Of Music & Magic

There’s Music in the names I used to know

And Magic when I heard them long ago

The Names, Thomas Moult

Hi everyone!

The fixtures for Season 2016 were published a couple of days ago.

And in January I’ll be issuing a long list of games I plan to go to.

As always, I hope to see plenty of you throughout the Season: 
Championship matches (sadly Division 2 for Sussex this season),  t20s & RL50s.

Lots of days and evening games at Hove; Never in Doubt.

The regular trips to the Ageas Bowl at Southamption, Arundel, Beckenham, Lords and the Oval.

Though no Horsham this year, as Sussex couldn’t find a sponsor.

But there was one fixture I was especially looking out for.

Mrs Lambourne – known throughout the cricketing world for Mrs Lambourne’s Luxury Cricket Picnics – got there first. 
And was quick to text me with the Good News !

I go to the ground every year.

There’s always Music & Magic for me.

Where there are Old Friends  - those who still live close by and those who live on the other side of the world, but still make the  Pilgrimage back to the Wells - to meet up and remember the Good Old Days.

Of playing cricket at School and for the Borderers. And Upper Banner Farm Cricket Club.

And thoughts of those whose innings have ended far too soon

It was the ground where (I want to remember) I saw my first game, way back on Saturday 7 June 1958.

And my first limited overs game on Wednesday 22 May 1964.

This coming Season on Sunday to Wednesday 17 to 20 July the same two counties will be playing as in 1958 and 1964.

It is Kent v Sussex in the Championship at the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.

Why not in ink the date into your diary to come and watch with me ?

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon !!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

Too early for you to make Diary Dates for July 2016?

No problem at all  !

65 Seasons ago Kent were playing Sussex at the Nevill: Saturday 23 June 1951.
(No: I wasn’t there as  a teenager watching from the Railway End !!!!).

Of the three key protagonists that day long, long ago, the first  - a 19 year old doing National Service in the RAF  - only received permission to play from his Station Commander late on the Thursday afternoon.

Though it famously required a  last ball of the day  - one bounce 4 through midwicket - into the iconic marquees on the tennis court side of the ground, he got a century that Saturday.
And  seven years later  - already my Favourite Player, just as he is almost 60 Seasons later - I was there as a five year old to see him hit another century.
(To save you looking up Cricinfo: at the Gillette Cup match in 1963 he scored a rapid 59 before being run out by Les Lenham)

Who knows, now well into his 80’s, he may be at the match this year.

And if Sussex are short of runs from their middle order.... well, he might even be playing !!

And the other two protagonists?

Well, it was as late as just after quarter to ten on the Friday evening in the saloon bar of The Queen’s Head in Rye before they heard of the game and decided to come along.

(Of course, the Pipers have always known that the biggest & best decisions are taken in bars !!)

It was to prove one of the Never To Be Forgotten days of cricket … …

One I know that I will still be telling the story of all the (hopefully many) days of  the rest my Life.

 *** If you can, I’d really love you come along with me to watch Kent v Sussex at the Nevill … …

The ivy climbs by brick and stone

The ivy climbs by brick and stone

About the buttressed Hall;

So memory weaves a charm to keep

Her servitors in thrall.

The Leopard Song, Percy Shaw Jeffrey

Hi everyone!

And hello from the Skinners’ Hall, 8½ Dowgate Hill, by the side of Cannon Street station in the City.

 

Developing from the medieval trade guild of furriers and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1327, the Skinners’ Company is one of the ‘Great Twelve’ livery companies of London. 

At Sixes and Sevens

In an ancient dispute between the Merchant Taylors and Skinners, the two guilds, founded in the same year, argued over sixth place in the order of precedence. In 1484, after more than a century of bickering, the Lord Mayor of London decided  they would swap between sixth and seventh place and feast in each other's halls. Nowadays, they alternate in precedence on an annual basis.

Today Skinners is a major not-for-profit organisation involved in running sheltered housing and grant programmes for individuals, educational institutions and a wide range of small organisations throughout the UK.

