It is now

Hi everyone!

Football World Cup, 1966

As August had slipped into September I’d felt the first hint of chill on my early morning walks with Mylo.

Although Season 2019 was coming towards its end, the Fixtures still had a handful of games left for me to watch.

But suddenly … It was all over!

Sussex lost their home T20 Quarter Final against Worcestershire.

So this year there would be no T20 Finals Day for The Mighty Sharks.

I managed to muddle up the location of the Essex v Warwickshire County Championship.

I could have gone to Chelmsford (where I thought the game was) but not to Edgbaston, near Birmingham (where the game actually was).

There was a day in the diary for Middlesex v Durham at Lords .

But it had to be cancelled when my two chums had a business meeting they needed to attend.

And, of course, I won’t be available for Sussex’s final home game of the season v Worcestershire which starts on 23^rd September.

That’s the day I fly to Italy to walk the Way of St Francis: Florence – Assisi – Rome.

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So after 38 days of watching, including 23 at my beloved Hove, what do I make of it all?

Perhaps it wasn’t a vintage season for Sussex.

A certain fragility in the Top 5 batsman remains an issue.

In the Royal London One-Day Cup 4 wins & 4 losses meant 5^th place in the Southern division.

Losses in the last 3 games against Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan meant there was no progress beyond the qualification round.

In Vitality Blast T20 the Sharks came top of the Southern division, with sell out crowds on all the Friday evening games under the floodlights.

In the Quarter Final at Hove they came up against Worcestershire.

A couple of dropped catches  - a crucial one when he was on 5 - allowed Moen Ali to score a brilliant 121 not out to take the Worcestershire Rapids through to Finals Day.

In the County Championship Sussex currently lie 6^th.

As I write this, it is very tight from 3^rd down to 7^th.

With 3 teams getting promotion and 3 games remaining….

3 wins for Sussex and next season we are back in Division 1!

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A HUGE thank you to everyone who watched with me this season.

Perhaps it was at Beckenham for a Kent game.

Or the always-looked-forward-to game at the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.

Watching from the Railway End , with memories of watching there now going back over 60 years.

Former Sussex players : Chris Nash (now Nottinghamshire) & Ollie Rayner (on loan to Kent)

Or to the Oval for one of the big Thursday night T20 Games under the floodlights.

Or at Taunton, for now traditional Sunday annual trip to the Wild West.

Or for a first visit to Uxbridge, in North West London, on a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon.

There were the very, very kind invites for me to watch at Lords (to see England in the World Cup) and to Edgbaston (for England v Australia in The Ashes).

And in Sussex…

To the Saffrons at Eastbourne – that most quintessential of English seaside towns - for cricket on a Sunday afternoon.

To Arundel, sitting out on the boundary on a sunny day…

Wondering just where Life had gone wrong !!!

And – of course – to Hove.

In the County games, watching from a deckchair up at the Cromwell Road end.

And in the T20, watching from the CanCom verandah. The best office in world cricket!!

This year I was joined by those making their first ever first to Hove Actually; and by a great friend with whom I first watched with over 50 years ago.

All Welcome!!

My thanks too to all those I chatted to during the games.

To the man who runs the bookstall at Hove, who at Arundel even let me try to sell a book!

To the man in the Cricket Museum, with his ever changing exhibits and wonderful booklets on Sussex legends.

And to the unnamed spectators who chatted so amiably.

Best bookstall in world cricket

And if I had only the one memory from this year?

Well, at the County game at Hove v Northamptonshire I saw a couple walking by the scoreboard on the Palmeira Avenue side of the ground.

They walked round towards the sight screen and stopped to watch the game.

It’s over 80 years since the gentleman first watched cricket at Hove.

Not too far off 50 seasons since he last played for Sussex.

He turns 88 this October.

To see my Favourite Player looking so well and watching so intently was a tremendous feeling!

Mrs Parks & Young Jim

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So that’s pretty much it from me for Season 2019.

Do Winter Well and look out for the Fixtures for 2020.

I really, really hope that you’ll come along and watch with me next season.

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

2020 is a decennial year.

And it brings four decennial anniversaries.

There’ll be blogs on a 40^th, on a 50^th and on a 60^th.

And - for the very first time – there’ll be one celebrating a 100^th anniversary.

On 10^th January, I’ll be celebrating with lunch.

Only one restaurant in the world to go to that day …

A little clue:

What else are Dreams for ...

Hi everyone!

A couple of years ago in June 2017 The Clock of Life told the tale – on his 65^th birthday – of a Young Boy’s first game of club cricket, exactly 50 years before in June 1967.

All the classic ingredients, of course.

The debutant on strike.

The game going to the last ball; the Death Ball.

One wicket left, 3 runs to win.

Dad watching - impassively - from the Long Off boundary.

Watching from the Long Off boundary

I’ll let you look up the blog & read just what  happened next …

The blog went on to tell how the Young Boy was taken under the wing of The Hawks’ Sunday XI captain, Des Hitch.

A retired semi-professional footballer for Eastbourne United, Des was an estate agent and sometime property developer.

He was the first person I knew who owned a Jaguar.

