GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 63
March 2008
Caption Competition
The Professor has a new pal. He has befriended the dreaded Jimmy, mascot of the Barmy Army. He is now able to answer the question that so many of us have asked: “How come Jimmy appears at every England test match around the world?” It turns out that he isn’t an England supporter at all but an employee of the BA. The Professor, fearing eternal ridicule, opted not to be photographed with Jimmy but he sent me the above photo from Kandy along with the following caption:
“Jimmy expresses smug satisfaction on learning that Lord Ray has joined the BA supporters club.”
Here are some more:
1. Fabio Capello: Do you know where Wembley is, Jimmy?
2. Victoria Beckham: Nice vest Jimmy; Armani?
3. Jimmy: I’m due to retire next year. Do you think Jack Morgan would take over from me?
4. Geoff Miller: Hi Jimmy. Have you got your kit with you?
5. Jimmy’s Mum: I’m so proud of my Jimmy. He works so hard. He’s in the Army, you know.
6. Cricket Lovers Everywhere: Unfortunately we do know “Who you are”.
Out and About with the Professor
As I feel sure you know by now, Harrogate Town's top of the table clash with Kettering ended in a draw and so Kettering remain 9 points clear at the top. Since only one club is promoted to the Blue Square Premiership it seems likely that "we" will miss out this year. That is not, so I was told on Saturday, altogether a bad thing, since there is some doubt that the travel costs of away matches at Exeter and Torquay fall within the budget.
A home win would have been probable however had not our centre forward missed an open goal from about 10 yards, belting the ball so hard and wide that instead of bulging the net it struck a small block of nearby flats. We also hit the post and the dreadful Northamptonshire nasties also wounded our goalkeeper. Kettering was advertised as a team full of "full-timers" which in this League is close to cheating, so I suppose that a draw was not a result of which we should feel ashamed. Next week - Blyth Spartans (if you have ever been to Blyth you will recognise the appropriateness of their name)
I asked the Great Jack Morgan what the Blue Square was and he replied:
No doubt you have now heard of the BSS, following the exploits of Havant & Waterlooville. H&W are languishing in the bottom half of the table, but they do have games in hand following their Cup run. Ex-Ranger Richard Pacquette has been scoring some of their goals. I was surprised to read that it is £12 to get in to Harrogate Town, as it is only £10 at Hampton. Harrogate are third in the BSN and Hampton are third in the BSS.
England Matters
Peter Moores’ honeymoon period as England Coach must be almost over. It started out looking like the New Zealand tour would be the clean sweep it should have been when England won both Twenty20 games comfortably but the One Day Internationals were a disaster. Not only did England lose 3-1 but they appeared tactically naïve and ill prepared for the task.
England have found it, like many other sides, extremely difficult to score boundaries between the end of the power plays and the fortieth over. It is, therefore, crucial that the innings gets off to a flier to score as many as possible before the fielding restrictions are relaxed. To do this it is imperative to have experienced attacking players at both ends. Australia have Hayden and Gilchrist, India have Sehwag and Tendulkar, South Africa have Smith and Gibbs and so on. For this series a very inexperienced and unproven New Zealand side went with Brendan McCullum and Jesse Ryder. England opted for Alistair Cook and Colonel Mustard. The former was designated to anchor the innings and bat through for a hundred in fifty overs which he failed to do in all five innings. The Colonel was the dasher who succeeded only at Napier and was out cheaply in the other four innings. This partnering was doomed from the start but The Colonel’s regular early departure was compounded by Bell coming in at three to have a net with Cook whilst the precious power plays were consumed. By contrast the McCullum/Ryder pairing got off to flier each time and it could be argued that by the end of the first ten overs of the respective sides each match was won and lost. To make the point dramatically on the difference between the pairings McCullum and Ryder hit nineteen sixes between them whilst the Colonel managed four. Cook hardly got it off the square.
Because of the constraints of Central Contracts and because management believes its own publicity the middle order was consistently Bell, Pietersen and Collingwood. None of these did enough to keep their place or suggest that they were capable of winning a match. Shah, Mascarenhas and Wright batted at six, seven and eight as back up batsmen, presumably, since none of them ever bowled their allocation of overs. On most occasions they found themselves trying to pick up hitherto appallingly slow scoring rates to try to set a target.
The bowling was inept. If Ryder was an unknown quantity, there is plenty of footage of McCullum at the crease but no-one seemed able to work out a method of making it hard for him to score. Flintoff would have been a different proposition. Why does Anderson not work out the lengths that Freddie used to bowl? Why do the coaches not tell him? Why did England not even pick Swann when New Zealand was going into matches with two spinners? Why was Wright not used to bowl at all until he was entrusted with the final crucial over in the tied match at Napier? Mascarenhas is a bowler who tonks a bit but his bowling does not seem to be seen worthy of use by the England management. They may be right because he seems a good pace for big bat hitting but if so why is he picked?
