Brief encounters with Yorkshire greats.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Christmas 2021 will certainly not be one to remember for Yorkshire cricket followers. The existing problems of both Yorkshire and England had already cast a huge shadow over proceedings before the sad death of Raymond Illingworth was announced. Already his considerable achievements with England, Yorkshire and Leicestershire have been listed in some excellent obituaries elsewhere, so I will content myself with brief memories of a conversation I had with him only a few years ago. In addition I am also able to recollect brief encounters with Fred Trueman, Brian Close and Geoffrey Boycott.

The picture below is from a painting by John Blakey of probably the four greatest Yorkshire cricketers of my lifetime which was reproduced in Chris Waters' excellent book on Fred Trueman. The first chapter of the book recalls the reunion lunch conversation between the four, who had often not agreed in the past, but were in slightly mellower mood in 2005.

Four Yorkshire cricket legends.

I met both Boycott and Illingworth at the Headingley Test Match in 2010 when Australia played Pakistan. Boycott, who had become a friend of my son's during his television work in India, had invited him and myself as his guests for lunch in the pavilion. Geoffrey was the perfect host and made quite a fuss of us both, even to the extent of getting our drinks from the bar. 

Australia were rather swiftly bowled out for 88 on the first morning and I think during the interval between innings I noticed Raymond was sitting on his own and took the liberty of introducing myself and asking him how Farsley were getting on in the Bradford League. He seemed delighted to talk to someone with some knowledge of the Bradford League and we chatted for quite a while about a subject which was obviously always close to his heart.

I did not have the temerity to bore him with my personal memories of seeing him play, but now recall I first saw him back in the 1950s playing for Yorkshire Seconds against Staffordshire at Walsall. I then saw quite a lot of him at Bramall Lane, during my time at Sheffield in the late sixties and early seventies. He always seemed to make runs when Yorkshire were in trouble and I remember several fifties and sixties in county games around that time.

However it was his off spin bowling which won so many games for Yorkshire and most notable of all was his performance in 1968 when Yorkshire beat Australia at Bramall Lane, taking four wickets in each innings, including those of Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell.

It was also at a Sheffield occasion that I was introduced to Fred Trueman, as far back as 1973 when a celebration dinner was held at the City Hall to mark the last match at Bramall Lane. Again I was fortunate to have been invited as a guest by my then business colleague, Frank Lowson, who of course made his first appearance for Yorkshire alongside Fred and Brian Close back in 1949.

Frank introduced me to the great man, who was already in full flow with endless complaints against the then Yorkshire committee, as well as one Geoffrey Boycott. Obviously the two did not get on for many years and it was a relief to read in Chris Waters' book many years later of their reconciliation in 2005. In an evening when I met many cricketers from both sides of the Pennines, it was obviously my boyhood hero Fred who stood out and I was rendered almost speechless, unable to get much of a word in anyway.

Close, Illingworth and Trueman in the centre with Boycott extreme right at Lord's 1965.

Some years after that I got to meet Brian Close at a Tilcon Trophy game at Harrogate cricket club, where four counties regularly played a mid-season friendly, one day competition. It was not taken very seriously, certainly not by Brian Close who was scheduled to nominate the man of the match, but as usual spent most of his time studying the Racing Post and on the phone to his bookie, rather than watching the cricket.

As my employer was one of the sponsors, with our own tent to entertain our guests, my wife and I were invited to the pavilion lunch with both Close and Trueman in attendance. Their two wives certainly made a hit with my wife, but obviously the two cricketers had seen it all before and did not get very involved in the social niceties. However as the game neared it's conclusion Close obviously realised that I had been following the play from the pavilion balcony and asked me who he should choose as 'Man of the Match'.

I was able to point out that a young Australian, playing for Leicestershire, had made top score of the day and won the match. This was non other than Mike Haysman, who has now achieved fame as a cricket commentator in South Africa. Mr Close duly gave him the award, so one of my rare claims to fame is that I gave cricketing advice to not only a former captain of Yorkshire, but a former captain of England as well.

An all round sad state of affairs.

Posted by Tony Hutton

I have so far tried to stay at arms length from the ongoing controversy surrounding Yorkshire county cricket club, which together with England's somewhat abject performances in Australia have brought about a rather gloomy outlook on the game as we enter the final weeks of what has been a trying year all round.

However recent attitudes from some quarters of the cricketing press do rather call for comment. I this week had a letter on the Yorkshire situation published in the Cricketer Magazine, who chose to edit it so much that the original message was lost. The theme of my letter was that if their 'investigative journalist' had dug a little deeper into Azeem Rafiq's past behaviour he might have realised that there could be an element of exaggeration in his allegations or even some reasons behind his alleged abuse. However these comments were not considered suitable for publication.

To emphasise the magazine's rather one sided view, their senior correspondent has apparently advocated lifetime bans on a long list of players mentioned in Mr Rafiq's 'evidence' as well as a suspension of Barnsley cricket club. Not much sign here of inclusivity or reconciliation which appeared in Lord Patel's initial statement following his appointment as Chairman.

A further mystery has been the Yorkshire Post newspaper's coverage of events. One would have thought that such a local issue would have brought extensive coverage and a flood of readers' letters. Let us not forget a leading article in the early stages which first suggested Yorkshire should lose the Test Match, which was as much a knee-jerk action as those from the incompetent ECB and the rather prejudiced MPs committee. Then the mysterious business of the paper's cricket correspondent's absence from the scene for the last few weeks and the only further comment being another leading article lauding the impending return of Darren Gough as some sort of messiah. All very strange.

At long last a letter from long-standing member David Tunbridge of Sheffield did appear in Sports Monday a week ago, which certainly echoed my thoughts on the matter, including reference to the sacking of sixteen good people without any opportunity of defending themselves. So although Lord Patel quickly settled with Azeem Rafiq, his next move is certainly open to question and has caused even more divisions which yesterday resulted in all the first team squad requesting permission to approach other counties.