And mostly importantly in running schools, one of which is the Skinners’ School in Tunbridge Wells where I was a pupil in the 1960s.

I was very pleased when a few months ago Peter Williams asked me to go with him to the 125^th Anniversary Dinner of the Old Skinners’ Society.

Along with the Young Man and Troupie, Peter is one of my three friends from St Mark's Primary School with whom I’m in regular contact.

All three are Founder Members of the Upper Banner Farm Cricket Club, which played in the field at the top of Farmcombe Road.

Peter and I met in 1958 and quickly became good friends; as did our parents.

Both only children, we played lots and lots of sport; team games such as cricket and one-to-one combat at tennis, table tennis and - of course – snooker at the Land Registry Club on Forest Road, where Peter’s father was a member.

Geography (Lowestoft for Peter and SE London for me; some excuse) and Life (no excuse !!)  have together conspired such that we have not seen each other that often in the last 30 years.

I hope that the Third Age years will encourage us to remedy that …

Reunion dinners always provide the opportunity for Nostalgia: OK, Nostalgia just isn’t what it was when I was a boy !!

Indeed memory weaves a charm to keep her servitors in thrall.

As I looked round the serried ranks of those in the Hall, I realised that 45 years on from leaving Skinners most of those present hadn’t even been born back in 1970.

I know I often say that: “I grew up on the Kent/Sussex border in Tunbridge Wells in the 1960s. It is just that the 1960s didn’t reach Tunbridge Wells”

And the truth is that they didn’t!

But Skinners gave me a tremendous education for the many years ahead.

As anyone can see from one of my regular train journeys from Bickley to London Blackfriars on the Catford Loop line or on the No. 7 bus from Chatsworth Square into Brighton, Britain has changed enormously in the last five decades.

And I guess – not least having been on Dianne’s Personal Improvement Programme for the last 35 years !! – I have too (OK, Dianne: plenty still to go at !!).

But I know too that much hasn’t really changed.

I started reading The Times in the 6^th Form (Years 12 & 13 for younger readers). In the last 16,000+ days there won’t have been many where I haven’t read the Columnists (from Bernard Levin to Danny Finkelstein), the Leaders, the Letters, the Obituaries and the Sports pages.

John Woodcock, the Sage of Longparish, was the Cricket Correspondent when I first started reading the cricket reports. Now in his 90^th year, he still writes occasional articles for the paper.

Cricket correspondents of the The Times 1954 - to date: 

Mike Atherton (left), John Woodcock, Alan Lee, Christopher Martin-Jenkins

And in the 1970s and 1980s there were regular reports from Alan Gibson on county matches in the West Country. You could always rely on a piece from Alan about a Gloucestershire match mentioning the GRIP: the Gloriously Red-headed Imperturbable Pamela, the barmaid in the main pavilion bar at the County Ground at Bristol.

Though they are only a very pale imitation of Alan’s articles, my own Blogs try to reflect his approach to cricket writing:  see Mrs Lambourne’s Luxury Cricket Picnics.

And for 25 years from 1970 to 1995 there was Robin Marlar in the Sunday Times.

Next year it will be 30 years since he wrote a wonderful article on 27 April 1986: Unplayable Jim and Unstoppable Bill about two former England cricketers who had died a few days previously.

Bill Edrich was a Test all-rounder whose career straddled WWII and continued until he was 55, when he finally gave up the captaincy of Norfolk.

But the heart of the article was about Jim Laker, who bowled off breaks for Surrey (1,944 wickets at 18.41) and for England (46 Tests, with 193 wickets at 21.24). In the 1956 Old Trafford Test v the Aussies he took 19 wickets for 90: no other bowler has ever taken more than seventeen wickets in a first class match.

Marlar too was an off-break bowler and a good one: 970 wickets in 289 matches at an average of 25.22. And 5 years as Captain of Sussex.

At first sight, Laker and Marlar might well not have been close friends.

Laker was born in Yorkshire into poverty, brought up by his aunts. An England regular for a decade, he played as a Professional.

