Preston cricket club re-visited

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Mike Latham's recent blog on Preston cricket club triggered my memory yet again as I recalled my only visit to the ground, which was way back in 1996. I do remember the event quite well, due to the unusual circumstances, although I must admit I needed to search out the scorecard on Cricket Archive to get all the details.

I travelled from Leeds to Preston by train with a view to seeing Lancashire seconds take on Somerset seconds on day one of a three day championship game and to meet an old business colleague, then working in Preston, for lunch. Everything seemed to be going to plan, the train was on time, I was able to see the ground from the train as it pulled into Preston station and the short walk to the ground was quite easy.

I was a little surprised at having to pay a nominal amount to get into the ground as normally county second eleven games do not charge for admission. However, having travelled so far I had little alternative and asked the gateman to allow my friend in free when he came to collect me at lunchtime, telling him my name and where I would sit. Soon afterwards I was aware that another friend, Blackpool Ken, had arrived and was having an altercation with the gateman, pointing out that he was a Lancashire member and should not have to pay. The gateman persisted so Kenneth, being a man of principle, immediately turned on his heel and set off home.

So on to the cricket. Somerset won the toss and batted with a team full of players who were to make little impact on the first class game. One exception was the then young hopeful Jason Kerr, who is now the Somerset first team coach. Two of their players moved on to Derbyshire where Luke Sutton certainly made the grade as a batsman/wicketkeeper and Ant Botha, a South African, did well for a time as a spin bowler. However the man who took centre stage on this day was a Dutchman, the fast bowler Andre Van Troost, who you could say became the pantomime villain of the piece.

Preston cricket club at West Cliff.

Lancashire included that well known Prestonian Andrew Flintoff and were captained by Australian Peter Sleep. Of the rest only Mark Chilton, now on the coaching staff, made a first class career with Lancashire. The Lancashire innings saw wickets falling at regular intervals throughout the day until the fall of the eighth wicket when Peter Trego's older brother Sam was joined by the aforementioned Andre Van Troost. After the total collapse of the middle order these two put on quite a partnership with Van Troost the star, making a hard hitting and rapid 45 runs.

Somerset seconds batting at Preston.

My friend turned up at lunchtime and was admitted without charge by the gateman to enable him to collect me. He was duly impressed with the fact that the gateman knew my name and where I was sitting. We adjourned to a riverside pub near the marina which was all new to me for a very enjoyable lunch.

Chris Brown, the spin bowler, took four wickets for Lancashire. He later became professional, then captain and coach of Norfolk in the Minor Counties with great success. The other wicket takers were Shadford, Green and Chilton. Flintoff did not bowl. Eventually Somerset were all out for 187 in 78 overs. Nothing much appeared out of order with the wicket until Lancashire batted after tea.

Van Troost in particular worked up a fearsome speed and was beginning to get some unusual bounce. McKeown and Nathan Wood, son of Barry Wood had added 50 runs fairly rapidly, but when McKeown was run out the umpires conferred and after some discussion took the players from the field. It was announced that the umpires had abandoned the game due to the state of the wicket. The game re-started at Old Trafford the following day as a two day contest and predictably ended in a draw when the final day was lost due to rain.

Still not really sure what happened on the field after all these years, but I do know that Van Troost had twice been in trouble with umpires during the previous season when he first fractured the West Indian Jimmy Adams' cheekbone and a week later umpire Barry Dudleston ordered him out of the attack for intimidatory bowling against Kent. He was certainly quite an aggressive character, but after only limited appearances in 1997 and 1998 left the Somerset scene.