So a sad state of affairs to which it is difficult to see an end. The long suffering members will at last be given a chance to air their opinions at a members' forum to be held at Headingley at 10 a.m. on Saturday 22nd January.

Memories of Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Posted by Tony Hutton

Yesterday's announcement that the fifth match of the current Ashes series in Australia will now be played at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Tasmania brought back memories of my visit there on a previous England tour in 1994/95. The move from Perth has been brought about by the strict covid rules applied by the Western Australian government. Test matches have previously been played in Hobart but never before by England. This has been a controversial decision to select the small ground, which only has a  20,000 capacity, over the much bigger stadiums of Melbourne and Sydney, but has been welcomed by the television companies as the game will be a day/night affair, which helps get a bigger audience in the UK and elsewhere.

Bellerive Oval, Hobart 1994

The game I saw back in November 1994 was a warm up game between an Australian XI and an England XI, immediately before the first test in Brisbane. As now England were underdogs with a few controversial selections in the touring party. The pace bowling looked rather thin with the inexperienced Darren Gough, Martin McCague, an Irishman brought up in Australia, and Joey Benjamin of Surrey playing in this game. The spinner was Phil Tufnell and wicket keeper Steven Rhodes of Worcestershire.

River estuary view at Bellerive Oval.

The strength of the England side was in the batting line up of Atherton the captain, Stewart, Thorpe, Gooch, Crawley and all rounder Craig White. The Australian XI also has a strong batting side with Hayden, Blewett, Langer, Damien Martyn the captain, Ricky Ponting a local boy, then only 19 years old, and Stuart Law. Two other local Tasmanians in the side were wicket keeper Atkinson and spinner Robertson, together with the pace bowlers Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel and Jo Angel.

Think the grassy bank may have now disappeared.

The attractive setting of the ground, overlooking the Derwent River estuary was matched by the hospitality provided to the handful of England followers who were welcomed into the members' enclosure. Fortunately some time before the Barmy Army took centre stage. Australia made a poor start losing Hayden and Langer early on and then Blewett with the total on 99-3. However Martyn and the young local boy Ponting came together to put on a partnership of 133. Ponting had already impressed with 82 in the first game of the tour at Lilac Hill.

Play in progress in 1994.

Martyn, who later had a brief but memorable time at Yorkshire, went on to a century, ably supported by Ponting with 71, Law with 68 and Atkinson with 51 not out, before the home side declared after an hour of day two with an impressive total of 386-7. The England bowling figures did not look good with the first test rapidly approaching. Gough had 1-101, McCague 3-115 and Tufnell 1-62. The batting was not much better only Gooch and Rhodes with fifties impressing as the three Australian pacemen shared the wickets.

Another view from 1994.

England all out for 209 were invited to follow on after day three was almost completely lost to rain. They did manage a much better performance in the second innings and were able to bat out for a comfortable draw. Alec Stewart made an impressive century and Atherton (49) and Thorpe (48 not out) also looked in good form as the game finished with a score of 207-1.

This game and all the other warm up games in Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle did not seem to prepare England very well for the upcoming first test in Brisbane, with yet another predictable home victory. Michael Slater set the tone for the series with a four off the first ball from De Freitas and went on to score 176. Together with a century from Mark Waugh this enabled Australia to total 426. In a game very similar to the one that finished today McDermott bowled England out cheaply in the first innings and Shane Warne's bowling destroyed them in the second with 8-71.

Two seasons without Cumberland cricket.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Thinking back the other day I realised that two cricket seasons have passed me by without seeing Cumberland county cricket club in action. Of course this is largely due to the covid epidemic, but also in part to the recent reorganisation of what was Minor Counties cricket, so treasured by many of us from the older generation. The new National Counties set up in it's place, which has been prodded and poked by the already dysfunctional English Cricket Board, has reduced the number of three day games by such an extent that you can hardly find any to watch anyway. In addition last season the name of the club was changed to Cumbria county cricket club, the administrative county which took in Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire many years ago.

I go back a long way with Cumberland, having seen their very first Minor Counties game, as a teenage spectator, against Yorkshire seconds at Edenside, Carlisle, way back in 1955. After that, exile in the Midlands for twenty years and work commitments meant that I did not see them again, apart from one game against Warwickshire seconds at Edgbaston, until about forty years later. Then one of the benefits of enforced early retirement made it possible to join the club as a member, which I have remained ever since. 

Edenside, Carlisle.

Probably the most memorable game here was the 2015 championship decider against Oxfordshire. Cumberland won in quick time on day two of a scheduled four day game by bowling the visitors out for 85 and 89 and then requiring only five to win, doing so by ten wickets. Toby Bulcock, the left arm spinner now with Staffordshire, was one of the top performers along with paceman Richard Gleeson, who soon afterwards joined Northamptonshire.

The proud picture banner of our blog site at Sedbergh School is of course one of the Cumberland grounds, now sadly taken over by Lancashire county cricket and 'discovered' by the cricketing media, which means bigger crowds and a lack of the peaceful atmosphere to which I have been accustomed for so many years. Here is one of the alternative views of the ground of which I have many.

Sedbergh School cricket ground.

The last time I saw Cumberland play was in July 2019 at the Netherfield cricket ground in Kendal, when rain on the last day robbed the home side of victory over Cambridgeshire. I have seen many games on this attractive ground over the years and believe it was 1999 when Cumberland beat Dorset to win the league title in a thrilling encounter. Steve O'Shaughnessy, once of Lancashire and now a first class umpire, scored a century in the first innings and in a run chase on day three Ashley Metcalfe, formerly with Yorkshire, won the match with another century.

