When our Memories ...

 

When our Memories outweigh our Dreams, we have grown Old

Bill Clinton

Hi everyone!

(Some say)

He was a regular Up in the Deckchairs in the days of CB Fry & Ranji back in the 1890s.

There are Decades where nothing happens; &

There are Weeks where decades happen 

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

During the Sussex game away to Gloucestershire, I’ve been following events from Up in the Deckchairs with Vlad, Bill & Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry.

(Editor:

We all know Ol ’Ric believes that:

You should never let the Facts get in the way of what Really Happened …

But  … POTUS Bill always watches from the Sharks Stand at the Sea End !!)

Down at Hove Actually it's been a Decade * sort of Week !!

*  Strictly: 9 Years

Let me tell you the Tale …

A conversation at Sunday lunchtime with the Sussex Chair (The Best in County Cricket) led me - on Monday - to start e-following the Sussex IIs game v Glamorgan at Blackstone.

For the first time

Three Brighton Aldridge Cricket Academies (BACA) were playing for the IIs:

Go Well, Messrs. Munt, Cripps & Moore!

Along with the BACA Boys…

Plenty of familiar names, full of promise in the Sussex XI: Archie, Dan, Charlie, Henry and Zach

The Sussex skipper was Bertie Foreman.

I’m a Big Fan of Bertie.

He’s got a Cricket Bag full of Aptitude &  - even more importantly - Attitude.

In 2023/24 Bertie played for Manly Warringah on the edge of Sydney Harbour.

At the end of the season, Bertie joined an illustrious list of English cricketers to win the O’Reilly Medal, awarded to New South Wales Premier Cricket’s first-grade men’s player of the year.

On the List is #SussexLegend Tony Greig, who was hosted by Bertie’s Grandad Denis when he first moved to Brighton from South Africa in the 1960s.

“He was always Uncle Tony to my Dad.”

 

But in Life - as Chuck Berry sang - You Never Can Tell …

Having been captaining the IIs on the Monday, by Tuesday Bertie was making his First Class debut for Sussex in the crucial game v Gloucestershire at Bristol !

The Professional Cricket Association was soon tweeting:

How proud must Dad Michael must be!

And Grandad Denis, who passed away in 2016.

Denis played football for the Albion.

And 130 FC games for Sussex.

I saw him play for Sussex at the Nevill - 60 Seasons ago in June 1964.

You could look up the Scorecard:

https://i.imgci.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1964/ENG_LOCAL/CC/KENT_SUSSEX_CC_13-16JUN1964.html

But frankly … There’s absolutely no need to.

It was a Regulation Win for Sussex by 8 wickets over the Old Rivals, with Lord Ted scoring 117* in the 2nd Innings.

No prizes for guessing which #Sussex Legend (Hint: wicketkeeper, batted No.4) was with Ted at the end, with 57*

---

I was listening in the Study at Merryfield to ball-by-ball commentary to the game on BBC Sussex Sport.

The commentator mentioned the Foreman Family story & it got me thinking about…

How many Families have played for Sussex?

Never happier than when I have a Spreadsheet and with access to Wikipedia, it looks to me that there have been 130 Players from 55 Families.

Hint: Don’t forget that Ranji was Duleep’s Uncle !!

Every County has its Families. Gloucestershire: Grace, Kent: Cowdrey & Ealham, Middlesex: Compton, Nottinghamshire: Broad, Worcestershire: D'Oliveira  & Yorkshire: Bairstow.

But does another other County have more than 55 ...

Plenty of familiar Sussex Family names:

Buss: Tony & Mike

Greig: Tony & Ian

Griffith: Billy & Mike

Langridge: James, John & Richard

Lenham: Les, Neil & Archie

Tate: Fred & Maurice

Wells: Colin, Alan & Luke

In Season 2025 I’ll tell a few tales about some of the Sussex Families.

Starter Question: Why were the two Turnours always known as Edward 4^th & Edward 5^th ?

Clue: the Turnours were not BACA Boys. Their family has a tradition of being educated at Eton and New College, Oxford

--- 

As the game progressed into the afternoon session of Day 1, the Lads …

Editor: Can you still be a Lad in your(early) 70s?

