the Championship. I like the contemplative discipline required to watch it.” But, as he would readily, and sadly, acknowledge, not many others do.
This & That
There are currently three T20 competitions in progress, The Big Bash in Australia, the new South African SA20, and the ILT20 in the UAE. Until the ODIs started yesterday there had been no action for the poor overworked England players. But did they take advantage of the rest period? No, most of them went off to earn fees in the franchised competitions. Let’s hear no more about them playing too much cricket.
Sydney Thunder have cancelled their contract with Fazalhaq Farooqi for behaviour "sitting outside our values". A complaint was made about the 22-year-old Afghanistan fast bowler on 15 December, which was referred to Cricket Australia for investigation. In a statement, Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon said: "The behaviours displayed by Fazalhaq Farooqi sit outside our values and it was determined that his contract be terminated." What can he have done that is so despicable that it cannot be talked about? Well maybe he emulated the man who the police are seeking following his having defecated in the garden of former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq. They have issued a CCTV image of a man they want to speak to in connection with their investigation and urged anyone who recognised him to contact police. Presumably they will be using anal recognition technology?
Kent have extended the contract of player of the year Ben Compton for the next two seasons. Compton began his Kent career with centuries in his first three first-class innings. After amassing a summer's combined haul of 1,573 in England, the runs have continued to flow for Compton in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe's first-class competition. He has made 453 runs in his last four innings for Mountaineers in the space of 10 days, posting new career-best scores in consecutive matches, including a maiden double century, 217, in their win against Southern Rocks in Harare.
England's Sam Curran has become the most expensive auction buy in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after being bought by Punjab Kings for £1.85m. Six franchises made a bid for the 24-year-old all-rounder before Punjab were eventually successful. Yorkshire's Harry Brook has been sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for £1.35m. The previous most expensive IPL player was South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, who was signed by Rajasthan Royals for £1.6m in April 2021. That figure was overtaken again on Friday when Mumbai Indians paid £1.75m for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. England red-ball captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes was acquired for £1.63m by Chennai Super Kings - one of the franchises to miss out on Curran. Adil Rashid will join Brook in Hyderabad, while Will Jacks and Reece Topley have been signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals took Phil Salt. Former Test captain Joe Root initially went unsold but was later bought by Rajasthan Royals for £100,000. Left arm seamer Josh Little became the first Ireland player to win a full IPL contract as he was signed by Gujarat Titans for nearly £450,000. England's 18-year-old leg spinner Rehan Ahmed, Tom Curran and Chris Jordan all went unsold.
Suryakumar Yadav's scored a century off 45 balls which helped India to a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka with a 91-run victory in the third Twenty20 international. Suryakumar ended unbeaten on 112 off 51 balls, including nine sixes, as the hosts posted 228-5 in Rajkot. It is his third T20 international ton and the second fastest by an Indian batter after Rohit Sharma's 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017. Suryakumar now has three of the five fastest centuries for India in men's T20 internationals, with his other two coming off 48 and 49 balls. Only India captain Rohit has hit more T20 international tons with four. Australia's Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand's Colin Munro and the Czech Republic's Sabawoon Davizi have also made three.
In Karachi New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Their ninth wicket fell with the score on 345 but Henry and Patel then added 104 for the tenth wicket. These proved valuable runs as in the fourth innings of the match Pakistan finished on 304 for 9 just 5 runs short of victory.
Steve Smith made consecutive hundreds for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash. He scored 101 from 56 balls against the Adelaide Strikers and followed this up with 125 not out against the Sydney Thunder. He now has a batting average of 131 this BBL summer and has hit the equal most sixes, despite playing only three games.
Adelaide Strikers stand-in captain Matt Short scored a century as his team completed the highest successful run-chase in the Big Bash League to beat the Hobart Hurricanes by seven wickets. Short, deputising for Peter Siddle, struck 100 from 59 balls, including eight fours and three sixes.
India beat Sri Lanka by 317 runs - the biggest-ever winning margin in a one-day international - to seal a 3-0 series win. Virat Kohli finished unbeaten on 166 for the hosts, while Shubman Gill hit 116 from 97 balls as India made 390-5 from their 50 overs. Sri Lanka were then bowled out for 73 after Mohammed Siraj took 4-32. New Zealand's 290-run victory over Ireland in Aberdeen in 2008 was the previous highest winning margin. Kholi moved to within three centuries of equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds. In an earlier match in this series Shubman Gill had scored 208.
In the International League T20 being played in the UAE Alex Hales made 110 not out for the Desert Vipers and Tom Kohler-Cadmore 106 not out for the Sharjah Warriors.
I have watched the two ODIs against South Africa and Sisanda Magala the new South African medium quick is shaped like Colin Milburn. He, nevertheless, trundles in at a lively pace and is clearly effective. Middlesex would never tolerate such obesity and would ship him off to Northants.
I watched Brentford beat Bournemouth from my armchair in Evanston, Illinois this lunchtime, which was rather strange. The pitch at the new Brentford ground was in terrible shape. I suppose part of the funding means they have to let it out for other sports including rugby. There were large areas without grass in strange zones, presumably from where scrums had been located. The pitch was also traversed by partially washed-out white lines from other activities. If Brentford are going to be a Premier League force, they may have to reconsider how they use their facilities.