Marlar went to Harrow and then Cambridge, where he was coached by Laker in 1952. He played as an Amateur. He would become President of Sussex and of the MCC

Moreover, as a City headhunter,  Marlar would have quickly spotted that there was a glaring gap in his CV:

Never played for England. 
Kept out of the team by Laker.

Almost 3 decades on from my first reading the article, I can remember what Marlar wrote:

As a player, as a commentator, as a coach, as a friend, Jim Laker was a special person, shrewd, funny and as dry as a Yorkshire twig.

He went on:

As one who bowled in his long shadow, I owe him that special debt of gratitude which comes from being taught a lesson for life.

Many people, thwarted in an ambition, come to take the view that the world is against them and, if the conviction feeds on itself, warping of personality is almost inevitable.

Any spin bowler trying to get into the England team when Laker was at his peak could have no argument with the selectors, no chip on the shoulder.

I wrote that Peter and I “played lots and lots of sport; team games such as cricket and one-to-one combat at tennis, table tennis and - of course – snooker at the Land Registry Club”.
Whatever the sport:  Peter was always Laker and I was always Marlar.

            I learnt: To play the very best you can - and still come 2^nd  !!

As The Leopard Song goes on to say:

Sing Leopards Sing

Floreat Sodalitas     (For non-Classicists: Let companionship flourish)

Little matter, well or ill,

Sentiment is more than skill.

 Sitting opposite Peter at dinner in the Skinners' Hall, now both well into our 60s and with half a century and more of friendship, I hope he knows what a special debt I owe him.

Peter plans to come and watch some cricket with me at Hove in Season 2016.

Why don't you come too ??

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon !!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

As for Bill Edrich, as well as playing 39 Tests and scoring 36,965 first class runs, he played football for Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Edrich (left) with Denis Compton playing for Middlesex v Sussex 
At Lords in 1948

In WWII he was a Squadron Leader in Bomber Command. On 12 August 1941 Edrich participated in a low-level daylight attack by Bristol Benheim bombers against power stations in the Cologne area, described by the Daily Telegraph as "the RAF's most audacious and dangerous low-level bombing raid". Of the 54 Blenheims sent on the mission, twelve were shot down. For his part in the war Bill was awarded the DFC.

Edrich wrote that he had "an immense relief that he survived" the war and as a result loved to party and lived for the day.

Marlar’s article concludes:  

I recall taking him home after one Lord's Taverners dance as dawn broke.

Down the path advanced his wife carrying what looked suspiciously like a hatchet.

I'm afraid it was a case of slip the clutch and away we go.

As the West Indian cricket writer CLR James famously wrote:

What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?

For it is from the past that we learn

He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future.

For it is from the past that we learn.

     Sheikh Zayed

Hi everyone!

And hello from Abu Dhabi.

Alongside visiting Nicole, I have been able to watch the Pakistan v England Test Match:  Days 1 to 3 at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.

It has been a tremendous few days, for this is most definitely not like watching cricket at my beloved Hove.

You buy your ticket from a portacabin, somewhat mysteriously placed some 400 metres from the stadium.

And as you walk to the ground, you can see games going on, played on sand,

I won’t overly dwell on the Catering ....

Day 1: vegetable samosas – never again

Day 2: meat biryani

Day 3: back to the vegetable samosas !!

As someone who often benefits from Mrs Lambourne’s Luxury Cricket Picnics; I’m never going on an overseas tour again without you, Sally!!

The weather has been in the mid 30 degrees in the shade of the South Stand; probably closer to 40 out in the middle.

One Old Timer (*) said it was the hottest temperature for a Test Match since The Don scored 169 at the MCG against Gubby Allen’s England on the Down Under tour of 1936/37 for the Aussies to win the series, having been 2 down with 3 to play.

* (Editor: that would be an Old Timer with access to Google!!)

For those of you who have watched T20s with me at Hove on a Friday evening and felt the chill of the Westerly wind whipping across the County Ground, well there’s absolutely no need for a jumper and an outdoor coat here!!

In truth, the crowd has been small. Not so much the Barmy Army as the Barmy Platoon. Probably 3 to 1 Pakistan to England supporters. Fantastic supporters: the Barmies starting each day with their singing of Jerusalem and the Pakistanis waving their flags and cheering on their team.

