Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace: May 2024

Hi everyone!

Sussex’s latest game was against Middlesex at Lord’s.

As I headed to the Home of Cricket ground on Saturday to watch Day 2, and with the two Counties 1^st & 2^nd respectively in Division 2 of the County Championship …

I’d already written the headline for the Lord Ric Blog:

Sussex Win Thriller !

But it wasn’t to be …

After four - pretty much rain unaffected - days, the game petered out to a Draw:

Sussex: 554 for 9 declared

Middlesex: 613 for 9

1,167 runs for the loss of only 18 wickets.

No sign of a 2^nd Innings for either side !

Of course, there are always Stats to enjoy.

Whilst I was watching:

Cheteswhar Pujara’s 129 was his 10^th century for Sussex.

He is the 52^nd player to reach 10 First Class tons for Sussex.

His average of 76 is the best ever. Next best: Ranji at 63.

Mr Pujara’s partnership of 213 with Captain John Simpson was Sussex’s highest for the 5^th wicket against Middlesex.

John Simpson’s 167 was the 2^nd highest for a Sussex.

Together with his 205 against Leicestershire - and after only 7 games for Sussex – he already has the two highest scores for a Sussex wicketkeeper-batter in County championship matches.

OK; Young Jim did score 6 150s, with a best of 166* !!!

Credit to Xav Voight-Hill for the Top Stats.

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It is always a special privilege to watch at Lord’s: for Sussex Members are allowed to watch from the Pavilion, where Jackets & Ties are compulsory.

In the Lunch interval - as I meandered back across the outfield towards the Pavilion gate - I saw an Ol’ Boy.

(Editor: at Lord’s we call them Elderly Gentlemen).

He looked strangely familiar …

That evening, as I was brushing my teeth, I saw him looking back at me in the bathroom mirror.

Anyone have any idea who he is?

As I took my seat in the front row of the first tier … like the pigeon, I knew I had the best seat in the house:

So many memories of watching at Lord’s.

My first game way back in 1961.

I was here on my 21^st birthday … and my 65^th too!

Along the way there were:

Gillette Cup Finals & NatWest ones too

Test Matches

World Cup Finals

A real treat when you wander round the Pavilion are the paintings of some of the greatest cricketers ever.

At the top of the staircase is this Legend:

145 Tests: 708 wickets at 25

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It got Ol’ Ric thinking …

Who are My Favourite Players?

What about a Tour with them?

So here it is …

My Favourite Players XI – Tour Party

First of all, Selection Conditions:

1. Must have seen them play

2. Maximum 3 from 1st County they played for

Even more importantly they must have a strong track record of supporting Jim Senior’s (and my !) views about Cricket:

Rest Assured: everyone in the Tour Party knows all about Enjoyment !!

There’s an oft-used saying in the game:

Form is temporary, but Class is permanent.

Looking at the big picture, in the Tour Party we have shed loads of Class:

One Duke

Two Lords

A Knight

A Contessa … honestly !

And a Prime Minister … OK, he is currently in jail !

Three were Oxbridge Blues Captains

Three have been President of MCC

Four have Captained their Country

Eleven (yes, 11) have been Wisden Cricketers of the Year

Including three in Wisden’s All-time Test XI & two Wisden Cricketers of the Century

Not forgetting ... the one chosen by Sir Don Bradman to be in his 20^th Century team.

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So – as the Duke loved to say – let’s take a look at the Runners & Riders:

No.1: Barry Richards

Along with his ‘brother’ who bats at No.5, one of the two best batters I have ever seen.

Barry was chosen by The Don to open the batting for his 20^th Century team.

In the Sussex Cricket Museum there is an exhibition of photos from Arthur Smallwood.

The wonderful photos are of players from the 1960s & 1970s, including one of Barry:

Every time I look at it, I remember Barry should have been a Sussex Legend:

The first game that Barry played for Hampshire was at Hove.

BA Richards bowled Snow for 0

#Schadenfreude

No.2: Bob Woolmer

Along with the No.11, perhaps the least well-known of The Faves.

Bob, Phil & Tony

Bob played for Kent from 1968 to 1984, plus 19 Tests for England.

He went on to be a very successful coach for Warwickshire and internationally for South Africa & Pakistan.

I should disclose that I have been on Tour with Bob before.

OK; it was on a coach from Tunbridge Wells to Ashford.

Bob was playing for the Skinners’ School 1^st XI and I was playing for the Under 14s !!

Nos 3& 4: Ted Dexter & Jim Parks

No justification needed !!

But – as you will see – Ted isn’t Captain & Jim doesn’t keep wicket.

For those not lucky enough to see these two Sussex Legends bat together in the 1960s, I can do no better than repeat what Lord Ted wrote half a century later in 85 Not Out:

Looking back on my own batting performance for Sussex, it is always Hove I remember best - Hove and Jim Parks.

It isn't coincidence that I made more runs and had more productive partnerships with Jim Parks than any other cricketer.

