GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 70
October 2008
End of Season Quiz
1. Middlesex won the domestic Twenty20 competition wearing a decidedly Nancy looking pink outfit as part of charitable support for Breast Cancer. They will now be playing in the Stamford Competition in the Caribbean later this year. Vinny Codrington calls you for your suggested gimmicks to be added to this attire for this special occasion. Do you suggest:
a. Handbags to be carried by all fielders.
b. Panty hose to be worn instead of trousers.
c. Padded bras to be effected under shirts.
d. The slip cordon to link arms and gossip incessantly.
2. At the beginning of the season Middlesex appeared to have great strength in their batting with the first six being: Smith, Godleman, Compton, Shah, Joyce and Morgan. However, none of these averaged over 40 in the Championship. Strauss and Nash did. Who were the other three:
a. Silverwood, Udal and Scott
b. Richardson, Malan and Murtagh
c. Berg, Nannes and Finn
d. Moss, Peach and Downton
3. The PCA website publishes the American concept of Most Valued Player (MVP) rankings for the England squad in the three formats of the game - Test, ODI and Twenty20. In each case His Wonderfulness failed to get the top ranking. Who was top in each category respectively:
a. Anderson, Broad and Bell
b. Collingwood, Shah and Wright
c. Pattinson, Swann and Ambrose
d. Croft, Yardy and Loye
4. Two years ago Global Warming was blamed for the long hot summer. We were told that this was the shape of things to come. Spinners would bowl thirty overs each a day in August again and hose pipe bans would be permanent for much of the year. 2007 and 2008 have produced record rainfall and low temperatures which apparently is also the fault of Global Warming. What else is Global Warming responsible for?
a. Peg leg’s knee, Gilo’s hip and Simon Jones’ legs.
b. Middlesex’s batting, Middlesex’s bowling and Middlesex’ results
c. Sub prime mortgages, the credit crunch and Gordon Brown.
d. Hello magazine, Big Brother and Binge Drinking.
Out and About with the Professor
Of course I couldn’t have realised it at the time. When I drove to the ground, I didn’t know that I’d be witness to the great Dazzler’s last First Class overs. The last time I went to watch cricket in Scarborough it had been freezing…this time it was only cold. In fact it had been so wet (as well as cold) that the ground was in a shocking state, with great lumps of grass all over the outfield. It was also dark, and so the game didn’t start on time.
When we did get going, Darren strutted his stuff and, while later he said that his body was in pain with the effort of it all, it didn’t look too difficult, and indeed, he bowled pretty briskly. As so often this year, the quick bowler who took the eye was not the Yorkshire captain but rather Tim Bresnan. He never seems to take that many wickets but he has the batsmen hopping around a good deal. The fact that he is also young and a very useful bat and fielder suggest a bright future. The other characteristic of this years’ Yorkshire attack has been the amount of bowling that Rashid has done. I think he has bowled over 600 overs which could be more than any other player in the championship. More than that, he comes on very early in the game. This was a wet September day in Scarborough and a leg spinner was on well before lunch. Like a lot of leggies he gets wickets with bad balls. He bowled very tightly to Justin Langer until, after about an hour, he dropped one short. Langer, in attempting to hit it into the sea, just hit it straight up in the air, where a young substitute fielder called Matthew Hoggard took the catch.
The other slightly sorrowful business was watching the Former-England-Captain wandering around in the outfield. He is a passenger in this form of cricket as well as in Tests and so fielded at Third Man and Deep Extra Cover more or less all day. He also, of course, didn’t get any runs. Perhaps Boycott is right, and he needs his eyes testing. What Yorkshire needed was points and they didn’t get many from this game. Happily, the final match saw them limp to safety, thanks in large part to Rashid’s hundred and “7-fer”.
So top-class cricket again next year…glad I don’t support Gloucester. I read that the prize money for the County Championship is going up next year – from £100,000 to £500,000. I’m not quite sure of the rationale for this – the competition could hardly be closer fought than it was this year (or last) and the extra money will not affect the number of people coming to watch. Still, I feel sure the authorities know what they are doing.
Old Trafford Matters
I have been critical in the past in these pages about the lack of facilities and indeed of any new development at Old Trafford. I lifted the following from the Lancashire website:
“Lancashire County Cricket Club has revealed its eagerly-awaited plans for the radical re-development of Old Trafford cricket ground, set to transform the historic venue into one of the country's premier sporting destinations. The Executive of Trafford Council on Monday evening uunanimously approved the proposals, part of an innovative sports-led regeneration strategy for a 50-acre mixed use neighbourhood in Old Trafford. A planning application for the first phase of the new stadium development will be lodged imminently with works potentially starting in early 2009, and phased over consecutive years until completion in late 2012.
The striking new designs aim to retain the heritage and history of this very famous ground by enhancing the existing pavilion, as well as adding stunning new player and media facilities, conferencing, banqueting and hotel facilities. Two new grandstands will ensure a capacity of 15,000 capable of rising to 25,000 with temporary seating. There will also be floodlights and a screen showing action replays.
In cricketing terms, part of the first phase will include a completely new outfield which is currently being installed. The new system, based on the design at Lord’s Cricket Ground, will mean much faster drainage of the outfield, thereby allowing play to commence earlier after heavy rain than is presently the case. The new designs also include the re-orientation of the wicket, to see the square run from North to South for the first time in 150 years. Changing the original East to West orientation will resolve sunlight issues which have affected players. The new square, which will take 18 months to bed in, will also be larger in size, allowing for five new wickets to be constructed, giving Lancashire County Cricket Club the ability to bid for more high profile matches, including internationals. To allow the wicket to be ready in time for The Ashes in 2013, play would need to begin on the new square in 2011.”
View of the overall scheme, seen from in front of the new Media, Press & Players Facility to the south of the ground, with the reoriented wicket in the foreground and retained Pavilion located centrally between the new stands
So far, so good. But then they showed artists impressions of the development which is simply hideous. The new buildings are garishly coloured, devoid of architectural value and out of place on even as barren a landscape as Old Trafford.
View of the overall scheme from the new stands, with the Hospitality and Events building in the foreground and the retained Pavilion located centrally between the new stands.