I was very fortunate to be joined on Day 2 by Dave Marshall, a friend of Nicole’s, and on Day 3 by Dave, his son Wilf and Wilf’s friend Mia.

They were great company. I look forward to seeing them at Hove when Pakistan visit to play Sussex in Summer 2016.

As for the game itself, by necessity I must be even more vague than usual.

There was a fantastic electronic scoreboard on the far side of the ground. But the combination of the sun and my fading eyesight meant I could only read it with any confidence in the last hour of each day’s play!

As I write this, at the end of Day 4 Pakistan have scored 523 for 8 declared, with England on 569 for 8, leading by 46 runs.

This is not a pitch on which to be a bowler, especially not a debutant. Poor old Adil Rashid, playing his first Test for England, bowled 34 overs for 163 runs and no wickets; the most number of first innings runs conceded on debut without a wicket.

Take heart, Adil, for another leg spinner’s first bowling stats were 150 for 1. But it didn’t turn out to badly for him: Shane Warne ended his career with 708 Test wickets and was voted one of  Wisden's Five Cricketers of the 20^th Century.

(Post Blog note: in the second innings Rashid took 5 for 64. Cricket, eh !! )

With such high scores, there were batting records as far as the eye could see.

Alastair Cook, the England Captain, scored 263 and batted 836 minutes, the 3^rd longest innings in Test history and the longest ever by an England player. To put the 836 minutes in context, it was longer the entire Test match at Trent Bridge in the 2015 Ashes.And longer than the combined total match time of England at the last Football and Rugby World Cups!

For Pakistan Shoaib Malik was playing his first Test match for over 5 years.His 245 was the first time it had ever been scored in Test cricket. Only 229 and 238 are left to complete a full set of scores from 0 to 250.

Sitting next to me on Day 1 was a youngish (late 20s?) guy who was following Twitter.

A few minutes after Malik scored his century, the young guy said he had just seen a tweet from Andrew Samson, the Test Match Special scorer, that Shoaib had joined a very select band of players who have scored a 100 in their comeback Test after missing 40+ Tests.

I saw him look again at the tweet.

Only one English player on the list, he said. Anyone know anything about who J Parks was?

Truly the Gods look after those in the desert in their hour of need … As Sheikh Zayed said: He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present.

That would be Young Jim Parks, I said, my Favourite Player.

What would you like to know about him?

[Dear Reader: Please insert any – but surely not all - of the many stories you have heard me tell many, many times about Young Jim.]

I so, so enjoyed my 3 days at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.

Memories to treasure forever.

I will sign off with just one.

Watching England play overseas – especially with such a small crowd – you feel like part of a family. The players at the centre, of course, the backup staff, the media and finally the supporters.

Have a look at the photo, at the man in white shirt between the two umbrellas.

I had seen him on the first morning, on the edge of the outfield, looking at the England players warming up. He chatted to a couple of the England coaches.

And then about 15 minutes before Close of Play he made his way to sit by the photographers, whom he clearly knew very well, and watched the last few overs intently.

Every day he did exactly the same.

And every day I especially looked out for him, morning and evening.

At end of Day 3, as the England Captain walked back to the Pavilion not out 167, the man was one of the very first to stand up and applaud.

Most of us, I guess, have learnt to live contented lives, but by the Laws of Statistics  they are ordinary lives.

As I looked down at the man clapping, I wondered what it must be like to be a Sky Sports cricket commentator, to be paid to travel the world and to watch and talk about the game that you have loved all your life.

Beyond Wonderful indeed!

But what if you had played for England for 15 years in 102 Tests, scoring 5,200 runs and taking 383 wickets? If the scorecard had showed you as IT Botham?

Sir Ian and I have never met.

But we don’t need to for me to know that he would give up commentating in an instant if Cookie came over one morning and said: Beefy, we’re one short today, fancy playing?

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

It may not have been Hove, but some things never change.

My eyelids still get very heavy after lunch !!!