It’s all the wasted chances

​You know what the greatest tragedy in the whole world is?

said Ginger.

It’s all the people who never find out what they really want to do or what it is they’re really good at.

It’s all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths.

It’s all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become ploughmen instead.

It’s all the people with talents who never even find out.

She took a deep breath:

It’s all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be. 

It’s all the wasted chances.

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

 Hi everyone!

I don’t know if King Louis XVIII of France liked cricket.

Well, French cricket perhaps!

But I’ve always tried to follow his maxim that: Punctuality is the politeness of Kings.

Not too many meetings where I’ve arrived late.

And even fewer cricket matches.

But today’s Blog is about one of those occasions …

Let me take you back 50 years to Friday 19^th July 1968, the evening before the game ….

--- ---

I’d been half-expecting it, so I wasn’t that surprised when Dad asked:

On the way to Hastings tomorrow … what do think about calling in to see Marg?

[Editor: Hard G in Marg]

No need to think about the answer to that question: I’d grown up calling into see Marg.

Just before 8 o’clock on the Saturday morning Dad & I left Farmcombe Road.

Through Frant and those quintessential villages of the Kent-Sussex borders, the Hursts: Wadhurst, Ticehurst, Hawkhurst & Sandhurst.

We crossed the Rother at Newenden, stopped to buy a pork pie (each!) from the butchers in Northiam and were soon at Horns Cross, a smattering of houses where the B2165 forks off the A28 towards Staplecross.

Marg was waiting for us at Woodside, where she had lived since 1928.

Woodside

The Piper Family Tree shows that Dad & Marg were cousins. Dad’s father Jack’s sister Lucy was Marg’s mother.

But Family Trees are like Organisation Charts; they don’t explain all that much of what is really going on!

Marg’s father had died in WWI and she and her mother had come to live with Dad’s family on the Johnson estate at Beckley Furnace [so now you know where Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace comes from !!] where Jack was the Bailiff (Estate Manager).

Several of the estate workers had returned from the war with some French.

Soon one of them had dubbed Fred & Marg “A Deux”: The Inseparables.

As always happened on visits to Woodside, there were Cheese Scones.

Hot from the oven, with the butter melting.

Best in the World !!

Dad & Marg went for a walk around the orchard at the back of Woodside. That year’s apple crop was coming along well.

The closest of people, there was nothing that they liked better than the 'cut & thrust' of discussion.

I had long realised that Marg was bright, really bright.

All her life she would worship at the Methodist chapel at Broad Oak. At her funeral the minister told of Marg’s intellect: that she knew the names of the all plants in the chapel grounds ... in Latin!

And many a minister - looking for some last minute inspiration for his weekly sermon - would call into Woodside late on a Saturday afternoon for a chat over cake.

Returning to Woodside, as their discussion got going, it was obvious to be me that Dad – like plenty of Pipers across the generations have done so often ! - was taking on Superior Forces: someone much brighter and better informed.

Far away, the Vietnam war was raging.

Dad was calling it for a US victory: the most powerful economy in the world led by President Lyndon Baines (‘LBJ’) Johnson, who was mightily determined:

But Marg saw that LBJ faced an opponent in Ho Chi Minh who had realised that once US conscription involved the Moms of white middle class college boys, then the US would not have the stomach to fight on:

You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours.

But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.

Marg was right. 
For though both LBJ and Ho Chi Minh had died by then, in March 1973 the US withdraw from Vietnam.

Though I never once heard her bemoan that time & circumstance - such as where she started out in society and her gender - meant that Marg never did realise her potential.

It’s all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be.

It’s all the wasted chances.

--- ---

Wars had been the backdrop to both their lives, but Fred & Marg knew-well never to end on a disagreement.

I was listening out for those familiar words of reconciliation; and just after 10 o’clock I heard them:

“Now, Freddie. When will I be seeing you next?”

Dad & I were soon on our way to Hastings.

Plenty of time for us to get to Hastings for the 11.30 start …

Except that shortly after Brede we were delayed by a flock of sheep on the road.

Whilst Dad alerted the oncoming traffic, I headed off to Marlpits Farm to get the farmer, Ray Gibson, who was a friend of Dad’s from schooldays.

Once a shepherd, Always a shepherd !!

One way and another we must have lost over half an hour.

We pushed on through Westfield and crossed the Ridge into Hastings.

Dad parked the car in Earl Street near the station and we made our way to the ground.

The Central Ground, Hastings

There was huge crowd that Saturday long, long ago, but fortunately my Uncle John (the oldest of my Mum’s three brothers) had saved seats for us on the South Terrace side of the ground.