It is extraordinary that these plans have been approved when other grounds such as Lords, the Oval, Trent Bridge and the Rose Bowl have been developed so imaginatively. The county should be ashamed of itself. They will still be rejected for test matches in future on the grounds of bad taste.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan has plenty to say about recent goings on
I didn’t know anything about Udal being captain when I arrived at the ground for the Essex match and wondered why he was ordering everyone around. Shaun is an experienced cricketer, he is in good form with the bat and I'm sure he will do a good job as skipper, but I was still rather surprised that he was appointed. I am happy with two specialist spinners in the side, but the fact is that he and Murali have not pulled up any trees this summer (partly due to unfavourable conditions, of course), so what happens if they want to play a fourth seamer (this assumes that we have four fit seamers, of course)? It seems that the only way for the fourth seamer to be accommodated is for Kartik to be left out (they cannot weaken the batting any further as we already have Scotty batting too high at 6) unless the captain himself were to stand down, but this would look ridiculous as he has only just been appointed and would involve another change of captaincy. So I suppose they will stick with two spinners no matter how green and seam-friendly the September tracks turn out to be? I suppose I would have given the captaincy to Straussy. There have been plenty of rumours about Ed J being approached by other counties and as he hasn’t committed himself to Middlesex yet, it looks as if they have ditched him in favour of someone who is certain to be at the club next season. It would be sad to lose a class player, but he has been something of an underachiever in the last couple of seasons.
Tyron, Murali, Dawid, Owais, Dan Housego and Andy Strauss have all signed new contracts and Straussy will get a benefit next season. At this time of year there are usually rumours about who Middlesex are likely to snap up, but the only name I have heard mentioned is that of Mike O’Shea. Mike is a useful all-round cricketer who bats, bowls off-spin and is young enough to keep improving (I suppose JWMD has blocked his progress?), but will someone who cannot get in Glamorgan’s team strengthen our side very much?
In my view, it is only when Richo is playing that the bowling looks better than the batting and when they bat first, both the batting and the bowling look poor. Godleman's crawl is desperately needed to get them through the first day of seam movement: the alternatives like Strauss, Compton and Smith get out early.
Compo has not "gone" just yet: he is alive and well and skippering the 2s at Uxbridge! He was offered a new contract, which is why he is not away having trials. In my experience it would be unique for someone leaving to be in charge of the 2s in mid-September, so Middlesex must be expecting him to stay, but Jeff Coleman says he has had offers from Sussex and Somerset and is expected to take one of them. Shaun Levy (who has already had a trial at Leicestershire and was seen emphasising his credentials to Damian D'Oliveira (Worcestershire 2nd XI coach) at Uxbridge) and Dave Burton were the only two, as far as we know, who were not offered new contracts. Compo and Joycey are the only two who have definitely not signed though Jeff did not think that Nashy had signed either, but I do not believe Nashy is going anywhere and am confident that he has already or will soon put pen to paper.
Jeff could not throw any light on the question of the "internecine strife" and guessed that it referred to the controversy over the captaincy and the director of cricket. He says that Smithy will definitely not be reappointed after 30/9, but did not know why or who was likely to replace him. M Arthur was apparently wanted for the director's role (so it looks as if I was right about Toby), but is now believed to prefer a job elsewhere and is out of the running, leaving ARC Fraser as the favourite. The injuries to Ed J and Murali K that caused their omission for the Kidderminster game are thought to be genuine in Kartik's case, but fictitious in Joyce's. It seems that Ed was left out because of his indecision about whether to stay at the club... or possibly because he has, in fact, decided to leave. Lack of information on these matters is largely because R Scott is a hell of a lot less forthcoming than his predecessors as 2s coach... or perhaps he doesn't know himself!
There was an intriguing occurrence during the pre-lunch session on day 2 at Uxbridge when Compo left the field, clearly not injured, for a considerable length of time. As Nash was not on the pitch at the time, the captaincy was given to Sam Robson, who continued to skipper up to lunchtime even after both Compton and Nash had returned to the pitch. After lunch, Nash took over as captain for the rest of the match. The thought occurred to me that Nick had just received information relating to a job offer which confirmed that he would be leaving the club and Middlesex therefore decided that an alternative captain was required immediately. Any unhappiness that Middlesex might be feeling about the probable loss of both Joyce and Compton has surely been relieved by the news that Neil Dexter will be joining. This is unconfirmed, of course, but is already on the internet so is likely to be true. Neil is an accomplished bat (career average 47 before this season) who also bowls a bit of medium. I think he is a good recruit, though I hope to see some strengthening of the bowling department soon.
Lord Ray and KP Matters
Charlie Puckett thought we would like to see this extract from the Wisden Cricketer:
Ashwell Prince: “I am surprised that Kevin Pietersen got the captaincy. He is an unbelievable batsman but we won the Test series because of his shot at Edgbaston when he was out on 94. It didn't look as if he was going to get out, he could have made 150 batting with Paul Collingwood and England could have had a 400+ lead. It wasn't the time or place to go hitting one over the top to make a hundred. That shot handed us the series and then a few days later they hand him the captaincy. When I arrived in England the media asked a lot about the South African selection system and quotas - about whether it actually worked. Maybe they should be looking at their own selection system when they hand the captaincy to a man who has just lost them the series. England should focus more on their own system instead of trying to find fault in ours.”
I had heard that Lord Ray had been in hospital recently and so I asked Charlie how he was progressing. He replied:
He's up and about, growling, getting ready to sort out the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Companies House, the Charities Commission, Barrie Stuart-King - oh, and Kevin Pietersen, should he make the mistake of visiting the Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In short, he is recovering well!
Ealing Matters
Bob Fisher sent me this
You may or may not be aware that Ealing had a tremendous season, with the First Team winning the Middlesex County League Championship for an unprecedented fourth season running and both the 2nd and 3rd teams winning their respective divisions. The icing on the cake was for the First team to win The Evening Standard Challenge Trophy last season for the second year in succession. This is also a first for the competition. To complete an outstanding season for the club, Ealing won The Evening Standard Challenge Trophy, beating Sunbury by two wickets, after an epic final before a large crowd at Corfton Road on Sunday. Ealing playing in their fifth final during the seventeen years of the competition became the first club ever to win the trophy in successive years and with the Evening Standard having decided not to continue with the competition, they became the proud owners of the prestigious silver trophy.