There were two bookings in the match and strangely it was the two goalkeepers who were the culprits. The Brentford goalkeeper, Raya, was booked for timewasting whilst the Bournemouth keeper, Neto, was cautioned, apparently, for being an asshole.
Bournemouth have developed a new defensive tactic which served them well in this match. Every time one of their defenders goes to ground in their own penalty area they hold their heads as they writhe around on the ground. The referee is obligated to halt play because there is an apparent head injury. The trainer runs out with his bucket of cold water and a sponge and in no time the defender is passed fit for play. The referee then performs a drop ball invariably in the favour of the defending side regardless of the state of play when he had halted the action.
By the following week I had mastered the programme schedules and time differences and first watched Crystal Palace fairly easily keep Newcastle at bay. Newcastle have done well this year but it is hard to see where their goals will come from – Callum Wilson was totally ineffectual, did he really go to Qatar with England?, whilst Almiron couldn’t get into the game. I then saw the excellent Arsenal v Manchester United match. Arsenal were very impressive.
I, like many, am a great admirer of Pep, but his flaws are becoming more apparent. For example, this season he incomprehensively regularly left out of his side last year’s top scorer, Mahrez. Only when he eventually started to pick him in December did City start to win matches in which the goal scoring wasn’t dependent on Haaling. Pep also tries to fit Cancelo into every side, but now he has realised that he is a lousy full back and he even tried to play him in the front line, at whose expense? You’ve guessed it: Mahrez. Pep has been known to identify Bernado Silva as Europe’s best player but he rarely makes a major contribution to City’s performance, he is normally seen rushing around behind the midfield players making square passes to Diaz, Stones, Walker etc. Pep has started to leave him out and there has been talk of him leaving in the current Transfer Window. Pep has also favoured the selection of the eighteen-year-old Rico Lewis at Right Back, but like so many of his contemporaries he plays anywhere but in that position. In the City v Arsenal cup tie the City defence was constantly stretched because he was out of position.
Wout Faes scored two own goals as Liverpool came from behind to beat Leicester. He became just the fourth player to score two own goals in a single Premier League game, after Jamie Carragher, Michael Proctor and Jonathan Walters.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says England midfielder Kalvin “Fatso” Phillips was "overweight" when he returned to training from the World Cup.
Morgan Matters
The Great Man must have received a 2023 diary from Santa as he is underway again
Ahmed is the youngest Test debutant ever to take 5 wkts in an innings, the top 5 are: i) R Ahmed (England) 18 years and 126 days; ii) P Cummins (Australia) 18 years 193 days; iii) Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) 18 years 235 days; iv) Nayeem Hasan (Bangladesh) 18 years 283 days; and v) Shahid Nazar (Pakistan) 18 years 318 days.
B Stokes was runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year contest. The winner was a female footballer of whom I had never heard.
Former England and Fulham right back and 1966 World Cup winner George Cohen has died aged 83. There are now only two survivors from the WC Final XI: Sir R Charlton and Sir G Hurst.
Babar Azam broke the Pakistan record for runs in a calendar year in all formats on day one of the first Test v NZ. His 161 took him to 2,477, surpassing Mohammad Yousuf's 2,435 in 2006.
The G's "special board of selectors" (eleven of them) have announced their "best red ball side of the past 12 months": Usman Khawaja (Oz), Abdulla Shafique (Pak), Marnus Labuschagne (Oz), Daryl Mitchell (NZ), Jonny Bairstow (Eng), Ben Stokes capt (Eng), Rishabh Pant wk (Ind), Marco Jansen (SA), Pat Cummins (Oz), Nathan Lyon (Oz), and Jimmy Anderson (Eng)... but who will they play? Mars, I suppose!
Paul Farbrace is the new Sussex coach.
Luke Wright is the new England men's selector.
Paul Edwards includes "The Cricket World of Charles Dickens" among his "cricket tomes of the year", while Richard Hobson chooses "The Bodyline Fix: How Women Saved Cricket" by Marion Stell in his three favourite books of the year;
Alan Coleman has been rewarded for overseeing major changes at Middlesex and is now "director of cricket".
Indian keeper Rihabh Pant “dozed off” before his car “flipped twice” and caught fire in Uttarkhand... and he was apparently "lucky to survive". He suffered injuries to his head, back and leg and has been detained in hospital.
Rs lost 0-3 at home to Luton, have slipped to 11th and look to be condemned to mid-table mediocrity (even though they are still only 1 point off the play-off places).
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Tim Murtagh has signed a one-year contract extension to stay with Middlesex in a player/ coach role. Director of Cricket Alan Coleman said "despite his advancing years, he still has the guile and expertise to outfox batters".
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Ex-England batter Gary Ballance is set to make his Zimbabwe debut in the upcoming T20 series v Ireland, having played 23 Tests and 16 ODIs for England between 2014 and 2017.