Well …

Once a Lad, Always a Lad!

… the Lads - many of whom are lifelong supporters of the Old Rivals: Kent- were emailing & WhatsApping, looking into the Data Analytics for Result Predictions.

When you’ve been watching cricket for half a century & more, you very likely believe what William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun:

The past is never dead.

It's not even past.

One of the Lads found the Perfect Prediction.

55 Seasons ago he took a never-to-be-repeated 7-fer in my first game as captain. These days GC still turns out for Harberton CC in South Devon.

By chance, during the game GC was visiting one of his sons in Bristol who lives in the Greenbank area of Bristol.

Gloucestershire currently play most of them games at Seat Unique Stadium (aka the County Ground, Bristol).

But like many Counties, across the Seasons they have played at many other grounds – including Greenbank Cricket Ground, barely a couple of miles from the current ground.

 

Greenbank in the 2020s

From 1922 to 1928 just 20 FC games were played at Greenbank.

By co-incidence the first was against Sussex; as was the penultimate one in July 1928.

In the Sussex XI in 1928 were Jim & Harry Parks, John Langridge (brother of James and Uncle of Richard) and captain Arthur Gilligan (brother of Harold; and of Frank, who played for Essex).

Three Sussex Families in the One Game!

*** Can anyone find a FC match with more than THREE  Families?

(Editor: See below for one with FOUR !!!)

 As for the Result back in 1928: Sussex won by an innings & 65 runs.

I did e-follow the rest of Day 1 & Day 2 … but I “knew” the result would be:

 A Sussex win by an innings.

And so it proved just before lunch on Day 3 …

Sussex won by an innings & 7 runs!!

#NeverInDoubt

 

Winning the game meant that Sussex were promoted to Division 1.

After 9 long, long Winters, which began back in 2015 when we lost to Yorkshire & were relegated …

We are back where we belong!!

 

For Bertie it will be a game to be Remembered Forever!

I wish him Massive Success in what I hope will be a long career.

---

Season 2024 has just one round of Championship games left to play.

Sussex play Middlesex at Hove.

As Season 125 comes to its end with Sussex’s 2,827^th game since 1890 … There is all to play for.

A Win would make the Season’s Win Rate the highest ever.

Look out for a Special Blog!!

As for Season 2025 … I’ve Saved A Deckchair for YOU!!!

Vlad, POTUS Bill, Antoine & I are waiting for you.

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

 I long ago realised that Answers rarely fully come from the Numbers alone.

Scorecards are just the start to understanding What Really Happened!

When in the many years to come Bertie looks back at the Scorecard of his debut game, indeed he will see that he scored 2 runs (bowled by Zafar Gohar, 1 of 6 wickets for 76 runs) & bowled 12 overs for 36 runs, with 1 maiden and no wickets.

But as Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry said:

You cannot plant an acorn in the morning & expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of an oak.

As I listened to the game in Bristol, I thought back to game at a Horsham in June 1949.

Sussex v Cambridge University

https://i.imgci.com/db/ARCHIVE/1940S/1949/ENG_LOCAL/UNIV/SUSSEX_CAMB-UNIV_UNIV_11-14JUN1949.html 

There were four Sussex Families playing in the game.

*** Surely that must be a Record ??!!

Not to mention five future Presidents of MCC!

Sussex had a strong XI.

The Langridges: brothers James & John

George Cox Jr, whose father George Snr also played for Sussex

Billy Griffith, former Sussex captain and father of future Sussex captain Mike

David Sheppard would go onto captain Sussex & England … & become Bishop of Liverpool 

The Light Blues had some Top Players:

Future Sussex captain Hubert Doggart (brother of Peter), Doug Insole & John Warr would all play for England.

And - along with Billy Griffith * – become Presidents of MCC.

* As would son Mike

Oliver Popplewell would also become MCC President

John Dewes also played for England.

But Top Players though there were aplenty, what is it about a long-forgotten drawn outground game three-quarters of a century ago that led me to think of it 75 years later?

Well …Making his debut, the Sussex No.7 was just 17 years old.

