GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 78
June 2009
Caption Competition
“The Point is an exciting new £12m development in Manchester, located at Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford cricket ground, suitable for all types of conferences or events. It is due for completion by July 2010.”
I was in London last week for a meeting or two. In between I had a couple of hours of what I think IT people call “down time” – and so I popped into Headquarters. My motives were to have a spot of lunch (nice, overpriced, steak and kidney…as always) and to have a look at the cricket. County cricket, as we know, has gone into hibernation for a month now that the weather is improving, but there was an MCC game on and since a Welwyn Garden City lad is on the Groundstaff, I thought it worth a look.
Having sorted out the inner man, I settled down for a couple of hours of viewing from the security of the bar. It was, in truth, a day to be inside, because it was freezing cold, wet, and murky. In fact, had there been any County cricket, there would have been nothing to watch, since the light was dreadful. It was so poor in fact, that the handful of people watching from the stands had all got close to the fence so that they could see across the field. Among all this gloom the only thing that was clearly visible was the ball – it was a fluorescent pink, and glowed in the dark wherever it went. Now I know this was trialled last year (maybe before) but I hadn’t seen it, so this was my first experience of, so to speak, bright pink balls, and, at the risk of generating even more dyspepsia among Googlies readers of a more traditional bent, I thought it worked pretty well.
In the first place the ball was clearly visible, even in pretty grim conditions, which is, I should have thought, a handy characteristic for a cricket ball. Also, since the ball is, so I am informed, died pink, it did not deteriorate in the way that white balls do which are painted white. When the paint wears off they have to be replaced as the leather shows through and, as we all know, this replacement has now been institutionalised in the one-day game. By the same token, the pink ‘un, being a “normal” ball, keeps its shine and no doubt reverse swings later on (although I’m not too sure the MCC had a plethora of reverse swingers upon which to call). So, using a pink ball would have advantages over the white and you wouldn’t need all those swathes of black sheeting that clubs have to drape everywhere, in imitation of a mass funeral.
But why stop there? This was a daytime match and a red ball would have been all but invisible. So why not pink ones here as well. Indeed, why are cricket balls red? And why have there been getting darker and darker in the past couple of decades? The days of the bright red “cherry” seem to have past and most balls are a deep burgundy colour which, in poor light, give umpires keen to leave the field all the excuses they need. Why not bright pink, or yellow, or anything that you can easily see?
Could we not learn from football here? I am old enough to remember when footballs were brown. Then they went orange, then white, then white with little black patches, and now they can be almost any collection of colours you like provided they include space, like everything else these days, for an advert or two. Presumably, multi coloured cricket balls might be a bit distracting or, conversely, give the batsman a clue about which way the ball is spinning. But fluorescent pink ones? I think it’s worth a try. Let’s hear it for visible balls!
Progressing Matters
I hadn’t seen the Professor this year but the dearth of cricket made a meeting difficult. This explains why we decided to meet up at Old Trafford for the Twenty20 match against Notts. The route from the car park to the seating area takes you round the building site to the rear of the pavilion. The ground is flat here now and probably looks the best its going to look for the foreseeable future.
The clear view from the car park to the pavilion across the area formerly occupied by the Tyldesley Stand
I wandered round to seating area C where I had agreed to meet the Prof but by the time I found him I had been relieved of £27 - £8 car park, £16 admission and £3 for match programme. A day’s Championship cricket would have cost £16.50. This match was played during half term and probably was intended to attract impressionable schoolchildren. But they were barely in evidence and the ground was about a third full. Maybe the high cost of admission has contributed to this staying away.
The Professor was keenly watching Peter Moores put his new charges through their paces on the newly laid outfield. At least whilst I was there the exercises were cricket related but the Prof reassured me that the ludicrous touch rugby had taken place earlier.
This form of the game is taken more seriously than when it was introduced and it is time that the silly features were phased out. The presence of someone dressed up as a giant green dinosaur to act as a mascot amused no one and frankly was just an embarrassment. For those who like dressing up there were plenty of locals in the crowd to gawp at.
The game started with a slim line Ryan Sidebottom trapping Tom Smith LBW. Opening with Tom Smith has been another Peter Moores innovation but it hasn’t worked. Lancashire are looking a good side this year and they need to find an opener who can score heavily and regularly to partner the impressive Paul Horton.
Notts must have a selection of the tallest men in county cricket. Sidebottom is 6’ 3” but he is dwarfed by Alex hales at 6’ 5”, Luke Fletcher 6’ 6” and the giant Will Jefferson at 6’ 10”. They are rather like a circus act with the group of midgets - Samit Patel, Chris Read, Mark Ealham and Ali Brown – running around them. High fives cannot be reached.
Sidebottom bowled quickly and gave little away but it was the spinners, Patel and Swann, who were the hardest to score off. Patel dismissed Horton and du Plessis and when Swann bowled Chilton Lancashire had slumped to 107 for 5 and any thoughts of a big score had gone. In the event everybody got a few and they scraped together 151 for 6. Swann turned a couple of balls prodigiously and it maybe a good thing that the square is being turned through 90 degrees for next season. This means that many wickets will be on the new square areas and may get a better preparation than those which have behaved so unacceptably at Old Trafford in recent years. The cry that there should be an Old Trafford test because England might be able to bowl a side out twice there is ridiculous.
The Notts innings got off to an inauspicious start when Ali Brown was caught down the leg side first ball and Notts then started hitting everything up in the air and were reduced in short order to 19 for 5. I was hoping to get a good look at Adam Voges who must still have hopes of playing for Australia. However, he played the up and over the slip area shot to a wide delivery from Chapple and Stephen Parry caught it on the third man boundary. But the momentum was taking him over the rope and so he threw the ball up, stepped over the rope, regained his balance, re-entered the field of play and caught the ball before it had dropped to the ground. At 19 for 5 Notts may have looked out of it but Patel and Read were at the crease with Ealham to come and there were still fifteen overs to go. Patel looked classy and it was a pity that he holed out to Keedy and then Ealham went quickly. But Sidebottom hung around despite looking like getting out every ball and he and Read took Notts to within eleven runs of victory when their overs expired.