Middlesex are apparently in discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board about the possibility of joining the Pakistan Super League "the country's high-profile domestic Twenty20 competition" in February 2024.
Mark Hughes tells us (in the O) that Gianluca Vialli, who has died aged 58, was a "beautiful human" alongside a photo of the man himself confirming my suspicions that he was, in fact, bald and ugly!
England's run of 9 wins in 10 Tests is only the fourth time they have achieved this in their history: M Vaughan's team won 11 out of 12 in 2004, while M Brearley won 9 out of 10 in both 1978 and 1979.
Mickey Arthur has turned down the chance of a second spell as Pakistan's coach in order to remain head of cricket at Derbyshire.
WI fast bowler Kemar Roach is returning to Surrey for the first 6 games of the CC season.
Neil Killeen has been appointed England's new fast bowling coach (or actually "elite pace bowling coach") moving on from Durham after 30 years.
Mo Bobat (ECB's performance director for men's cricket) has "cautiously welcomed" the possibility of Australia's Steve Smith playing for Sussex in the Championship before the start of this summer's Ashes series, though Ben Stokes "reacted coolly" to the idea.
Former Sy and Sussex head coach Ian Salisbury has joined Middlesex as a consultant coach. He played 15 Tests and 4 ODIs for Eng. Head coach Richard Johnson said "he's a great bloke"!
Hasim Amla, SA's second highest Test run-scorer of all time, has retired aged 39. He made 9,282 Test runs (only Jacques Kallis's 13,206 betters him) at an average of 46.64. His 311* v England at the Oval in 2012 remains the highest Test score by a South African and no one has scored more than his 27 ODI centuries for SA.
Cazoo (car retailers) and LV= (insurance) have both chosen not to renew their sponsorship of English Cricket.
Roland Butcher is now on the WI selection panel.
Graeme Smith says that we might soon be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket
Keaton Jennings is taking over from Dane Vilas as Lancashire’s captain across all three formats in the 2023 season.
Surrey have signed Oz seamer Sean Abbott until the end of July.
The O had this to say about Rs' feeble display at Hull: "Aaron Connolly scored twice on his birthday to help end Hull's near four-month wait for a home win in the 3-0 victory against QPR... his side's first win at the MKM Stadium since 5 October... the visitors were poor throughout as their winless run in all competitions extended to seven matches".
Lancashire have signed NZ internationals Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme for the 2023 season.
John Jackson
John Jackson, the long serving Crystal Palace goalkeeper, died recently. During my years at the Danes he was the only footballer who went on to play professionally. He was one of the three outstanding players during my time at the school, the other two being Dave Richardson and Dave Morrish. I can actually claim to have played in the same side as Jackson as he and Dave Smith smuggled me into a Dane House senior side whilst I was still a junior. I remember watching the 1st XI players hammering balls at him in one of the Hospital Pitch goals during a training session for about half an hour and I doubt whether many if any beat him. He was always friendly and unassuming.
Football Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this:
Re your Southgate and world cup comments in G&C 241. I think what people seem to miss is that we do not have the player quality a lot of the English public and most of the press think we have. If you asked those who have a good knowledge of world, rather than English, football to name a world XI there are probably no English players who would be an automatic first choice.
If you then look at our young, so called world beaters we have possibly two future candidates but neither are in the category of true holders of that status yet and as we have seen with so many other youngsters who sparkled for a short with while, promise as a teenager is no guarantee of success later.
I think we need to be doing more work on the development of players but those youngsters need to understand that to be a star involves not just hard work but being prepared to continually improve as your opponents are going to be continually working out how to negate your talents
George sent me this:
Your comment about linesmen is also apposite for rugby union. A linesman can be a metre or less from where a ball goes into touch and still not make a decision about the ensuing line out.
Peter Aitchison sent me this extraordinary set of results from 59 years ago:
I don’t remember the day itself but would probably have been at Loftus Road watching a Division Three South match where 2-0 would have ranked as a big scoreline.
Peter Aitchison also felt compelled to comment on Chelsea’s performance at Nottingham Forest:
A 1-1 draw and a terrible performance. I honestly have never seen a Chelsea manager who looks so clueless. Potter does not know what he is doing and is out of his depth. Our new owner is an idiot giving him a five-year deal. The looks of players on the bench shows me he may not have the dressing room. He needs to go right now and we get Poch in… no way will we get top four - probably bottom four.
The government pilot post-social-distancing 2021 Edgbaston TestGedd was there
Whereas the Lord’s Test was a socially-distanced affair, which I attended alone, the Edgbaston Test was designated to be a Government pilot for major events.
Our regular Heavy Rollers gathering was a depleted group for various reasons, further diminished by Charley “The Gent” Malloy’s indisposition (thankfully A lurgy rather than THE lurgy).
Mrs Malloy sent Nigel “Father Barry” a hamper with all the non-perishable foods she had already gathered for our picnic. Harsha Ghoble was our third man at the match.
I took on perishables duties, taking advantage of the kitchen in the Air B’n’B I had chosen.
I procured sandwich components, fruit and refillable plastic water bottles in Leamington, where I stopped for a couple of hours of tennis and lunch with friends on the Wednesday.