Ignoring the fact that they had won all five of their previous games in the competition by batting first, Stoughton hopeful of making full use of the rain affected wicket, elected to field first on winning the toss, a decision that he might well have had second thoughts about such was the comfortable start made by the Sunbury opening pair John Maunders and Toby Roland-Jones. Maunders, fresh from the 62 he made during the week for Essex playing against Northamptonshire in the championship, was in particularly fine form as he and his partner reached 135 without loss after 29 overs. At this stage, it looked likely that Ealing would be facing a target of something in excess of 250, but the introduction of off spinner Sameer Patel brought them the breakthrough they were looking for as Roland-Jones holed out on the long off boundary to Tahir Afridi for a well made 60. Two balls later Patel had Adam London lbw bringing Middlesex player David Nash to the wicket to join Maunders. However, Nash soon departed bowled by Patel and when Steve Atherton had the Sunbury skipper Olly Roland-Jones caught behind the wicket by Ned Eckersley, the Sunbury innings had slumped to 157-4. Charlie Holcomb joined Maunders and these two took the score to 185 before Patel dismissed Holcom and keeper Stuart Poynter in quick succession to finish with the remarkable figures of 5-28 in his allotted 10 overs. The re-introduction of Chris Peploe saw the departure of Maunders, caught at cover by David Holt for a well made 102. Sunbury were all out for 202, having lost all ten of their wickets in the final 21overs for just 77 runs.
Ealing’s innings got off to a poor start when Patel was well caught by John Lyons running back from cover in the second over but Simon Hawk was joined by Peploe and these two in the next ten overs rattled the score up to 69, well above the required run rate. Peploe was then stumped as he slipped whilst aiming a big hit against London and when Hawk and Eckersley, needlessly run out after a mix up with Rajesh Rao, quickly followed to the pavilion Ealing had slumped to 75-4. Rao was joined by David Holt and these two playing cautiously added 16 before Rao was bowled with the score at 91. Stoughton and Holt carefully added 25 in the next 11 overs before Holt skied a simple catch to Nash at short fine leg. Ian Blanchett joined the skipper with the run rate now up to almost 5 an over and these two maintained the run rate until the score reached 155 when Stoughton was yorked after making a very important 35. When big hitting Leigh Parry succumbed to the first ball he received in the next over, Ealing were at 156-8 and the Sunbury team and their supporters must have felt that they had one hand on the trophy. Blanchett was joined by opening bowler Tahir Afridi with 57 needed from 9 overs. Three runs came off each of the next two overs before Blanchett in the 44th over brought the excitement in the ground to fever pitch as he hit Adam Stanier for six high over the sightscreen into Woodville Gardens. With every run being greeted by cheers by the Ealing supporters, the 46th and 47th over were proving to be decisive as Blanchett and Afridi took 20 runs from them leaving Ealing needing 9 runs for victory from the last three overs. Now not needing to play any big shots, sensible running between the two batsmen narrowed the target down to three being needed from the last over and three singles from the first three balls of the final over saw Ealing home to a famous victory.
Second Eleven Matters
The Great Jack Morgan keeps us apprised of second eleven cricket
It was a misty moist morning and the pitch looked strikingly green at Uxbridge so it was surprising that Middlesex, who were second in the table, should decide to bat first in the 2nd XI Championship match against Worcestershire, but it was not surprising that the top five should be shot out with only 25 on the board. Keeper John Simpson (still more impressive with the bat than the gloves) was easily the best of the home batsmen and his 90 held the batting together. He was supported by Gareth Berg (24) in a stand of 112 for the sixth wicket, newcomer Josh Davey (28) in a stand of 69 for the seventh wicket and Danny Evans, who hit a quick fire 25 at the end as the home team reached 239 all out. Worcestershire were captained by ex-Middlesex keeper Josh Knappett, but opening bowler Imran Arif, who played in the first team fixture at Lord's in July, was the only other player of whom I had heard. Imran took three of the wickets and there were also three each for Chris Russell and 19-year-old Mehraj Ahmed.
When Worcestershire batted, openers Mike Bott (24) and Jack Manuel (34) put on 60 for the first wicket but then they slumped to 64 for 4 as Evans and Berg finally hit the right areas. Jayden Levitt (born in Jo'burg) was the hero for the visitors with a very impressive 112 and with more support he should have steered his team to a better score than 265 all out, which could have let Middlesex back into the game. Evans's three wickets came at the high cost of 108 runs while Berg took 2 for 33, Richie Banham 2 for 36 and 16-year-old slow left armer Ravi Patel took a promising 2 for 29. Middlesex were pleased to be only 26 behind on first innings, but were soon in deep trouble again as they slumped to 47 for 6 and looked like losing in two days. This time it was Gareth Berg (batting too low at 7 in my opinion) who led the recovery with a hard hitting 79 and again it was young Josh Davey (31) who gave him most assistance in a stand of 72 for the seventh wicket, but it was just not enough as they succumbed to the fine seam and swing bowling of Imran Arif who finished with 7 for 39, with Omar Ali (just 20) chipping in with 2 for 18. Needing only 160 to win, Manuel (40) got Worcestershire off to a good start, but they slipped back to 79 for 4 and Middlesex had a glimmer of a chance. This was quickly snuffed out, however, by Omar Ali with a confident 64* and Jayden Levitt (38*) with his second good contribution of the match in an unbeaten partnership of 84, which took the visitors to a comfortable victory by six wickets before lunch on day three. Evans took 2 for 58 and Patel again bowled usefully to take 2 for 34, but they could not equal the performances of Imran, Omar and Levitt and Worcestershire thoroughly deserved their victory. Worcestershire did not bowl a single over of spin in the whole game, while the Middlesex top five contributed 52 runs in ten completed innings in the match.
Trainspotting Matters
When we had the South Hampstead Gathering at Lords in June this year Alan Cox asked to borrow the scorebooks from the sixties so that he could start transcribing them into scorecard formats. He had apparently already performed this laborious and, some would say, pointless task for his Irish club. However, Bill Hart, who is another computer buff, who responds to emails in minutes rather than hours or days, has now joined him in this exercise and they have decided to split up the sixties and early seventies between them. Their next plan is to upload the scorecards onto the Cricinfo website so that they can become available to cricket fans the world over for all eternity. Everyone will then know that the answer Allen Bruton has to give is “bowled Adamson 0”.