The thing that impressed both the Professor and me most was the outstanding level of the Lancashire fielding. They caught everything and the ground fielding was often spectacular. Peter Moores is obviously having an impact in this area.
My criticisms of Twenty 20 include that it is all over too quickly and that it attracts football supporter type louts who feel that they have to be shouting out all the time. Fortunately there is not enough time for them to get really pissed.
Leg Spin Matters
Whilst I was watching Middlesex’s lamentable performance against Surrey at Lords on Sky David Lloyd starting getting ecstatic about having a leg spinner in the side when Chris Schofield came onto bowl. Ian Ward started to discuss his success in the limited over game and it was revealed that Schofield had stopped trying to bowl as many variations as he had when he first broke onto the scene at Lancashire. Lloyd then pointed out that Schofield still had plenty of variations and cited the long hop, the full toss, the wide, the half volley and his faster and slower versions of all of the above. It was concluded that his success came from the batsman having no idea where the ball was going to be from one delivery to the next.
When Francois du Plessis came on to bowl at Old Trafford against Notts in the Twenty 20 match he re-affirmed this theory about leg spinners as he sprayed it around but was treated with quite undue circumspection.
Before anyone gets excited and starts to suggest that we include a leg spinner in international one day cricket I would remind them what happened to Schofield when he appeared in the inaugural World Twenty 20 competition. The good players knew he bowled rubbish and repeatedly hit him out of the park.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan updates on life with and without Phil Hughes
Middlesex played pretty well against Leics, but it is an uneven effort at present. They are getting runs, but some are not contributing and the three main scorers in this match (Strauss, Hughes and Morgan) will all soon be absent for various reasons. The bowling is in a worse state with none of the main bowlers looking in top form (though Murts bounced back in the second innings at Southgate). So far, the back-up bowlers Malan and Dexter have done well, but it would be foolhardy to rely on them to keep taking important wickets. Finny's first spell was pretty good, but he went downhill rapidly: he was flattered by his first innings figures and I'm afraid that his dreadful second innings figures reflected how badly he bowled. Perhaps he should stick to one-dayers? He was selected by England A and by MCC and I was hoping this meant that he had got stronger/ faster/ fitter/ more accurate over the winter, but on this evidence, he has made no progress. Let's hope he was still getting over his injury? This game featured yet another wicket-keeping crisis: Scotty went down with food poisoning on day 3 and Morgan replaced him until Nashy turned up to deputise. On day 4, Nash reported unfit (rumoured to be a result of his participation in the London Marathon) and Dexter replaced him until keeper no 5, John Simpson, arrived.
Middlesex 2s batted well in the game against Kent/Essex at Beckenham, but still lost by 9 wickets on what sounds like a belter of a track: Middlesex 348-4 dec (S Robson 125, A London 61); K/E 275-5 dec (G Flower 50, S Northeast 82, S Cook 53*, M Westfield 53*); Middlesex 209-4 dec (N Compton 80, S Robson 65); K/E 283-1 (G Flower 132*, S Northeast 121*). The Middlesex bowling is so weak that K/E had no trouble reaching the target. Every bowler in the match bribed me not to reveal their bowling figures.
Jim Revier and I managed a day at the Oval on Wednesday and were impressed by Afzaal's 82 while M Ramps progressed leisurely to his 104th hundred, but Middlesex did well to get them out for 388. Finny looked slightly better than at Southgate, though one cannot get behind the line at the Oval, so it was hard to judge his line, but he went for a second consecutive ton; the captain and Richo were probably the two best bowlers, though both are short of wickets at present. I was hoping to attend again, but the weather was just not up to it on Thursday or Friday and I was not willing to risk a third consecutive dreadful last day on Saturday. I was wrong however: although it was a draw, it was far from being a dull last day and, in fact, Middlesex got themselves into a position from which they should have won. I am assuming that they were hampered by injuries, however, as Richo did not bowl on the last day and Murtagh had only one short spell and did not bat, again causing worries about our lack of bowling depth. It did allow the skipper a good long bowl however and he responded magnificently with 6 wickets while Finny also returned a better looking set of figures than normal. Udal and Murtagh are now easily the two leading wicket takers. Middlesex have taken maximum batting points from their three matches (Warks are the only other team with 15 batting points and some have played four matches), but this was probably Hughes's last Championship match.
Middlesex finally hit form in the FPT with a good win at Canterbury. This was especially praiseworthy because, as expected, Richo and Murts were both out injured and it was nice to see Compo getting runs at last. Nick's stand of 277 with Eoin was the highest ever for Middlesex in one-dayers and put a feeble effort of 270 by Trescothick and Hildreth on the same day (which was anyway against Scotland) in the shade. Andy Bull in the Guardian was quite ecstatic about Eoin's inventive 161 from 136 balls. The Middlesex bowling, however, could not be described as tight and should not be good enough to allow us to qualify (though, to be fair, the batting has been even worse so far). I do not really see Danny as a one-day bowler and I would be inclined to give Bergy a go (as he is the only other available bowler!). Gareth was twelfth man for this one and it is the same squad for tomorrow's game at Edgbaston plus Billy God.