However the top scorer in this high scoring game was a young twenty year old, Andrew Sexton of Dorset, who made 196 in Dorset's second innings. He made only a handful of appearances for Hampshire, but sadly then disappeared from the first class game. He did not play for Dorset again and seemed content to play league cricket for the rest of his career.

Cricket at Netherfield, Kendal.

Some of my earliest memories of Cumberland cricket were at the wonderful Keswick cricket club. However the problem there always seemed to be the weather with rain, and lots of it, a regular feature. There certainly were some fine days and some good cricket. I remember well a visit from Durham county cricket, I think for a benefit match when the unknown opening bat for the county, who made quite a few runs, turned out to be the club physio. David Boon and a young Paul Collingwood also played.

Fitz Park, Keswick.

Over the years I have managed to celebrate some of my notable birthdays by watching Cumberland cricket. The first attempt for my 65th ended in failure as the scheduled 38 county knock out game with the Yorkshire Cricket Board at Millom was called off after overnight night, despite a fine day. So a picnic lunch on the beach at nearby Silecroft was the order of the day.

Millom cricket club on an earlier occasion, when play actually took place.

Five years later I was at Workington for another one day trophy game between Cumberland and Herefordshire when my son and grandson flew in unannounced from Dubai. I have been a member of both counties for many years and they gave me a game to remember when Cumberland chasing 207 to win put on 39 for the last wicket only to lose by one run. At dinner that night my three year old grandson announced to all and sundry 'my grandad is seventy years old today'.

The Ernest Valentine ground, Workington.

Ten years later I was back at Netherfield for another one day game between Cumberland and Norfolk to celebrate my 80th birthday. This time a high scoring affair with Norfolk making over 300 and Cumberland out for 263 with just one ball of their innings remaining. All happy days indeed.

I also have happy memories of Cumberland games at the two Barrow grounds, Furness cricket club and Barrow cricket club. Again early days' memories at Barrow, sitting with the late Keith Hornby on the grass bank alongside the pavilion, while the conversation flowed all day. This a regular feature of all Cumberland games, home and away, when the former secretary Gilbert Johnstone and long serving treasurer Eric Carter were always full of stories from the past and providing detailed information of the players now appearing.

Barrow-in-Furness cricket club, with the hospital buildings behind, 2005.

Gilbert Johnstone, in the green cap, looks to be on the receiving end at Furness C.C.

Hopefully old memories can be revived during the 2022 season, old haunts to be re-visited and old friendships renewed.

More Warwickshire memories

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Thanks to John Winn for his last two posts which perhaps take our minds off the unfortunate events concerning Yorkshire County Cricket club. Much more on that in due course no doubt when the dust settles on the current hiatus, if it ever does.

John's story on Jack Parsons certainly rekindled memories for me as, believe it or not, I actually saw him play. I think I have written before about a match I saw at Edgbaston way back in April 1951 between Warwickshire and an Old England XI. However I have so far been unable to find it on our archive. Anyway the Rev. Canon J.H. Parsons appeared in this game at the ripe old age of 60. He was often talked about in those days as a famous pre-war big hitter whose speciality was hoisting the ball over the old pavilion across the road into the region of Cannon Hill Park.

On this occasion he did not repeat the feat, but scored 15 before being bowled by a young whipper snapper called Jack Bannister, who of course much later wrote the history of Warwickshire which John referred to in his blog. Other former Warwickshire players in the Old England XI were R.E.S. (Bob) Wyatt still playing for Worcestershire at the time a few days before his 50th birthday and even older E.J. (Tiger) Smith the wicket keeper who became county coach, who was already 65.

Here is the team picture which John mentioned from 1914 which includes not only Parsons and Smith but one of the umpires from the 1951 game, the famous Warwickshire batsman W.G. Quaife, then aged 79. Sadly he died a few months after the game in 1951. Quaife had a remarkable career with Warwickshire making a century on debut in 1894 and another in his last game at the age of 56 in 1928. This final innings was by the oldest cricketer ever to score a championship century. During that time he accumulated over 36,000 runs and played seven times for England. A famous man indeed.

Some other notables in this well remembered game from seventy years ago include the other umpire Alex Skelding, opening bowlers Fred Root and Alf Gover, Errol Holmes of Surrey who captained the side, together with two Surrey team mates Laurie Fishlock and Donald Knight. The last named player will mean very little to most cricket followers of today, but not only did he score a century in the game in 1951 at the age of 57, but had played twice for England way back in 1921 some thirty years earlier.

For the record the game was played on a time basis, well before limited overs games came into fashion. Warwickshire made 214-6 declared in 60 overs, with a century from Jimmy Ord a batsman from Northumberland. In reply Old England made a valiant attempt at victory but finished just eight runs short with 8 wickets down in 55 overs. Another young pace bowler Ray Carter took two wickets in the first over of the innings and young Bannister did even better with 5-43. Knight's wonderful 112 came in 115 minutes with eighteen fours.

Warwickshire 1951 champions.

The practice match must have given Warwickshire some sort of impetus as they went on to win the County Championship that year for the first time in forty years.

WG comes to Halifax

 posted by John Winn

A recent visitor noticing my collection of Wisden's asked if I had read them all. My answer was that the best I could say was that I had not read any of them in their entirety but that I had read at least part of each copy of the almanac. One of the main pleasures that the collection gives is to take a copy from the shelves, open it at random and see what turns up. Rarely does this random approach fail to arouse my interest and today's blog stems from such an event.

Over the weekend I looked at the oldest almanac in the collection, that from 1889 which in the main covers the cricket in 1888, a season which saw an Australian tour, the sixth such tour of this country and to which 60 pages were devoted. The tour involved cricket almost every day from May 7th to September 22nd, Yorkshire played them three times. Inter county matches are not classified as 'county championship' but a table is printed which shows Surrey top with Kent and Yorkshire tied for second place. Two pages are given over to a match played at Hanson Lane, Halifax,'the first important match ever played on the new ground of Halifax Cricket and Football Club. The ground which was only laid out in 1887, is a spacious one, having a capital pavilion, facing one side for cricket and athletics and the other for football.'