I don’t think I have ever mentioned John in any of the blogs.

John had played cricket when Dad had captained Rye in the 1930s.

The gentlest of men off the pitch, John bowled fast left arm over the wicket rather like - dare I make the comparison? - Tymal Mills who plays for Sussex and plies his trade in the Indian IPL.

It was through John that Mum and Dad had met; and he was one of my godparents.

Looking out across the ground, I could see Kent fielding.

Sussex had already lost their first wicket: Mike Buss bowled David Sayer for a duck.

Kent had a very strong side.

Bob Woolmer - an Old Skinner like your writer - was playing in just his second Championship game. He would go on to play 19 Tests for England and coach both South Africa and Pakistan.

Alan Knott was the Kent wicketkeeper. In 2013 ‘Knotty’ was named as wicketkeeper in Wisden’s all-time Test World XI.

Derek ‘Deadly’ Underwood is the youngest player ever to take 100 County wickets in a season. Hastings was one of his favourite grounds: in 1964 he took 9 for 28, the best ever bowling figures at Hastings, and his only century was made there in 1983.

As for Sussex, well they too had some wonderful players.

Jim Parks (my favourite player; not that it needs saying!), Tony Greig (a future England captain) and John Snow (200 wickets for England) were also playing.

Along with the umpire that day John Langridge, all three play in my All-time Dream Sussex XI.

Ten years on in 1978 Greigy would choose Woolmer, Knott, Underwood and Snow to play in Kerry Packer’s World Series.

But the truth is pretty much the whole crowd - whether Sussex or Kent supporters - had come to watch another player: the Sussex No. 4.

Now there’s many a tale about the No.4 and that day’s cricket.

It all started - allegedly !! - before Start of Play.

In his autobiography Greigy says:

Our 12th man was sent out to clear a runway of sorts so that Lord Ted could land his private plane.

Did our lateness cause Dad & me to miss it??

Anyway, we didn’t have long to wait to see the No.4  for Sussex soon lost their second wicket with Derek Semmence caught Mike Denness bowled Norman Graham for 1.

So it was that at 6 for 2 out of the pavilion marched Edward Ralph ‘Lord Ted’ Dexter.

What can I tell you about Lord Ted?

The only Test cricketer born in Italy, former Sussex and England captain and a friend of Bernard, 16^th Duke of Norfolk.

Had Ted stayed overnight at Arundel Castle and avoided the dreaded A27 traffic by flying to Hastings?

In the summer of 1956 Ted made his debut in First Class cricket for Cambridge.

His first big innings, an unbeaten 118, came in the last of those four matches, against Sussex. The visitor’s skipper, Robin Marlar, was deeply impressed with the young Dexter and persuaded him to join Sussex as an amateur during the long vacation.

However, Ted didn't appear for Sussex in 1956.

A long-standing relationship had come to an end just before the Varsity match and afterwards, on the University’s end of term tour to Denmark, he fell under the spell of a young woman in Copenhagen and decided to stay on and pursue her rather than take his place in the Sussex side!

Ted & Mrs Dexter; Honest !!

By 1965 - having captained England on the tour to Australia in 1962/63 and led Sussex to victory in the first two Gillette cups in 1963 and 1964 - Ted had few remaining ambitions in the game, although he remained Sussex captain. 
He played in the first two Tests of the summer’s series against New Zealand, but then broke his leg in a bizarre accident. Driving back to London his car, a much loved Jaguar, ran out of petrol [I can hear Lady Piper saying: Just what kind of Cambridge Idiot runs out of petrol !!]. He started to push the car to a garage, and in doing so lost control of it and sustained a broken leg.

Ted decided to retire; and at just 30 England had lost one of their finest post war batsmen.

But fast forward to 1968 and Ted was lured out of retirement by Sussex and by England, where injuries and illness had left them short of batsmen for the final two Tests v the Aussies.

You’ll want to know about Ted’s batting style. 
Well, over 40 years on from 1968 The Times visited Hove and reported:

You didn’t need to look at the scoreboard to know when Ted Dexter was batting, one old-timer told his pals.
You didn’t need to open your eyes. You could tell it was Dexter by the sound of his bat on the ball. Like a rifle crack, it was.

Ted’s batting very much reflected his personality.

As reported in Alan Lee’s Lord Ted: The Dexter enigma:

Ian Fleming spent the last few weeks of his life in the Dudley Hotel, Hove. One afternoon he drove up to the ground.

Dexter strode in and a couple of hours later had completed a withering hundred.

Fleming was struck by the notion that Dexter, at least in looks and manner, would have made a good Bond.

I don’t normally have a Selfie in my blog !!