The forecast was slightly better for Monday (and it was the last chance to see a game for weeks) so I took a chance and went along to Lord's for the Warks game and was rewarded with an excellent day's play. On arrival, I found that the captain had dropped out and been replaced by Danny as a bowler and Eoin as captain (Moorehead was right): this left Middlesex with the incredibly raw bowling line-up of Silverwood (the only established bowler in the side), the two greenhorns, Finn and Evans, the two bits and pieces medium pacers, Berg and Dexter and the leader of the spin attack, novice leggie Malan. Middlesex now have no fit bowlers whatsoever in reserve. I also realised that I had not been to a first team 50-over match since 2006, which was before powerplays had been introduced to this competition: I therefore found myself very ignorant on the topic of how many powerplays there are (3), how long they last (one of ten overs and two of five overs), who calls them (no information on this, but is the first one fixed and then each side calls one each?) and when is a good time to call them (still thinking about this one). Anyway, ex-Middlesex loanee Neil Carter (68), looking slimmer than the last time I saw him, batted explosively at the top of the order and got Warks off to an excellent start (74 off the first ten overs) and then his opening partner, Jon Trott (120), steered his side through to 276-7 before he was caught off the last ball of the innings. In reply, Phil Hughes (57) was almost as dynamic as Carter had been and with Owais Shah (63) in charge, Middx were ahead of Warks at the 20 over mark. Middx then became becalmed, however, as first Shah and then Neil Dexter (69*) seemed content to score at three or four an over and I was convinced that Dexter's innings was leading Middlesex to defeat as they slipped behind both the Warks rate and the D/L rate, while the required rate rose to 9 per over... but I had forgotten about the last powerplay which was scheduled for the last five overs of the innings, from which 45 were still required with four wickets standing. I now realised that Dexter's tactics were to ensure that there was still some batting left in order to take advantage of the fielding restrictions that apply in the powerplays. The strategy of saving a powerplay until the last five overs strikes me as extremely risky for the batting side so I am assuming that Warks called this one (there was no information available about this), but it worked magnificently on this occasion as a superb aggressive cameo from Ben Scott (28*) coupled with the phlegmatic skills of Dexter saw Middlesex home with three balls and four wickets in hand. Even better news was that Kent had contrived to lose to Scotland and so Middlesex, who I had thought were out of the competition, still had a chance of progressing to the quarter finals if Kent were to beat Warks in the deciding match. It was a very entertaining game played in mainly dry weather with a fair amount of sunshine, but gale force winds blew throughout, meaning that i) I did not even contemplate taking my usual perch at the Nursery End, but instead opted for a little shelter in the Mound Stand, where I discovered that they now have padded seats, as they do in the Taverners, Allen and Warner Stands; and ii) most of us were extremely cold by the time the game finished at 7.25 pm because of the ludicrous noon start: 7.25 is way too late to be sitting around in the wind in mid-May... why don't we start at 10.45 am like everyone else?
Now it turns out that Middlesex were robbed by the umpires in the loss to Somerset at Lord's on Sunday. The officials allowed Somerset more powerplay overs than they were entitled to (I am only now realising how important this can be), but the ECB refused Middlesex's request for a replay.
As you know, I have been worried all season about the dire weaknesses in our bowling attack, but now I do not know if the bowling is worse than the batting. I suppose it is possible to be relatively optimistic about the bowling: if Williams, Kartik and Henderson are all about to return to the club and if Murtagh, Richardson and Udal are not seriously injured (no news on this at present), we could be OK fairly soon (maybe)... but will it be in time for Saturday? The batting, however, is suddenly looking weak with the departures of Hughes to Australia and Shah and Morgan to England and if you add in the loss of Strauss to England, Joyce to Sussex and Smith to the meeja, it could be argued that Middlesex have carelessly lost six international batsmen! In addition, Compton and Nash were both injured last I heard, while Godleman is right out of form, which leaves Dexter, Malan, Housego, Robson, London... this could be a thrashing, but at least we have promising batters in the 2s who could justifiably be given a chance. There are no promising bowlers in the 2s at all.
Ashes Matters
The Great Jack Morgan has found a glimmer of hope for England
“I have now discovered Hughes's weakness: he can't throw, or at least, he cannot throw in from the boundary. At Southgate, he was running in with the ball from the boundary like D Gower used to do, while at the Oval there was a ludicrous incident where Phil chased after Billy God (as is now compulsory) as Billy attempted to save a boundary, but when Bill dived and flicked the ball back to Hughesy, Phil had to wait for Billy to struggle back to his feet so that he could lob the ball back to him to throw the ball in!”
Worcester Matters
I have been travelling to Great Witley in Worcestershire for fifteen years each month for a business meeting but still haven’t visited the county ground at Worcester. This month my meeting finished early and so I consulted my Playfair annual which told me that Durham were the visitors. This sounded like the opportunity I had been waiting for and so I drove the eight miles there.
There were no signs as to where the ground was. I drove over the bridge into town, up to the racecourse, back into town, out the other way, turned round again, asked for directions and eventually found the ground. A large sign said that Ireland were the visitors and smaller signs said that I wasn’t allowed to park my car there. I turned round and drove further to where it said the car park was. Here it said that Members only were welcome. I asked an official where I was supposed to park. He suggested that I drove back into town and used the Tesco car park. My interest in the fortunes of Worcester CCC was decidedly waning at this point. I asked him what the state of play was. He said that Ireland had made 150 odd and Worcester were 25 for 5 in reply. I decided to go home. I subsequently found out that Worcestershire had been bowled out by the might of Ireland for 54. It serves them right.
Fixture Matters
I was copied in on a formal letter of complaint submitted by the Great Jack Morgan to the powers that be at Lord’s
I am writing to complain about the ridiculous fixture list over the next few weeks. As far as I can see, there are no watchable home games between 18/5 (Warwicks at Lord's) and 30/6 (Surrey at Lord's) because of the dominance of the execrable T20. I will be interested in the Cardiff game at Richmond, of course, but this is likely to feature a weak Middlesex side against a weak Cardiff one and cannot be regarded as top class. I accept that the first team has to play in the T20 of course, so my main complaint is that no home second XI matches have been arranged for this barren cricketless period... and when we do finally get a second XI fixture (home to Kent at Richmond) it clashes with the return of the first team to Lord's (except for the one-dayer that precedes it) so we cannot even watch that! I make it that in six prime weeks of the cricket season all we have to watch are four days at Richmond: three days of a weak side playing Cardiff UCCE (11-13.6) and the 2nd XI one-dayer v Kent on the day before cricket returns to Lord's, 29/6. The stupidity of this defies belief.