On day one, we sat next to a sweet little older couple. She told us that they had abstained from smuggling in alcohol for the first time this year, as they thought security would be tight. Nigel remarked that security had done for his “thermos method” some years ago.
“Ah yes,” she said, “but you don’t look like a sweet little old lady.”
We liked them.
The pandemic has wrought havoc, but also forced some improvements. The e-ticketing meant that we got through security and all the additional checks faster than ever at Edgbaston. Similarly, although the Eric Hollies was heaving with beer-swilling folk, the click and collect method kept the queues at the back of the stand modest.
My old friend Jonny Hurst, the soccer Chant Laureate, was in the Eric Hollies on day one. He and I exchanged e-bants during the day.
Nigel got into a muddle with the fruit infusion section of his refillable water bottle, causing the sweet little old lady to guffaw with laughter, which obviously helped Nigel regain his composure.
Beer snakes were “the thing” day one; in the Eric Hollies, naturally, but also in the Raglan.
On day two, a self-important bloke marched around the Raglan, barking orders, in an attempt to build an even bigger snake. Mercifully, security rumbled him, confiscating the skiffs. We saw him still remonstrating with stewards near the exit as we left the ground.
Twenty Years – 240 not out
Steve Thompson sent me this
One morning early in January 2003, an ’occasional cricketing journal’ appeared, unsolicited, on my door mat. A month later a second; this one requested. That prompted the Editor to infer in that second edition that I was unable to open the Word document in which it had been, for the techno-savvy, propelled through the ether. I have been paperless for the past 238 editions and having had a recent tweet ‘liked’ by Sir Tim Berners-Lee I feel my internet education is now complete. What fortunately is not complete is the life of Googlies & Chinamen, now 241 not out with power to add.
In January 2003, Andrew Strauss was the England Test captain, the ‘ramp’ was something you drove on to board a cross channel ferry and T20 was still a few months from entering the world’s cricketing lexicon. In that same January, Rangers lost 2-1 at home to Tranmere Rovers in the third tier - very nearly plus ca change.
What hasn’t changed however is the Editor’s remarkable creative stamina. Supported by his small team of excellent regular monthly contributors he has entertained us for those twenty years and reminded us, sadly often through the memories of warm obituaries, of the importance in all our lives of our cricketing fraternity. I know he is not one for plaudits but just this once, raise your bat, Jim. Well played.
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 242
February 2023
Spot the Ball
- Michael Atherton: You must have enjoyed having a month off in January after the hectic international schedule you all complained about last year?
Michael Atherton: So why did you make all that fuss about too much cricket?
Jos Buttler: Oh that was before the franchise owners got their cheque books out.
- Gary Linekar: When did football stop being a manly game?
Gary Linekar: Didn’t they wear snoods at one time?
Alan Shearer: Yes, but they were banned.
Gary Linekar: Why do they roll their sox up over their knees?
Alan Shearer: To keep them warm.
Gary Shearer: But Jack Grealish rolls his down and doesn’t wear shin pads.
Norman Hunter: He wouldn’t have done that for long playing against me.
Out and About with the Professor
Duncan Hamilton writes cricket books. Until this Christmas I only had one on the shelf, his very enjoyable biography of Harold Larwood, subtitle: “The authorized biography of the world’s fastest bowler”. Hamilton draws a picture of a very modest, polite and gentle man, far from the role of “enforcer” that I suppose today would be the inevitable description of his abilities. Larwood apparently hated Australia on his first visit: hated the heat, and the flies, and the barracking on the pitch, but it became his adopted home, of course, after the English establishment did to him what the English establishment always does to working men.
Hamilton’s latest book, which was in my Christmas stocking, is One Long and Beautiful Summer, with another telling subtitle: “A short elegy for red-ball cricket”. Indeed, the subtitle is so telling that you might think you need scarcely bother to read the book…but that would be a mistake. The conceit of the book is a series of trips around the country to various county (and some club) matches during one summer, starting at Trent Bridge in early April because: “it is always important to go somewhere on the season’s opening day” and ending up at the Oval. But it is not (mercifully) a ball by ball account of the matches he went to – rather it is a series of reflections: about each ground, about some of the players who had played there memorably in the past, and about the state of cricket in England – especially, county cricket.
The style is intended, I think, to be that of the reflections of a fellow spectator that you might meet on the terraces: “Do you remember when so-and-so played here?”, “Did you see the score in that match last week?” and so on. Mind you, the reflections are a touch more erudite than those of the folk I bump into on the North East Terrace (Upper) at Headingley, including references to any number of players past, from Ranji to Peel, and a fair few number of poets and fellow cricket writers: Blunden, Sassoon, Orwell, L P Hartley, Trevelyan and, of course, Cardus. You don’t, in truth, hear too many quotations from Sassoon on the Headingley terraces (nor even, I would care to venture, in the more rarefied debenture-only lounge of the hideous green pavilion).