The test matches may prove to be entirely different. Cook will be able to score at his own pace and will probably do well. The middle order needs to score runs. The positions of all must be getting vulnerable, including His Wonderfulness who now owes the team a stack of runs. Lack of runs and fear of collapses may force the selectors to pick Swann ahead of Panesar so that he can bat at eight. Hoggard will add steadiness to the attack but Harmison needs to perform properly and no one knows which Harmy will turn up. It has been announced that Tim Ambrose will keep wicket and presumably bat at seven. It could work out but he is an unknown quantity at this level.
If England lose the test series it will be hard to see which positives Moores will be able to bring back with him. The claptrap will have to stop. There are no positives to losing in New Zealand.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me these notes
I approve of the signing of Ashley Noffke. When fit, he is a fine bowler and not at all a bad bat. Is Kartik committed to India or something? The pace attack is looking almost classy (on paper) and, in the unlikely event of them all staying fit, they might have to implement the rotation policy, though as Ashley is only on board for 2 months, he will probably be bowled into the ground. However, it does leave the spin department looking very thin again. I’m not too surprised or disappointed by Ernie’s departure; the whisper seems to be that he has got or wants a job with the ICL. He is not being replaced, so who will look after the 2s?
Hardie Matters
John Williams sent me the following:
Great to hear that you have made contact with Keith Hardie. I have very fond memories of Keith. I only ever played in one three day game - for MCC v. Scotland at Aberdeen in 1971. Keith and younger brother, Brian, were playing for Scotland and having met Brian and his Dad at the corresponding (2 day ) fixture at Lords in 1970 - Brian's debut - I was keen to renew acquaintances. We flew up the night before and as soon as we had booked into our hotel we dashed off to the hotel where the Scottish lads were staying. We had an excellent evening, I am not sure the Scottish captain approved, fraternising with the enemy! What would people think today - totally politically incorrect. Bollocks. Our opening attack the following morning was Neil Hawke and Harold "Dusty" Rhodes. It didn't take long for Rhodes to work out that the Mannofield pitch was slow and low and he went in the fetlock. Brian Hardie made a 100 in each innings.
Being a lifelong Worcester supporter - having been born in the county - I experienced one of the highlights of my career. Scotland declared towards the end of the first day and we had to face 9 overs to the close. Our captain, Roy Kerslake called for a volunteer to be nightwatchman. As I thought that this would be my only chance of a knock I offered. We lost a wicket just before the close and I batted with Ron Headley to the close and for an hour the next morning.
I see Brian occasionally at Lords. He tells me that his brother is now somewhat portly and is a little thin on top. Tempus fugit or lager uber alles. Best wishes, Bleeding Willie.
This is how I was greeted by Chris Rodgers of Northwood who also played for Ealing Dean in the 60's when I went into the Oddfellows in Pinner a couple of weeks ago.
I thought that with all these references to Keith Hardie in recent editions I should find a picture to remind the forgetful. I ploughed through a wallet of old photos that Ian McIntosh had kindly passed on to me and found this version of the 1976 South Hampstead side:
I am fairly sure that not even those pictured could name all the assembled and so here is the listing:
Standing: Rhys Axworthy, Ossie Burton, Cliff Dickeson, Frank Le Roux, John Anderson, Ron Hooker, John Chitty, Pete O’Brien.
Seated: Peter Sunberg, Steve Thompson, Geoff Howe, and Keith Hardie.
Professorial matters
The Professor sent me this:
I've been musing on a couple of things:
1. I thought when it came in, that the new law on backing up was ridiculous. In yesterday's 20/20 Collingwood was almost at the other end when the ball was played. How can you effect a run out if the non-striker has a five yard head start. Why not have a line up the pitch where he can stand to save himself the bother. The whole thing is daft.
2. Ditto the interpretation of a wide. We all know that they want to avoid "negative" leg side stuff (and thereby, I suppose, staying "positive") but what sense is there in calling the ball that is a coat of vanish short of hitting leg stump a "wide". Soon a crackpot like Bowden will be doing his theatrical signal before realising the leg bail is on the floor.
3. Leg Byes. Time for them to go surely. Why should the team benefit from the batsman missing the ball? We already have the problem of determining what a deliberate attempt to play the ball is. Life would be simpler without them.
4. I don't know if you have had this in "Irritating Trends"...or did I put it in an earlier piece? Anyway, it is time for England to abandon this tiresome business of hurling the ball back to the keeper from wherever it has gone in the outfield. In Sri Lanka Vaughan was warned twice about this - on one occasion the ball was played quietly to mid-on and Cook, instead of giving it back to the bowler standing next to him, hurled it at the batsman's head. I think this was a Fletcher idea - now he has gone, so should it.
5. I think its time for you to launch some new fan clubs; I suggest: the GJM 20/20 Appreciation Society and the Lord Ray KP Fan Club. I'm sure there are others.