All this might sound like men having too much time on their hands or the depths of Cork and Warwickshire having too little to offer in the way of night life, but it all paled into insignificance when I met Ian McIntosh at the Ladies Day at South Hampstead in September. He showed me excerpts from an enormous tome that has been prepared by Johnny Bruce and Tony Dey who appear to have access to the records of Hornsey CC since its inception. They have then meticulously transcribed them into a computer programme which facilitates producing records in any format the reader might require. For example they are easily able to produce the career records of the Pearman brothers and compare their aggregates with former prolific batsmen from the turn of the last century. He also showed me the Hornsey record against South Hampstead in all games which appears on page 246 of this wondrous tome. The Hornsey CC Hall of Fame commences on page 300. The problem with it of course is that it needs updating every year and so we can, presumably, expect larger and larger volumes from this pair annually.
Pickering Matters
Bob Fisher sent me the following
I read with interest Terry Hunt's notes about dear Geoff Cleaver and was particularly interested in the picture of the 1960's Danes team in that in the centre of the back row is Tony Pickering, who played cricket at Ealing for a number of years. He was mainly a second team player but on his day could hit the ball a long way. He was not as good a cricketer as his brother John who also played at Ealing as well as Brentham and Maidenhead. However, my main memories of Tony are as a footballer playing for the club with which I am associated, Hanwell Town. Tony was a prolific goal scorer and excellent in the air. He played for Hanwell Town from 1964-5 to 1972-3 and scored 249 goals in just 232 appearances. In the 1965-66 season, he scored 63 goals in 32 games, a ratio of almost two goals per game. After his retirement from cricket and football, Tony took up golf and I am told was a very useful player. Unfortunately, Tony moved away from Ealing in the late 1990 /early 2000 and we lost touch with him until we received the sad news that he had passed away from a heart attack in April 2007. He had been living quietly in a small village just outside Poole.
Roscoe Matters
When I circulated South Hampstead alumni with the news that Ossie Burton was due to attend the Ladies Day I received this from Nigel Ross
If you can remember, please send my very best wishes to Oswald. Please remind him of one of my early games for Surbiton on an absolute green top. I was keeping wicket and decided somewhat foolishly (why won't that surprise you) to stand up to Ossie. At the end of the over, fearing for my safety, Ossie suggested politely in his usual unassuming way that I stood back, which I completely ignored and hardly acknowledged. In the next over he bowled his very first ball hit me in the middle of the forehead off a good length and I went down like a sack of coals. Some would say that I never recovered. Please also send him Malcolm Lawford's best wishes. Malcolm is now President of East Molesey - a case of poacher turned game keeper if ever the was.
Hounslow and Cleaver Matters
On a couple of occasions when I have met up with old South Hampstead players this summer the talk has included reference to Hounslow. I am not entirely sure why although it could have been because it was the home of sometime South Hampstead Wednesday Side player Robin Syrett or it may have been the overlapping boundaries on the two adjacent playing areas. When South Hampstead played a rare fixture there in the late sixties mid wicket on the first team ground found himself standing next to cover in the third team match. Whatever the reason Don Wallis is always happy to recall his 7 for 11 on an almost unplayable drying surface.
I never mind Hounslow being brought up in conversation either since Don usually mentions that I took four catches at short leg off his bowling that day. It was also the only occasion on which I hit two sixes in the same innings, although, to be fair, on most grounds neither would have cleared the square.
Brian Pacey sent me the following:
“I did not have the pleasure of playing with Geoff Cleaver that often, but one match that stands out in the memory was for the Bush 3rd XI away to Hounslow in May 1973. I was captaining the "Bush" in this match, which took place in Lampton Park, Hounslow. It was the first time Hounslow had used this ground because The Thames Valley League - Hounslow were founder members in 1972 - had asked Hounslow not to play 3rd XI games on their main ground when a 1st XI league match was being staged there, because the playing areas overlapped. Lampton Park was a public park, so as you can imagine, the wicket was dubious to say the least. Not surprisingly, the Hounslow captain, Bob Crow won the toss and "invited us to bat first". I would probably have done the same.
At that time, we did not often have a particularly strong batting side, but at least I had Geoff to open and close up one end for a while. I could tell that he was not impressed at being asked to open and was quickly back in the safety of the pavilion. I'm not sure if there was one, or if there were just changing rooms nearby. Like Geoff, none of us lasted much longer and we were all out for 89, which I told our team gave us a good chance on that wicket. With Hounslow on 71 for 2, I brought on a young slow medium bowler, Stephen Barnsdale, to finish off the match as quickly as possible. He surprised everyone by taking 5 for 5 and the Bush won by the comfortable margin of 13 runs.
You can imagine what Geoff had to say about the wicket and facilities afterwards. However, as luck would have it, he was invited as a guest speaker at the Hounslow Dinner that winter. Quite early in his speech he mentioned that he had always enjoyed playing against Hounslow, particularly in his last encounter with them in Lampton Park. He thanked Bob Crow for his hospitality that day, and took undoubted pleasure in stating that he would not be returning to that venue again. You can well imagine that the way Geoff told the story, it brought the house down! This occasion was one of several dinners where I had the opportunity to listen to Geoff's wit and deep sense of humour. Although I haven't seen Geoff since about 1978 (I left London that year owing to a change of job), I am saddened by his loss at such a relatively early age, as I am sure will all his many friends and family.”
Irritating Trends in Modern Cricket Number 54
We all know that professional cricketers do not see themselves as entertainers and would rather spend time in the dressing room listening to their ipods or playing silly games on computers than fulfilling their obligations to the paying public. This has been evident at Lords and Old Trafford during the test matches both last year and this when the umpires went off for bovril rather than ensure that play reached the paltry target of ninety overs in the day. All this paying for no cricket became particularly galling when the umpires and the England players decided during the ODI at Lords against South Africa when England could smell victory that it was perfectly alright to play in what was almost dark conditions. This was a repeat of the Nass victory in Pakistan when even the fielders couldn’t see the ball. I trust that these conditions will now be the benchmark for light decisions and the nonsense of going off in broad daylight will cease.
Football Matters
Andrew Baker’s Ladies team is struggling with almost half of the squad on the injured list. He has decided that shin pads are inadequate protection for his team when playing butch teams from the north. As usual the versatile Kelvin West has leapt to the rescue and has designed a comprehensive protective layer to be worn beneath the team kit. He has also selflessly agreed to assist with individual fittings over the coming weeks.