Roger Pearman
Mike Talbot-Butler sent me the following
Roger Pearman was among the very best batsmen, and definitely the finest captain, to have played in Cheshire cricket since the league was founded in 1975. I knew him personally and liked him very much. I included the following in the weekly newssheet for the Cheshire League:
“The death has occurred aged 66 of Roger Pearman, one of the finest batsmen to play in the Cheshire County League when he captained Alderley Edge from 1975 –76 and later until 1981. A former Hornsey, Bedfordshire and Middlesex player, Roger moved north when he was appointed manager of Office Cleaning Services based in Manchester in 1974. He joined Alderley Edge on the recommendation of his close friend and former Hornsey colleague Pat Kelly and went on to steer the club to the first League championship in 1975. He scored a total of 4,405 runs in six seasons, in 1976 becoming the first batsman to score 1,000 runs (1,063 at 70.80). He also captained the League representative team in the President’s Trophy and appeared for Cheshire from 1974 – 77. Roger went on to become Chief Executive of Derbyshire CCC from 1981-86, then became licensee of a public house on the outskirts of the city. His brother Hugh also played for Middlesex.”
Bush Matters
Allan Keates sent me the following:
“The picture of my old pal Bob Talbot leading out his nine man team brings back happy memories. At that time I was a regular member of the second eleven and subsequently captained the side from 1963 to 1966. I am pretty certain I wasn’t in the team for that game although it does seem to lack a couple of opening bowlers. I must have a word with Jack Morgan when I see him because I haven’t a clue who John Allport was!”
Another dip into the Bush Centenary book produces the following team picture from around 1960. By coincidence, it features my above correspondent.
Enoch Matters
Keith Walmsley sent me the following
I promise that you and GJM weren't the only people to notice the two letters from 2L in The Wisden Cricketer - I spotted it myself, and dined out on it for positively minutes with various cricketing chums, none of whom unfortunately was terribly interested. I'll let you know if Douglas Miller (whom I know well) mentions it to me, now that he's had the chance to read Googlies. (With thanks to Ben Billsborrow for two bits of grammar in that paragraph.)
As for Frederick J Hyland: How could anyone fail to admire a cricketer whose entire first-class career lasted about five minutes on a rainy afternoon in Northampton in June 1924? I'll rephrase that. How could anyone whose cricketing enthusiams are as esoteric as mine -some have said 'quirky', but I never would - fail to admire a cricketer whose entire first-class career lasted about five minutes on a rainy afternoon in Northampton in June 1924? (And if you want plaintive, try reading Ronald Mason's essay about him in Sing All a Green Willow - a thoroughly excellent book throughout.)
Geoff Cleaver
Mike Cope sent me the following obituary which appeared in the MCC yearbook
Geoff Cleaver was an opening batsman for St Clement Danes School and a keen member of Shepherds Bush CC. After school he went up to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, but did not win a Blue.
A career in marketing followed, and Cleaver spent many years at Wilkinson Sword before the lure of television beckoned and he joined TV AM as marketing director in the company of Jonathan Aitken, Greg Dyke and Roland Rat. After the demise of TV AM, he joined Sky Television where, in the company of John Bromley, one of his tasks was to convince the Premier League football clubs that they had made a good decision in signing up with Sky. The combined talents of Cleaver and Bromley did this with aplomb.
Cricket had continued to play an important part in Cleaver’s life. In retirement he became a Trustee of the Lord’s Taverners and served on their cricket committee. He also travelled the world, watching the England team, whilst his wife worked in television coverage of the sport. Away from cricket he had many interests: a great reader, whose particular favourites were biographies of Cecil Rhodes and books about the American Civil War; a keen golfer; and an enthusiastic contributor to the coffers of Langan’s restaurant. His other abiding passion was horse racing and during his final illness the Racing Post jostled for space alongside the historical biography on the bedside table. Died aged 65.
South Hampstead Matters
The final picture that Carole Perham passed to me at South Hampstead last September is printed below. This predates my time at the club and I believe it must be from 1961 or 1962.
Standing: Audrey Hawdon, John Weale, Alan Huntley, Don Wallis, Bob Peach, Allan Clain, Ron Hooker, Harry Wild
Kneeling: Terry Cordaroy, Bob Cleaver, Dickie Brookes, Len Stubbs, Bruce Tutton.
If Alan Cox or Bill Hart scrutinise the score books for those years they may be able to identify the occasion on which the picture was taken and, if so, they can tell us the location as well.
Pickering Matters
Don Shearwood sent me the following
I was interested to read the brief item on John Pickering, Tony's elder brother. If my memory serves me correctly, John went to Ellerslie Road Junior School before going to the Danes. He was about 2/3 years ahead of me. I believe he had quite a successful football career with, I think, Hendon in the Isthmian or Athenian League, before suffering a bad injury. He joined the Old Danes FC circa 1966, and served 2/3 seasons as a successful captain. It was he who obtained the artwork that adorned the cover of The Du Cane Chronicle, which was the newsletter of the OD's FC for about 12 years in the 60s/70s.
And Allan Keates added:
John Pickering was in the same year at the Danes as me, Alvin Nienow and Bob Peach. He was a superb cricketer and footballer and left, like me, at the end of the upper fifths. He played for Ealing in the late fifties and then for Maidenhead and Bray.
Ron Hooker
Bob Peach tells me that Ron Hooker is recovering at home after a spell in hospital. Ron is not on my circulation lists but I am sure that we all wish him a continuing and speedy recovery.
Old Danes Gathering
The Old Danes Gathering will take place this year on Friday 31st July at Shepherds Bush CC from 2pm. All Old Danes and friends will be welcome. I am circulating a list of attendees and apologies on a regular basis. If you are planning to attend please advise me accordingly and I will add you to it. The Gathering will run on into the evening and so those who are only able to come after work can be accommodated.
Football Matters
Andrew Baker is a shrewd tactician and rules his Ladies team in most departments with an iron fist. However, he has not been able to stamp out the fraternising with the opposition which has even extended onto the field of play.
He will be pleased to hear from any readers who have suggestions as to how to deal with this errant behaviour.
Googlies and Chinamen
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Tel & fax: 01298 70237
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 78
June 2009
Caption Competition
“The Point is an exciting new £12m development in Manchester, located at Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford cricket ground, suitable for all types of conferences or events. It is due for completion by July 2010.”