Yorkshire's opponents for this significant game were Gloucestershire, skippered by Mr WG Grace, who having won the toss opened with his brother Mr EM. The West Country men did not fare well being bowled out for just 80, Peel 7 for 39, to which Yorkshire replied with 122, Peel top scoring with 25. Gloucestershire's second innings was only a little better than their first, 102 all out setting Yorkshire 70 to win which they achieved for the loss of seven wickets with Ulyett top scoring with 23. Man of the match was undoubtedly Peel for in addition to his first innings runs he took 13 wickets. 

Peel's record over the season qualified him for a feature in the almanack  'Six Great Bowlers of The Year' and  his statistics show he bowled 1768.1 overs, 886 of which were maidens and took 181 wickets at a cost of under 13. The portraits of the six were from 'fresh negatives taken by the well known Brighton firm of E Hawkins and co.' Alas time has not treated the photos kindly and they are very faded. 

The return match between Yorkshire and Gloucestershire was played at Clifton College in Bristol in August and this time it was the batters who were on top. WG for the third time in his career made centuries in both innings but Yorkshire showed great depth in batting and led by 213 on first innings. Grace's outstanding second innings effort when he batted over three hours saved the day for Glos and although Yorkshire batted a second time they were unable to hit off the 104 needed for victory in the time available

To close I must mention a curiosity of Yorkshire's season, namely a match they played at Sheffield in May against 23 (sic) colts. Despite having more than twice the customary number of players the youngsters were bowled out for 114 and 96 and lost by an innings and four, Peel taking 15 wickets in the match.

A parson named Parsons

 posted by John Winn

Whilst researching my last posting, the subject of which was the Warwickshire cricketer Percy Jeeves, I came across a photograph of a Warwickshire XI taken in 1914 which included the aforesaid Percy. Accompanying the list of players is the note that only five of them played for Warwickshire immediately after the war. Of those who did not appear as soon as cricket resumed it is perhaps surprising that only one, Jeeves, was a casualty of the war whereas Frank Foster was forced to retire following a motor cycle accident, Septimus Kinneir retired, Syd Santall became coach which leaves only the subject of this posting, Jack Parsons or to give him his full title Reverend Canon John Henry Parsons MC, born 1890, died 1981. *

Jack Parsons was a sufficiently distinguished cricketer to merit a short biography 'Cricketer Militant' by Gerald Howat published shortly before the subject's death and a half page obituary in the 1982 Wisden. Like so many others Jack answered the call in 1914 joining the Warwickshire Yeomanry but his war service took him not, like Jeeves, to France but to Gallipoli which unlike thousands of British, Australian and New Zealand troops, he survived. In July 1916 he was commissioned as Second Lt in the Worcestershire Yeomanry with whom he stayed until transferring to the Indian Army. In March 1919 he returned to England arriving in time to see his mother shortly before her death on May 26th. A week later he was approached by Warwickshire and having accepted their terms he turned out in their first home championship match since 1914 against Derbyshire on June 9th and 10th, a match they lost and in which our hero scored 5 and 0. Parsons soon discovered his old form however and in twelve innings hit over 500 runs at an average of just under 50. His last appearance of the summer was against  an Australian Services XI for in August army duties took him back to India where he played some cricket and got married. 

In June 1922 he was again offered terms by Warwickshire which he refused, but in 1923 he returned to England and picked up where he had left off four years earlier with a century in his second match v Northants at Edgbaston and once again he finished the season top of the averages. Parsons returned to regular cricket in 1924 and continued until 1934 when he was in his 44th year and twenty years after he had played for the Players at the Oval. His final appearance could not have been better for playing against Yorkshire at Scarborough, Warwickshire were bowled out for 45 but when set 216 to win JHP hit 94 including three sixes and twelve fours and only 12 were needed when he was out and the winning runs were hit by JH 'Danny' Mayer, a great Warwickshire servant whose obituary appears two pages before that of Parsons in Wisden.

Having been ordained in 1929 and from 1934 to 1940 Parsons enjoyed life as a country rector in Shropshire and later Cornwall with his wife, son and daughter but the outbreak of another world war saw saw him return to the army as chaplain which included overseas service in North Africa and Italy before returning to Liskeard in 1944. He died in a nursing home in Plymouth in February 1981. Parsons earned distinction as an army officer, he was awarded the Military Cross, and one wonders what his reputation as a cricketer might have been had he not lost ten years to army service. Let us leave the last word to Wisden 'By the time he resumed his career (1923), English batting was fast recovering, a younger generation, Hammond Leyland, Jardine, Chapman, was knocking at the door and his chance was gone.'

* the caption to the photo on page 74 of Jack Bannister's History of Warwickshire CCC contains an error for it omits any reference to EB Crockford. Crockford appeared in just one match in 1919, v Yorkshire at Edgbaston, a match Yorkshire won with ease and Crockford's contribution was modest. He achieved greater fame in 1920 when winning an Olympic gold medal for hockey. 

Hopes for conciliation & memories from the past.

Posted by Tony Hutton

It is with great reluctance that I enter the debate currently raging around Yorkshire county cricket club. I will try to be brief, but of course must start by saying bad mistakes have been made and the people responsible must be punished appropriately. Without doubt Yorkshire have compounded the problem by their unnecessary delays. However it does seem that judgements have been made too quickly by both politicians and the ECB hierarchy (who both need to put their own houses in order) which have precipitated the events which have brought the club into this chaotic situation. 

Certain journalists have also taken a somewhat blinkered approach without the full facts. However thank goodness for people like Mike Atherton, Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph and Syed Ahmed in the Times for providing a more reasoned view of the proceedings. I initially welcomed the appointment of Lord Patel, although not sure who appointed him. He faces a difficult job but certainly has the right qualifications. It remains to be seen how well he can assess the full facts of the situation.