As for that day’s play, I am indebted to Ted Dexter:  A Celebration

In Celebration Richard Barrow writes a wonderful article “From Choir Stall To Cricket Ground – Hastings 1968”

Saturday 20th July 1968 dawned a perfect summer’s day, warm sunshine and blue skies.

Sussex batted and were not very good. They kept losing wickets but Dexter was now at the wicket. He was compelling, stood tall and hit the ball hard.

Gradually Dexter and the unknown captain, Griffith, took control. The tall Kent bowler, Graham, no longer looked so good and 'Deadly' Derek Underwood also came in for some stick. He did not look like an England player!

From 85 for 5 Dexter and Griffith added 162 before the captain was out. Then another chap, Cooper, came in and scored some more runs. Dexter was getting better and better hitting Underwood for a six straight through a window of the town hall.

Eventually Dexter was out for a truly wonderful 203.

A few years ago I met Alan Dixon [who was the Kent captain that day] who told me that Underwood, as was his wont, was unplayable to start with and quickly took wickets (Greig and Parks).

His first five balls to Dexter beat him all ends up, the sixth went to the boundary and Ted never looked back.

At the end of the day's play Derek had gone for 144 runs off 42 overs. His father strode over to Dixon and asked why he had kept his son on bowling to Dexter. Dixon replied 'because that is what he is bloody well paid to do.'

Ted’s innings got him back into the England Team for the 4^th and 5th Tests. But his scores were only contributions were 10, 38, 21 and 28.

There was one more game at Hove: 80 and 6 against Somerset.

And for Lord Ted that was it for First Class Cricket.

But there were plenty more 'chance's for Lord Ted to take.

In 1970, he flew his own Aztec BPA-23 ‘Pommies Progress’ to Australia to cover the Ashes series as a journalist.

In 1987, along with statisticians Gordon Vince and Rob Eastaway, Dexter was instrumental in developing a ranking system for Test cricketers. It was launched as the Deloitte’s Ratings and has now gained lasting prominence as the ICC player rankings. In an article in The Cricketer, Ted observed: The rankings idea was my biggest contribution to cricket. Much better than being known for hitting a couple of extra-cover drives.

Ted’s appetite for challenge and adventure led him up various alleys, blind and otherwise.

Among other things, he involved himself in public relations (at which, on his own account, he was rather inept), developed a passion for cars, thought of becoming a trainer of racehorses (settled for owning greyhounds), was seduced by Billy Graham's brand of evangelism, gambled, became a journalist and TV commentator, collaborated on a murder novel and rode high-powered motor bikes.

Along the way Ted twice won of the Oxford and Cambridge President's Putter held at Rye Golf Club.

And still found time to be Chairman of the England Selectors and President of both Sussex and the MCC.

In 2014 at the lunch to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the founding of Sussex CCC, when asked to select the All Time Sussex Dream XI  I very much doubt if a single person among the upward of 250 people in the room (least of all the Captain himself!!) even thought of another name to bat at 3 and skipper the side.

--- ---

At Close of Play we gave John a lift back to Rye.

There was time - as there always is time - for a Pint of Harveys (and a Sussex Half!) at The Bedford Arms, the pub where Rye Cricket club drink.

It was almost 9 o’clock by the time that Dad & I got home.

I heard Dad say: Is, sorry we’re a bit late.

Mum smiled.

Fred, I thought you would be. John rang me and told me about the Heavy Snow on Rye Hill!!

….

So, dear reader, how about coming and watching some Cricket with me?

I can’t promise you that there’ll be snow or that Lord Ted will be landing his airplane on the outfield!

But I hope you will have a really good day out.

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own. 

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

Uncle John spent the whole of his life living and working in Rye, where he owned a small carpentry business based near Landgate.

A Church Warden at St Mary’s Church for over 20 years, at John’s funeral the vicar described him as the gentlest of gentle men.

But all of us have talents that can flourish if we just grasp the opportunity.

In the Spring of 1944 John found himself in Caen, about 25 kilometres inland from the beaches at Arromanches-les-Bains out on the Brittany coast.

He was known by the code name: Le Meunier (English: the Millener).

Monday 5^th June was a very stormy day, with heavy rain whipping in from the Atlantic.

But as the evening progressed the weather improved markedly.

At about 00.45 hours on the morning of Tuesday 6^th June 1944 John woke up to hear dozens of Allied bombers flying over Caen.

He suddenly realised why he had been sent to Caen. And what he must do. 
It was time to take his 'chance' ...

Dear Reader, please don’t look back over your Life and Regret:

It’s all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be.

It’s all the wasted chances.

Mylo & I can't wait to go walking with You !!