- Robinho: We could do with a goal this big at Manchester City.
- HRH the Prince of Wales: This is a carbuncle on the face of Manchester.
- Jesse Ryder: Is that all bar? If so put me down as the overseas player for next year.
- David Lloyd: We’ve got one just like it at Accrington Town Centre. It’s called the Bus Station.
- Andrew Flintoff: I hope that there is a medical wing.
- Richard Rogers: I think that it would look better with the plumbing on the outside.
I was in London last week for a meeting or two. In between I had a couple of hours of what I think IT people call “down time” – and so I popped into Headquarters. My motives were to have a spot of lunch (nice, overpriced, steak and kidney…as always) and to have a look at the cricket. County cricket, as we know, has gone into hibernation for a month now that the weather is improving, but there was an MCC game on and since a Welwyn Garden City lad is on the Groundstaff, I thought it worth a look.
Having sorted out the inner man, I settled down for a couple of hours of viewing from the security of the bar. It was, in truth, a day to be inside, because it was freezing cold, wet, and murky. In fact, had there been any County cricket, there would have been nothing to watch, since the light was dreadful. It was so poor in fact, that the handful of people watching from the stands had all got close to the fence so that they could see across the field. Among all this gloom the only thing that was clearly visible was the ball – it was a fluorescent pink, and glowed in the dark wherever it went. Now I know this was trialled last year (maybe before) but I hadn’t seen it, so this was my first experience of, so to speak, bright pink balls, and, at the risk of generating even more dyspepsia among Googlies readers of a more traditional bent, I thought it worked pretty well.
In the first place the ball was clearly visible, even in pretty grim conditions, which is, I should have thought, a handy characteristic for a cricket ball. Also, since the ball is, so I am informed, died pink, it did not deteriorate in the way that white balls do which are painted white. When the paint wears off they have to be replaced as the leather shows through and, as we all know, this replacement has now been institutionalised in the one-day game. By the same token, the pink ‘un, being a “normal” ball, keeps its shine and no doubt reverse swings later on (although I’m not too sure the MCC had a plethora of reverse swingers upon which to call). So, using a pink ball would have advantages over the white and you wouldn’t need all those swathes of black sheeting that clubs have to drape everywhere, in imitation of a mass funeral.
But why stop there? This was a daytime match and a red ball would have been all but invisible. So why not pink ones here as well. Indeed, why are cricket balls red? And why have there been getting darker and darker in the past couple of decades? The days of the bright red “cherry” seem to have past and most balls are a deep burgundy colour which, in poor light, give umpires keen to leave the field all the excuses they need. Why not bright pink, or yellow, or anything that you can easily see?
Could we not learn from football here? I am old enough to remember when footballs were brown. Then they went orange, then white, then white with little black patches, and now they can be almost any collection of colours you like provided they include space, like everything else these days, for an advert or two. Presumably, multi coloured cricket balls might be a bit distracting or, conversely, give the batsman a clue about which way the ball is spinning. But fluorescent pink ones? I think it’s worth a try. Let’s hear it for visible balls!
Progressing Matters
I hadn’t seen the Professor this year but the dearth of cricket made a meeting difficult. This explains why we decided to meet up at Old Trafford for the Twenty20 match against Notts. The route from the car park to the seating area takes you round the building site to the rear of the pavilion. The ground is flat here now and probably looks the best its going to look for the foreseeable future.
The clear view from the car park to the pavilion across the area formerly occupied by the Tyldesley Stand
I wandered round to seating area C where I had agreed to meet the Prof but by the time I found him I had been relieved of £27 - £8 car park, £16 admission and £3 for match programme. A day’s Championship cricket would have cost £16.50. This match was played during half term and probably was intended to attract impressionable schoolchildren. But they were barely in evidence and the ground was about a third full. Maybe the high cost of admission has contributed to this staying away.
The Professor was keenly watching Peter Moores put his new charges through their paces on the newly laid outfield. At least whilst I was there the exercises were cricket related but the Prof reassured me that the ludicrous touch rugby had taken place earlier.
This form of the game is taken more seriously than when it was introduced and it is time that the silly features were phased out. The presence of someone dressed up as a giant green dinosaur to act as a mascot amused no one and frankly was just an embarrassment. For those who like dressing up there were plenty of locals in the crowd to gawp at.
The game started with a slim line Ryan Sidebottom trapping Tom Smith LBW. Opening with Tom Smith has been another Peter Moores innovation but it hasn’t worked. Lancashire are looking a good side this year and they need to find an opener who can score heavily and regularly to partner the impressive Paul Horton.
Notts must have a selection of the tallest men in county cricket. Sidebottom is 6’ 3” but he is dwarfed by Alex hales at 6’ 5”, Luke Fletcher 6’ 6” and the giant Will Jefferson at 6’ 10”. They are rather like a circus act with the group of midgets - Samit Patel, Chris Read, Mark Ealham and Ali Brown – running around them. High fives cannot be reached.
Sidebottom bowled quickly and gave little away but it was the spinners, Patel and Swann, who were the hardest to score off. Patel dismissed Horton and du Plessis and when Swann bowled Chilton Lancashire had slumped to 107 for 5 and any thoughts of a big score had gone. In the event everybody got a few and they scraped together 151 for 6. Swann turned a couple of balls prodigiously and it maybe a good thing that the square is being turned through 90 degrees for next season. This means that many wickets will be on the new square areas and may get a better preparation than those which have behaved so unacceptably at Old Trafford in recent years. The cry that there should be an Old Trafford test because England might be able to bowl a side out twice there is ridiculous.
The Notts innings got off to an inauspicious start when Ali Brown was caught down the leg side first ball and Notts then started hitting everything up in the air and were reduced in short order to 19 for 5. I was hoping to get a good look at Adam Voges who must still have hopes of playing for Australia. However, he played the up and over the slip area shot to a wide delivery from Chapple and Stephen Parry caught it on the third man boundary. But the momentum was taking him over the rope and so he threw the ball up, stepped over the rope, regained his balance, re-entered the field of play and caught the ball before it had dropped to the ground. At 19 for 5 Notts may have looked out of it but Patel and Read were at the crease with Ealham to come and there were still fifteen overs to go. Patel looked classy and it was a pity that he holed out to Keedy and then Ealham went quickly. But Sidebottom hung around despite looking like getting out every ball and he and Read took Notts to within eleven runs of victory when their overs expired.
