In a Dream World ...

Cameron Steel’s column in The Times on Thursday 14th May 2026 announced his retirement as a professional cricketer. Cameron is just 30 years old.

Cameron wrote:

In a Dream World ... 

I would have scored a double century, taken ten wickets in the match to regain the Ashes ...

In my Dream World I too have retired from cricket …

In the confident expectation that life after cricket for Mr Steel will be A Wonderful Life

I would like to tell you all:

What Happened Next

#DreamBig

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Sir Ric – The Biography

Born the Son of a Carpenter, Ric grew up on the Kent/Sussex Borders in the 1950s & ‘60s. 

He was educated at Skinners’ School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (probably; the best college at the best university in the world), where he got a Double First in Economics.

Alongside his academic work, Ric won three Blues for Cricket, captaining the XI in his final year and playing for Sussex in the Summer vacations.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, Ric joined the Treasurer’s Department of ICI, then the biggest company by market cap on the London Stock Exchange.

Ric took a two Summers’ sabbatical to captain Sussex, during which he was selected to play for England. He led England on the Ashes tour to Australia.

With the series tied 2-2 going into the deciding Test at Sydney, by the final ball of the game England were down to their last wicket and needing three to win. With Phil Edmonds, a friend from school and college at the non-striker’s end, Ric found himself facing the great Shane Warne bowling from the Pavilion End. Warnie bowled a googly; and Ric hit it for four, one bounce through midwicket. The Ashes were won!!

Retiring from professional cricket, Ric was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in front of the Pavilion during the Lords Test.

Returning to ICI, Ric was successively FD of their businesses in the West Indies, South Africa and Australia & New Zealand.

Aged 41, Ric was appointed Group FD of ICI. Over the next 15 years, ROCE trebled and Ric became one of the UK’s best known FDs. His faux-anonymous fortnightly column Tales from an Old Dog was a must-read in the FT. Ric was never sued successfully!

After retiring from ICI, HM Treasury parachuted Ric to be Chairman of Lloyds Bank a few months after the disastrous acquisition of HBOS. The Daily Telegraph famously quoted Ric: “I do not know whether the Lloyds Chairman was personally responsible for the £billions that were lost; but it happened on his watch.”

Ric is currently chairman of WS Atkins (where he led the merger with AECOM to create the world’s largest engineering services company, now headquartered in San Diego) and Gattaca (which he has chaired from a privately owned business on the Hampshire Coast to the FTSE250).

He is also Chairman of the Trustees of Glyndebourne and a director of Arsenal FC.

Ric and his wife live in London and West Sussex with their #SpoiltBeyondBelief black lab. Apart from Friday evenings at home (a decent bottle of red, a sausage plat supper and spontaneous sex on the sofa), there is nothing they like better than visits from their family & friends.

In June 2026 - 66 seasons after he first sat with his Dad by Up in the Deckchairs at the Cromwell Road end to watch his beloved Sussex at Hove Actually – Ric will become Chairman of Sussex CCC.

When – as they occasionally do – his Guardian Angel Gigi and Ric look back over his Life (so far), they can’t even begin to believe how it has turned out; far, far better than they ever, ever imagined.

Strategy, indeed, is what you should write down to explain what has just happened.

#JoiningUpTheDots

Above all, Ric has long known that you must always: Give it a Go !!

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This Biography is brought to you by #JustFantasisingProductions, Inc.

As always… Never let the facts get in the way of really happened