Looking at the Scorecard, he scored 12 in the 1^st innings & 1* in the 2^nd.

He bowled 4 overs for 9 runs, with 1 maiden and 1 wicket (Popplewell bowled for 11).

In the next quarter of a century the debutant would only take 50 more FC wickets (including 1 in Tests, the only England wicketkeeper in C20^th to take a Test wicket).

But he would play 562 more games for Sussex (plus 46 Tests) and score 29,126 more runs for Sussex.

As Antoine would say: It was a game for planting Acorns!

Regular readers of the Blog may have been surprised – when reading the Sussex Families List – not to see one particular Family (2 brothers & a son) they would be certain that I would have been sure to include …

When I think of POTUS Bill and When our Memories outweigh our Dreams, we have grown Old … I don’t choose to go through the detailed arithmetic of my:

Dreams & Memories Ratio = Years To Go / Years Gone

I’ll leave You to estimate yours…

As Dylan sang: May you stay Forever Young

By the time it is 2099 – 75 years on from Bertie’s debut – even I accept that my days Up in the Deckchairs will be but a (recent!) memory.

May there be a Blogger somewhere remembering the Debut Game at Bristol back in 2024 & telling Bertie’s Tale.

Of how an Acorn became a Mighty Oak.

Hopefully The Gods will allow me to watch with the #SussexLegends – including Grandad Denis – from high above the scoreboard at the Cromwell Road end.

But wherever I am …

I know I will still be Telling the Tales about the Sussex No.7 who make his debut at Horsham in 1949 …

 

Forever Young ... Jim Parks !!

Family is not an important thing.

It's everything.

Michael J Fox

Field of Dreams

 

Field of Dreams

What else are Dreams for, if not to come true

Hi everyone !

 You don’t need to be a Cricket Fan to have enjoyed watching and been moved by Freddie’s Flintoff’s Field of Dreams.

 Freddie &  The Lads on tour in India

Matt Rudd’s review in The Times well-captured the series:

As with all great television, Field of Dreams was a simple idea.

In the first series, Freddie Flintoff decided to set up a cricket club in Preston, the city where he grew up but where the sound of willow on leather is not commonly heard.

Cricket transformed his life.

Could it do the same for a group of what the BBC at first called “disadvantaged” and then quickly changed to “reluctant” young men and boys in his home city?

In the latest series, Flintoff took the team to India to play some cricket and to see how the other 99 % live.

The result was much more than just life-affirming.

The BBC is yet to confirm a third series …

But Flintoff has already floated plans to expand his Field of Dreams concept to other cricket-free towns and cities. 

 --- 

Leaving his beloved Deckchair up at the Cromwell Road end …

Come for a short stroll with Ol’ Ric out to the Old Shoreham Road as he sets out to answer the Exam Question:

In the search for Top Performers, where in Sussex would you find a Field of Dreams?

 

Clue: You may be surprised where Ol' Ric found it !!

As the third & final programme of Series 2 of Field of Dreams ends, there is just time to update viewers on What Happened Next ?

Finn says: “Knowing the lads before and knowing them after, the change is remarkable. We are all totally different people. I think the show downplayed how much of an effect it had on us.”

He is now waiting to find out if his application to join the Army has been successful.

Eli reminds us that after being teased for playing cricket in his early teens, he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd and left his school in Blackpool without any GCSEs.

 “Things are different now. In India, I realised there was more to life than being a muppet. Our lives were all changed over there. We all came back with our eyes wide open.”

Josh, who has autism, struggled in the overwhelming maelstrom of downtown Kolkata but now describes the experience as “eye-opening”.

Since returning to the UK, he’s started his own business and rejoined his rugby club.

---

As I sat in my Deckchair during this week’s Sussex v Glamorgan game (“regulation” Day 3 win by an innings for the Mighty Sussex !) I was thinking about where I might find a Field of Dreams - one with Top Performers -  in Sussex.

By the type of Amazing Co-Incidence regular readers so often find in a Lord Ric blog … the book to commemorate the first 150 years of cricket at the County Ground in Hove Actually was titled:

 A well-researched and thoroughly enjoyable book, it combines formal history and personal reminiscences from a wide number of people.

