Hi everyone!
Some Thoughts from Behind Enemy Lines
on
Kent v Durham
On the Thursday evening before Day 1 of the game on the Friday the weather forecast - chilly with rain developing during the day - & with the Skinners’ Lads deciding not to risk the journey from the Tonbridge area I had decided not to go along myself.
But .. when I woke up on the Friday morning, there were Blue Skies.
A day Behind Enemy Lines … It turned out to be a wonderful day of cricket at Beckenham !
For Sussex Fans… Don’t worry: there will be a couple of references to the Mighty Sussex !!
Please enjoy:
Imperfection
releases so many more possibilities & opportunities than does Perfection
As long-promised, there is a reference to cricket in ... Matabeleland !
“Tony
slowly developed into a seriously good bowler.
Or should I put it another way? He could produce seriously good spells.
Of course,
it’s not hard to forget that Tony is not perfect; no, far from it and I say
thank goodness for that.
Let’s face it, imperfection releases so many more possibilities & opportunities than does perfection.
His life and career are testament to that.”
John Barclay in The Times on 28th February 2026
----
Day 1 of Kent v Durham on Friday 15th May 2026 at Beckenham had been in my Fixtures since before Season 2026 had begun.
Though Beckenham is in the London Borough of Bromley, its residents still proudly hang on to their Kent postal addresses.
All week I had been teasing that I was going Behind
Enemy Lines.
Don’t worry, I was saying:
Remember your training, put some
angles between you and your pursuers. Evade and survive and we will bring you
home!
You got that?
We WILL bring you home!
Admiral Reigart
On the Thursday evening before Day 1 of the game on the Friday the game the weather forecast - chilly with rain developing during the day - & with the Skinners’ Lads deciding not to risk their journey from the Tonbridge area I had decided not to go along myself.
But .. when I woke up on the Friday morning, there were Blue Skies.
Blue Skies smiling at me
Nothing but Blue Skies do I see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but Blue Skies from now on
Irving Berlin
With my coffee flask full & my sandwiches ( one cheese, one ham & coleslaw) filled, I caught the 09.44 from Bickley.
A mere 9 minutes later I was at Beckenham Junction. And barely 2 minutes later I was in Waitrose stocking up on Essential Supplies !!
By 10.15 I was buying my ticket. Sussex have a reciprocal arrangement with Kent & the £7 was incredible value.
I collected my Deckchair & so it was that by 10.30 I was sitting at the Crystal Palace FC Training Ground end on the western side of the ground.
The 2 XIs were announced.
Bertie Foreman -
who was released by Sussex at the end of Season 2025 - had just been signed on a 2 months’ contract by Kent. But sadly he
didn’t get the selectors’ nod for this game.
I will have to hold in reserve memories of the game at The Nevill back in 1964 when Bertie’s grandad Denis played for Sussex.
Anyone like to discover what happened … (Look away now if you’re a Kent Fan)
https://i.imgci.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1964/ENG_LOCAL/CC/KENT_SUSSEX_CC_13-16JUN1964.html
But there were plenty of other Top Players on show:
England Captain Ben Stokes
Test Debutant Emilio Gay
There is only one ( of two) Ollie Robinson
Sitting next me were half a dozen Kent Regulars
of pretty much my vintage.
As the Umpires Mark Newell & Ben Peverall walked across the outfield at start of play, the Regular nearest me got out his Playfair Cricket Annual.
I heard him say that Mark Newell
played for Sussex in the 1990s, as did his brother Keith.
Famously – well Keith is famous if
you’ve just Wiki’d him – Keith played for Matabeleland in
Bulawayo in Zimbabwe in 1995
(probably) The only Sussex cricketer ever to play for Matabeleland !
Keith & Mark went to Hazelwick School in Three Bridges. It opened as a Secondary Modern school in 1953. The school’s first pioneering Headteacher, Philip Keyte, created its motto 'Effort Achieves' which is still used to this day.
Anyone like to guess:
When will 2 brothers be educated at State schools, come through the Sussex Pathway & go on to play for Sussex ?
I introduced myself & disclosed that I was a lifelong Sussex Fan. We all started chatting, a conversation which continued throughout the day.
On the pitch Kent Opener Zak Crawley – dropped for the
First Test v New Zealand at Lord’s – made a good start.
But in the 17th over & with the score on 61 he was out for 30 caught Matthew Potts bowled England Captain Ben Stokes.
Talking of the score … although I love Outground Cricket, you have to accept that facilities will not always be up to what you find on County HQ grounds, never mind Test venues.
The scoreboard nearest to where I was sitting - which wasn’t working ! – reminded me of the ones on the village greens across Kent & Sussex where I played half a century & more ago.
TBF to Kent … Elizabeth Ammon ( aka Legside Lizzy)
reported in The Times that:
an unlikely consequence of the
conflict in the Gulf.
A new high-tech large digital
scoreboard had been ordered by Kent, and should have arrived in time for this
match but it is stuck somewhere on the Strait of Hormuz.
