Enter into his Gates with thanksgiving
Psalm100:4
Hi everyone!
Not yet the end of April … and already the second Championship match at Hove has finished !
A pulsating game ... full of Twists
& Turns!
1,255 runs scored across 4 days, ending in high drama.
Gloucestershire made a good start,
reaching 162 before the 3rd wicket fell.
Miles Hammond LBW to Jack Carson for a well-made 56.
Sadly – for those who read Lord Ric blogs expecting Amazing Co-incidences - Miles is not related to Gloucestershire & England legend Wally Hammond, who played 85 Tests either side of WWII scoring 7,249 runs at an average of 58.
Oh OK; there are some Co-incidences!
Both Miles & James Coles (playing for Sussex) have played
club cricket for Aston Rowant in Oxfordshire.
And Miles and Sussex T20 player Harrison Ward both were at school at St Edward’s.
Teddies is also the alma mater of John Woodcock, formerly Cricket Correspondent of The Times.
Outside Johnnie’s cottage in Longparish, where the Woodcock family held the right of Advowson.
There were also 50s for Ben Charlesworth and wicketkeeper James Bracey before the 8th wicket fell at 308.
Watching from up in my beloved
deckchairs, I - 99% statistically - confidently predicted that another 20
runs would be all Gloucestershire would get for their final two wickets.
Never listen to my forecasts !!
In fact, the 9th wicket put on 87 (Zaman Akhter:45) and the 10th a further 23 to allow Gloucestershire to end their 1st Innings on 417 (Zafar Gohar: 60 not out).
For Sussex both Danny Lamb &
Jack Carson took 3 wickets.
In Sussex's 1st Innings, and after consecutive 100s in the first
two games, Tom Haines was out for just 4.
But 50s for Tom Clark and Cheteshwar Pujara (much to my surprise; partly because I was telling a story about Paul Dunkell, the tallest person ever to play for Sussex, I missed the run out!) enabled Sussex to reach 286 for 6.
78 from Captain John Simpson and 83 from Danny Lamb got Sussex to 479, a lead of 62.
For Gloucestershire both Dominic ‘Benny’ Goodman & Zafar Gohar took 3 wickets.
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Domestic duties meant that I had to leave the ground at lunchtime on Day 3.
e-Following the game on my train
journey back to Bickley and then walking Mylo ‘round the block’, by the end of
Day 3 Sussex had Gloucestershire in deep trouble at 81 for 6, a lead of only
19.
Walking Commitments - London Countryway: Marlow to West Wycombe - meant I had to follow the game online on Day 4.
Houses to aspire to ...
Much to my disappointment, the
final 4 wickets on Day 4 put on 124, with Miles Hammond scoring 77 & Zafar
Gohar 52.
Jayden Seales took 4 wickets & Jack Carson 3.
Gloucestershire’s 205 left Sussex needing - “just” - 144 to win.
e-Following from rural Buckinghamshire,
regular ‘beeps’ on my mobile told me of the fall of another Sussex wicket.
At 112 for 5, another 32 seemed a long way off!
But… the Sussex No.4 is one of the Best
Batters ever to play for the Mighty Sussex.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s patient 44 not out off 102 balls saw Sussex home, securing their first win of the Season by 4 wickets.
Special praise for Gloucestershire’s Pakistan Test player Zafar Gohar who in the match scored 112 runs and took 8 wickets.
After 3 games, the Mighty Sussex go Top of
Division 2.
#BackWhereWeBelong !!
---
This Season… every time Sussex win
a County Championship game, the Sussex Dream Selectors will meet to choose a Sussex All-time
XI.
For the first XI - and a few days after the Wisden Cricketers of the Year were chosen for 2024 - the Dream Selectors were set the task of choosing a Sussex Wisden Cricketers of the Year XI.
I often look at the Honours Board in the Pavilion.
23 of the some of the Best Cricketers ever to play the game:
And who did the Dream Selectors eventually choose?
Sussex bat long: the No.10 Maurice Tate scored 21,717 FC runs, including 23 100s. His 2,784 wickets (not an error; it really is 2,784! ) include 155 Test wickets.
There are other All-rounders to die for!