Twenty20 Matters
The world of cricket is changing before our very eyes. Twenty20 started as a novelty and then started to be taken seriously. It has now started to attract big money and the game will never be the same. At Melbourne over 90,000 turned up to watch two hours of cricket between Australia and India. India scored less than a hundred and Australia knocked them off with ten overs to spare. No-one seemed to mind and the whole event must have raised millions.
Meanwhile in the Caribbean the Stanford Twenty 20 inter island knock out cup may be rejuvenating Caribbean cricket. There is much enthusiasm and inter island rivalry. But what is the motivating factor? Well Mr Stanford has put up various cash prizes including, not insignificantly, a million dollars for the winners. Such carrots may stop would be Barbadian fast bowlers going to play Basketball for the New York Knicks or the Orlando Fire.
But all of this was completely overawed by the extraordinary events in Mumbai to launch the Indian Premier League, which is a new Twenty20 competition. In a marketing coup which was surrounded by Bollywood style to say nothing of Bollywood stars, the eight franchise owners spent nine hours bidding forty two million dollars for seventy eight of the world’s elite players. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's one-day captain and its most bankable star alongside Sachin Tendulkar, was signed for $1.5m for six weeks of Twenty20 cricket this spring. Andrew Symonds, the Australian all-rounder who may not even be available this year, fetched $1.35m. Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee and Sanath Jayasuriya will all receive in excess of $900,000 as will Ishant Sharma, the fast bowler and emerging star of the Indian team whose $950,000 equates to $14,845 for each over he can expect to bowl should his side, Kolkata, make it to the final.
It has exposed the ICC's commercial limitations, strained relations between member states, underlined the deficiencies of the overcrowded international calendar and, by offering staggering annual salaries for six weeks' cricket, threatened the bond between players and national sides. The IPL will also place the future of the Champions Trophy in doubt by seeking to stage an international club Twenty20 tournament at the same time as the unloved ICC one-day tournament.
No English players are taking place this time because of the start of the county championship. But this is unlikely to be repeated. And this will seriously test the loyalty of certain players to their national sides. For example, KP is always belly aching about too much cricket and wanting to sit on the beach with his pop star girlfriend. It is estimated that his England central contract is worth about £250k. His bid value in the IPL could be, say $750k. If a similar figure were available from a re vamped Stanford competition he could earn three times his central contract earnings by just playing in these two competitions. I suspect that his allegiance to the flag would wilt in the circumstances.
Twenty20 has attracted the big money that cricket has never before had to deal with. But this is a double edged sword since the money will call the tune and what it wants is crash bash cricket. Cricket’s difficulty will be maintaining its preferred versions in serious perspective.
KP Matters
In correspondence with the Professor I suggested that New Zealand would probably be so poor that even KP would be able to fill his boots. He replied: “The thought of KP getting lots is all the more exciting given the effect it will have on Lord Ray. Paddy Carlin 'phoned me yesterday to say how he had enjoyed reading G&C and how he would love to listen to a conversation between LR and TGJM so that he could disagree violently with both of them. Perhaps this is a new direction? "An evening with Ray and Morgan" in front of an invited audience - all proceeds to a mental health charity.”
Wanderers Matters
The memories came flooding back to Roy Phipps when he saw the Wanderers material that Lord Ray sent for the last edition. He went through his memorabilia and found another scorecard which I am pleased to include below:
It could be that he remembered this contest because it shows him batting in the lofty, for him, number nine slot and scoring a few to boot. What caught my eye though was the incumbent of the number four slot for the Surrey Club and Ground side. I have previously referred to Bertie Joel as a sometime member of the South Hampstead Wednesday eleven. The owner of Kelly’s Directory rarely scored any more when turning out for South Hampstead than he did on this occasion. Surely it was an insult to the Wanderers to have him batting at number four against them? And what would the budding young professionals have mad of his inclusion in the side at all?
Antigua Matters
Following the Professor’s report from Antigua Ollie Gibbs sent me these notes:
There are three international cricket grounds on Antigua:
The "Sir Viv" holds 15,000 and is in the middle of nowhere or as much as it can be on a small island.
The Stanford is right next to the airport and has a surface to equal Lord's.
The Recreation Ground is very small and used to hold 6,500 packed round the ground with 25 years of Test Cricket memories. Shepherds Bush C.C. was the first international (well, overseas) team to play at the Sir Viv where we were stuffed by the Antigua Masters (over 45s). It is an enormous bowl with two huge (height wise not seat wise) concrete stands, which has a playing area about the size of Melbourne. It was built with both finance and labour supplied by the Chinese government. Who knows why - probably some bribe over climate change voting at the U.N. or something? As it's in the middle of an Island of 40,000 and the I.C.C. wanted to charge 50 U.S. dollars a ticket (a week’s wages for most) at the World Cup, the locals, unsurprisingly, didn't bother to show up. The Windies lost two crucial group games here - whatever their deficiencies, playing to an empty stadium in your own World Cup must kill the atmosphere somewhat. This also wasn't helped by a ban on bringing any food or drink into the stadium in order for the concession owners and sponsors to make
more dosh. Which they didn't, as nobody went.