In response to many of the uncalled for messages on social media I think it is important to stress that there are many good people involved with Yorkshire County cricket, not least the volunteers involved with the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, which has already done much good work in improving relations with the ethnic communities.

Lord Patel has called for conciliation, but sadly some of the latest pronouncements do little to suggest this. One person who suffered more racial abuse than anyone was Nelson Mandela and surely we can all learn from him what conciliation really means.

Azeem Rafiq in happier times being awarded his county cap by the late John Hampshire 2016.

Returning to the main theme of what this blog is all about, which is more involvement in what happens on the field of play rather than off it, I recently paid a visit to the museum in Thirsk, North Yorkshire and came across a team picture of the Yorkshire side of 1920. Many of those pictured were household names at the time, but there is one mystery man (third from left on the back row). This may have been a local benefit match in Thirsk and the mystery man could be a local lad co-opted into the side.

Apart from the two umpires and the scorer, the players are as follows:-
Back row - Dolphin, A.N. Other, R.Kilner, Waddington, Macauley and Holmes.
Front row - Robinson, Denton, Burton (capt), Rhodes and Sutcliffe.

Looking back on Cricket Archive to try and find the mystery man I came across two remarkable games between Yorkshire and Hampshire that season. The first game was at Headingley at the end of June and Hampshire put the Yorkshire bowlers to the sword in a big way on the first day when they compiled a score of 456-2. Opener George Brown making 232 not out, putting on 183 for the first wicket with Alex Bowell, who was dismissed for 95. Another wicket fell quickly but then Brown put on 269 in partnership with Philip Mead, the legendary Hampshire batsman, who also made 122 not out.

Both Hampshire wickets fell to the bowling of Charles Whiting, a little known opening bowler from the East Riding, who disappeared from the scene very quickly. He could possibly be the mystery man on the picture. The next day brought further disaster for the home side as Yorkshire were quickly bowled out for 159, largely due to bowling of another Hampshire stalwart Alec Kennedy, who took 6-69. Herbert Sutcliffe top scored for Yorkshire with 58.

Hampshire enforced the follow on and Yorkshire were 152-3 at the close of day two with Percy Holmes on 75 not out, partnered by the ever reliable Wilfred Rhodes. However on day three Holmes was quickly out for 78 and despite a valiant effort by Rhodes, who was run out for 64, and a rear guard action from wicket keeper Dolphin with 37, Hampshire achieved victory by an innings and 72 runs. No doubt leading to great celebrations from the visitors captained by Lionel Lord Tennyson.

Notwithstanding all that Yorkshire bounced back at the United Services Ground, Portsmouth at the end of August. In one of their earliest big partnerships Holmes and Sutcliffe put on 347 for the first wicket. Percy Holmes made 302 not out, Sutcliffe 131 and there were sixties from both Denton and Rhodes in a final total of 585-3 declared. The demoralised Hampshire side were dismissed for 131 with five wickets each for Rockley Wilson and Wilfred Rhodes. They followed on and despite a slightly improved showing went for 219, with Rhodes yet again the main destroyer with 6-73.

Yorkshire had turned the tables with a vengeance winning by an innings and 235 runs. In a season when counties all played different numbers of matches the Championship Table was decided on a percentage points system. Middlesex took the title playing only 20 matches, whereas Yorkshire, who finished fourth, played 28.

 Mentioning Wilfred Rhodes we had the pleasure of having a presentation on Zoom last week for Wombwell Cricket Lovers by Patrick Ferriday author of a splendid new book on the great man together with David Frith, who once interviewed Rhodes in his later years. This is a highly recommended book on one of the great periods of Yorkshire County Cricket Club's history.

United Arab Emirates revisited.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Watching the games from the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates this week on television has brought back memories from the past when I was a regular visitor to the region during a period when my son and family were living in Dubai. While there was little or no cricket during our Christmas visits, it was often the case that we were there in February, March or April when cricket was in full swing.

The first cricket I saw there was in April 2003 when a four nations competition for the Sharjah Cup was in progress. Sharjah by then already had something of a reputation for match fixing due to the endless series of one day matches being played there, but there didn't seem anything untoward about the games I saw there. All the games were 50 overs per side. Pakistan won an early high scoring match with Zimbabwe, whose star batsman was Dougie Marillier.

He was one of the very first batsman to play the ramp shot over his shoulder to fine leg and certainly upset Australia's Glen McGrath on one occasion. Here he got 59 against Pakistan and 100 in a win against Kenya. Somehow despite the presence of Sri Lanka, for whom Sangakarra scored a century, Zimbawe got to the final to play Pakistan again in front of a huge crowd. This time Marillier failed and Tatenda Taibu, the young wicketkeeper made top score of 74 not out. Pakistan cruised to victory on 172-2 in only 35 overs. Younis Youhana making an excellent 61 not out.

A full house at Sharjah in 2003..

The following year 2004 I was able to see ten matches in Dubai at an ICC six nations competition. The two grounds used for this competition have long disappeared under concrete due to the area's rapid expansion and building programme. This week's action has brought back memories of seeing Scotland, Namibia and the Netherlands in action in this competition, which was won in fact by the USA, fielding a team of West Indians, including Test batsman Clayton Lambert. Other participants were UAE and Canada. Main man with the bat for Scotland in those days was Yorkshire's Gavin Hamilton.

Scotland v USA 2004 - my grandson, in his pram, sees his first cricket.

In 2005 Durham visited Sharjah for a pre season warm up. Unfortunately I have no record of the scores of the game they played against UAE. All I can remember is that very few people turned up to watch and took this picture of the chickens on the terracing who almost outnumbered the spectators.

Chickens watching Durham at Sharjah.