Hamilton lives in Yorkshire, in the village of Menston, near Bradford. His local team can boast of two stellar names who have turned out for the club: Bill Bowes (a local) and Martin Crowe, who seems to have stopped off in Menston for a few weeks, on his way further north. The bespectacled Bowes (“there has probably never been a great cricketer who looked less like one” – Wisden) took 7-17 in his first game, and 72 at 8 for the season. The local tale is that his figures could have been better had not one substitute fielder refused a couple of simple catches on the grounds that a bowler of his class shouldn’t have to rely on catches: “You can bowl ‘em out”. Crowe averaged 67 in his seven matches, all, doubtless, elegant runs.
It is, however, on the subject of white ball cricket that Hamilton really gets going. I imagine a few Googlies readers share his feelings. It’s not quite clear how he feels about ODIs, he writes excitedly about the World Cup win where “the implausibility of each new twist outdid the last…” but T20 and the horror which is the Hundred are almost too much to bear. Hamilton is not that flattering about the ECB (something that might also be shared with readers) where decisions are taken that are “financially lucrative but catastrophically stupid”. With the Hundred: “The ECB’s strategy is to bastardise …the game to appeal to people who don’t like cricket”.
I thought that was such a good line that I made a note to plagiarise it at some time, but then I was listening to the radio early one morning and being interviewed was the ever-impressive Ebony Rainford-Brent. She is engaged on a mission to reverse yet another trend of which Hamilton would not approve – that of the decline in participation of people of Afro-Caribbean heritage in cricket. The reasons for that decline are not difficult to find and are grimly disturbing in the confines of Yorkshire CCC, although evidence of racism in cricket has been coming in to the ICEC (the independent commission set up in 2021) from around the country; often challenged but often ignored. Rainford-Brent had established ACE (the Afro-Caribbean Engagement programme) some three years’ ago and has over 140 “academy scholars” and has involved some 10,000 children. One of the catalysts for that change has been, she says, the Hundred. Racism is not the only issue, she says, for the vast majority of the ACE programme children, they have never had any engagement with cricket: “I think the bigger problem is class…when you look at the provision in low socio-economic groups…there is just a void that I want us to fill”. And are the kids enthusiastic when they have a go. Indeed they are, they have seen the Hundred and it looks exciting and fun…who wouldn’t want to have a go?
This is, I think, powerful testimony. Hamilton is clearly a man who loves cricket – his chapter on the last day of the Headingley Test splendidly titled: “We’ll get ‘em in fours and sixes”, is a delight. Also, he is very well aware that he sounds like the oldest of old fogies “to the generation raised on the white ball game I sound…(like) a croaky and whiskery veteran nostalgically summoning ghosts”, and above all he likes county cricket: “I like the nuanced complexity of the Championship. I like the contemplative discipline required to watch it.” But, as he would readily, and sadly, acknowledge, not many others do.
This & That
There are currently three T20 competitions in progress, The Big Bash in Australia, the new South African SA20, and the ILT20 in the UAE. Until the ODIs started yesterday there had been no action for the poor overworked England players. But did they take advantage of the rest period? No, most of them went off to earn fees in the franchised competitions. Let’s hear no more about them playing too much cricket.
Sydney Thunder have cancelled their contract with Fazalhaq Farooqi for behaviour "sitting outside our values". A complaint was made about the 22-year-old Afghanistan fast bowler on 15 December, which was referred to Cricket Australia for investigation. In a statement, Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon said: "The behaviours displayed by Fazalhaq Farooqi sit outside our values and it was determined that his contract be terminated." What can he have done that is so despicable that it cannot be talked about? Well maybe he emulated the man who the police are seeking following his having defecated in the garden of former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq. They have issued a CCTV image of a man they want to speak to in connection with their investigation and urged anyone who recognised him to contact police. Presumably they will be using anal recognition technology?
Kent have extended the contract of player of the year Ben Compton for the next two seasons. Compton began his Kent career with centuries in his first three first-class innings. After amassing a summer's combined haul of 1,573 in England, the runs have continued to flow for Compton in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe's first-class competition. He has made 453 runs in his last four innings for Mountaineers in the space of 10 days, posting new career-best scores in consecutive matches, including a maiden double century, 217, in their win against Southern Rocks in Harare.
England's Sam Curran has become the most expensive auction buy in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after being bought by Punjab Kings for £1.85m. Six franchises made a bid for the 24-year-old all-rounder before Punjab were eventually successful. Yorkshire's Harry Brook has been sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for £1.35m. The previous most expensive IPL player was South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, who was signed by Rajasthan Royals for £1.6m in April 2021. That figure was overtaken again on Friday when Mumbai Indians paid £1.75m for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. England red-ball captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes was acquired for £1.63m by Chennai Super Kings - one of the franchises to miss out on Curran. Adil Rashid will join Brook in Hyderabad, while Will Jacks and Reece Topley have been signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals took Phil Salt. Former Test captain Joe Root initially went unsold but was later bought by Rajasthan Royals for £100,000. Left arm seamer Josh Little became the first Ireland player to win a full IPL contract as he was signed by Gujarat Titans for nearly £450,000. England's 18-year-old leg spinner Rehan Ahmed, Tom Curran and Chris Jordan all went unsold.