The Stanford International Bank has its headquarters next to the airport and the eponymous cricket ground. He is an American who is also a cricket nut (apparently) and who throws money at the annual
Caribbean 20/20 competition, which this year was, for the first time, going to include Cuba, until the U.S. threatened to revoke his citizenship as a result. I imagine that it's not all one-way traffic, though: favourable tax rates must be a factor, and when we were there just over a year ago we heard he had just won the contract to redevelop the airport! Maybe a clue can be had in "The Sticky Wicket" sports bar and restaurant: huge stodgy American portions and twenty
sports TVs - none of which could show any cricket (plenty of U.S. college basketball, though).
On the way to The Sir Viv we caught a glimpse of the charming Recreation ground. It's right in the middle of St John's where the majority of the population live, the small stands still manage to loom over the playing area, and Justin Evans remembered watching
highlights from the 1980s where Graham Dilley bounced King Viv and was rewarded with a hook shot of such force that the ball rebounded from the concrete scoreboard at square leg and rolled all the way back
to a deflated Dilley in the middle of the wicket. It's now used as a football pitch.
Harrow Town Matters incorporating Four Match Reports
John Williams sent me some local newspaper cuttings from June 1969. The principal reason seems to have been that they included a photo of the Legendary Len Stubbs being given out LBW first ball to Adrian Bevan. Stubbs is giving the umpire the Glare and is clearly upset with the home side’s official’s decision. This was a second round Wills Trophy match which was played on the basis of who scored the more runs in forty-five overs won. South Hampstead batted first and the conditions appear to have been difficult which, of course, suited Terry Cordaroy down to the ground. When Bleeding Willie eventually caught and bowled him he had made 77 in 140 minutes which was the basis of the visitor’s 165 for 8. The strange thing about this match was that Harrow Town only lost three wickets when they batted but ended up 34 runs short. Adrian Bevan batted through forty three overs in making 65 not out. Bleeding Willie, like Stubbs earlier, was dismissed first ball.
My checking of the details of this match in the scorebooks revealed that in the second eleven match at Milverton Road the South Hampstead side had an extraordinarily long tail which started with Russell Bowes at six, Allan Cox at seven, Ron Smith at eight, Jim Pearcey at nine, Harry Collins at ten and Colin Ezer at eleven. It speaks volumes for the Harrow Town side that Allan Cox made 38 not out and Jim Pearcey scored 32. Harrow Town were bowled out for 47 with Ezer, who was the instigator of the slower ball since that was all he bowled, taking 7 for 18.
The following day the Harrow Town seconds had more fortune. They reduced St Albans seconds to 24 for 5 after fifty minutes. The St Albans skipper decided to declare with the cunning plan of turning the match into a two innings affair. However, he failed to agree this with Roger Sykes, the Town skipper, who declared the match over once his side had made the requisite 26 runs.
In the corresponding first team match the St Albans opening attack was the awesome Dunn and Collins who caused many difficulties for the Town’s batting line up who struggled to 128 for 8. However, St Albans found batting no easier and only won off the penultimate ball with two wickets to spare.
Tune Matters
David Tune sent me the following poser: “A question for circulation: I have long been fascinated by the number of natural right-handers who bat left handed (Adam Gilchrist and David Gower to name but two). But can anyone name natural southpaws who bat right handed?”
This is clearly one for the Anoraks, but I will leave to the Great Jack Morgan to compile an appropriate side. We will of course have to get the ground rules agreed. Are the ambidextrous brethren included or excluded? George may step up to skipper the side as he is of this strange persuasion.
More Morgan Matters
The Great Jack Morgan is watching progress in the Lords pavilion with great interest. He has found a kindred spirit in the new President of the MCC, Mike Brearley, who is “totally against the compulsory wearing of jackets and ties in the Lord’s pavilion”. Does this mean that until the rules are changed he will be seen with our man, baring all, in the Compton Stand?
He also noted in the Wisden Cricketer that David Frith mentions one “Podgy” Peach from 1924. What changes?