            In March 2006 I had better memories of two very convivial games between United Arab Emirates and the visiting Lord's Taverners' XI. MCC fielded a very strong side, captained by Mike Gatting. The hospitality was excellent, perhaps enjoyed too much by the visitors who managed to lose both games. We were royally entertained by Farook Engineer at our table for lunch with tales of his times at Lancashire. When Taverners won the toss Darren Gough and Andy Caddick were delighted that they could enjoy a leisurely lunch instead of bowling in the mid-day heat.

Lord's Taverners batting in 2006 on another ground now built over in Dubai.

Lord's Taverners' XI in Dubai 2006 with some well known faces.

Early in 2008 I saw a pre-season friendly between Essex and Sussex at Sharjah and then later in the year, just before Christmas saw the Yorkshire Academy in action against Sussex Academy at the wonderful Sheik Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Where the arrival of four of us by car actually doubled the attendance. Despite being invited inside the pavilion for a right royal lunch we did manage to see some of the cricket with Joe Root and Charlie Roebuck both scoring fifties for Yorkshire.

Abu Dhabi.

The view from the pavilion at Abu Dhabi.

Then onto 2011 by which time my daughter in law was working for the ICC Academy at their headquarters in Dubai, along with Rod Marsh from Australia. Two cricket grounds here where I saw Ireland play Kenya on one and Afghanistan play Canada on the other in front of a large crowd of Afghan supporters.

Dubai Academy ground 1.

Dubai Academy ground 2, complete with Afghan supporters.

However the highlight of this visit was the recently opened Dubai International Stadium, which we had previously seen when a building site. Here we saw Netherlands playing Zimbabwe again in front of only a handful of supporters, very different from yesterday's full house for Pakistan v India. This picture is not one of mine but taken by someone from the ICC soon after it's opening.

Dubai International Stadium.

Netherlands v Zimbabwe inside the Stadium with not a spectator in sight.

A Literary Connection

 posted by John Winn

Dear Mr Ryder                                                                             Oct 26 1967

                        Yes, you are quite right. It must have been 1913 that I paid a visit to my parents in Cheltenham and went to see Warwickshire play Glos on the Cheltenham College ground. I suppose Jeeves's bowling must have impressed me, for I remembered him in 1916, when I was in New York and starting the Jeeves and Bertie saga, and it was just the name I wanted.

                                                      Yours sincerely PG Wodehouse, New York

And sure enough on page 174 of the 1914 Wisden there appears an account of the match between Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, the third and last of three games played in the Cheltenham Festival that year, and which for the first time all ended in victory for Gloucestershire. The Jeeves referred to is Percy Jeeves who did not have a distinguished match, 1 and 0 with the bat and only one wicket to show for 24 overs with the ball. Undistinguished on paper perhaps but good enough to impress one of English literature's greatest humorous writers, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse who as we shall see was a decent cricketer himself.  

Percy Jeeves

The stars of the 1913 match for 'Glos' were AG Dipper with a hundred in the first innings and fifty second time around. The man who did the damage with the ball was left arm spinner George Dennett who took 13 wickets in the match. It is perhaps a little surprising that it was Jeeves who impressed Wodehouse rather than Dennett but conditioned as enthusiasts have been for over 100 years to the name Jeeves conjuring up an image of the great valet 'Carry On, Dennett' does not sound quite right. 

Percy Jeeves was born near Dewsbury in 1888 from where the family moved to Goole and whilst a professional with Hawes in Wensleydale Jeeves was spotted by Warwickshire Secretary Rowland Ryder (the man to whom Wodehouse's letter is addressed) and he began his career at Edgbaston in 1911 but it was not until two years later that he qualified for championship cricket. In that season Jeeves finished top of the bowling averages with 106 wickets, good enough for Wisden to describe Percy as 'an absolute prize' for in addition to his haul of wickets he also scored over 700 runs. 'On the fast side of medium....he makes the ball come off the ground with plenty of life'. 

In 1914 Jeeves was selected for the Players v The Gentlemen at The Oval but played his last first class match during the last week in August 1914 by which time WW1 had been underway for a month.Wisden again sang his praises but as he left the field on August 29th having taken seven wickets in the match to assist Warwickshire to a win over Surrey by 80 runs he must have known that military service lay ahead of him. Just six weeks later he volunteered to join what came to be known as the 15th battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment who in November 1915 were deployed to France. 

Private Jeeves, aged 28, was killed in action on the Somme the following July. His name is on the Thiepval memorial and the Goole Cenotaph. There are also mementoes of his cricketing career, the ball with which he achieved his best analysis, 7 for 34 v Worcestershire in 1913, a match in which he also made valuable runs, is displayed in the Edgbaston pavilion, on the centenary of his death in 2016 a blue plaque was unveiled in Goole and in the same year a tree was planted in his memory at Cheltenham College by his great nephew and Wodehouse's grandson. 

My interest in Jeeves, the cricketer not the valet, has come from a book I have read recently, 'Wodehouse at The Wicket', the first ever compendium of Wodehouse's writings on cricket. The lengthy introduction, perhaps too lengthy, describes Wodehouse's playing career beginning with reference to page 409 in the 1901 Wisden where his name appears in the averages for Dulwich College, bottom of the list of batsmen but fourth among the bowlers. Top of the bowlers is NA Knox later to play for England. Some of the more interesting cricket PGW played was for the Authors' XI which included six games at Lord's and on the main ground, not the Nursery pitch. The authors' opponents included publishers and actors and Wodehouse was captained by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who one hopes was a mystery spinner. The matches came to an end in 1912 but Wodehouse does appear in Wisden as recently as 1976 when a three line obituary marks his death on Long Island the previous year. Alongside his appearances for Dulwich College he is noted as being a famous novelist and the godfather of Mike Griffith, the former captain of Sussex. There is no reference to Jeeves who almost sixty years earlier had received a much longer obituary in Wisden. 

