Thursday, 23 June 2016

Extra Jelly, Please

Hi everyone!

Every Cloud does indeed have a Silver Lining ... ...

And Sussex’s relegation to Division 2 at the end of Season 2015 means that we get to play Kent at The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.
As - when I was a lad - we always used to in the days when the County Championship was only one Division.


 The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells
The iconic marquees on the Tennis Club side of the ground

I'd like to take you back to a Kent v Sussex game some 65 years ago ... ...
In fact, exactly 65 years ago today: 23 June 1951

On that gloriously sunny Saturday long, long ago the local derby had attracted a big crowd, including Fred and Isabel who were sitting high up in the old wooden stand that used to be to the left of the sightscreen as you look towards the pavilion.


New Stand (left of sightscreen) & Pavilion

They’d only decided to come to the game as late as just before 10 o’clock on the Friday evening when having a drink together in the saloon bar of The Queen’s Head in Rye.

Confirmation – not that confirmation is ever needed – that so many of Life’s biggest  and best decisions are taken in bars!

Isabel was up early on the Saturday morning.
By 8 o’clock she was at the Bakers in Landgate to buy bread for the sandwiches.

Then it was off to the Butchers.

“Morning, Jack. Two of your best pork pies, please.”

“You like them with jelly, don’t you Isabel?”

Isabel smiled.
She and Fred had long known that a pork pie without jelly is like love without sex.

“Extra jelly, please, Jack!!”

Was there time for a visit to the Greengrocers?
Well, perhaps there was, for a Cricket Picnic always welcomes the Healthy Option:
Onions for the Bhajis;
Vegetables for the Samosas: and
Tomatoes – out of politeness!

By a little after 9.15 Fred & Isabel were driving up Rye Hill and through Peasmarsh.
In Beckley, they took the shortcut along Whitebread Lane and crossed the River Rother at Newenden.




Then it was on through those quintessential villages of the Kent-Sussex border, the Hursts: Sandhurst, Hawkhurst, Ticehurst and Wadhurst.

They parked in Forest Road, high above the ground, and walked down Warwick Park to take their seats.

The players were gently warming up on the outfield.

A young Kent player took the eye. Though rotund in build and only 18 years old, the rumour was that he was a Special Player.

And the rumour was right for Colin Cowdrey would be the first cricketer to play over 100 Tests, including 27 as England Captain, and become President of the MCC.

Not to mention playing tennis-ball cricket with Dianne’s best friend’s husband, Nick Wilcox, in his back garden; just round the corner from Merryfield!

But it was Sussex who were much the stronger side.
They would win the match by an Innings and 94 runs.

It was their batting line up that made Sussex such a force to be reckoned with.

That day of the four highest-ever scorers for Sussex, three were playing.

The brothers Jim and John Langridge batted at 1 and 4.


 

The Langridge Brothers: John & Jim

Jim, only the 3rd professional ever to captain a County team, was 4th on the list with 28,894 runs.

John was 1st on the list with 34,150 runs. He scored a century that Saturday, just 1 of the 70 he scored; more than anyone else never to play Test Cricket.

But the day belonged to a young Sussex player.

It was only on the Thursday that he had received permission from his RAF Station Commander to play.

By the end of his career he would be 3rd on the list with 29,138 runs for Sussex.
Not to mention 1,087 catches and 94 stumpings.
And 46 caps for England.
And twice becoming President of Sussex.
And having the Bar in the Pavilion at Hove named after him!

He was the son and nephew of two former Sussex players: Jim (the only man ever to make 3,000 runs and take a 100 wickets in one season) and Harry Parks (8th on the list with 21,692 runs).


Jim (Senior) & Harry Parks

The young player was called James Michael Parks. 
He was already known as Young Jim; just as he is 65 years later.



Young Jim at the Nevill: 23 June 1951

The Kent wicket keeper is Group Captain Maurice Fenner

As he always tried to, Jim started to score quickly.
When Jim got to 50, entirely out of the blue  - and just as she so, so much hoped that one day he would do  - Fred asked Isabel if she would like to marry him; as long as Jim got a century that day.

“I’ll make you the happiest man in the world, Fred”

Twice dropped in the 70’s, Jim became marooned in the Nervous 90’s.

And so it came – as it so often seems to in Lord Ric’s Blogs – to the very last ball of the day.
Jim was on 97, needing 3 or more to reach his century.

As the Kent bowler ran in from the Railway End, Isabel had never heard of Neil Armstrong and had no idea that within less than 20 years men would walk on the Moon.

But once they had, she would always say that as the bowler reached the wicket her heart was beating faster than Neil Armstrong’s when he took one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

The ball was fairly full; pitching on middle, middle and leg …

                                                           
30 Years Later


Time indeed flies like an arrow.

And 30 years later in the Spring of 1981 a Stroke left Fred with very little sight.
His mind – which had been able to instantly spot ‘cant & tosh’ at a 100 paces – was left with only a sporadic memory of Times Past.

That year -  for the first Season since before World War 2  - there would be no visit to Hove to watch his beloved Sussex.

But Isabel would read Fred the cricket reports from the morning paper.

And in what was the year of Botham’s Ashes, they would sit together to listen to the England v Australia Tests on the wireless.


One Saturday morning  - on my way to play cricket for The Borderers  - I called in to see them both.

As it usually was, the front door was on the latch.

I gently pushed it open; and stood outside the lounge.

The wireless was on and Ian Botham was batting.