Suryakumar Yadav's scored a century off 45 balls which helped India to a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka with a 91-run victory in the third Twenty20 international. Suryakumar ended unbeaten on 112 off 51 balls, including nine sixes, as the hosts posted 228-5 in Rajkot. It is his third T20 international ton and the second fastest by an Indian batter after Rohit Sharma's 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017. Suryakumar now has three of the five fastest centuries for India in men's T20 internationals, with his other two coming off 48 and 49 balls. Only India captain Rohit has hit more T20 international tons with four. Australia's Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand's Colin Munro and the Czech Republic's Sabawoon Davizi have also made three.
In Karachi New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Their ninth wicket fell with the score on 345 but Henry and Patel then added 104 for the tenth wicket. These proved valuable runs as in the fourth innings of the match Pakistan finished on 304 for 9 just 5 runs short of victory.
Steve Smith made consecutive hundreds for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash. He scored 101 from 56 balls against the Adelaide Strikers and followed this up with 125 not out against the Sydney Thunder. He now has a batting average of 131 this BBL summer and has hit the equal most sixes, despite playing only three games.
Adelaide Strikers stand-in captain Matt Short scored a century as his team completed the highest successful run-chase in the Big Bash League to beat the Hobart Hurricanes by seven wickets. Short, deputising for Peter Siddle, struck 100 from 59 balls, including eight fours and three sixes.
India beat Sri Lanka by 317 runs - the biggest-ever winning margin in a one-day international - to seal a 3-0 series win. Virat Kohli finished unbeaten on 166 for the hosts, while Shubman Gill hit 116 from 97 balls as India made 390-5 from their 50 overs. Sri Lanka were then bowled out for 73 after Mohammed Siraj took 4-32. New Zealand's 290-run victory over Ireland in Aberdeen in 2008 was the previous highest winning margin. Kholi moved to within three centuries of equalling Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds. In an earlier match in this series Shubman Gill had scored 208.
In the International League T20 being played in the UAE Alex Hales made 110 not out for the Desert Vipers and Tom Kohler-Cadmore 106 not out for the Sharjah Warriors.
I have watched the two ODIs against South Africa and Sisanda Magala the new South African medium quick is shaped like Colin Milburn. He, nevertheless, trundles in at a lively pace and is clearly effective. Middlesex would never tolerate such obesity and would ship him off to Northants.
I watched Brentford beat Bournemouth from my armchair in Evanston, Illinois this lunchtime, which was rather strange. The pitch at the new Brentford ground was in terrible shape. I suppose part of the funding means they have to let it out for other sports including rugby. There were large areas without grass in strange zones, presumably from where scrums had been located. The pitch was also traversed by partially washed-out white lines from other activities. If Brentford are going to be a Premier League force, they may have to reconsider how they use their facilities.
There were two bookings in the match and strangely it was the two goalkeepers who were the culprits. The Brentford goalkeeper, Raya, was booked for timewasting whilst the Bournemouth keeper, Neto, was cautioned, apparently, for being an asshole.
Bournemouth have developed a new defensive tactic which served them well in this match. Every time one of their defenders goes to ground in their own penalty area they hold their heads as they writhe around on the ground. The referee is obligated to halt play because there is an apparent head injury. The trainer runs out with his bucket of cold water and a sponge and in no time the defender is passed fit for play. The referee then performs a drop ball invariably in the favour of the defending side regardless of the state of play when he had halted the action.
By the following week I had mastered the programme schedules and time differences and first watched Crystal Palace fairly easily keep Newcastle at bay. Newcastle have done well this year but it is hard to see where their goals will come from – Callum Wilson was totally ineffectual, did he really go to Qatar with England?, whilst Almiron couldn’t get into the game. I then saw the excellent Arsenal v Manchester United match. Arsenal were very impressive.
I, like many, am a great admirer of Pep, but his flaws are becoming more apparent. For example, this season he incomprehensively regularly left out of his side last year’s top scorer, Mahrez. Only when he eventually started to pick him in December did City start to win matches in which the goal scoring wasn’t dependent on Haaling. Pep also tries to fit Cancelo into every side, but now he has realised that he is a lousy full back and he even tried to play him in the front line, at whose expense? You’ve guessed it: Mahrez. Pep has been known to identify Bernado Silva as Europe’s best player but he rarely makes a major contribution to City’s performance, he is normally seen rushing around behind the midfield players making square passes to Diaz, Stones, Walker etc. Pep has started to leave him out and there has been talk of him leaving in the current Transfer Window. Pep has also favoured the selection of the eighteen-year-old Rico Lewis at Right Back, but like so many of his contemporaries he plays anywhere but in that position. In the City v Arsenal cup tie the City defence was constantly stretched because he was out of position.
Wout Faes scored two own goals as Liverpool came from behind to beat Leicester. He became just the fourth player to score two own goals in a single Premier League game, after Jamie Carragher, Michael Proctor and Jonathan Walters.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says England midfielder Kalvin “Fatso” Phillips was "overweight" when he returned to training from the World Cup.