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 70
October 2008
End of Season Quiz
1. Middlesex won the domestic Twenty20 competition wearing a decidedly Nancy looking pink outfit as part of charitable support for Breast Cancer. They will now be playing in the Stamford Competition in the Caribbean later this year. Vinny Codrington calls you for your suggested gimmicks to be added to this attire for this special occasion. Do you suggest:
a. Handbags to be carried by all fielders.
b. Panty hose to be worn instead of trousers.
c. Padded bras to be effected under shirts.
d. The slip cordon to link arms and gossip incessantly.
2. At the beginning of the season Middlesex appeared to have great strength in their batting with the first six being: Smith, Godleman, Compton, Shah, Joyce and Morgan. However, none of these averaged over 40 in the Championship. Strauss and Nash did. Who were the other three:
a. Silverwood, Udal and Scott
b. Richardson, Malan and Murtagh
c. Berg, Nannes and Finn
d. Moss, Peach and Downton
3. The PCA website publishes the American concept of Most Valued Player (MVP) rankings for the England squad in the three formats of the game - Test, ODI and Twenty20. In each case His Wonderfulness failed to get the top ranking. Who was top in each category respectively:
a. Anderson, Broad and Bell
b. Collingwood, Shah and Wright
c. Pattinson, Swann and Ambrose
d. Croft, Yardy and Loye
4. Two years ago Global Warming was blamed for the long hot summer. We were told that this was the shape of things to come. Spinners would bowl thirty overs each a day in August again and hose pipe bans would be permanent for much of the year. 2007 and 2008 have produced record rainfall and low temperatures which apparently is also the fault of Global Warming. What else is Global Warming responsible for?
a. Peg leg’s knee, Gilo’s hip and Simon Jones’ legs.
b. Middlesex’s batting, Middlesex’s bowling and Middlesex’ results
c. Sub prime mortgages, the credit crunch and Gordon Brown.
d. Hello magazine, Big Brother and Binge Drinking.
Out and About with the Professor
Of course I couldn’t have realised it at the time. When I drove to the ground, I didn’t know that I’d be witness to the great Dazzler’s last First Class overs. The last time I went to watch cricket in Scarborough it had been freezing…this time it was only cold. In fact it had been so wet (as well as cold) that the ground was in a shocking state, with great lumps of grass all over the outfield. It was also dark, and so the game didn’t start on time.
When we did get going, Darren strutted his stuff and, while later he said that his body was in pain with the effort of it all, it didn’t look too difficult, and indeed, he bowled pretty briskly. As so often this year, the quick bowler who took the eye was not the Yorkshire captain but rather Tim Bresnan. He never seems to take that many wickets but he has the batsmen hopping around a good deal. The fact that he is also young and a very useful bat and fielder suggest a bright future. The other characteristic of this years’ Yorkshire attack has been the amount of bowling that Rashid has done. I think he has bowled over 600 overs which could be more than any other player in the championship. More than that, he comes on very early in the game. This was a wet September day in Scarborough and a leg spinner was on well before lunch. Like a lot of leggies he gets wickets with bad balls. He bowled very tightly to Justin Langer until, after about an hour, he dropped one short. Langer, in attempting to hit it into the sea, just hit it straight up in the air, where a young substitute fielder called Matthew Hoggard took the catch.
The other slightly sorrowful business was watching the Former-England-Captain wandering around in the outfield. He is a passenger in this form of cricket as well as in Tests and so fielded at Third Man and Deep Extra Cover more or less all day. He also, of course, didn’t get any runs. Perhaps Boycott is right, and he needs his eyes testing. What Yorkshire needed was points and they didn’t get many from this game. Happily, the final match saw them limp to safety, thanks in large part to Rashid’s hundred and “7-fer”.
So top-class cricket again next year…glad I don’t support Gloucester. I read that the prize money for the County Championship is going up next year – from £100,000 to £500,000. I’m not quite sure of the rationale for this – the competition could hardly be closer fought than it was this year (or last) and the extra money will not affect the number of people coming to watch. Still, I feel sure the authorities know what they are doing.
Old Trafford Matters
I have been critical in the past in these pages about the lack of facilities and indeed of any new development at Old Trafford. I lifted the following from the Lancashire website:
“Lancashire County Cricket Club has revealed its eagerly-awaited plans for the radical re-development of Old Trafford cricket ground, set to transform the historic venue into one of the country's premier sporting destinations. The Executive of Trafford Council on Monday evening uunanimously approved the proposals, part of an innovative sports-led regeneration strategy for a 50-acre mixed use neighbourhood in Old Trafford. A planning application for the first phase of the new stadium development will be lodged imminently with works potentially starting in early 2009, and phased over consecutive years until completion in late 2012.
The striking new designs aim to retain the heritage and history of this very famous ground by enhancing the existing pavilion, as well as adding stunning new player and media facilities, conferencing, banqueting and hotel facilities. Two new grandstands will ensure a capacity of 15,000 capable of rising to 25,000 with temporary seating. There will also be floodlights and a screen showing action replays.
In cricketing terms, part of the first phase will include a completely new outfield which is currently being installed. The new system, based on the design at Lord’s Cricket Ground, will mean much faster drainage of the outfield, thereby allowing play to commence earlier after heavy rain than is presently the case. The new designs also include the re-orientation of the wicket, to see the square run from North to South for the first time in 150 years. Changing the original East to West orientation will resolve sunlight issues which have affected players. The new square, which will take 18 months to bed in, will also be larger in size, allowing for five new wickets to be constructed, giving Lancashire County Cricket Club the ability to bid for more high profile matches, including internationals. To allow the wicket to be ready in time for The Ashes in 2013, play would need to begin on the new square in 2011.”
View of the overall scheme, seen from in front of the new Media, Press & Players Facility to the south of the ground, with the reoriented wicket in the foreground and retained Pavilion located centrally between the new stands
So far, so good. But then they showed artists impressions of the development which is simply hideous. The new buildings are garishly coloured, devoid of architectural value and out of place on even as barren a landscape as Old Trafford.
View of the overall scheme from the new stands, with the Hospitality and Events building in the foreground and the retained Pavilion located centrally between the new stands.