The thing that impressed both the Professor and me most was the outstanding level of the Lancashire fielding. They caught everything and the ground fielding was often spectacular. Peter Moores is obviously having an impact in this area.
My criticisms of Twenty 20 include that it is all over too quickly and that it attracts football supporter type louts who feel that they have to be shouting out all the time. Fortunately there is not enough time for them to get really pissed.
Leg Spin Matters
Whilst I was watching Middlesex’s lamentable performance against Surrey at Lords on Sky David Lloyd starting getting ecstatic about having a leg spinner in the side when Chris Schofield came onto bowl. Ian Ward started to discuss his success in the limited over game and it was revealed that Schofield had stopped trying to bowl as many variations as he had when he first broke onto the scene at Lancashire. Lloyd then pointed out that Schofield still had plenty of variations and cited the long hop, the full toss, the wide, the half volley and his faster and slower versions of all of the above. It was concluded that his success came from the batsman having no idea where the ball was going to be from one delivery to the next.
When Francois du Plessis came on to bowl at Old Trafford against Notts in the Twenty 20 match he re-affirmed this theory about leg spinners as he sprayed it around but was treated with quite undue circumspection.
Before anyone gets excited and starts to suggest that we include a leg spinner in international one day cricket I would remind them what happened to Schofield when he appeared in the inaugural World Twenty 20 competition. The good players knew he bowled rubbish and repeatedly hit him out of the park.
Middlesex Matters
The Great Jack Morgan updates on life with and without Phil Hughes
Middlesex played pretty well against Leics, but it is an uneven effort at present. They are getting runs, but some are not contributing and the three main scorers in this match (Strauss, Hughes and Morgan) will all soon be absent for various reasons. The bowling is in a worse state with none of the main bowlers looking in top form (though Murts bounced back in the second innings at Southgate). So far, the back-up bowlers Malan and Dexter have done well, but it would be foolhardy to rely on them to keep taking important wickets. Finny's first spell was pretty good, but he went downhill rapidly: he was flattered by his first innings figures and I'm afraid that his dreadful second innings figures reflected how badly he bowled. Perhaps he should stick to one-dayers? He was selected by England A and by MCC and I was hoping this meant that he had got stronger/ faster/ fitter/ more accurate over the winter, but on this evidence, he has made no progress. Let's hope he was still getting over his injury? This game featured yet another wicket-keeping crisis: Scotty went down with food poisoning on day 3 and Morgan replaced him until Nashy turned up to deputise. On day 4, Nash reported unfit (rumoured to be a result of his participation in the London Marathon) and Dexter replaced him until keeper no 5, John Simpson, arrived.
Middlesex 2s batted well in the game against Kent/Essex at Beckenham, but still lost by 9 wickets on what sounds like a belter of a track: Middlesex 348-4 dec (S Robson 125, A London 61); K/E 275-5 dec (G Flower 50, S Northeast 82, S Cook 53*, M Westfield 53*); Middlesex 209-4 dec (N Compton 80, S Robson 65); K/E 283-1 (G Flower 132*, S Northeast 121*). The Middlesex bowling is so weak that K/E had no trouble reaching the target. Every bowler in the match bribed me not to reveal their bowling figures.
Jim Revier and I managed a day at the Oval on Wednesday and were impressed by Afzaal's 82 while M Ramps progressed leisurely to his 104th hundred, but Middlesex did well to get them out for 388. Finny looked slightly better than at Southgate, though one cannot get behind the line at the Oval, so it was hard to judge his line, but he went for a second consecutive ton; the captain and Richo were probably the two best bowlers, though both are short of wickets at present. I was hoping to attend again, but the weather was just not up to it on Thursday or Friday and I was not willing to risk a third consecutive dreadful last day on Saturday. I was wrong however: although it was a draw, it was far from being a dull last day and, in fact, Middlesex got themselves into a position from which they should have won. I am assuming that they were hampered by injuries, however, as Richo did not bowl on the last day and Murtagh had only one short spell and did not bat, again causing worries about our lack of bowling depth. It did allow the skipper a good long bowl however and he responded magnificently with 6 wickets while Finny also returned a better looking set of figures than normal. Udal and Murtagh are now easily the two leading wicket takers. Middlesex have taken maximum batting points from their three matches (Warks are the only other team with 15 batting points and some have played four matches), but this was probably Hughes's last Championship match.
Middlesex finally hit form in the FPT with a good win at Canterbury. This was especially praiseworthy because, as expected, Richo and Murts were both out injured and it was nice to see Compo getting runs at last. Nick's stand of 277 with Eoin was the highest ever for Middlesex in one-dayers and put a feeble effort of 270 by Trescothick and Hildreth on the same day (which was anyway against Scotland) in the shade. Andy Bull in the Guardian was quite ecstatic about Eoin's inventive 161 from 136 balls. The Middlesex bowling, however, could not be described as tight and should not be good enough to allow us to qualify (though, to be fair, the batting has been even worse so far). I do not really see Danny as a one-day bowler and I would be inclined to give Bergy a go (as he is the only other available bowler!). Gareth was twelfth man for this one and it is the same squad for tomorrow's game at Edgbaston plus Billy God.