Generally, I found that you could have a partner whom you dominated; you took the bowling when you wanted it, probably refused his runs but made him take yours. Or you may have had to deal with the opposite, when you played second fiddle and let him make the running. I did both many times.

However, my partnerships with Jim ere always on an equal footing, where ascendancy was regularly passed from one to the other.

There was always complete accord.

No 5: Viv Richards

Lord’s Pavilion

A Wisden Cricketer of the Century, Viv played cricket with a swagger.

He was not one to take a Sledge lying down.

Playing for Somerset in a county game against Glamorgan, Greg Thomas attempted to sledge Richards after he had played and missed at several balls in a row.

He sarcastically informed Viv:

"It's red, round and it's about five ounces, in case you were wondering."

Viv then hammered the next delivery for 6, straight out of the stadium and into a nearby river. Turning back to the bowler, he commented:

"You know what it looks like, now go and find it."

OK; I may have left out an expletive or two !!

No.6 Tony Greig

The third Sussex Legend in the XI.

Like me, Greigy loved the Outfield at Hove.

Obviously, the photo was taken at Tea.

These days … Spectators aren’t allowed on the outfield at Lunch!!

There was some discussion about whether to select Ian Botham.

These days it is Baron Botham, of Ravensworth in the County of North Yorkshire.

It would have meant another Lord in the Tour Party

But … the Contessa told me:

Never choose a player whose weight in kilos exceeds his IQ.

No.7 Alan Knott

Knotty & Deadly

Lord’s Pavilion

Many readers will be very surprised to see Knotty playing for The Faves.

I know, so many of you can hear me saying:

“When he is available, Young Jim always plays & keeps wicket”

Knotty is the best wicketkeeper I have ever seen.

(OK, Bish. I know… he never played for Tunbridge Wells Borderers and stumped Piers Morgan - yes, that Piers Morgan! – at Newick.)

I remember what Robin Marlar - Sussex captain in the 1950s - wrote in The Sunday Times on 27 April 1986.

Marlar was an off-break bowler and a good one: 970 wickets in 289 matches at an average of 25. But, as a City headhunter, he would have quickly spotted that there was a glaring gap in his own CV:

Never played for England.

Kept out of the team for the best part of a decade … by Jim Laker.

Marlar wrote:

As one who bowled in his long shadow, I owe Jim that special debt of gratitude which comes from being taught a lesson for life.

Many people, thwarted in an ambition, come to take the view that the world is against them and, if the conviction feeds on itself, warping of personality is almost inevitable.

Any spin bowler trying to get into the England team when Laker was at his peak could have no argument with the selectors, no chip on the shoulder.

On the 1967/68 England Tour to the West Indies Colin Cowdrey picked Jim as wicketkeeper for the first three Tests. But Knotty played in the final two.

As Jim said in his authorised biography Young Jim: For the next decade Alan was first choice !

Knotty plays in the Wisden England Alltime XI … and he keeps wicket for The Faves !

No.8 Imran Khan

Lord's Pavilion

Like Viv & - dare I mention - me, Imran is a member of the Class of ’52.

88 Tests with 3,807 runs at 38 and 362 wickets at 23.

So many Top Tales about Imran…

I’ll just say that – unlike me – at Lunch he found much better things to do than stroll round the Hove Outfield.

I’ll let you read the story:

https://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2017/03/of-history-of-legend.html

Connaught Hotel in Sydney

I’m working on a plan to get Prime Minister Imran released from jail ...

No.9 Shane Warne

The Sussex Captain gets off the mark...

A Massive Six high over the Hove Pavilion

You could hear the crowd's roar right along the Coast ... from Chichester to Hastings

Along with Viv, Warnie is the second Wisden Cricketer of the Century.

A wonderful bowler and definitely one who would fully enter into Tour Enjoyment !!

I’ll leave you to Google

Warnie’s sledge about cookies with Zimbabwean medium pacer Eddo Brandes.

No.10. Fred Trueman

Fred, Ted, Reverend David & Colin

Four tremendous cricketers … but only two play !

Fred was playing in the first game I ever watched from up in the Deckchairs.

Did Lord Ted really hit him first ball for 4 … Must have !!

60 years ago … Saturday 15^th August 1964.My first day at Test cricket.

Dad & I were watching from the Archbishop Tenison School side of the Oval to see Fred become the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets.

Wisden described Fred Trueman as "probably the greatest fast bowler England has produced.”

Mind you, Fred believed he was "t'finest fast bowler that ever drew breath."

No.11 Phil Edmonds

And so we come to the Captain. Maybe not who you thought I'd choose.

Three in the XI captained their countries: Viv, Imran and Ted who - he was, wasn’t he ??!! – was fully expecting to be Captain.

But I’ve known Phil since schooldays. We were at college together too.

In preparing the Tour biographies the Media Manager well-described Phillipe-Henri:

Reputation for being awkward & arrogant,
probably because he is awkward & arrogant.

Works hard at trying to be controversial & iconoclastic,
but basically a pillar of the Establishment.