It is extraordinary that these plans have been approved when other grounds such as Lords, the Oval, Trent Bridge and the Rose Bowl have been developed so imaginatively. The county should be ashamed of itself. They will still be rejected for test matches in future on the grounds of bad taste.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan has plenty to say about recent goings on
I didn’t know anything about Udal being captain when I arrived at the ground for the Essex match and wondered why he was ordering everyone around. Shaun is an experienced cricketer, he is in good form with the bat and I'm sure he will do a good job as skipper, but I was still rather surprised that he was appointed. I am happy with two specialist spinners in the side, but the fact is that he and Murali have not pulled up any trees this summer (partly due to unfavourable conditions, of course), so what happens if they want to play a fourth seamer (this assumes that we have four fit seamers, of course)? It seems that the only way for the fourth seamer to be accommodated is for Kartik to be left out (they cannot weaken the batting any further as we already have Scotty batting too high at 6) unless the captain himself were to stand down, but this would look ridiculous as he has only just been appointed and would involve another change of captaincy. So I suppose they will stick with two spinners no matter how green and seam-friendly the September tracks turn out to be? I suppose I would have given the captaincy to Straussy. There have been plenty of rumours about Ed J being approached by other counties and as he hasn’t committed himself to Middlesex yet, it looks as if they have ditched him in favour of someone who is certain to be at the club next season. It would be sad to lose a class player, but he has been something of an underachiever in the last couple of seasons.
Tyron, Murali, Dawid, Owais, Dan Housego and Andy Strauss have all signed new contracts and Straussy will get a benefit next season. At this time of year there are usually rumours about who Middlesex are likely to snap up, but the only name I have heard mentioned is that of Mike O’Shea. Mike is a useful all-round cricketer who bats, bowls off-spin and is young enough to keep improving (I suppose JWMD has blocked his progress?), but will someone who cannot get in Glamorgan’s team strengthen our side very much?
In my view, it is only when Richo is playing that the bowling looks better than the batting and when they bat first, both the batting and the bowling look poor. Godleman's crawl is desperately needed to get them through the first day of seam movement: the alternatives like Strauss, Compton and Smith get out early.
Compo has not "gone" just yet: he is alive and well and skippering the 2s at Uxbridge! He was offered a new contract, which is why he is not away having trials. In my experience it would be unique for someone leaving to be in charge of the 2s in mid-September, so Middlesex must be expecting him to stay, but Jeff Coleman says he has had offers from Sussex and Somerset and is expected to take one of them. Shaun Levy (who has already had a trial at Leicestershire and was seen emphasising his credentials to Damian D'Oliveira (Worcestershire 2nd XI coach) at Uxbridge) and Dave Burton were the only two, as far as we know, who were not offered new contracts. Compo and Joycey are the only two who have definitely not signed though Jeff did not think that Nashy had signed either, but I do not believe Nashy is going anywhere and am confident that he has already or will soon put pen to paper.
Jeff could not throw any light on the question of the "internecine strife" and guessed that it referred to the controversy over the captaincy and the director of cricket. He says that Smithy will definitely not be reappointed after 30/9, but did not know why or who was likely to replace him. M Arthur was apparently wanted for the director's role (so it looks as if I was right about Toby), but is now believed to prefer a job elsewhere and is out of the running, leaving ARC Fraser as the favourite. The injuries to Ed J and Murali K that caused their omission for the Kidderminster game are thought to be genuine in Kartik's case, but fictitious in Joyce's. It seems that Ed was left out because of his indecision about whether to stay at the club... or possibly because he has, in fact, decided to leave. Lack of information on these matters is largely because R Scott is a hell of a lot less forthcoming than his predecessors as 2s coach... or perhaps he doesn't know himself!
There was an intriguing occurrence during the pre-lunch session on day 2 at Uxbridge when Compo left the field, clearly not injured, for a considerable length of time. As Nash was not on the pitch at the time, the captaincy was given to Sam Robson, who continued to skipper up to lunchtime even after both Compton and Nash had returned to the pitch. After lunch, Nash took over as captain for the rest of the match. The thought occurred to me that Nick had just received information relating to a job offer which confirmed that he would be leaving the club and Middlesex therefore decided that an alternative captain was required immediately. Any unhappiness that Middlesex might be feeling about the probable loss of both Joyce and Compton has surely been relieved by the news that Neil Dexter will be joining. This is unconfirmed, of course, but is already on the internet so is likely to be true. Neil is an accomplished bat (career average 47 before this season) who also bowls a bit of medium. I think he is a good recruit, though I hope to see some strengthening of the bowling department soon.
Lord Ray and KP Matters
Charlie Puckett thought we would like to see this extract from the Wisden Cricketer:
Ashwell Prince: “I am surprised that Kevin Pietersen got the captaincy. He is an unbelievable batsman but we won the Test series because of his shot at Edgbaston when he was out on 94. It didn't look as if he was going to get out, he could have made 150 batting with Paul Collingwood and England could have had a 400+ lead. It wasn't the time or place to go hitting one over the top to make a hundred. That shot handed us the series and then a few days later they hand him the captaincy. When I arrived in England the media asked a lot about the South African selection system and quotas - about whether it actually worked. Maybe they should be looking at their own selection system when they hand the captaincy to a man who has just lost them the series. England should focus more on their own system instead of trying to find fault in ours.”
I had heard that Lord Ray had been in hospital recently and so I asked Charlie how he was progressing. He replied:
He's up and about, growling, getting ready to sort out the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Companies House, the Charities Commission, Barrie Stuart-King - oh, and Kevin Pietersen, should he make the mistake of visiting the Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In short, he is recovering well!
Ealing Matters
Bob Fisher sent me this
You may or may not be aware that Ealing had a tremendous season, with the First Team winning the Middlesex County League Championship for an unprecedented fourth season running and both the 2nd and 3rd teams winning their respective divisions. The icing on the cake was for the First team to win The Evening Standard Challenge Trophy last season for the second year in succession. This is also a first for the competition. To complete an outstanding season for the club, Ealing won The Evening Standard Challenge Trophy, beating Sunbury by two wickets, after an epic final before a large crowd at Corfton Road on Sunday. Ealing playing in their fifth final during the seventeen years of the competition became the first club ever to win the trophy in successive years and with the Evening Standard having decided not to continue with the competition, they became the proud owners of the prestigious silver trophy.