The S-type

Driven by Des; & in the 1980's by DI Jack Regan in The Sweeney

In the next few seasons Des improved my cricket (a bit!) and my after match drinking (a lot!!).

Des was an optimist at Sport and in Life generally.

“So, Young Ric”, he would often tell me:

“If you’re going to Dream, then Dream Big.”

In September 1971, just before going to university, I played my last game under Des’s captaincy.

In the changing room at the end of the game Des said a few words in front of the team to wish me luck.

After a “couple” of pints with the opposition, Des drove me home.

If Des ever drove his Jag at less than 80 miles an hour, well it must have been when he was in reverse!

We soon reached Farmcombe Road.

I thanked Des for all he had done to help me Grow Up over the last 4 years.

He smiled and said: “Ric,

“If you ever think it is time to be Mature, then think again. And put it off!!”

Des handed me a piece of paper, saying it might help me in the coming years:

All men dream, but not equally.

Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity.

But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

T E Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia)

In the many years since 1971, well I like to think I have Dreamed, maybe sometimes Dreamed Big.

OK; a couple may have turned out to be Nightmares!!

Of course, as the decades rolled by, I came to accept not all my Dreams would actually come true.

In 1992 I turned 40.

That year Jaguar showed a TV advert for their new car.

(Hint: Non parli Italiano? Nessun problema!)

Link to advert: https://youtu.be/gXPti8ppl5U

What else are Dreams for,

If not to come true

The following year in 1993 I applied for a new job.

As the CEO told me a few years later:

408 people, Ric, applied.

407 could do the job perfectly OK.

But we found You!!

And in 1997 - after a successful IPO to the Stock Market – and a mere 26 years after my last lift home with Des, the Jag arrived!!

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At Hove Actually we’re well into the T20 Season.

As I write, after 8 games The Mighty Sussex Sharks are Top of the South Group, with 5 consecutive wins.

 Last Friday evening it was the game against Middlesex.

Plenty of Sussex Legends on the pitch.

And in the crowd too!

Up at the Cromwell Road end

I was delighted to welcome Tim, a friend from Bickley and a lifelong Gloucestershire supporter, to his first ever Sussex game.

Tim’s daughter Lucy has recently moved to Hove, which I hope will prompt him to plenty more cricket watching!

Next to Tim is Emma, once a resident of Hampshire (do they even play cricket?), but now living in Haywards Heath in the Mighty County of Sussex.

 A few weeks ago See, I am sending an Angel told the story of the Where & Why Emma and I became friends.

The Where is:

Lime Wood hotel, New Forest

I was chairing an Audit Committee there at which Emma was presenting.

How many Audit Committees have I chaired in the last 20 years?

Far too many!!

And the one I remember the best was that one at Lime Wood.

Around 3.30 we broke for Tea and sat out on the patio.

Emma asked whether she could take a look round the hotel and its facilities.

About half an hour later, Emma returned.

She announced that the hotel was wonderful.

And as for the Why …

If I had been given a million goes, I would never-ever have guessed What Emma would say.

“It’s where I’m going to have my Wedding Reception!”

TBH, I didn’t know that Emma had a fiancé, never mind a date for her wedding.

“That’s lovely, Emma”, I said.

“When do you hope to get married?”

“Oh no, Ric.

I thought I’d choose the Reception venue first!”

And then find a Husband!!”

The following Sunday evening I was having dinner at Merryfield with Dianne and the Girls.

We were chatting about what we’d been up to during the week.

I told them about Emma & The Wedding Reception.

Nicole immediately said she completely agreed with Emma’s order of selection.

Laura agreed.

I turned to Dianne …who said:

“Reception, then Husband.

Exactly what I should have done!!!”

Was I in a parallel universe?

As Nicole was asking me what I thought, I heard the pips on the wireless for 7 o’clock.

Memories came flooding back of Sunday cricket for The Hawks.

In those now long, long ago days pubs shut on a Sunday at 2.30 and then re-opened at 7 o’clock.

If cricket finished early, we’d sit in the Jag outside the pub listening to The Top 20 on Radio 1 & 2.

As the pips started, Des would send me to knock on the pub door to get the publican to open up. 

“What do You think, Dad?”

There was only the one answer:

“If you’re going to Dream, then Dream Big.”

 … …

It’s a couple of Seasons since Emma and I last watched cricket together.

I really, really would like to tell you that she did get married at Lime Wood …

But the sad, sad truth is that Emma never did.

Isn't that the risk you inevitably have to take when you Dream and Dream Big?

The best I can offer you, dear reader, is a quote from Martin Luther King:

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Just two T20 home matches left this season …

How about coming to a Friday night game at Hove Actually?

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

Oh come on, dear reader, this is a Lord Ric blog !

Last ball of the game, one wicket left, 3 to win.

It’s always, but always going to be the one-bounce through midwicket for 4!!

OK, Emma never did get married at Lime Wood.

But …

She did meet James.

Went on their first date to The Jolly Sailor at Hamble.

Decided during the Main course that James was The One!

And on Friday 27 April 2018 got married!!

With a wonderful Reception at The Montagu Arms in Beaulieu !!!

What else are Dreams for,

If not to come true

Des would be pleased that Jaguar Land Rover made the car !!