But looking at recent graduates from the Sussex Pathway into the Sussex 1st XI I struggle to find many who ended their schooldays in State schools.

You may remember my blog in Season 2023 which set out the Alma Maters:

https://lord-ric.blogspot.com/2023/04/plus-ca-change-rodney.html

What - if anything - has changed in the last 18 months ?

Of the 7 players above in the Sussex v Yorkshire back in April 2023

5 were playing in the game v Glamorgan in September 2024.

Of the 2 who were not:

Ali Orr now plays for Hampshire

Oli Carter was not selected

Of new regular players in the Sussex Squad in Season 2024, Captain John Simpson (formerly of Middlesex) & Danny Lamb (formerly of Lancashire and currently out injured) were both educated in Freddie Flintoff’s home county of Lancashire in State schools.

John Simpson at St Gabriel's Roman Catholic High School Holy Cross College, both in Bury;

and

Danny Lamb at St Michael's Church of England High School, Chorley

And what of the Sussex Pathway ?

With 93% of children educated in State schools, what are the demographics of the 23 intakes?

Source: https://sussexcricket.co.uk/news/sussex-cricket-releases-2024-pathway-data

 

My View:

Some progress, but still a long way to go to achieve the England and Wales Cricket Board’s:

“ambition for cricket to become the most inclusive team sport in England and Wales

and to say we really are a game for all”

---

Of course, it is all too easy to spend one’s summers Dozing up in the Deckchairs, admonishing others to Do Better !!

I don’t doubt that the Head Honchos in the Sussex Boardroom have their hearts firmly in the right place.

I commend them on the Club's Equality, Diversion and Inclusion (EDI) policy:

We want our communities to say, “I feel part of Sussex Cricket.”  

The current Sussex President Founder and Chair of the Aldridge Foundation (of which the Sussex-sponsored Brighton Aldridge Cricket Academy “BACA” is part) is Sir Rod Aldridge.

Sir Rod, who went to a secondary modern school in Portslade and started work at 16 as a post boy in the Treasurer’s Office at East Sussex Council, wrote an excellent article on Levelling Up:

It is not where you come from that matters, it is where you want to get to that counts.

All young people irrespective of their backgrounds, should experience both a skills-based and knowledge-based education and enriching experiences that equip and enable them to raise their expectations, improve their academic outcomes and create the rewarding and productive lives they choose.

Every young person deserves an equal chance at life. 

The context of achieving the ambition of a game for all is very challenging.

The latest data from Sport England shows that only 5% per cent of children at State schools now play cricket in school hours, compared to 14% of those at Private schools.

But I’m right with Freddie:

I’ve learned not to fear failure; there’s nothing wrong with it — it’s not trying that’s criminal.

What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll go home and the kids will still be there, the sun will still rise in the morning.

Let’s try something new.

Right, Said Fred, by Freddie Flintoff

As I sat in my Deckchair, by chance a Couple of news items this week caught my attention.

Both giving grounds for Hope.

Firstly, the Social Mobility Commission published its report on Conditions of Childhood.

https://social-mobility.data.gov.uk/drivers_of_social_mobility/composite_indices/conditions_of_childhood/latest

The Report has data on the conditions of childhood in 203 UK local authorities – measured by childhood poverty, and the qualifications and occupation levels of parents.

The index captures whether the conditions children grow up in are good for promoting Social Mobility.

East & West Sussex both perform averagely in the Middle Group.

But … Brighton & Hove is an area ranked in the highest Most Favourable category

 

And what of the Second new item ?

Well, before the Start of Play on Day 3 I took a 15 minutes’ stroll from the County Ground out to the Old Shoreham Road to take a look at the nearest State secondary school: Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College – BHASVIC.

From the outside, one might - perhaps generously - describe the classrooms as “utilitarian”.

Certainly, compared with its near neighbour in Montpelier Road, Brighton Girls, a member of the Girls’ Day School Trust.

6^th Form Fees of £6,000 per term

And though Sports are mentioned on the BHASVIC website, I could see no mention of Cricket:

As I glanced through The Spectator’s supplement this week on Schools, The Oxbridge files ranked Oxbridge offers given to pupils from schools in the 2023 UCAS application cycle.