Editor:

Dear Reader, I have checked. She did indeed write this about Phil… though it could equally well apply to Ric !!

As evidence of the Media Manager’s view, I refer you to Mike ‘Degree in People’ Brearley, who captained Phil at Middlesex and England.

I rated Edmonds as a good reader of the sport and nominated him the vice-captain for Middlesex.

He was under the perpetual impression that he would have become a better captain than me.

Whatever else, with Phil as Captain the Tour will not be dull !

On the 1984/85 England tour to India in the Calcutta Test , when Sunil Gavaskar killed the Test by carrying the first innings of the Test into the fourth day, Phil sat on a deckchair at square-leg.

A Singular Man

12^th Man: Chris Jordan

I had thought of picking Colin Bland, often considered the finest fielder ever.

But … on South Africa’s 1965 Tour to England in the Lord’s Test he ran out Young Jim.

I haven’t yet forgiven Mr Bland !

So I went with Chris ‘CJ’ Jordan.

Jason Roy, who plays at Surrey with CJ, said:

He’s the fielder I’d entrust with taking a catch to save my life.

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Of course, every Tour Party needs a Support Team:

Tour Manager: Bernard, 16^th Duke of Norfolk

Duke Bernard & Friends

The 16^th Duke of Norfolk, was a passionate cricket follower.
Bernard was not however a fluent run scorer.
In the frequent games he played on his own magnificent ground at Arundel, it was important to give 'one off the mark' to avoid both the Ducal Duck and a dark, dark night in the dungeon.

Robin Marlar, How to Avoid the Ducal Duck

The Duke managed England in 1962/63 on the Tour Down Under, with Ted as Captain.

Ian Wooldridge of the Daily Mail wrote:

It was the first time that most of us had met the portly, florid aristocrat...we hardly knew what to expect: he hadn't exactly sprung to mind as a front-running candidate for the job.

It was a black-tie affair, of course, and none of us dared get drunk. Eventually, over the port, the port, the Duke rose, cleared his throat and delivered himself of a sentence I shall treasure till the end of my days: "Gentlemen", he said, "I wish this to be an entirely informal tour. You will merely address me as 'Sir'".

The grand old duke is dead now, alas, but he loved that tour of Australia more than any other official duty he had ever undertaken in his auspicious public life...

I could write a whole volume on the Duke Down Under.

My own favourite story about the Duke is from Thank You Hermann Goering: The Life of a Sports Writer by Brian Scovell.

Another classic story was about one of his many visits to race meetings in Australia.

He was in the paddock one day and noticed that a trainer had slipped something into the mouth of a horse. As a leading figure in the Jockey Club and the Queen's representative at Ascot, he said to the trainer, 'What's that you've given to the horse?"

The trainer said, 'Oh, your Grace, not to worry. It was a lump of sugar. Here, have one yourself. I'm having one myself.'

The Duke popped the lump of sugar into to his mouth and ate it, and the trainer did the same.

Just before the start, the trainer was heard giving the jockey his instructions.

'With two furlongs to go,' he said, 'let him go and give him all you've got.

If anyone passes you after that, it will either be myself or the Duke !

Deputy Tour Manager: John Barclay

After captaining Sussex, for 30 years Trout ran the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation for young cricketers and underprivileged children.

Along the way he became President of the Cricket Society, MCC and Sussex.

And wrote my favourite cricket book, the one that I will be taking with me to the Desert Island:

There on page 225 is the Eternal Truth:

"Lest we ever forget: death comes as a very fast ball and is decisive"

Coach: Brighton & Hove Buses

What did Warnie say:

The only Coach a team needs is the one that takes them to the ground.

Sir Aubrey - Captain of Sussex & England and the only First Class cricketer to have a Star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame - would be the ideal candidate to be the Tour's Entertainment Director.

Media Manager: Contessa Francesca Elena Maria di Moriati

The One Name in contention.

The Contessa has a lifetime of experience with Cricketers.

The most crucial lesson that every member had assimilated was that hard work, discipline and conscientiousness are better guarantors of personal and professional success than any amount of raw talent.

Source: Repotting

Whilst Aptitude is measured on the arithmetic sale, Attitude is logarithmic.

I’ll let the Contessa tell you which Faves scored well !!

Sommelier: David Gower

When David pulled the first ball he faced in Test cricket for four

John Arlott exclaimed "Oh, what a princely entry!"

117 Tests with 8,231 runs at 44, I’d have liked to find him a spot in the XI.

But he’ll be a Top Pick as Sommelier.

After all, 40 years ago his choice of book -along withe Bible & Shakespeare - on Desert Island Discs was :

Compendium of Wine

And if you’ve ever wondered about the Impact of Incentives in Sport …

The managing director of Wiggins Teape, the England team sponsor that season, told me that, as an incentive, he'd give me a bottle of pre-war port for every century I scored that summer.

It worked: centuries at Trent Bridge and the Oval and a double century at Edgbaston.

That's how the Gower cellar ended up with two bottles of 1908 Graham's and 1912 Dow's .