I heard the commentator say Botham had hit the great Aussie fast bowler Dennis Lillee for 4.


 Lillee & Botham: Exchanging Pleasantries!

Fred & Isabel were talking about the cricketers they’d loved over the decades.

I heard Isabel say:“Fred, do you remember the day we saw Young Jim at the Nevill?”

She began to tell the tale.
Of  deciding to go to the game whilst they were in the pub on the Friday evening.
Of walking to Landgate for the picnic.
Of taking their seats in the stand.

“ And Young Jim. How well he played. He’s always been my Favourite Player.”

“Oh, Fred, I was so excited when you asked me to marry you.”

Isabel told how Jim was dropped in the 70’s and became marooned in the Nervous 90’s.

“It came to the very last ball of the day, Fred. Jim needed 3 more runs for his century.

I was so nervous. My heart was beating faster than Neil Armstrong’s when he walked on the moon!”

“Do you remember what Young Jim did, Fred?”


How long did Fred take to answer?

Listening outside the lounge, it seemed to me liked minutes.
How much longer must it have felt for Isabel to wait for her husband to reply?

“Jim hit it for 4, Is. Into the marquees.
That’s what he did.”

“He did, Fred. He did”


For some Days at the Cricket are never to be forgotten.

……….

I can’t promise you that this year’s game at the Nevill will go to the very last ball of the day.
(Though when I come to write the Blog, it surely will have done!!!)

Nor that you will be proposed to.
(Though if your name is Emma… well, you might well be in luck; #JustHopeSo!!!)

But I'd love you to come along with me to The Nevill this year

*** Sunday 17th, Monday 18th & Tuesday 19th July ***

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

If you are thinking of bringing the Pork Pies … 

Like Mum & Dad, I love my Pork Pies with 
Extra Jelly, Please

But you knew that already, didn’t you!!!






Tuesday, 7 June 2016

A World View: 1952 to 2016

Hi everyone!

Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m 64?
Lennon & McCartney

21 June 1952 to 21 June 2016: Still wondering if I’ll ever grow up !!
Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace


Season 2016 has made a good start ...




Relegation at the end of last season to Division 2 of the County Championship has meant that compared to the last few years Sussex are playing some different counties.
So far I have seen Essex, Leicestershire & Derbyshire at Hove.

And as part of my Season 2016 Resolutions to visit some grounds I haven’t been to before, I have made my First Ever Visit to Worcester.

John Squire accompanied me on the train from Paddington.
Once you get beyond Reading and more especially Didcot, it is a lovely journey which wends its way through Oxford (other – much better – Universities are available!) and on through the Cotswolds.
A 10 minutes’ walk and you cross the Severn and are in the ground.

Worcester has a reputation as a very pretty ground.
And as long as you look in the right directions, that is definitely the case.

The view from the Pavilion is wonderful:


John & I were lucky to be invited in to the Pavilion by a couple of Old Boys whom we sat next to who were friends from Primary School and had seen their first game together way back in 1947.

The following season in 1948 they saw the Invincibles: the Aussie team over for the Ashes.
They were there when  Don Bradman played at Worcester. The Don scored a century, as he always does in all the stories that I’ve ever heard from those lucky enough to see him play!

Funnily enough, the other great view is from the Premier Inn:



I popped in for 15 Minutes R&R; just as Mrs (Lady Jane) Kartupelis always asks me to!
#JustFantasising, Jane!!!

There has been time for the first T20 night game at Hove.


Sussex scored a very creditable 222 for 3, with captain Luke Wright hitting a rapid 83 and Chris Nash a majestic 112.
But the highlight was Tymal Mills roaring down the hill from the Cromwell Road end to bowl Chris Gayle, the West Indian superstar playing for Somerset, for a paltry 5.
Sussex won comfortably by 48 runs.

And just last Sunday it was off to Beckenham, just a couple of stations from Bickley, for my annual visit.
I was delighted to be joined by Lady Jane & Rocket Ron.


Kent v Surrey in the RL50. What a game it was....

Surrey scored steadily to reach 255 for 8 in their 50 overs, with Kumar Sangakarra top scoring with 58.

Kent set off well, but when 111 for 1 became 116 for 5 and 147 for 6, Duckworth –Lewis was predicting a straightforward win for Surrey.

But cricket isn’t anywhere near so predictable …
Sam Northeast helped add 72 with Alex Blake. The result was in the balance when James Tredwell was run out from the fourth ball of the final over, bowled by Tom Curran.
 Blake, who recently ended a Championship game with three successive sixes, kept his nerve with a Big 6 over midwicket to seal victory off the penultimate ball.


Looking ahead, it is a demanding schedule over the next few weeks.

There is the Test Match v Sri Lanka at Lords, games at the Ageas Bowl and Arundel and plenty of days at Hove.

On 12 July I am watching cricket at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh; Honestly!
Just the one question to ask Phil the Greek. It’s the one Ronald Reagan asked:
Love the Castle, Sir, but why did you build it so near Heathrow Airport!

And then on Sunday 17 July it is off to the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells for Kent v Sussex.

This year it is 65 years since a famous game.
My blog Extra Jelly, Please will be out on Thursday 23rd June to celebrate one of the greatest days of cricket there’s ever been ….


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
The Lennon & McCartney song goes on to say:
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Reminds me of the time - just last week - that after a T20 game I got back to Merryfield at about midnight to discover that Lady Piper had bolted the front door …

PPS
OK: There is Dianne’s side to the story … … !!!!