Not quite the end of the world

Posted by Tony Hutton

Oh calamity as Robertson Hare used to say. Not many people will remember him, but he wasn't a cricketer. The massed ranks of the cricketing media are having a field day following England's calamitous defeat in Barbados but lets put things into some sort of perspective. England have lost one match, admittedly by rather a large margin, but fair to say that four of the West Indian players produced possibly their performances of a lifetime. Certainly Holder, Dowrich, Roach and Chase are unlikely to do as well again in the future, but full marks to them - all really outstanding.

The calm before the storm - The Three Ws ground in Barbados.

However let us leave the endless post-mortems to the 'experts'. It has perhaps gone virtually unnoticed that England Lions, the second team squad, are not doing particularly well in India. One or two defeats already despite centuries for Davies and Billings (yet another pair of wicket keeper batsmen). England Under 19s have also lost their first match in Bangladesh, so something of a common thread seems to be emerging.

Not to worry for the discerning cricket watcher there are far more other things to think about. For instance although the Minor Counties fixtures were apparently published in full (but kept under wraps) some months ago, we are still waiting for most of the venues for 2019 to be announced. A few counties have taken unilateral action and have disclosed where they will be playing, but the majority still seem to be struggling to keep up. At least the Scarborough Beckett cricket league has announced full fixtures this week. Some very pleasant grounds in that area for the uninitiated.

Three Ws ground Barbados.

One or two others have been asking me where the County Second Eleven fixtures for 2019 have got to. Yorkshire were first in the field and have been followed by Lancashire and Surrey, but the full ECB list is still not available. Likewise the MCC list of out matches, of which there are rather a lot against school and club sides, has not yet appeared. Perhaps the powers that be are unaware of the small number of passionate cricket watchers who watch cricket at all levels and wish to plan their summer calenders, which is a pursuit fraught with difficulties from the word go.

However no doubt all will be revealed in due course. It's probably the fault of the World Cup or something, which seems to be causing great consternation throughout the world of cricket's administrators. Something to which we will not be paying great attention in these columns.
Nice to follow the example of our Lancashire correspondent who watched England's two warm up matches in Barbados in pleasant surroundings before returning in his own words 'to the sleet of Manchester' before the Test match even started. He was impressed with the Three W's ground and his admirable pictures appear here.

Which brings me back to a story from a previous England tour to West Indies when several England players were renewing acquaintance with Gordon Greenidge. Darren Gough did not know the great man and asked his colleagues who he was. On being told he was one of West Indies all time greats, he asked if he was one of the three Ws!

Eighty years on.

posted by John Winn

The gas man finally came to call, not on Monday morning but shortly after lunch and whilst waiting for him I took my 1940 Wisden from its resting place and turned to coverage of the West Indies' tour of the previous summer, a summer firmly enshrined in the history books as the world went to war for the second time in a generation. With England starting another series against that opposition this afternoon it seemed appropriate on this most frosty of mornings to look back eighty years to when Trinidadian Rolph Stewart Grant brought his sixteen men for what was only their third tour of what, at that time, they might have called 'the mother country'.

In his postings Tony often uses the phrase 'proper' cricket, and if I might partially borrow from his lexicon, this was a 'proper tour' for they arrived in time to play a match at Gravesend on May 3rd, more than seven weeks before they met England at Lord's and only the outbreak of war which caused five matches to be cancelled prevented the tour continuing into September. Amongst the cancelled matches was the traditional Scarborough Festival game against HDG Leveson-Gower's XI. That game scheduled to start on September 7th should have been preceded by Yorkshire v MCC and Gentlemen v Players but these too were cancelled.

The tour began in 'miserable' weather but better conditions followed and a popular bunch of cricketers attracted good crowds and took home a decent profit. Eight first class matches were won, six lost and eleven drawn. Casting an eye down the list of players names like Headley, Stollmeyer, Gomez and Constantine catch one's attention but as the late Tony Cozier wrote 'responsibility rested heavily on the shoulders of too few'. By the time they got to Lord's on June 24th they had 13 first class matches under their belts, four of which had been won and although England won by eight wickets, 55,000 paying customers saw some excellent cricket with Headley scoring centuries in both innings.Those lucky enough to be there on the second day saw a wonderful partnership between Hutton and Compton who added 248 for the fourth wicket in two hours twenty minutes. At one point on the third and last day it looked as though the tourists might save the game but three quick wickets for Doug Wright caused a collapse and England were left to get 99 which they achieved in 17 overs.