Nottinghamshire's Bodyline Captain.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

On my visit to Trent Bridge for the last county championship match of the season I purchased a book from the club shop and have just finished reading it. It concerns the controversial Nottinghamshire captain of the 1920s and early 1930s Arthur Carr, who was very much involved in the controversial 'Bodyline' bowling practised by his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce.

                                           (Picture from the Cricketer Magazine)

As you will see the book was written by Peter Wynne- Thomas, who sadly died in July this year after forty years as the Nottinghamshire county archivist and one of the leading historians of the game. He was a prolific author and this volume must have been one of his last. It tells the fascinating story of a larger than life character who captained both Nottinghamshire and England and whose life story bears many resemblances to that of Yorkshire's Brian Close.

Both had several brushes with the cricket authorities and both were removed from the England captaincy in controversial circumstances. Both were great favourites with their fellow players and county supporters, but not always with committee men, and again both lost their positions as county captains amid controversies. Indeed the similarity continues with both men being keen followers of horse racing and both being rather accident prone drivers.

Arthur Carr captain of Nottinghamshire and England.

As one would expect the book is very well researched with details of Carr's early life. He was born in Surrey as a member of a wealthy stockbroking family. He had a brief stay at Eton but was dismissed for smoking and betting and transferred to Sherborne School in Dorset where his sporting prowess was given full reign. Carr's family moved to Nottinghamshire in 1906 due to his father's interest in horses and the Leicestershire hunting scene.

This made Carr eligible for Nottinghamshire due to residency and he made his first appearance for them in 1910. After service throughout the first world war, Carr, who of course played as an amateur, was appointed county captain of Nottinghamshire for the 1919 season. Unlike other counties they fielded a full team of ten professionals and Carr soon won them over with his adventurous style of captaincy. He remained in that position until the end of his career in 1934.

His dashing style of batsmanship also brought him to the England selectors notice and he was made captain of England for the home series against Australia in 1926. He was taken ill during the fourth test and to his disappointment was replaced by Percy Chapman. He was called up again as captain against South Africa for two tests in 1929, but never achieved his ambition of captaining England in Australia.

He did however lead Nottinghamshire to the County Championship in 1929 thus breaking the monopoly of Lancashire and Yorkshire and of course had much to do with the development of Larwood and Voce as a dangerous pair of opening bowlers. Mention is made of the meeting between Jardine, Carr and the two bowlers in London shortly before the infamous 'Bodyline' tour of 1932-33 when apparently the plans were laid as the basis of dismissing the all conquering batting of Bradman.

Nottinghamshire in Carr's last season of 1934.

Much is then made of the controversies after the tour which ran into county cricket with several counties, particularly Lancashire, threatening not to play Nottingham if such tactics were employed. Carr was at the centre of all this and to some extent it was no surprise that he underwent a heart attack which virtually ended his cricketing career in 1934.

After the second world war he retired to live in Yorkshire near to the racing stables of Middleham. He was not seen at Trent Bridge for many years due to the acrimony of his later years with the county, but eventually did return in the 1950s when most of his adversaries from the past had passed away. He eventually died while clearing snow from his cottage in West Witton in the winter of 1963 at the age of 69.

This is a wonderful book with details of the day to day action of county cricket from the inter-war period and the off field machinations which highlight Carr's contempt for the landed gentry who were running the game. Highly regarded by his professionals, with whom he regularly shared a drink, and a swashbuckling batsman often compared to the great hitter Gilbert Jessop when at his best.

Cricket's last weekend.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Arthington by Mike Latham.

The Arthington cricket festival came to a close yesterday to bring down the curtain on a most unusual season which has brought with it a series of problems the game has never faced before and hopefully will never see again. The last two games provided quite a contrast with a high scoring encounter on Saturday bringing a bonus of two centurions and action all the way, whereas Sunday's game, although played in wonderful sunny weather, was rather more low key and rather more one sided. No complaints however from the spectators, gathered from far and wide on Saturday and a smaller select band for the last rites on Sunday.

Saturday's spectators included at least three from Lancashire and I understand one or two professional cricket watchers who had made the long journey from the south of England. Sunday's local celebrities included the Middlebrook family, out in force including current first class umpire James. Both he and his father were last seen in action on this ground in 2014 I believe in the Mick Bourne memorial match.

Fellow blogger Mike Latham and friends in the background.

Middlesbrooks father and son guesting for Arthington in 2008.

Saturday's game started badly for the home side when near neighbours St Georges Church from Harewood House dismissed both openers for single figures, which brought together two guest stars in the shape of Daniel Fitzpatrick and Nathan Smith. These two produced an afternoon of big hitting rarely seen here before. Fitzpatrick hit ten fours and seven sixes in 69 balls before retiring on 105 out of a total of 151. His partner in a century partnership Nathan Smith was only 36 not out at that stage.

Smith went on to equal Fitzpatrick's score going to 105 from 57 balls with seven fours and another seven sixes. One of the sixes damaged the windscreen of a car parked carefully behind the wooden pavilion, which proved to be no hiding place today. Arthington's first team skipper and leading run scorer Naveed Andrabi, then made a cameo appearance, scoring only 11. However a man with his record in league cricket this season, which shows 1152 runs in 20 innings, with seven fifties and four centuries, had nothing left to prove.

It looked as though Arthington would make 300 but a rather pedestrian partnership between Andrew Stoddart and Malcolm Barraclough, who at least hit one six and one four, meant that a series of singles in the last over only made the total 295-4, with two men retired. An unhappy day for the men in the field with the exception of the two opening bowlers Simon Timperley and Sam O'Sullivan who both had tidy figures from their eight overs apiece.

Last over coming up, but the 300 mark proved too elusive.

The not out batsmen applauded in.