Ignoring the fact that they had won all five of their previous games in the competition by batting first, Stoughton hopeful of making full use of the rain affected wicket, elected to field first on winning the toss, a decision that he might well have had second thoughts about such was the comfortable start made by the Sunbury opening pair John Maunders and Toby Roland-Jones. Maunders, fresh from the 62 he made during the week for Essex playing against Northamptonshire in the championship, was in particularly fine form as he and his partner reached 135 without loss after 29 overs. At this stage, it looked likely that Ealing would be facing a target of something in excess of 250, but the introduction of off spinner Sameer Patel brought them the breakthrough they were looking for as Roland-Jones holed out on the long off boundary to Tahir Afridi for a well made 60. Two balls later Patel had Adam London lbw bringing Middlesex player David Nash to the wicket to join Maunders. However, Nash soon departed bowled by Patel and when Steve Atherton had the Sunbury skipper Olly Roland-Jones caught behind the wicket by Ned Eckersley, the Sunbury innings had slumped to 157-4. Charlie Holcomb joined Maunders and these two took the score to 185 before Patel dismissed Holcom and keeper Stuart Poynter in quick succession to finish with the remarkable figures of 5-28 in his allotted 10 overs. The re-introduction of Chris Peploe saw the departure of Maunders, caught at cover by David Holt for a well made 102. Sunbury were all out for 202, having lost all ten of their wickets in the final 21overs for just 77 runs.
Ealing’s innings got off to a poor start when Patel was well caught by John Lyons running back from cover in the second over but Simon Hawk was joined by Peploe and these two in the next ten overs rattled the score up to 69, well above the required run rate. Peploe was then stumped as he slipped whilst aiming a big hit against London and when Hawk and Eckersley, needlessly run out after a mix up with Rajesh Rao, quickly followed to the pavilion Ealing had slumped to 75-4. Rao was joined by David Holt and these two playing cautiously added 16 before Rao was bowled with the score at 91. Stoughton and Holt carefully added 25 in the next 11 overs before Holt skied a simple catch to Nash at short fine leg. Ian Blanchett joined the skipper with the run rate now up to almost 5 an over and these two maintained the run rate until the score reached 155 when Stoughton was yorked after making a very important 35. When big hitting Leigh Parry succumbed to the first ball he received in the next over, Ealing were at 156-8 and the Sunbury team and their supporters must have felt that they had one hand on the trophy. Blanchett was joined by opening bowler Tahir Afridi with 57 needed from 9 overs. Three runs came off each of the next two overs before Blanchett in the 44th over brought the excitement in the ground to fever pitch as he hit Adam Stanier for six high over the sightscreen into Woodville Gardens. With every run being greeted by cheers by the Ealing supporters, the 46th and 47th over were proving to be decisive as Blanchett and Afridi took 20 runs from them leaving Ealing needing 9 runs for victory from the last three overs. Now not needing to play any big shots, sensible running between the two batsmen narrowed the target down to three being needed from the last over and three singles from the first three balls of the final over saw Ealing home to a famous victory.
Second Eleven Matters
The Great Jack Morgan keeps us apprised of second eleven cricket
It was a misty moist morning and the pitch looked strikingly green at Uxbridge so it was surprising that Middlesex, who were second in the table, should decide to bat first in the 2nd XI Championship match against Worcestershire, but it was not surprising that the top five should be shot out with only 25 on the board. Keeper John Simpson (still more impressive with the bat than the gloves) was easily the best of the home batsmen and his 90 held the batting together. He was supported by Gareth Berg (24) in a stand of 112 for the sixth wicket, newcomer Josh Davey (28) in a stand of 69 for the seventh wicket and Danny Evans, who hit a quick fire 25 at the end as the home team reached 239 all out. Worcestershire were captained by ex-Middlesex keeper Josh Knappett, but opening bowler Imran Arif, who played in the first team fixture at Lord's in July, was the only other player of whom I had heard. Imran took three of the wickets and there were also three each for Chris Russell and 19-year-old Mehraj Ahmed.
When Worcestershire batted, openers Mike Bott (24) and Jack Manuel (34) put on 60 for the first wicket but then they slumped to 64 for 4 as Evans and Berg finally hit the right areas. Jayden Levitt (born in Jo'burg) was the hero for the visitors with a very impressive 112 and with more support he should have steered his team to a better score than 265 all out, which could have let Middlesex back into the game. Evans's three wickets came at the high cost of 108 runs while Berg took 2 for 33, Richie Banham 2 for 36 and 16-year-old slow left armer Ravi Patel took a promising 2 for 29. Middlesex were pleased to be only 26 behind on first innings, but were soon in deep trouble again as they slumped to 47 for 6 and looked like losing in two days. This time it was Gareth Berg (batting too low at 7 in my opinion) who led the recovery with a hard hitting 79 and again it was young Josh Davey (31) who gave him most assistance in a stand of 72 for the seventh wicket, but it was just not enough as they succumbed to the fine seam and swing bowling of Imran Arif who finished with 7 for 39, with Omar Ali (just 20) chipping in with 2 for 18. Needing only 160 to win, Manuel (40) got Worcestershire off to a good start, but they slipped back to 79 for 4 and Middlesex had a glimmer of a chance. This was quickly snuffed out, however, by Omar Ali with a confident 64* and Jayden Levitt (38*) with his second good contribution of the match in an unbeaten partnership of 84, which took the visitors to a comfortable victory by six wickets before lunch on day three. Evans took 2 for 58 and Patel again bowled usefully to take 2 for 34, but they could not equal the performances of Imran, Omar and Levitt and Worcestershire thoroughly deserved their victory. Worcestershire did not bowl a single over of spin in the whole game, while the Middlesex top five contributed 52 runs in ten completed innings in the match.
Trainspotting Matters
When we had the South Hampstead Gathering at Lords in June this year Alan Cox asked to borrow the scorebooks from the sixties so that he could start transcribing them into scorecard formats. He had apparently already performed this laborious and, some would say, pointless task for his Irish club. However, Bill Hart, who is another computer buff, who responds to emails in minutes rather than hours or days, has now joined him in this exercise and they have decided to split up the sixties and early seventies between them. Their next plan is to upload the scorecards onto the Cricinfo website so that they can become available to cricket fans the world over for all eternity. Everyone will then know that the answer Allen Bruton has to give is “bowled Adamson 0”.