Football Matters
Andrew Baker is a hard task master and he is always arranging special events for members of his Ladies Team to appear at. Some of them have been complaining to Kelvin West that they barely have time to get kitted out before they are back in the public eye again. On this occasion it seems that five of them had enough time:
Old Danes Gathering
There will be another Old Danes gathering in 2008. It will again be held at Shepherds Bush Cricket Club on the Friday of their Cricket Week. The date is Friday 1st August 2008. I will be creating a specific circulation list for this event. Please let me know if you would like to be added.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 63
March 2008
Caption Competition
The Professor has a new pal. He has befriended the dreaded Jimmy, mascot of the Barmy Army. He is now able to answer the question that so many of us have asked: “How come Jimmy appears at every England test match around the world?” It turns out that he isn’t an England supporter at all but an employee of the BA. The Professor, fearing eternal ridicule, opted not to be photographed with Jimmy but he sent me the above photo from Kandy along with the following caption:
“Jimmy expresses smug satisfaction on learning that Lord Ray has joined the BA supporters club.”
Here are some more:
1. Fabio Capello: Do you know where Wembley is, Jimmy?
2. Victoria Beckham: Nice vest Jimmy; Armani?
3. Jimmy: I’m due to retire next year. Do you think Jack Morgan would take over from me?
4. Geoff Miller: Hi Jimmy. Have you got your kit with you?
5. Jimmy’s Mum: I’m so proud of my Jimmy. He works so hard. He’s in the Army, you know.
6. Cricket Lovers Everywhere: Unfortunately we do know “Who you are”.
Out and About with the Professor
As I feel sure you know by now, Harrogate Town's top of the table clash with Kettering ended in a draw and so Kettering remain 9 points clear at the top. Since only one club is promoted to the Blue Square Premiership it seems likely that "we" will miss out this year. That is not, so I was told on Saturday, altogether a bad thing, since there is some doubt that the travel costs of away matches at Exeter and Torquay fall within the budget.
A home win would have been probable however had not our centre forward missed an open goal from about 10 yards, belting the ball so hard and wide that instead of bulging the net it struck a small block of nearby flats. We also hit the post and the dreadful Northamptonshire nasties also wounded our goalkeeper. Kettering was advertised as a team full of "full-timers" which in this League is close to cheating, so I suppose that a draw was not a result of which we should feel ashamed. Next week - Blyth Spartans (if you have ever been to Blyth you will recognise the appropriateness of their name)
I asked the Great Jack Morgan what the Blue Square was and he replied:
No doubt you have now heard of the BSS, following the exploits of Havant & Waterlooville. H&W are languishing in the bottom half of the table, but they do have games in hand following their Cup run. Ex-Ranger Richard Pacquette has been scoring some of their goals. I was surprised to read that it is £12 to get in to Harrogate Town, as it is only £10 at Hampton. Harrogate are third in the BSN and Hampton are third in the BSS.
England Matters
Peter Moores’ honeymoon period as England Coach must be almost over. It started out looking like the New Zealand tour would be the clean sweep it should have been when England won both Twenty20 games comfortably but the One Day Internationals were a disaster. Not only did England lose 3-1 but they appeared tactically naïve and ill prepared for the task.
England have found it, like many other sides, extremely difficult to score boundaries between the end of the power plays and the fortieth over. It is, therefore, crucial that the innings gets off to a flier to score as many as possible before the fielding restrictions are relaxed. To do this it is imperative to have experienced attacking players at both ends. Australia have Hayden and Gilchrist, India have Sehwag and Tendulkar, South Africa have Smith and Gibbs and so on. For this series a very inexperienced and unproven New Zealand side went with Brendan McCullum and Jesse Ryder. England opted for Alistair Cook and Colonel Mustard. The former was designated to anchor the innings and bat through for a hundred in fifty overs which he failed to do in all five innings. The Colonel was the dasher who succeeded only at Napier and was out cheaply in the other four innings. This partnering was doomed from the start but The Colonel’s regular early departure was compounded by Bell coming in at three to have a net with Cook whilst the precious power plays were consumed. By contrast the McCullum/Ryder pairing got off to flier each time and it could be argued that by the end of the first ten overs of the respective sides each match was won and lost. To make the point dramatically on the difference between the pairings McCullum and Ryder hit nineteen sixes between them whilst the Colonel managed four. Cook hardly got it off the square.
Because of the constraints of Central Contracts and because management believes its own publicity the middle order was consistently Bell, Pietersen and Collingwood. None of these did enough to keep their place or suggest that they were capable of winning a match. Shah, Mascarenhas and Wright batted at six, seven and eight as back up batsmen, presumably, since none of them ever bowled their allocation of overs. On most occasions they found themselves trying to pick up hitherto appallingly slow scoring rates to try to set a target.
The bowling was inept. If Ryder was an unknown quantity, there is plenty of footage of McCullum at the crease but no-one seemed able to work out a method of making it hard for him to score. Flintoff would have been a different proposition. Why does Anderson not work out the lengths that Freddie used to bowl? Why do the coaches not tell him? Why did England not even pick Swann when New Zealand was going into matches with two spinners? Why was Wright not used to bowl at all until he was entrusted with the final crucial over in the tied match at Napier? Mascarenhas is a bowler who tonks a bit but his bowling does not seem to be seen worthy of use by the England management. They may be right because he seems a good pace for big bat hitting but if so why is he picked?