The visitors innings got off to the worst possible start with two outstanding juggling catches by Nathan Smith at deep mid off from the bowling of Simon Mace He also clean bowled Chatterjee to make it 28-3 and the game likely to finish early. Not the case as the O'Sullivan brothers, Sam and Ryan, encouraged by father Sam who captained the side, both got stuck in and put on a partnership of 116 to apparently give the visitors an outside chance of a remarkable victory.

However, once they had gone, both dismissed by Andrew Stoddart, Sam for 81 and Ryan for 72, things rather fell apart. Geoff Barker made a fairly rapid (for him) 38 not out from only 47 balls but the rest failed to contribute much, obviously intimidated by the size of the two bowlers Stoddart and Vince Greaves-Newell, who finished with admirable figures of 3-22 and 2-15. The last pair defied them to the end so St Georges finished on 220-9 having done so well to extend the game for it's full overs after such a poor start. 

Bright sunshine greeted everyone for the last match on Sunday when Cambridge Road Methodists, with a somewhat different personnel from previous seasons, took to the field a little late with a brief appearance by Steven Bindman, the perennial twelfth man. No big hitting on the scale of yesterday's efforts but a good fifty opening partnership between Stoddart and Nathan Smith set the scoreboard ticking before Stoddart really got into his stride, hitting seven fours and a six before retiring on 60 not out. James Lord gave him good support and was unlucky to be dismissed on 49.

Andrew Stoddart hits out in Sunday's last match.

Best bowler for Cambridge Road was Remy Khan, who perhaps could have been used earlier. His spell of 7-1-29-3 rather controlled the scoring rate until a late flourish from Andy Conboy with a rapid 34 not out at the end of the innings, which ended on 234-4 after forty overs.

No doubt the worst possible start to an innings overtook Cambridge Methodists who progressed from  0-3 to 10-4, then 20-5 and 31-6. Tom Conboy was responsible for most of the damage four of the first five wickets in his opening spell of just three overs and figures of 4-17. Veteran Dennis Nash also chipped in with a couple of wickets, but the score was eventually given some respectability by the combined efforts of Ahtsham Ellahi (40) and Sufyaan Ahmed (46). Nick Briggs and Andrew Conboy with a couple of wickets each then brought the innings to an end on 133 all out in only 27 overs.

The shadows lengthen as the season comes towards its end.

So a rather sad end to proceedings and to the season. Everyone wending their way home to face whatever the winter has in store for us in the hope that we will all meet again next Spring. Rest assured that the blog will continue with cricketing tales from far and wide, past and present, throughout the winter months.

Cricket's simple pleasures prevail.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The game of cricket at both international and national level seems to be in turmoil, with both the winter's Ashes series and the format of next season's domestic programme still uncertain. However yesterday's October game at Arthington managed to run it's course, despite a weather interruption, and the handful of spectators, as well as the players, could be forgiven for thinking that the game's simple pleasures still prevail.

Autumnal sunshine while black clouds circle Arthington.

The visitors were a recent addition to the Festival fixture list in the shape of the XL or Forty Club, Yorkshire and the North East District. This admirable club, with regional groups throughout the UK, play an incredible number of fixtures mainly in mid-week against school and club sides. As the name suggests players are over the age of forty, some still performing in league cricket and others happy to concentrate on mid-week friendlies.

Looking up some of the visiting players on play-cricket's comprehensive individual playing records was most interesting. For instance skipper Kevin Owens is still playing league cricket for Knaresborough 1st XI and has already scored four centuries and four scores in the 90s for the Forty Club this season. His highest score was 150 not out early in September playing for the Kent & East Sussex Forty Club against British Tamils!

Another celebrity was Dr Chris Stride, a lecturer at Sheffield University, who plays for the University Staff XI as well as the Forty club and has somehow managed an incredible 72 games this season. His batting record suggests he is a bowler, confirmed by best figures this season of 7-97 for Forty Club Eastern District against Sprowston of Norfolk. He is Sheffield Cricket Lovers' first speaker of their winter season later this week and will be talking about 'Cricket Statuary'.

Geoff Barker sets off for the pavilion after being caught behind.

Getting back to yesterday's action saw the home side batting first and guest star Nathan Smith dominated the early scoring in partnership with Geoffrey Barker. Smith went for a polished 32 out of a total of 35 and Richard Spry, captain of Adel's evening league winning side, joined Barker in a partnership of 71. Barker was then caught behind by wicket keeper Freeman (from Addingham) for a well made 41. The afternoon progressed with a mixture of sunny intervals and threatening rain clouds, but no more wickets fell as Spry and James Lord scored almost at will against the change bowlers.

Model forward defensive from Richard Spry.

When the rains finally came the 40 over innings was almost complete and Arthington declared on 212-2 from 37.1 overs. Spry 83 not out, possibly robbed of a century by the rain, and Lord on 53 not out. Arthington's efficient new covers were brought out and protected the wicket well to enable the second innings to take place with a target of 213 required from 38 overs. Notable for bowling the only maiden over of the Arthington innings was Dave Hadley, another Sheffield University Staff player, with a tidy spell of 4-1-14-0. Dave's career record showed he has played for the University Staff since 1990!

The sun breaks through again.

The Forty Club innings started well, apart from Freeman being run out, and Kevin Wan (Spen Victoria) with his highest score of the season (64) and Yufuf Kayat (Mount CC, Batley) who made 26, taking the score to 111-1. However 'Nelson' struck and the innings collapsed something like a pack of cards. The deadly duo of Andy Stoddart (3-20) and Nathan Smith (3-7) reduced the visitors to 144-8 when the overs ran out. By the end of the day the afternoon chill was taking effect but a good time was had by all. Cricket in October is alive and well and weather permitting will continue each day of next weekend with fixtures against St George's Church on Saturday and Cambridge Methodists on Sunday.

One man and his dog in the background.