Morgan Matters
The Great Man must have received a 2023 diary from Santa as he is underway again
Ahmed is the youngest Test debutant ever to take 5 wkts in an innings, the top 5 are: i) R Ahmed (England) 18 years and 126 days; ii) P Cummins (Australia) 18 years 193 days; iii) Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) 18 years 235 days; iv) Nayeem Hasan (Bangladesh) 18 years 283 days; and v) Shahid Nazar (Pakistan) 18 years 318 days.
B Stokes was runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year contest. The winner was a female footballer of whom I had never heard.
Former England and Fulham right back and 1966 World Cup winner George Cohen has died aged 83. There are now only two survivors from the WC Final XI: Sir R Charlton and Sir G Hurst.
Babar Azam broke the Pakistan record for runs in a calendar year in all formats on day one of the first Test v NZ. His 161 took him to 2,477, surpassing Mohammad Yousuf's 2,435 in 2006.
The G's "special board of selectors" (eleven of them) have announced their "best red ball side of the past 12 months": Usman Khawaja (Oz), Abdulla Shafique (Pak), Marnus Labuschagne (Oz), Daryl Mitchell (NZ), Jonny Bairstow (Eng), Ben Stokes capt (Eng), Rishabh Pant wk (Ind), Marco Jansen (SA), Pat Cummins (Oz), Nathan Lyon (Oz), and Jimmy Anderson (Eng)... but who will they play? Mars, I suppose!
Paul Farbrace is the new Sussex coach.
Luke Wright is the new England men's selector.
Paul Edwards includes "The Cricket World of Charles Dickens" among his "cricket tomes of the year", while Richard Hobson chooses "The Bodyline Fix: How Women Saved Cricket" by Marion Stell in his three favourite books of the year;
Alan Coleman has been rewarded for overseeing major changes at Middlesex and is now "director of cricket".
Indian keeper Rihabh Pant “dozed off” before his car “flipped twice” and caught fire in Uttarkhand... and he was apparently "lucky to survive". He suffered injuries to his head, back and leg and has been detained in hospital.
Rs lost 0-3 at home to Luton, have slipped to 11th and look to be condemned to mid-table mediocrity (even though they are still only 1 point off the play-off places).
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Tim Murtagh has signed a one-year contract extension to stay with Middlesex in a player/ coach role. Director of Cricket Alan Coleman said "despite his advancing years, he still has the guile and expertise to outfox batters".
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Ex-England batter Gary Ballance is set to make his Zimbabwe debut in the upcoming T20 series v Ireland, having played 23 Tests and 16 ODIs for England between 2014 and 2017.
Middlesex are apparently in discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board about the possibility of joining the Pakistan Super League "the country's high-profile domestic Twenty20 competition" in February 2024.
Mark Hughes tells us (in the O) that Gianluca Vialli, who has died aged 58, was a "beautiful human" alongside a photo of the man himself confirming my suspicions that he was, in fact, bald and ugly!
England's run of 9 wins in 10 Tests is only the fourth time they have achieved this in their history: M Vaughan's team won 11 out of 12 in 2004, while M Brearley won 9 out of 10 in both 1978 and 1979.
Mickey Arthur has turned down the chance of a second spell as Pakistan's coach in order to remain head of cricket at Derbyshire.
WI fast bowler Kemar Roach is returning to Surrey for the first 6 games of the CC season.
Neil Killeen has been appointed England's new fast bowling coach (or actually "elite pace bowling coach") moving on from Durham after 30 years.
Mo Bobat (ECB's performance director for men's cricket) has "cautiously welcomed" the possibility of Australia's Steve Smith playing for Sussex in the Championship before the start of this summer's Ashes series, though Ben Stokes "reacted coolly" to the idea.
Former Sy and Sussex head coach Ian Salisbury has joined Middlesex as a consultant coach. He played 15 Tests and 4 ODIs for Eng. Head coach Richard Johnson said "he's a great bloke"!
Hasim Amla, SA's second highest Test run-scorer of all time, has retired aged 39. He made 9,282 Test runs (only Jacques Kallis's 13,206 betters him) at an average of 46.64. His 311* v England at the Oval in 2012 remains the highest Test score by a South African and no one has scored more than his 27 ODI centuries for SA.
Cazoo (car retailers) and LV= (insurance) have both chosen not to renew their sponsorship of English Cricket.
Roland Butcher is now on the WI selection panel.
Graeme Smith says that we might soon be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket
Keaton Jennings is taking over from Dane Vilas as Lancashire’s captain across all three formats in the 2023 season.
Surrey have signed Oz seamer Sean Abbott until the end of July.
The O had this to say about Rs' feeble display at Hull: "Aaron Connolly scored twice on his birthday to help end Hull's near four-month wait for a home win in the 3-0 victory against QPR... his side's first win at the MKM Stadium since 5 October... the visitors were poor throughout as their winless run in all competitions extended to seven matches".
Lancashire have signed NZ internationals Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme for the 2023 season.