The test matches may prove to be entirely different. Cook will be able to score at his own pace and will probably do well. The middle order needs to score runs. The positions of all must be getting vulnerable, including His Wonderfulness who now owes the team a stack of runs. Lack of runs and fear of collapses may force the selectors to pick Swann ahead of Panesar so that he can bat at eight. Hoggard will add steadiness to the attack but Harmison needs to perform properly and no one knows which Harmy will turn up. It has been announced that Tim Ambrose will keep wicket and presumably bat at seven. It could work out but he is an unknown quantity at this level.
If England lose the test series it will be hard to see which positives Moores will be able to bring back with him. The claptrap will have to stop. There are no positives to losing in New Zealand.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan sent me these notes
I approve of the signing of Ashley Noffke. When fit, he is a fine bowler and not at all a bad bat. Is Kartik committed to India or something? The pace attack is looking almost classy (on paper) and, in the unlikely event of them all staying fit, they might have to implement the rotation policy, though as Ashley is only on board for 2 months, he will probably be bowled into the ground. However, it does leave the spin department looking very thin again. I’m not too surprised or disappointed by Ernie’s departure; the whisper seems to be that he has got or wants a job with the ICL. He is not being replaced, so who will look after the 2s?
Hardie Matters
John Williams sent me the following:
Great to hear that you have made contact with Keith Hardie. I have very fond memories of Keith. I only ever played in one three day game - for MCC v. Scotland at Aberdeen in 1971. Keith and younger brother, Brian, were playing for Scotland and having met Brian and his Dad at the corresponding (2 day ) fixture at Lords in 1970 - Brian's debut - I was keen to renew acquaintances. We flew up the night before and as soon as we had booked into our hotel we dashed off to the hotel where the Scottish lads were staying. We had an excellent evening, I am not sure the Scottish captain approved, fraternising with the enemy! What would people think today - totally politically incorrect. Bollocks. Our opening attack the following morning was Neil Hawke and Harold "Dusty" Rhodes. It didn't take long for Rhodes to work out that the Mannofield pitch was slow and low and he went in the fetlock. Brian Hardie made a 100 in each innings.
Being a lifelong Worcester supporter - having been born in the county - I experienced one of the highlights of my career. Scotland declared towards the end of the first day and we had to face 9 overs to the close. Our captain, Roy Kerslake called for a volunteer to be nightwatchman. As I thought that this would be my only chance of a knock I offered. We lost a wicket just before the close and I batted with Ron Headley to the close and for an hour the next morning.
I see Brian occasionally at Lords. He tells me that his brother is now somewhat portly and is a little thin on top. Tempus fugit or lager uber alles. Best wishes, Bleeding Willie.
This is how I was greeted by Chris Rodgers of Northwood who also played for Ealing Dean in the 60's when I went into the Oddfellows in Pinner a couple of weeks ago.
I thought that with all these references to Keith Hardie in recent editions I should find a picture to remind the forgetful. I ploughed through a wallet of old photos that Ian McIntosh had kindly passed on to me and found this version of the 1976 South Hampstead side:
I am fairly sure that not even those pictured could name all the assembled and so here is the listing:
Standing: Rhys Axworthy, Ossie Burton, Cliff Dickeson, Frank Le Roux, John Anderson, Ron Hooker, John Chitty, Pete O’Brien.
Seated: Peter Sunberg, Steve Thompson, Geoff Howe, and Keith Hardie.
Professorial matters
The Professor sent me this:
I've been musing on a couple of things:
1. I thought when it came in, that the new law on backing up was ridiculous. In yesterday's 20/20 Collingwood was almost at the other end when the ball was played. How can you effect a run out if the non-striker has a five yard head start. Why not have a line up the pitch where he can stand to save himself the bother. The whole thing is daft.
2. Ditto the interpretation of a wide. We all know that they want to avoid "negative" leg side stuff (and thereby, I suppose, staying "positive") but what sense is there in calling the ball that is a coat of vanish short of hitting leg stump a "wide". Soon a crackpot like Bowden will be doing his theatrical signal before realising the leg bail is on the floor.
3. Leg Byes. Time for them to go surely. Why should the team benefit from the batsman missing the ball? We already have the problem of determining what a deliberate attempt to play the ball is. Life would be simpler without them.
4. I don't know if you have had this in "Irritating Trends"...or did I put it in an earlier piece? Anyway, it is time for England to abandon this tiresome business of hurling the ball back to the keeper from wherever it has gone in the outfield. In Sri Lanka Vaughan was warned twice about this - on one occasion the ball was played quietly to mid-on and Cook, instead of giving it back to the bowler standing next to him, hurled it at the batsman's head. I think this was a Fletcher idea - now he has gone, so should it.
5. I think its time for you to launch some new fan clubs; I suggest: the GJM 20/20 Appreciation Society and the Lord Ray KP Fan Club. I'm sure there are others.
