Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
Mary Hopkin
Hi everyone!
This a story of a long ago forgotten day of County cricket; from four decades ago.
#SpoilerAlert
The game petered out into a draw.
Not the usual: final ball, one wicket left, 3 runs needed to win.
But just before you decide not to
read the Tale ... ...
I should tell you that it was:
The Old Rivals: Kent v Sussex
The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells
Watching with Dad
I hadn’t planned to go; for the
game was played on a Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.
Working days & I was busy (though I’ve absolutely no idea at what !!).
But on the evening of Wednesday 18th June 1980 Dad – who had been at the game that day – asked me:
“If - at the end of Thursday: Day 2 of 3 - there looks to be plenty of play left for the 3rd (and final) day, why don’t you come along on the Friday?”
Luckily, my boss was a cricket fan (Leicestershire) & he readily agreed that I could have a day’s holiday on the Friday; only finally deciding once Day 2 had finished on the Thursday evening.
Mum made the picnic.
The Pork Pies were in; never in doubt !
And the Tomatoes: out of politeness !!
So it was that - on a gloriously sunny day - at shortly after 10.30 on the Friday morning Dad & I left Farmcombe Road on the short walk to the Upper Cumberland walk entrance to the Nevill.
It was the same walk we had taken together over 20 Seasons before on Saturday 7th June 1958.
To watch my first ever game of County cricket.
Did I ever tell you that was the day Young Jim scored 127 … … I thought I hadn't !!!
We were joined by a friend of Dad's, Bill Sands, who had driven up from Rye about an hour away on the South Coast.
More about Bill later.
---
Many of you reading this Blog will have watched cricket at The Nevill many (perhaps … many, many) times.
It is a truly wonderful ground …
The Nevill: From the Railway End
… with so many memories.
For those of us who grew up in the Tunbridge Wells area - but may not have lived there for many years – well, I always agree with what Clive James wrote about Sydney, the city of his youth, in the closing words of Unreliable Memoirs:
“Pulsing
like a beacon through the days and nights, the birthplace of the fortunate
sends out its invisible waves of recollection.
It always has and it always will, until even the last of us come home.”
The Lads - Forever Young
Will Kent ever play cricket again
at the Nevill …
Season 2023: we can but hope !!
---
That Friday now long, long ago the Old Rivals were battling it out.
A casual glance at the scorecard shows there are plenty of familiar names.
For Kent, there is captain ( and father of Mark) Alan
Ealham & future captain (and son of Colin) Chris Cowdrey.
And overseas legends too: Asif Iqbal & John Shepherd.
For Sussex, there is wicketkeeper and captain Arnold Long & future captain Paul Parker (who after his cricket career would teach at Tonbridge School, barely 5 miles away).
And overseas legends too: Imran Khan & Garth Le Roux.
But there are also much less well-remembered
names.
The Kent wicketkeeper was Stuart Waterman, who played
but 25 games for Kent spread across 5 Seasons between 1980 & 1985.
The Sussex opener Tim Booth-Jones debuted against Kent; and by co-incidence his First Class career of 26 games would end against Kent the following Season.
The scorecard reports that Sussex
scored just 142 in their First Innings.
Paul Phillipson top scored with only 38.
Kevin Jarvis took 4 for 21.
Kent replied with 223, a lead of 81.
Chris Cowdrey top scored with 83.
There were 2 wickets each for Imran Khan, Garth Le Roux & Geoff Arnold.
Dad told me that - before Sussex batted again - he thought Kent would go on to win.
But at cricket you just never can tell …
In their Second Innings Sussex
scored a massive 305 for 8 declared.
Paul Parker 117 and Imran Khan 75.
4 more wickets for Kevin Jarvis.
On Day 3 I saw much of that innings
& all of Kent’s Second Innings: 75 for 2.
The game ended with Kent still needing another 150 runs to win.
As I noted in the #SpoilerAlert: "the game petered out into a draw.”
---
I think we’d all agree that watching cricket is about so much more than what actually happened in the game …
When I think – as I so often do – about that Friday, I remember chatting with Bill & Dad.
They were - in the modern parlance – Besties.
They had known each other for some 50 years.
They had played cricket together for Rye before WWII.
Rye Cricket Ground: The Salts
Bill was a Maths Graduate from
Cambridge.
The only graduate in the club.
When Dad was asked by the Rye Chairman
to become Captain, he asked for 24 hours to consider the offer.
What Dad really wanted was to check
that Bill was OK with playing under his captaincy.
“Bill, you’re our only graduate …”
Bill replied:
“Fred, I was asked to be Captain.
But I knew that you were a much better choice.
And I told the Chairman to ask you !!”
Looking back across the years, Dad rarely gave advice – though it was very often all too clear what he really thought !
Be gentle & slow to judge others
It is only when the Crocodiles are snapping that you know what someone is really like
Train On: Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first call promising
And finally…
Waste No Time On Assholes !
Nor did Dad take advice
either.
Save from his cousin Marg - see the blog in July 2018: It’s all the wasted chances
http://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2018/07/its-all-wasted-chances.html
And from Bill.
“Always worth finding out what Bill’s thinking."
That day watching the cricket there
was the usual ‘cut & thrust’ between them. An outsider might have mistaken
it for arguing. But Bill & Dad knew-well never to end the day on a
disagreement. I was listening out for those familiar words of reconciliation;
and not too long before Close of Play I heard them:
“Now, Frederic. When will I be seeing you next?”
A date was put in the diary: for Dad to meet Bill down in Rye, watch some cricket on the Salts (where Rye have played since the 1840s) & have a pint in their beloved The George in the High Street.
And – of course – Bill would be
back the next Season to watch cricket at the Nevill !!!
Season 2022 is not too far off …
I really hope that you’ll come along and watch cricket with me.
After all ….
Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own.
See you soon!!
Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace
PS
If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering what it was that prompted me to
write the Blog this particular day …
Of course, it’s always good to write about the Old Rivals playing
at The Nevill; and about watching with Dad.
But there is another reason …
As Bill got into his car for the journey back home to Rye, indeed we did all agree:
“See you at The Nevill next Season !!
But ...
The
Clock of Life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early
hour.
The following year in April 1981 Dad had a stroke. It left him
without sight. And no longer able to recognise “cant & tosh” at a 100
paces.
That Season – the first since the 1930s – there would
be no visit to his beloved Hove.
During the Autumn Dad's health worsened. And a few days before Christmas he was taken into Pembury hospital.
On Sunday 24th January 1982 – exactly 40 years ago
today – Dad died.
As I finish writing, I can look at his photo on my desk.
Barely a handful, perhaps, of you reading this Blog will have known
Dad.
You will recognise only too well that Dad’s influence on me is as strong today as it was 40 years ago.
I am so sorry that haven't always * followed his advice about: Waste No Time On Assholes !
* A (depressingly long !!) list is available upon request 😏
I have felt Dad walking by my side every day … when it was sunny
& at those times when I thought the rain would never stop.
Richard: the game isn’t over until the
last ball has been bowled.
Give It A Go !!
Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
And then they did ... ...
The
present only is our own,
So live, love, toil with a will,
Place no faith in "Tomorrow,"
For the Clock may then be still.
RIP Dad
Love, Richard
XXX