The forecast was slightly better for Monday (and it was the last chance to see a game for weeks) so I took a chance and went along to Lord's for the Warks game and was rewarded with an excellent day's play. On arrival, I found that the captain had dropped out and been replaced by Danny as a bowler and Eoin as captain (Moorehead was right): this left Middlesex with the incredibly raw bowling line-up of Silverwood (the only established bowler in the side), the two greenhorns, Finn and Evans, the two bits and pieces medium pacers, Berg and Dexter and the leader of the spin attack, novice leggie Malan. Middlesex now have no fit bowlers whatsoever in reserve. I also realised that I had not been to a first team 50-over match since 2006, which was before powerplays had been introduced to this competition: I therefore found myself very ignorant on the topic of how many powerplays there are (3), how long they last (one of ten overs and two of five overs), who calls them (no information on this, but is the first one fixed and then each side calls one each?) and when is a good time to call them (still thinking about this one). Anyway, ex-Middlesex loanee Neil Carter (68), looking slimmer than the last time I saw him, batted explosively at the top of the order and got Warks off to an excellent start (74 off the first ten overs) and then his opening partner, Jon Trott (120), steered his side through to 276-7 before he was caught off the last ball of the innings. In reply, Phil Hughes (57) was almost as dynamic as Carter had been and with Owais Shah (63) in charge, Middx were ahead of Warks at the 20 over mark. Middx then became becalmed, however, as first Shah and then Neil Dexter (69*) seemed content to score at three or four an over and I was convinced that Dexter's innings was leading Middlesex to defeat as they slipped behind both the Warks rate and the D/L rate, while the required rate rose to 9 per over... but I had forgotten about the last powerplay which was scheduled for the last five overs of the innings, from which 45 were still required with four wickets standing. I now realised that Dexter's tactics were to ensure that there was still some batting left in order to take advantage of the fielding restrictions that apply in the powerplays. The strategy of saving a powerplay until the last five overs strikes me as extremely risky for the batting side so I am assuming that Warks called this one (there was no information available about this), but it worked magnificently on this occasion as a superb aggressive cameo from Ben Scott (28*) coupled with the phlegmatic skills of Dexter saw Middlesex home with three balls and four wickets in hand. Even better news was that Kent had contrived to lose to Scotland and so Middlesex, who I had thought were out of the competition, still had a chance of progressing to the quarter finals if Kent were to beat Warks in the deciding match. It was a very entertaining game played in mainly dry weather with a fair amount of sunshine, but gale force winds blew throughout, meaning that i) I did not even contemplate taking my usual perch at the Nursery End, but instead opted for a little shelter in the Mound Stand, where I discovered that they now have padded seats, as they do in the Taverners, Allen and Warner Stands; and ii) most of us were extremely cold by the time the game finished at 7.25 pm because of the ludicrous noon start: 7.25 is way too late to be sitting around in the wind in mid-May... why don't we start at 10.45 am like everyone else?
Now it turns out that Middlesex were robbed by the umpires in the loss to Somerset at Lord's on Sunday. The officials allowed Somerset more powerplay overs than they were entitled to (I am only now realising how important this can be), but the ECB refused Middlesex's request for a replay.
As you know, I have been worried all season about the dire weaknesses in our bowling attack, but now I do not know if the bowling is worse than the batting. I suppose it is possible to be relatively optimistic about the bowling: if Williams, Kartik and Henderson are all about to return to the club and if Murtagh, Richardson and Udal are not seriously injured (no news on this at present), we could be OK fairly soon (maybe)... but will it be in time for Saturday? The batting, however, is suddenly looking weak with the departures of Hughes to Australia and Shah and Morgan to England and if you add in the loss of Strauss to England, Joyce to Sussex and Smith to the meeja, it could be argued that Middlesex have carelessly lost six international batsmen! In addition, Compton and Nash were both injured last I heard, while Godleman is right out of form, which leaves Dexter, Malan, Housego, Robson, London... this could be a thrashing, but at least we have promising batters in the 2s who could justifiably be given a chance. There are no promising bowlers in the 2s at all.
Ashes Matters
The Great Jack Morgan has found a glimmer of hope for England
“I have now discovered Hughes's weakness: he can't throw, or at least, he cannot throw in from the boundary. At Southgate, he was running in with the ball from the boundary like D Gower used to do, while at the Oval there was a ludicrous incident where Phil chased after Billy God (as is now compulsory) as Billy attempted to save a boundary, but when Bill dived and flicked the ball back to Hughesy, Phil had to wait for Billy to struggle back to his feet so that he could lob the ball back to him to throw the ball in!”
Worcester Matters
I have been travelling to Great Witley in Worcestershire for fifteen years each month for a business meeting but still haven’t visited the county ground at Worcester. This month my meeting finished early and so I consulted my Playfair annual which told me that Durham were the visitors. This sounded like the opportunity I had been waiting for and so I drove the eight miles there.
There were no signs as to where the ground was. I drove over the bridge into town, up to the racecourse, back into town, out the other way, turned round again, asked for directions and eventually found the ground. A large sign said that Ireland were the visitors and smaller signs said that I wasn’t allowed to park my car there. I turned round and drove further to where it said the car park was. Here it said that Members only were welcome. I asked an official where I was supposed to park. He suggested that I drove back into town and used the Tesco car park. My interest in the fortunes of Worcester CCC was decidedly waning at this point. I asked him what the state of play was. He said that Ireland had made 150 odd and Worcester were 25 for 5 in reply. I decided to go home. I subsequently found out that Worcestershire had been bowled out by the might of Ireland for 54. It serves them right.
Fixture Matters
I was copied in on a formal letter of complaint submitted by the Great Jack Morgan to the powers that be at Lord’s
I am writing to complain about the ridiculous fixture list over the next few weeks. As far as I can see, there are no watchable home games between 18/5 (Warwicks at Lord's) and 30/6 (Surrey at Lord's) because of the dominance of the execrable T20. I will be interested in the Cardiff game at Richmond, of course, but this is likely to feature a weak Middlesex side against a weak Cardiff one and cannot be regarded as top class. I accept that the first team has to play in the T20 of course, so my main complaint is that no home second XI matches have been arranged for this barren cricketless period... and when we do finally get a second XI fixture (home to Kent at Richmond) it clashes with the return of the first team to Lord's (except for the one-dayer that precedes it) so we cannot even watch that! I make it that in six prime weeks of the cricket season all we have to watch are four days at Richmond: three days of a weak side playing Cardiff UCCE (11-13.6) and the 2nd XI one-dayer v Kent on the day before cricket returns to Lord's, 29/6. The stupidity of this defies belief.