A month elapsed before the second test at Old Trafford but although the weather was not as bad as it had been in 1938 when the match against Australia was abandoned without a ball being bowled, only 35 minutes play was possible on the first day and by the time both first innings had been completed there was less than five hours left for play. England's approach was cautious and Hammond's declaration left West Indies to get 160 in 70 minutes. The loss of four wickets for 43 runs suggests a more enterprising approach might have paid dividends.

The schedule allowed another four weeks cricket between tests before the teams came to The Oval on August 19th. Once again good crowds saw excellent batting, estimated attendances of 20000 and 23500 on the first two days, and over the three days 1216 runs were scored while only 23 wickets fell. Centuries for Hutton and Hammond who added 264 in three hours graced the last day after West Indies had scored almost 500 in their only knock, 137 for KH Weekes. There is a wonderfully evocative photograph taken as the players left the field on the evening of August 22nd. It shows Martindale and Sealy each carrying a stump as long shadows stretch across the ground. It was to be the last test these two were to play and there would be no more test cricket at the famous ground for almost exactly seven years when rain ruined the 1946 test with India. Further cricket should have been played at the ground in 1939 but Surrey's match with Lancashire was switched to Old Trafford and was left abandoned as a draw with no play on the third day 'owing to Crisis'.

With war only a little over a week away the rest of the tour was cancelled and the tourists sailed for Montreal in third class accommodation on SS Montrose. They had been scheduled to play at Hove on Saturday August 26th and the day before received a telegram from Sussex which read 'Essential to play tomorrow. Keep the flag flying.' Whether it was signed by Colonel Blimp is not known. Had the tourists delayed their departure to satisfy Sussex's request Tony Cozier suggests they would have travelled on SS Athenia which was sunk by a U Boat a week later.

As some may be aware there was further cricket played at Hove that season for whilst championship matches at Lord's, Gloucester and Old Trafford were cancelled Yorkshire, having beaten Hants at Bournemouth travelled along the coast to play Sussex. In his book 'The Sweetest Rose' David Warner suggests two reasons why the match was completed. Firstly because skipper Sellars 'had received no order to the contrary' and secondly the match was to be 'Jim Park's benefit and they did not want to let him down.' The match was completed on Friday September 1st and with experimental blackout regulations in force they travelled home by coach stopping overnight in Leicester. Back in Yorkshire early on Saturday morning the fine writer JM Kilburn describes the end of an era thus. 'Halts began, one passenger dropping off here, another there. Finally came journey's end in City Square Leeds and thence departed their several ways one of the finest county teams in the history of cricket. It never assembled again'. For Verity of course it was the end of his career, he was to be killed in action in 1943. His final analysis in the nine wicket win was 6 overs, 1 maiden, 7 for 9. On the Sunday war was declared against Germany.

Finally as promised here is the Yorkshire team that played at Guilford in 2002. MJ Wood, VJ Craven, A McGrath, DS Lehmann, MJ Lumb, GM Fellows, RJ Blakey, RKJ Dawson, CEW Silverwood, RJ Sidebottom, and DH Wigley.

A trip to Guildford

posted by John Winn

Yorkshire, and no doubt many of their supporters will travel to Woodbridge Road, Guildford on June 10th for a championship match with champions Surrey. Matches between the two teams at this venue are a bit like the proverbial London bus, namely that you wait over a hundred years for one to appear then three come along in less than thirty years for Yorkshire having been entertained at The Oval since the mid nineteenth century, in 1991 Guildford was chosen to host a match between the two teams. Although I suspect I was not aware of its significance at that time I was lucky enough to be at the first day of  this match together with a close friend John Simpson.

Yorkshire's match was part of 'Guildford Week' and Gloucestershire had played there earlier in the week losing by two wickets, seven wickets for Waqar Younis in the Gloucestershire first innings. Surrey won the toss, chose to field and at close of play Yorkshire were 256 for 8 with the runs having come from Moxon, 73 and Robinson, 74. Wisden attributed the rather turgid progress to a slow wicket but equal blame could be placed on the excessively long grass in the outfield. Moxon's knock took four hours, Robinson overcame the problem by hitting three sixes. Not much else sticks in my mind nearly thirty years on other than that as the day wore on the atmosphere became somewhat like that we now associate with twenty twenty cricket. Febrile hardly does it justice and the authorities closed the bars for two hours in the afternoon.

