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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
“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
Like Mum & Dad, I love my Pork Pies with
Extra
Jelly, Please
But you knew that already,
didn’t you!!!
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