John Jackson
John Jackson, the long serving Crystal Palace goalkeeper, died recently. During my years at the Danes he was the only footballer who went on to play professionally. He was one of the three outstanding players during my time at the school, the other two being Dave Richardson and Dave Morrish. I can actually claim to have played in the same side as Jackson as he and Dave Smith smuggled me into a Dane House senior side whilst I was still a junior. I remember watching the 1st XI players hammering balls at him in one of the Hospital Pitch goals during a training session for about half an hour and I doubt whether many if any beat him. He was always friendly and unassuming.
Football Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this:
Re your Southgate and world cup comments in G&C 241. I think what people seem to miss is that we do not have the player quality a lot of the English public and most of the press think we have. If you asked those who have a good knowledge of world, rather than English, football to name a world XI there are probably no English players who would be an automatic first choice.
If you then look at our young, so called world beaters we have possibly two future candidates but neither are in the category of true holders of that status yet and as we have seen with so many other youngsters who sparkled for a short with while, promise as a teenager is no guarantee of success later.
I think we need to be doing more work on the development of players but those youngsters need to understand that to be a star involves not just hard work but being prepared to continually improve as your opponents are going to be continually working out how to negate your talents
George sent me this:
Your comment about linesmen is also apposite for rugby union. A linesman can be a metre or less from where a ball goes into touch and still not make a decision about the ensuing line out.
Peter Aitchison sent me this extraordinary set of results from 59 years ago:
I don’t remember the day itself but would probably have been at Loftus Road watching a Division Three South match where 2-0 would have ranked as a big scoreline.
Peter Aitchison also felt compelled to comment on Chelsea’s performance at Nottingham Forest:
A 1-1 draw and a terrible performance. I honestly have never seen a Chelsea manager who looks so clueless. Potter does not know what he is doing and is out of his depth. Our new owner is an idiot giving him a five-year deal. The looks of players on the bench shows me he may not have the dressing room. He needs to go right now and we get Poch in… no way will we get top four - probably bottom four.
The government pilot post-social-distancing 2021 Edgbaston TestGedd was there
Whereas the Lord’s Test was a socially-distanced affair, which I attended alone, the Edgbaston Test was designated to be a Government pilot for major events.
Our regular Heavy Rollers gathering was a depleted group for various reasons, further diminished by Charley “The Gent” Malloy’s indisposition (thankfully A lurgy rather than THE lurgy).
Mrs Malloy sent Nigel “Father Barry” a hamper with all the non-perishable foods she had already gathered for our picnic. Harsha Ghoble was our third man at the match.
I took on perishables duties, taking advantage of the kitchen in the Air B’n’B I had chosen.
I procured sandwich components, fruit and refillable plastic water bottles in Leamington, where I stopped for a couple of hours of tennis and lunch with friends on the Wednesday.
On day one, we sat next to a sweet little older couple. She told us that they had abstained from smuggling in alcohol for the first time this year, as they thought security would be tight. Nigel remarked that security had done for his “thermos method” some years ago.
“Ah yes,” she said, “but you don’t look like a sweet little old lady.”
We liked them.
The pandemic has wrought havoc, but also forced some improvements. The e-ticketing meant that we got through security and all the additional checks faster than ever at Edgbaston. Similarly, although the Eric Hollies was heaving with beer-swilling folk, the click and collect method kept the queues at the back of the stand modest.
My old friend Jonny Hurst, the soccer Chant Laureate, was in the Eric Hollies on day one. He and I exchanged e-bants during the day.
Nigel got into a muddle with the fruit infusion section of his refillable water bottle, causing the sweet little old lady to guffaw with laughter, which obviously helped Nigel regain his composure.
Beer snakes were “the thing” day one; in the Eric Hollies, naturally, but also in the Raglan.
On day two, a self-important bloke marched around the Raglan, barking orders, in an attempt to build an even bigger snake. Mercifully, security rumbled him, confiscating the skiffs. We saw him still remonstrating with stewards near the exit as we left the ground.
Twenty Years – 240 not out
Steve Thompson sent me this
One morning early in January 2003, an ’occasional cricketing journal’ appeared, unsolicited, on my door mat. A month later a second; this one requested. That prompted the Editor to infer in that second edition that I was unable to open the Word document in which it had been, for the techno-savvy, propelled through the ether. I have been paperless for the past 238 editions and having had a recent tweet ‘liked’ by Sir Tim Berners-Lee I feel my internet education is now complete. What fortunately is not complete is the life of Googlies & Chinamen, now 241 not out with power to add.
In January 2003, Andrew Strauss was the England Test captain, the ‘ramp’ was something you drove on to board a cross channel ferry and T20 was still a few months from entering the world’s cricketing lexicon. In that same January, Rangers lost 2-1 at home to Tranmere Rovers in the third tier - very nearly plus ca change.
What hasn’t changed however is the Editor’s remarkable creative stamina. Supported by his small team of excellent regular monthly contributors he has entertained us for those twenty years and reminded us, sadly often through the memories of warm obituaries, of the importance in all our lives of our cricketing fraternity. I know he is not one for plaudits but just this once, raise your bat, Jim. Well played.
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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Broad Lee House
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