On the second day Yorkshire added another 33 runs and Surrey batted enterprisingly through Bicknell, Alikhan and Stewart, Hartley, Fletcher and Pickles going wicketless, and a declaration at 250 for 2 kept the game open. Those lucky enough to be there on the third day, the final day at that time of course, saw a marvellous day's cricket. More runs for Moxon, but Yorkshire's middle order was well and truly Waqared, he took for five for 8 in one spell which left Surrey needing 193 off 58 overs. Carrick and Batty (J) got amongst the wickets and when 54 were needed off the last six overs and eight wickets were down, Yorkshire must have been favourites but Waqar added 31 runs to his wickets and although he was out in the last over Surrey got home by one wicket with two balls to spare. 44 points for Surrey that week, opponents 6.

Yorkshire's second visit to Woodbridge Road came in August 2002 with only one player, Richard Blakey, surviving from 11 years earlier although Stewart and Thorpe were on test duty. This time Yorkshire won the toss, chose to bat and fared dismally, all out 172, McGrath top scorer with 26. Batty (JN) top scored for Surrey, 99 before being bowled by Sidebottom (R). A century by Michael Lumb was the backbone of a much better second effort from Yorkshire and 446 all out left Surrey needing 237. A century from Ian Ward, well supported by Ian Salisbury gave Adam Hollioake's men a comfortable six wicket win.

Wisden tells an amusing story from this match for with Hollioake having declined to take the new ball in Yorkshire's second innings a four hit into the press tent by Blakey was chewed by the Times' correspondent's dog Bumper. The presence of its teeth marks prompted Hollioake to change his mind and Yorkshire's last four went down for 33 runs.

I have mentioned four of the Yorkshire team that played in 2001, can you, from memory, name the other seven? Answers next time.

Cricket around the world

Posted by Tony Hutton

Despite my recent prognostications of gloom and doom all is not yet lost. Grateful for the opportunity to see Test cricket from around the world since Christmas on TV. Happy memories of visits to Cape Town and Sydney in the past re-kindled, as well as the joy of watching cricket from New Zealand, which I never managed to get to. Also the added bonus of seeing Australia out-played by India as the ramifications of the ball tampering incident seem to rumble on and on.

                                   Sydney 1995

One of the success stories from South Africa has been that of quick bowler Duanne Olivier, who was with Derbyshire last season. A few weeks ago rumour had it that he was on Yorkshire's shopping list, but his performances at international level may have put paid to that. So far have managed to avoid watching any of the antics in the Big Bash, although news suggests that Joe Root has struggled for runs and might have been better off taking a rest from cricket, which seems to have become a twelve month a year game for some.

                          Newlands, Cape Town 1996


Also news (and photographs) from our man in Barbados, Keith Fenton, who has wisely got away from all the problems facing Bolton Wanderers for a spell of sunshine therapy. Keith proudly states that he saw the fourth day of Barbados v Guyana at Bridgetown and that his first ball of the season was at 9.58 precisely on 7th January.

                                          Media Centre, Bridgetown, Barbados.

Barbados were struggling, having been asked to follow on 188 runs behind. As Keith puts it 'that well known Yorkie' Kraig Brathwaite was out early on, but a big partnership between Dowrich and Chase put the home side ahead with six wickets in hand at tea at which point Keith departed with a draw looking certain.

                                 January sunshine in Barbados

The next day he was surprised to learn that Barbados lost their last six wickets for a little over 20 runs (described as a collapse of Lancastrian proportions) and Guyana knocked off the 48 required to give them victory by six wickets. This made three wins out of three for Guyana, who look like taking their fifth title in a row, despite being off the itinerary for Test Matches. Keith also hopes to see England's first warm up match at the 3Ws stadium on Tuesday. No doubt we can expect a further bulletin in due course.

New Year apprehension

Posted by Tony Hutton

Normally at this time of year professional cricket watchers have a sense of anticipation. The nights are getting lighter and it seems downhill all the way to the start of the 2019 season. However this year is different as many of us feel it is likely to be the Last of the Summer Wine with a vengeance. Cricket as we know and love it seems to be under attack from all angles, with a sense that nothing can be done about it already prevalent. It was a pleasure this week to hear George Dobell, senior cricket correspondent of ESPNcricinfo, speaking to the Northern Cricket Society at Headingley. Here at last was an articulate voice of sanity defending the traditions and status of County Championship and Test cricket as we know it.

Mr Dobell suggested that all true followers of the game should join the Cricket Supporters Association which hopes to provide a voice for the fans who are rarely, if ever, consulted about the proposed changes to the game. However he freely admitted that it is now too late in the day to avoid the arrival of 'The Hundred' in 2020. Like me he questions the motives of the county administrators and the ECB hierarchy, which is totally money orientated, with an endless flow of people being awarded top jobs on inflated salaries.