Twenty20 Matters
The world of cricket is changing before our very eyes. Twenty20 started as a novelty and then started to be taken seriously. It has now started to attract big money and the game will never be the same. At Melbourne over 90,000 turned up to watch two hours of cricket between Australia and India. India scored less than a hundred and Australia knocked them off with ten overs to spare. No-one seemed to mind and the whole event must have raised millions.
Meanwhile in the Caribbean the Stanford Twenty 20 inter island knock out cup may be rejuvenating Caribbean cricket. There is much enthusiasm and inter island rivalry. But what is the motivating factor? Well Mr Stanford has put up various cash prizes including, not insignificantly, a million dollars for the winners. Such carrots may stop would be Barbadian fast bowlers going to play Basketball for the New York Knicks or the Orlando Fire.
But all of this was completely overawed by the extraordinary events in Mumbai to launch the Indian Premier League, which is a new Twenty20 competition. In a marketing coup which was surrounded by Bollywood style to say nothing of Bollywood stars, the eight franchise owners spent nine hours bidding forty two million dollars for seventy eight of the world’s elite players. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's one-day captain and its most bankable star alongside Sachin Tendulkar, was signed for $1.5m for six weeks of Twenty20 cricket this spring. Andrew Symonds, the Australian all-rounder who may not even be available this year, fetched $1.35m. Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee and Sanath Jayasuriya will all receive in excess of $900,000 as will Ishant Sharma, the fast bowler and emerging star of the Indian team whose $950,000 equates to $14,845 for each over he can expect to bowl should his side, Kolkata, make it to the final.
It has exposed the ICC's commercial limitations, strained relations between member states, underlined the deficiencies of the overcrowded international calendar and, by offering staggering annual salaries for six weeks' cricket, threatened the bond between players and national sides. The IPL will also place the future of the Champions Trophy in doubt by seeking to stage an international club Twenty20 tournament at the same time as the unloved ICC one-day tournament.
No English players are taking place this time because of the start of the county championship. But this is unlikely to be repeated. And this will seriously test the loyalty of certain players to their national sides. For example, KP is always belly aching about too much cricket and wanting to sit on the beach with his pop star girlfriend. It is estimated that his England central contract is worth about £250k. His bid value in the IPL could be, say $750k. If a similar figure were available from a re vamped Stanford competition he could earn three times his central contract earnings by just playing in these two competitions. I suspect that his allegiance to the flag would wilt in the circumstances.
Twenty20 has attracted the big money that cricket has never before had to deal with. But this is a double edged sword since the money will call the tune and what it wants is crash bash cricket. Cricket’s difficulty will be maintaining its preferred versions in serious perspective.
KP Matters
In correspondence with the Professor I suggested that New Zealand would probably be so poor that even KP would be able to fill his boots. He replied: “The thought of KP getting lots is all the more exciting given the effect it will have on Lord Ray. Paddy Carlin 'phoned me yesterday to say how he had enjoyed reading G&C and how he would love to listen to a conversation between LR and TGJM so that he could disagree violently with both of them. Perhaps this is a new direction? "An evening with Ray and Morgan" in front of an invited audience - all proceeds to a mental health charity.”
Wanderers Matters
The memories came flooding back to Roy Phipps when he saw the Wanderers material that Lord Ray sent for the last edition. He went through his memorabilia and found another scorecard which I am pleased to include below:
It could be that he remembered this contest because it shows him batting in the lofty, for him, number nine slot and scoring a few to boot. What caught my eye though was the incumbent of the number four slot for the Surrey Club and Ground side. I have previously referred to Bertie Joel as a sometime member of the South Hampstead Wednesday eleven. The owner of Kelly’s Directory rarely scored any more when turning out for South Hampstead than he did on this occasion. Surely it was an insult to the Wanderers to have him batting at number four against them? And what would the budding young professionals have mad of his inclusion in the side at all?
Antigua Matters
Following the Professor’s report from Antigua Ollie Gibbs sent me these notes:
There are three international cricket grounds on Antigua:
The "Sir Viv" holds 15,000 and is in the middle of nowhere or as much as it can be on a small island.
The Stanford is right next to the airport and has a surface to equal Lord's.
The Recreation Ground is very small and used to hold 6,500 packed round the ground with 25 years of Test Cricket memories. Shepherds Bush C.C. was the first international (well, overseas) team to play at the Sir Viv where we were stuffed by the Antigua Masters (over 45s). It is an enormous bowl with two huge (height wise not seat wise) concrete stands, which has a playing area about the size of Melbourne. It was built with both finance and labour supplied by the Chinese government. Who knows why - probably some bribe over climate change voting at the U.N. or something? As it's in the middle of an Island of 40,000 and the I.C.C. wanted to charge 50 U.S. dollars a ticket (a week’s wages for most) at the World Cup, the locals, unsurprisingly, didn't bother to show up. The Windies lost two crucial group games here - whatever their deficiencies, playing to an empty stadium in your own World Cup must kill the atmosphere somewhat. This also wasn't helped by a ban on bringing any food or drink into the stadium in order for the concession owners and sponsors to make
more dosh. Which they didn't, as nobody went.