Something else to blame POTUS 45/47 for !!
But after Zak was out, there was no need to look at the wickets on the scoreboard … the next wicket would fall at 364, a record partnership of 303 for any Kent wicket v Durham.
No.3 Sam Northeast - a former Kent captain who after spells at Hampshire & Glamorgan returned to Kent at the start of 2026 - scored 141.
But most eyes were on 19 year old Ben Dawkins.
It was to be Ben’s first FC 100. A day Never To Be Forgotten.
Wikipedia says that Benjamin Joshua Dawkins was born in
Johannesburg in South Africa on 19th October 2006.
It goes on to say he was educated at Sevenoaks School.
That should read: (probably) educated at …
For Ben was educated at The Skinners’ School.
In evidence, my Lord, I submit:
https://www.skinners-school.co.uk/84/school-news/post/16/england-selection
As Ben’s score got into the 130s, I knew he was
approaching the 2nd Highest Ever
FC score by an Old Skinner:
Bob Woolmer’s 149.
And then it was on towards the Highest Ever.
I asked the Kent Regulars next to me if they knew who held the current record of 172.
I gave them a clue. He was playing in my Favourite Game EVER v Sussex at The Nevill in June 1951.
By AMAZING Co-Incidence - the type so often found in a Lord Ric blog - in that game batting No.3 a 19 year old scored 188. But - like me - Young Jim NEVER played for Kent !!
As Ben’s score reached 173 (he would end the day on 180 not out), it was time to reveal that the previous recordholder was Peter Hearn, the Kent No.3 in my Favourite Game EVER.
I’ll let you Wiki Peter. His was a life
well-lived, including being a German prisoner of war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hearn
Through Tunbridge Well CC, Dad knew Peter in the 1960s
& ‘70s.
They would often chat about the game at The Nevill in 1951.
Fred, that Sussex No.3 looked a promising Young lad.
Do you know if it went to go on to do much in FC cricket ??!!
----
Plenty of Season 2026 still to come…
I can’t promise you that Old Skinners will be breaking records or that you will see England Captains playing.
But …
I really hope you will come down to
Hove Actually … I’ve Saved a Deckchair for YOU!!!
( I do have a couple of Middlesex Outgrounds in the Fixtures too.)
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, who was … the Tony [who] slowly
developed into a seriously good bowler ?
It is true that the Skinners’ Lads had decided not to risk their journey from the Tonbridge area.
But another Leopard did .. & as he wandered round the ground he Spotted (No pun intended) me.
Trevor Vousden
Trevor is one of my guests at Hove for Day 3 of the game v Somerset in late August.
We soon started chatting about Old Times:
Deputy Head PF Foxy Wells & the Light Machine Gun story. Of the importance in Life of deciding your Priorities
How a combination of Leopards Graham Pring & Graham Clayton had been the connection to get Trevor playing for the Borderers
Long forgotten games
at Tunbridge Wells Borderers:
Who was the Bowler
when Bish stumped Piers Morgan at Newick ?
RJH Roger Clarke on tour in Antigua
Trevor told me that in early January he had been at Holmewood House School, near Langton Green on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells.
Holmewood House has some famous former Teachers,
including Patrick Sky at Night Moore.
Famous former Pupils include Shane The Pogues Macgowan & Andy BBC TMS Zaltzman.
Trevor had gone for a book signing by Holmewood
House alumnus Tony Lester Pigott.
Very, very sadly just a couple of weeks later Tony died of a heart attack. He was 67.
Tony’s obituary in The Times on 28th February 2026 told the tale of his life.
From school at Holmewood House & then Harrow to playing for Sussex and his single Test for England:
His beach wedding in 1984 had been organised and
the date, seemingly, was inviolable.
The nuptials were but three days away when he took a call from AC Smith, the team manager, saying that owing to injuries, he might well be required to make his Test debut less than 24 hours later. He was not even a member of the tour party in New Zealand.
In addition, Pigott, then 25 and playing for Wellington, was suffering from sore shins but he knew that if he did not take this opportunity it might not come again.
Fortunately for Pigott, his fiancée, Nikki Fuller,
went along with his wishes.
The wedding was postponed.
And his one cap hung on a wall of his house thereafter.
In the next 4 decades Tony would continue to Give It A Go, including becoming CEO of Sussex.
The closing words of the obituary were from John Barclay, Tony’s captain at Sussex:
“Tony
slowly developed into a seriously good bowler.
Or should I put it another way? He could produce seriously good spells.
Of course,
it’s not hard to forget that Tony is not perfect; no, far from it and I say
thank goodness for that.
Let’s face it, imperfection releases so many more possibilities & opportunities than does perfection.
His life and career are testament to that.”
If John were available to give the Eulogy at my Funeral Service, he could use the very same words …
It’s not hard to forget that Ric is not perfect; no, far from it and I say thank goodness for that.
Imperfection releases so many more possibilities & opportunities than does Perfection
Let’s face it … Imperfection does
!!!