One example of this appeared on social media this week with a team picture of the England Under 19s squad, or the Young Lions as they are now apparently to be known. This showed sixteen players plus a middle row of nine support staff! What do they all do and what are they being paid I wonder?

Simon Heffer, in the Daily Telegraph, is another voice crying in the wilderness bemoaning in particular the status of Test Cricket in most overseas areas, most notably in the West Indies where many of the Caribbean Islands seem to have been dis-enfranchised completely.

Finally a message from Lord's was received this week in response to an enquiry I had made about Universities cricket for the coming season. It had come to my notice that the Leeds/Bradford MCCU fixtures were somewhat altered this season. This has now been confirmed that due to the World Cup there is no room for the traditional Universities final to be played at Lord's in 2019, something I have greatly enjoyed on several occasions.

In the past the six MCC Universities have played each other in two day games. In the coming season, partly in order to play more T20 games, which the ECB see as another form of entry for students to the first class game, each team will play only three 3 day matches. The two teams they miss out on will be played in only a 50 over and a T20 game. It appears that Leeds/Bradford will have just one home three day game, other than a pre-season game with Yorkshire. So yet another example of the status quo being chipped away at with less proper cricket available.

The same thing is being proposed for Minor Counties cricket for 2020 with less three day cricket  to make way for more nonsensical T20 games, involving sides travelling long distances for one day contests that many of the players do not want to play in and would prefer playing for their club sides.

I suppose all good things come to an end and should feel grateful that I have been able to watch county cricket for a period of seventy years.  I cannot help feel an element of sadness that such a great sport is apparently destroying itself with no regard whatsoever for the people who have supported it for so long.
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May's Bounty

posted by John Winn

With followers of first class cricket bracing themselves for the horrors that the 2020 fixture list might have in store this coming season's fixtures have provided a crumb of comfort with the demands of the world cup forcing affected counties to play some matches on out grounds, in some cases where first class cricket has not been played before. There is for example much excitement in my part of Yorkshire at the prospect of Warwickshire visiting Clifton Park in York in June.

Further afield Hampshire will play a fixture on the Isle of Wight for the first time since 1962 when Notts will be the opposition at Newclose near Newport. The last match to be played 'offshore' was at the J Samuel White* ground at Cowes,  now disused. Worcestershire were the visitors on that occasion and needed rain shortly before the close on the last day to secure  a draw. The highlight of the match was 99 before lunch on the first morning by Roy Marshall. Run getters for Worcestershire were Ron Headley in the first innings and Dick Richardson whose second innings knock of 76 did much to secure the draw. Derek Shackleton took nine wickets in the match including the prized scalp of Tom Graveney for nought.

An article in Cricketer magazine suggests that the Newclose ground, completed in 2009, might be used for the next four years if 'The Hundred' means that there will be more use of out grounds. Newclose has been used by Hants II and MCC and has a 'sizeable pavilion and restaurant with white benches modelled on those at Lord's.' Having lived further along the coast from Hampshire for almost thirty years I was able to see championship cricket on four grounds, Northlands Road Southampton, United Services at Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Basingstoke. County cricket has not been  played at the last of these  since 2010 but a return there in the near future has not been ruled out.

In a posting some years ago I described a visit I made to May's Bounty, the home of Basingstoke CC, in 1999 when some impressive bowling by Matthew Hoggard and a fine second innings knock from David Byas did much to help Yorkshire gain a victory but six years earlier I had made my first trip

when Mark Benson brought his Kent XI to the north of the county. The ground is named after John May who purchased the land in 1880, there is a pleasant  pub close by called The Bounty, and championship cricket was first played there in 1907 when Warwickshire when after a poor first innings effort Warwickshire ran out comfortable winners over a Hants side which included six amateurs.

The 1993 match was spoilt by rain, and I was fortunate to be present on the second day for the third and fourth were both washed out. Highlight of the first day was a thrilling innings from Carl Hooper which was halted when he was run out by Malcolm Marshall off his own bowling. Hants made rather turgid progress on the second day which was shortened by bad light. Skipper Mark Nicholas top scored with 73 and the match was evenly poised before the rain intervened.

The championship that season was won by Middlesex led by Mike Gatting, Kent finished 8th and Hampshire 13th = with Lancs. Yorkshire, hampered by poor batting were 12th and Durham in just their second season collected the wooden spoon.

Finally I must wish our readers a Happy New Year and on a rather gloomy morning I take heart that in three months time the season will be underway. Let's hope for weather like we had in 2018.

* a ship building firm based in Cowes specialising in destroyers. It ceased trading in 1981.