The Stanford International Bank has its headquarters next to the airport and the eponymous cricket ground. He is an American who is also a cricket nut (apparently) and who throws money at the annual
Caribbean 20/20 competition, which this year was, for the first time, going to include Cuba, until the U.S. threatened to revoke his citizenship as a result. I imagine that it's not all one-way traffic, though: favourable tax rates must be a factor, and when we were there just over a year ago we heard he had just won the contract to redevelop the airport! Maybe a clue can be had in "The Sticky Wicket" sports bar and restaurant: huge stodgy American portions and twenty
sports TVs - none of which could show any cricket (plenty of U.S. college basketball, though).
On the way to The Sir Viv we caught a glimpse of the charming Recreation ground. It's right in the middle of St John's where the majority of the population live, the small stands still manage to loom over the playing area, and Justin Evans remembered watching
highlights from the 1980s where Graham Dilley bounced King Viv and was rewarded with a hook shot of such force that the ball rebounded from the concrete scoreboard at square leg and rolled all the way back
to a deflated Dilley in the middle of the wicket. It's now used as a football pitch.
Harrow Town Matters incorporating Four Match Reports
John Williams sent me some local newspaper cuttings from June 1969. The principal reason seems to have been that they included a photo of the Legendary Len Stubbs being given out LBW first ball to Adrian Bevan. Stubbs is giving the umpire the Glare and is clearly upset with the home side’s official’s decision. This was a second round Wills Trophy match which was played on the basis of who scored the more runs in forty-five overs won. South Hampstead batted first and the conditions appear to have been difficult which, of course, suited Terry Cordaroy down to the ground. When Bleeding Willie eventually caught and bowled him he had made 77 in 140 minutes which was the basis of the visitor’s 165 for 8. The strange thing about this match was that Harrow Town only lost three wickets when they batted but ended up 34 runs short. Adrian Bevan batted through forty three overs in making 65 not out. Bleeding Willie, like Stubbs earlier, was dismissed first ball.
My checking of the details of this match in the scorebooks revealed that in the second eleven match at Milverton Road the South Hampstead side had an extraordinarily long tail which started with Russell Bowes at six, Allan Cox at seven, Ron Smith at eight, Jim Pearcey at nine, Harry Collins at ten and Colin Ezer at eleven. It speaks volumes for the Harrow Town side that Allan Cox made 38 not out and Jim Pearcey scored 32. Harrow Town were bowled out for 47 with Ezer, who was the instigator of the slower ball since that was all he bowled, taking 7 for 18.
The following day the Harrow Town seconds had more fortune. They reduced St Albans seconds to 24 for 5 after fifty minutes. The St Albans skipper decided to declare with the cunning plan of turning the match into a two innings affair. However, he failed to agree this with Roger Sykes, the Town skipper, who declared the match over once his side had made the requisite 26 runs.
In the corresponding first team match the St Albans opening attack was the awesome Dunn and Collins who caused many difficulties for the Town’s batting line up who struggled to 128 for 8. However, St Albans found batting no easier and only won off the penultimate ball with two wickets to spare.
Tune Matters
David Tune sent me the following poser: “A question for circulation: I have long been fascinated by the number of natural right-handers who bat left handed (Adam Gilchrist and David Gower to name but two). But can anyone name natural southpaws who bat right handed?”
This is clearly one for the Anoraks, but I will leave to the Great Jack Morgan to compile an appropriate side. We will of course have to get the ground rules agreed. Are the ambidextrous brethren included or excluded? George may step up to skipper the side as he is of this strange persuasion.
More Morgan Matters
The Great Jack Morgan is watching progress in the Lords pavilion with great interest. He has found a kindred spirit in the new President of the MCC, Mike Brearley, who is “totally against the compulsory wearing of jackets and ties in the Lord’s pavilion”. Does this mean that until the rules are changed he will be seen with our man, baring all, in the Compton Stand?
He also noted in the Wisden Cricketer that David Frith mentions one “Podgy” Peach from 1924. What changes?
Football Matters
Andrew Baker is a hard task master and he is always arranging special events for members of his Ladies Team to appear at. Some of them have been complaining to Kelvin West that they barely have time to get kitted out before they are back in the public eye again. On this occasion it seems that five of them had enough time:
Old Danes Gathering
There will be another Old Danes gathering in 2008. It will again be held at Shepherds Bush Cricket Club on the Friday of their Cricket Week. The date is Friday 1st August 2008. I will be creating a specific circulation list for this event. Please let me know if you would like to be added.
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