I spent a few minutes earlier in the week totting up how much cricket I have seen this season and not surprisingly found the number of days is slightly down on last year. The reasons for this are readily apparent, indifferent weather, a surfeit of hospital appointments and clashes between championship cricket at Headingley and The Riverside, four matches as compared with one in 2014, have all contributed. My Saturday league cricket jaunts have also been a little on the dull side, certainly nothing to compare with those of Brian and Ron Deaton, and despite a late flourish with a trip to the Saddleworth League at the very end of the season the number of new grounds visited has not been much to write home about or indeed write on the blog about.
Mustn't get too gloomy however for there have been days that will sustain good memories throughout the winter including of course being at Lord's on September 9th when the news came through that Yorkshire had retained the championship. Other highlights have been a visit to Great and Little Tew, a first time trip to Southport, floodlight cricket at The Riverside where the lights replaced rather than just enhanced the natural light, an excellent finish to the season at the same ground when Durham got home by three wickets with four overs to spare and the most exciting finish of all when my local side Ouseburn CC lost by just one run to Falkland in the village cup. Enough there to keep the glass more than half full.
Regular readers may be aware of my quest to join the 153 club, the number of matches required to see each county play every other county once in first class cricket. This project which I embarked on in 1990 rather slid into the sidings in 2015 when the only match available to me was Derbyshire v Lancashire which was duly 'knocked off' at the earliest opportunity on a bitterly cold Sunday in April and just in case the belt snapped the reverse fixture supplied the braces when I went to Southport the following month. Alas for the first time in a life time of cricket watching none of the remaining fixtures will be available next year. The list is short enough to merit typing here
Somerset v Gloucestershire
Somerset v Leicestershire
Warwickshire v Gloucestershire
Warwickshire v Leicestershire
So successful completion is dependent on the performance of four counties and whilst I have no axe to grind against Somerset I did harbour malicious thoughts towards the end of the season when even up to the last round of matches their relegation was possible. It was not to be for it was Sussex who slipped through the trap door allowing Hants to escape, rather than the west country men. Don't expect me to buy you a pint if next year Leicestershire and Gloucestershire are promoted and Warwickshire and Somerset go down.
Finally I set a hare running a couple of weeks ago with a question asking for the names of the 28 surviving England test captains. They are readily available on wiki so no need to type them here but if you have not already looked them up the name of the oldest may surprise you for it is Derbyshire's Corinthian*, Donald Bryce Carr who played in just two tests, was skipper in one, the one which gave India their first ever test victory and who was born on 28th December 1926 which makes him just about six months older than Tom Graveney, the second most senior. Carr was born in West Germany, which nicely sets up another little puzzler, name the test captains not born in England. Answers in due course.
Donald Carr Derbyshire's Corinthian by John Shawcroft is one in the ACS series Lives in Cricket
Donald Carr
No comments:
Post a Comment