England over sixties prepare to do battle with the Aussies
Posted by Tony Hutton
Friday 19th August 2011 - England over sixties v Australia over sixties at New Rover cricket club, Leeds.
A good crowd had gathered in bright sunshine at the pleasant Richmond Oval, looking spick and span as ever thanks to the hard working groundsman Keith Boyce.
A television van from BBC's regional 'Look North' programme had appeared, the flags of the two nations were proudly displayed in front of the pavilion and all was set for a major cricketing occasion.
Unfortunately no big names from the past were present, but all the veteran club cricketers from both countries were treating this as the real thing. The early BBC interview set the tone when the Australian representative was asked 'How does it feel to be facing the number one Test cricket nation in the world'. He surprising managed to compose a reply that was suitable for live television.
England batted first in this 50 overs per side match and opened with one of the two Yorkshire representatives, Miles Rawlings who still plays regularly for Harrogate's third eleven, and Bob Newman from Essex. However disaster struck early on when a misunderstanding led to both batsman ending up at the same end and Rawlings, who still scores prolifically in all forms of cricket, was run out.
In at number three came Bob Eames all the way from Devon. Someone said it probably took him longer to get here than the Australians ! One of the players said they thought Eames was originally from Yorkshire and he seemed to confirm this by scoring a splendid century. Understandably the fielding was not of the highest quality and it was suggested that the outfielders should be given motorised scooters. The bowling too was not threatening, but even so this was an excellent innings in any form of cricket.
The other opener,Newman, had gone for 25, and Eames had been joined by Graham Swann's father,Ray Swann from Northants. These two certainly put the Aussies in their place by putting on a 200 partnership and England ended with an impressive total of 284-4. Swann, who by this time looked exhausted managed to get strike for the last ball of the innings on 99. To everyone's dismay, although he did make contact, the ball went straight to mid off who caught it.
Surely if the Australian fielder had understood the spirit of cricket he would have dropped it ! However a great knock - Swann's 99 coming off only 87 balls. During the interval, when many of the spectators took advantage of the mobile fish and chip van, doubts were expressed about the fitness of the Aussie batsmen after their gruelling time in the field.
Sadly this was how it turned out. Thanks to some very tight bowling and some excellent wicket-keeping from England's captain Richard Owen from Derbyshire,who completed no less than four stumpings, seven of the first eight batsmen went for single figures.
The exception was vice captain John Bell from Queensland, who got his head down, despite batting with a pronounced limp and declining the use of a runner. Thanks to his efforts, he finished on 58 not out, and number nine Ken Last from Tasmania who made 38, Australia finally reached 149-8.
The other Yorkshire representative, Phil Taylor who is well known in Bradford League circles, bowled a tight spell 0f 10-5-16-0, Kevin Anderson from Essex took 3-31 and Powell from Cheshire and Pratt, also from Essex, both took two wickets.
So a great victory for England and the celebrations continued while Mr Ogden of BBC Look North attempted to give the evening's sports news live from New Rover. While interviewing representatives from both sides, the groundsman's dog appeared and looked as if he was about to pee on the presenter's feet. One of the technicians grabbed her mobile phone to photograph the event, but the dog eventually walked quietly away !
The Australian tourists now move on for a second international with England at Sunbury on Thames on Thursday and then England have a game against Wales at Llanarth CC, near Raglan on the following Sunday, 28th August. In this final match Alan Hampshire, once of Yorkshire, now of Derbyshire, will be playing for England.
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