No.8 Jim Parks senior scored 3,003 runs & took 101 wickets in
Season 1937. The only person ever to do so.
For a Top Tale: https://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2017/08/time-erases-details.html
Greigy’s & Imran’s career stats speak for themselves!
146 Tests, 7,406 runs & a massive 503 wickets.
You may be thinking … should Young
Jim be batting ahead of Ranji & Duleep?
First of all; anyone who has been even an occasional reader of the
blog over the last 10 to 15 years will know The Rule:
If he is available, Young Jim ALWAYS plays!!
And anyone who ever was lucky enough to see Lord Ted & Jim bat at Nos. 3 & 4 for Sussex back in the first half of the ‘60s also knows… Jim bats at No.4 !
Look out for a Special Report in June of a game at The Nevill v the Old Rivals:
Kent when Ted & Jim were at their peak.
#DiamondJubilee
I’ll leave you, Dear Reader, to look up Snowy (202 Test wickets) & James Langridge (the first Professional Sussex captain).
That leaves the Captain.
Some Big Egos in the XI. Not to mention that 4 of the 11 (+ the 12th Man) captained their countries.
No-one better to skipper than a Church
of England Bishop: the Reverend David !
For a Top Tale: https://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-enduring-power-of-thank-you.html
And Finally …
The 12th man CB Fry
co-held the world record for the long jump.
And played in the FA Cup final for Southampton.
As for the Coach … he knows all about winning competitions for Sussex !!
---
You may be wondering: Why is there is a Travelling Reserve ?
Ted Bowley is probably one of the least well-known names on the Honours Board. But his is a fascinating career.
Born in 1890, Ted played one season in 1914 and then, because of WWI, not again until 1920 when he was 30.
He debuted for England aged 39; the 8th oldest to do so.
Ted's 25,439 runs for Sussex (out a total of 28,378) put him 5th on the Sussex all-time list.
And his leg break bowling - which got him 741 wickets - could well be useful on drier wickets later in the season !
But why is Ted needed at all ?
Well, the 12th Man CB Fry was described by John Arlott as "the most variously gifted Englishman of any age." These gifts included a lifelong passion for reading Latin & Greek prose and verse ... in the original languages.
Like so many of us who watch from the Deckchairs up at the Cromwell Road end, after lunch there was nothing CB liked better than reading Homer and Thucydides.
Editor: Ol' Ric has the rare skill to do this with his eyes shut !!!
Worried that CB might miss signals for a change of batting gloves or a drink for a fielder out by the Palmeira Avenue scoreboard, the Dream Selectors decided that Ted Bowley would be perfect for the role !
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Season 2024 is still in its infancy.
Time to get your diary out …
How about a day with me Watching from the Deckchairs?
After all…
Nobody ever looked back over their Life
And wished they had spent less time Watching from the Deckchairs
I can’t promise you a very close game, with Sussex just winning
Though it surely will be by the time I write the Blog !!
After all ….
Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own.
See you soon!!
Lord Ric of
Beckley Furnace
Dozing up in
the Deckchairs
PS
So why the Quote at the start of the
blog?
Enter into his Gates with thanksgiving
Psalm100:4
Up in the Deckchairs we do like to chat. In the first game… it was about not turning on the floodlights.
But to be honest passions didn’t run very high for very long.
Bad light so often is accompanied by chilly temperatures; Time to call it a day!
So, unless new LED lights also have Heaters to keep the Deckchair Boys (& Girls) warm, I’m not sure anyone really wants the Floodlights back on!!
As well as the usual plea for re-introducing Softball cricket on the
outfield at Lunchtime …
Look out for a Special Report on Softball Cricket: the Big Game in the match report on Sussex’s next home game, when the visitors are Yorkshire.
… Conversation turned – quite out of the blue – to the Gates at the bottom of the steps from the Players Pavilion.
This is - absolutely honestly !! - an (almost) unbelievable story of Corruption in Cricket and Railway
Level crossing gates.
So … Why not come & watch some cricket with me
this Season … and hear about the Solution to
How to Enter into his Gates with
thanksgiving ??!!
I've saved a Deckchair for
YOU !!!