I searched in vain for Ardingly, Bede’s and Hurstpierpoint – where, as noted above, 5 of the 11 in the game v Glamorgan were educated.

I did find Brighton College (the alma mater of Sussex Legends Matt Prior & Sarah Taylor … and the current Sussex Chair !) at No. 43.

There are about 3,400 State Secondary schools, including some 150 in East and West Sussex.

To even get into the Top 80 (including 29 Private schools) listed by The Spectator is a really strong performance.

But to get into the Top 50 or 25 or 10 or 5 … WOW !!

At No.3 is BHASVIC … STELLAR !!!

Editor:

For Readers who – well over half a century ago - played Cricket with Young Ric in the 1960s …

Take a look at No.68.

A school whose Academic Standards have really, really improved since Ric’s Schooldays !!!

Of course, you may be thinking that progress from where you start is necessarily frustrating slow.

In Season 2023 Sussex - with 84%  - had the 2^nd highest % of Privately educated appearances in the county championship from England qualified players:

Source: FH Stephen

But take a look at Oxbridge Admission stats.

In the late 1930s just over 20% were State educated.

As The Spectator reports, by 2000 this had risen to 52% and by 2023 to 72%.

Where might Sussex aspire to be in 15 Seasons time - by 2039, the 200^th anniversary of its founding ?

This [Levelling Up] lies at the heart of any conversation on diversity and talent.

How can anyone claim to be building the best team possible, picking from across the entire talent pool, when that talent pool is formed only from certain parts of our communities?

Sussex Treasurer and Chair of the Cricket Committee, Fiona Richards

Indeed, talent does come from many parts of our communities.7 out of 10 self-made millionaires went to State school.

Might Sussex like to consider adopting the 10% Target proposed in Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite …

The authors, Aaron Reeves, a policy scholar at the University of Oxford, and Sam Friedman, professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, propose:

 Restricting the proportion of privately educated students accepted to study at Oxbridge (and the Russell Group universities more broadly) to 10%.

And what might the Club learn from the Stellar Performance of BHASVIC?

Perhaps the first step to take a step or two up Palmeira Avenue towards to bus stop right outside the school …

Excite Your Imagination

Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.

Samuel Johnson

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We are well into Season 2024, just a couple of weeks of Fixtures left.

But this is the Business End of the Season.

In the County Championship, with 2 games to go Sussex are top of Division 2

It’s looking like the Long Winter that began with relegation from Division 1 way back in 2015 will finally be over.

When I send round the Fixtures in early January … Do get out your diary & have a look at the fixtures for the remaining weeks of Season 2025.

 

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

You may be thinking how best might the Club approach BHASVIC?

If only there were a Sussex Legend who had been to the school & gone on to Oxbridge.

If there were such a person, could Lord Ric (Editor: helped by AI & Microsoft Copilot) find him ?

In a Lord Ric blog … #NeverInDoubt !!!

Take a look at the photo of the Sussex Squad half a century ago in 1970.

There were two Cambridge Men.

In the middle of the Front row, on Young Jim’s left, is:

 Mike Griffiths: Marlborough & Magdalene College

And the Other …

Well, over the years School Names do change.

In the 1960s when he was walked up the Old Shoreham Road to the corner of Dyke Road BHASVIC was called Brighton & Hove Grammar School.

How to identify him ?

Does it help if I tell you … he was at Queen’s College ?

I thought it would !!

Might I suggest asking the Immediate Past President of Sussex and  Captain back in the 1980s, John Barclay.

Old Etonian John is a former Director of Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation and led the charity for over thirty years.

The Foundation "delivers projects that engage young people in sports, learning and social experiences, enabling them to overcome barriers, discover new possibilities and realise their aspirations." More than 300,000 young people have benefited from the work of the Foundation. 

#FieldOfDreams

John wrote Team Mates …

And on page 102 he says his Best Friend in Cricket is the second Cambridge Man we are looking for.

I bet if the two of them offered to give a talk on Sport & Social Mobility … BHASVIC would be delighted for them to come along !!