Roger Pearman
Mike Talbot-Butler sent me the following
Roger Pearman was among the very best batsmen, and definitely the finest captain, to have played in Cheshire cricket since the league was founded in 1975. I knew him personally and liked him very much. I included the following in the weekly newssheet for the Cheshire League:
“The death has occurred aged 66 of Roger Pearman, one of the finest batsmen to play in the Cheshire County League when he captained Alderley Edge from 1975 –76 and later until 1981. A former Hornsey, Bedfordshire and Middlesex player, Roger moved north when he was appointed manager of Office Cleaning Services based in Manchester in 1974. He joined Alderley Edge on the recommendation of his close friend and former Hornsey colleague Pat Kelly and went on to steer the club to the first League championship in 1975. He scored a total of 4,405 runs in six seasons, in 1976 becoming the first batsman to score 1,000 runs (1,063 at 70.80). He also captained the League representative team in the President’s Trophy and appeared for Cheshire from 1974 – 77. Roger went on to become Chief Executive of Derbyshire CCC from 1981-86, then became licensee of a public house on the outskirts of the city. His brother Hugh also played for Middlesex.”
Bush Matters
Allan Keates sent me the following:
“The picture of my old pal Bob Talbot leading out his nine man team brings back happy memories. At that time I was a regular member of the second eleven and subsequently captained the side from 1963 to 1966. I am pretty certain I wasn’t in the team for that game although it does seem to lack a couple of opening bowlers. I must have a word with Jack Morgan when I see him because I haven’t a clue who John Allport was!”
Another dip into the Bush Centenary book produces the following team picture from around 1960. By coincidence, it features my above correspondent.
Enoch Matters
Keith Walmsley sent me the following
I promise that you and GJM weren't the only people to notice the two letters from 2L in The Wisden Cricketer - I spotted it myself, and dined out on it for positively minutes with various cricketing chums, none of whom unfortunately was terribly interested. I'll let you know if Douglas Miller (whom I know well) mentions it to me, now that he's had the chance to read Googlies. (With thanks to Ben Billsborrow for two bits of grammar in that paragraph.)
As for Frederick J Hyland: How could anyone fail to admire a cricketer whose entire first-class career lasted about five minutes on a rainy afternoon in Northampton in June 1924? I'll rephrase that. How could anyone whose cricketing enthusiams are as esoteric as mine -some have said 'quirky', but I never would - fail to admire a cricketer whose entire first-class career lasted about five minutes on a rainy afternoon in Northampton in June 1924? (And if you want plaintive, try reading Ronald Mason's essay about him in Sing All a Green Willow - a thoroughly excellent book throughout.)
Geoff Cleaver
Mike Cope sent me the following obituary which appeared in the MCC yearbook
Geoff Cleaver was an opening batsman for St Clement Danes School and a keen member of Shepherds Bush CC. After school he went up to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, but did not win a Blue.
A career in marketing followed, and Cleaver spent many years at Wilkinson Sword before the lure of television beckoned and he joined TV AM as marketing director in the company of Jonathan Aitken, Greg Dyke and Roland Rat. After the demise of TV AM, he joined Sky Television where, in the company of John Bromley, one of his tasks was to convince the Premier League football clubs that they had made a good decision in signing up with Sky. The combined talents of Cleaver and Bromley did this with aplomb.
Cricket had continued to play an important part in Cleaver’s life. In retirement he became a Trustee of the Lord’s Taverners and served on their cricket committee. He also travelled the world, watching the England team, whilst his wife worked in television coverage of the sport. Away from cricket he had many interests: a great reader, whose particular favourites were biographies of Cecil Rhodes and books about the American Civil War; a keen golfer; and an enthusiastic contributor to the coffers of Langan’s restaurant. His other abiding passion was horse racing and during his final illness the Racing Post jostled for space alongside the historical biography on the bedside table. Died aged 65.
South Hampstead Matters
The final picture that Carole Perham passed to me at South Hampstead last September is printed below. This predates my time at the club and I believe it must be from 1961 or 1962.
Standing: Audrey Hawdon, John Weale, Alan Huntley, Don Wallis, Bob Peach, Allan Clain, Ron Hooker, Harry Wild
Kneeling: Terry Cordaroy, Bob Cleaver, Dickie Brookes, Len Stubbs, Bruce Tutton.
If Alan Cox or Bill Hart scrutinise the score books for those years they may be able to identify the occasion on which the picture was taken and, if so, they can tell us the location as well.
Pickering Matters
Don Shearwood sent me the following
I was interested to read the brief item on John Pickering, Tony's elder brother. If my memory serves me correctly, John went to Ellerslie Road Junior School before going to the Danes. He was about 2/3 years ahead of me. I believe he had quite a successful football career with, I think, Hendon in the Isthmian or Athenian League, before suffering a bad injury. He joined the Old Danes FC circa 1966, and served 2/3 seasons as a successful captain. It was he who obtained the artwork that adorned the cover of The Du Cane Chronicle, which was the newsletter of the OD's FC for about 12 years in the 60s/70s.
And Allan Keates added:
John Pickering was in the same year at the Danes as me, Alvin Nienow and Bob Peach. He was a superb cricketer and footballer and left, like me, at the end of the upper fifths. He played for Ealing in the late fifties and then for Maidenhead and Bray.
Ron Hooker
Bob Peach tells me that Ron Hooker is recovering at home after a spell in hospital. Ron is not on my circulation lists but I am sure that we all wish him a continuing and speedy recovery.
Old Danes Gathering
The Old Danes Gathering will take place this year on Friday 31st July at Shepherds Bush CC from 2pm. All Old Danes and friends will be welcome. I am circulating a list of attendees and apologies on a regular basis. If you are planning to attend please advise me accordingly and I will add you to it. The Gathering will run on into the evening and so those who are only able to come after work can be accommodated.
Football Matters
Andrew Baker is a shrewd tactician and rules his Ladies team in most departments with an iron fist. However, he has not been able to stamp out the fraternising with the opposition which has even extended onto the field of play.
He will be pleased to hear from any readers who have suggestions as to how to deal with this errant behaviour.
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