All this might sound like men having too much time on their hands or the depths of Cork and Warwickshire having too little to offer in the way of night life, but it all paled into insignificance when I met Ian McIntosh at the Ladies Day at South Hampstead in September. He showed me excerpts from an enormous tome that has been prepared by Johnny Bruce and Tony Dey who appear to have access to the records of Hornsey CC since its inception. They have then meticulously transcribed them into a computer programme which facilitates producing records in any format the reader might require. For example they are easily able to produce the career records of the Pearman brothers and compare their aggregates with former prolific batsmen from the turn of the last century. He also showed me the Hornsey record against South Hampstead in all games which appears on page 246 of this wondrous tome. The Hornsey CC Hall of Fame commences on page 300. The problem with it of course is that it needs updating every year and so we can, presumably, expect larger and larger volumes from this pair annually.
Pickering Matters
Bob Fisher sent me the following
I read with interest Terry Hunt's notes about dear Geoff Cleaver and was particularly interested in the picture of the 1960's Danes team in that in the centre of the back row is Tony Pickering, who played cricket at Ealing for a number of years. He was mainly a second team player but on his day could hit the ball a long way. He was not as good a cricketer as his brother John who also played at Ealing as well as Brentham and Maidenhead. However, my main memories of Tony are as a footballer playing for the club with which I am associated, Hanwell Town. Tony was a prolific goal scorer and excellent in the air. He played for Hanwell Town from 1964-5 to 1972-3 and scored 249 goals in just 232 appearances. In the 1965-66 season, he scored 63 goals in 32 games, a ratio of almost two goals per game. After his retirement from cricket and football, Tony took up golf and I am told was a very useful player. Unfortunately, Tony moved away from Ealing in the late 1990 /early 2000 and we lost touch with him until we received the sad news that he had passed away from a heart attack in April 2007. He had been living quietly in a small village just outside Poole.
Roscoe Matters
When I circulated South Hampstead alumni with the news that Ossie Burton was due to attend the Ladies Day I received this from Nigel Ross
If you can remember, please send my very best wishes to Oswald. Please remind him of one of my early games for Surbiton on an absolute green top. I was keeping wicket and decided somewhat foolishly (why won't that surprise you) to stand up to Ossie. At the end of the over, fearing for my safety, Ossie suggested politely in his usual unassuming way that I stood back, which I completely ignored and hardly acknowledged. In the next over he bowled his very first ball hit me in the middle of the forehead off a good length and I went down like a sack of coals. Some would say that I never recovered. Please also send him Malcolm Lawford's best wishes. Malcolm is now President of East Molesey - a case of poacher turned game keeper if ever the was.
Hounslow and Cleaver Matters
On a couple of occasions when I have met up with old South Hampstead players this summer the talk has included reference to Hounslow. I am not entirely sure why although it could have been because it was the home of sometime South Hampstead Wednesday Side player Robin Syrett or it may have been the overlapping boundaries on the two adjacent playing areas. When South Hampstead played a rare fixture there in the late sixties mid wicket on the first team ground found himself standing next to cover in the third team match. Whatever the reason Don Wallis is always happy to recall his 7 for 11 on an almost unplayable drying surface.
I never mind Hounslow being brought up in conversation either since Don usually mentions that I took four catches at short leg off his bowling that day. It was also the only occasion on which I hit two sixes in the same innings, although, to be fair, on most grounds neither would have cleared the square.
Brian Pacey sent me the following:
“I did not have the pleasure of playing with Geoff Cleaver that often, but one match that stands out in the memory was for the Bush 3rd XI away to Hounslow in May 1973. I was captaining the "Bush" in this match, which took place in Lampton Park, Hounslow. It was the first time Hounslow had used this ground because The Thames Valley League - Hounslow were founder members in 1972 - had asked Hounslow not to play 3rd XI games on their main ground when a 1st XI league match was being staged there, because the playing areas overlapped. Lampton Park was a public park, so as you can imagine, the wicket was dubious to say the least. Not surprisingly, the Hounslow captain, Bob Crow won the toss and "invited us to bat first". I would probably have done the same.
At that time, we did not often have a particularly strong batting side, but at least I had Geoff to open and close up one end for a while. I could tell that he was not impressed at being asked to open and was quickly back in the safety of the pavilion. I'm not sure if there was one, or if there were just changing rooms nearby. Like Geoff, none of us lasted much longer and we were all out for 89, which I told our team gave us a good chance on that wicket. With Hounslow on 71 for 2, I brought on a young slow medium bowler, Stephen Barnsdale, to finish off the match as quickly as possible. He surprised everyone by taking 5 for 5 and the Bush won by the comfortable margin of 13 runs.
You can imagine what Geoff had to say about the wicket and facilities afterwards. However, as luck would have it, he was invited as a guest speaker at the Hounslow Dinner that winter. Quite early in his speech he mentioned that he had always enjoyed playing against Hounslow, particularly in his last encounter with them in Lampton Park. He thanked Bob Crow for his hospitality that day, and took undoubted pleasure in stating that he would not be returning to that venue again. You can well imagine that the way Geoff told the story, it brought the house down! This occasion was one of several dinners where I had the opportunity to listen to Geoff's wit and deep sense of humour. Although I haven't seen Geoff since about 1978 (I left London that year owing to a change of job), I am saddened by his loss at such a relatively early age, as I am sure will all his many friends and family.”
Irritating Trends in Modern Cricket Number 54
We all know that professional cricketers do not see themselves as entertainers and would rather spend time in the dressing room listening to their ipods or playing silly games on computers than fulfilling their obligations to the paying public. This has been evident at Lords and Old Trafford during the test matches both last year and this when the umpires went off for bovril rather than ensure that play reached the paltry target of ninety overs in the day. All this paying for no cricket became particularly galling when the umpires and the England players decided during the ODI at Lords against South Africa when England could smell victory that it was perfectly alright to play in what was almost dark conditions. This was a repeat of the Nass victory in Pakistan when even the fielders couldn’t see the ball. I trust that these conditions will now be the benchmark for light decisions and the nonsense of going off in broad daylight will cease.
Football Matters
Andrew Baker’s Ladies team is struggling with almost half of the squad on the injured list. He has decided that shin pads are inadequate protection for his team when playing butch teams from the north. As usual the versatile Kelvin West has leapt to the rescue and has designed a comprehensive protective layer to be worn beneath the team kit. He has also selflessly agreed to assist with individual fittings over the coming weeks.
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