Hi everyone!
Some Thoughts
on
Sussex v Glamorgan
A game where Winning The Toss made
a huge difference.
Up in the Deckchairs the discussion turned to Midnight Curfews …
Looking around the ground at Hove Actually, one ol’ boy remembered a verse from the New Testament.
Please enjoy:
Ye shall
know them by their fruits
Matthew 7:16
Ray Phillips from the Sussex Cricket Museum had
done his usual excellent job analysing all the previous Glamorgan & Sussex
games.
67
in Glamorgan
65 in Sussex
I knew of some of the Glamorgan outgrounds,
including Penryn Avenue in Colwyn Bay which is 187 miles by road from at Cardiff
& the outground most distant from any County’s headquarters.
I have to confess that I hadn’t heard of the
Steel Company of Wales ground at Margam, near Port Talbot !
----
The weather conditions and some good bowling led to Glamorgan wickets falling regularly.
Ben Kellaway -
more about him later – top scored with 33 as Glamorgan were all for 155 in the
52nd over. He looked a very talented young batter.
The Indian Test bowler Jaydev Unadkat - in his first game for Sussex this Season - took 4 for 29.
In what continued to be gloomy conditions, the Sussex openers Dan Hughes & Tom Haines did really well to put on 92 before Haines was out for 48. Glamorgan’s highest partnership had been 51 for the 5th wicket.
Hughes went on to score 72, helped in the final overs of Day 1 by Jack Leaning who’s 21 doesn’t adequately reward him for the importance of his innings given the conditions.
On Day 2 the weather was entirely different … a gloriously sunny day.
The highlight was James Coles with 224 not out,
including 22 4s & 11 6s.
By his high standards, James had been struggling for
runs this Season: with 253 runs in 12 innings coming into the Glamorgan game.
But Class is permanent … especially if you went to Magdalen
College School in Oxford !!
I am a Massive Fan of Mr Coles.
A few weeks ago I was struggling with a
Problem.
Frankly, I was getting nowhere in resolving it.
By chance; one Sunday morning at just
before 09.30 hours, I bumped into Mr Coles in Palmeira Avenue.
I told him – in truth, very brusquely - about my Problem.
He said he would help.
And he did !
#ProblemResolved !!
I will always know Mr Coles as #TheLocksmith 🔑
Sussex finished on a mammoth 521.
Extras of 46 were more than Glamorgan’s top scorer Ben Kellaway’s 33.
Set 366 to get Sussex to bat again, Glamorgan put up a
good fight.
Asa Tribe with 64 and Ben Kellaway with 55 helping the Welsh Dragons to reach 268 all out.
As Day 3 ended, Sussex had won by an innings & 98
runs.
After 7 out of 14 Championship games - and notwithstanding a 12 points deduction as part of the ECB’s Special Measures – Sussex are in 2nd place, only 1 point behind Essex.
It is proving to be a very close competition, with just 18 points separating the top 8 (of 10) teams.
All to play for in the second half of the Season !
----
A feature of the Glamorgan 2nd innings was Dom Goodman – on debut for Sussex – taking 2 for 34.
Dom hadn’t been in the starting XI.
But when during Day 2 Henry Crocombe was called into the England Men's Test squad as injury cover for Ollie Robinson, he was replaced by Dom.
I had hoped that Ben Kellaway would get out to
Dom Goodman …
Both went to Clifton College, as
did James Kirtley, the Sussex bowling coach.
But it just wasn’t to be !
( Kellaway LBW Haines)
----
Up in the Deckchairs there was plenty of chat about Midnight Curfews…
There was lots of news coverage and comment in the Media about:
In celebrating the opening Test
victory over New Zealand at Lord's, [Captain Ben] Stokes and [Gus]
Atkinson broke the England team's Midnight Curfew in Chelsea’s Rex Rooms
nightclub.
They were present when a member of England security staff was struck by a Saracens rugby player.
Director of Cricket Rob Key is considering imposing an alcohol ban on the England team and has given no assurances Ben Stokes will remain Test captain.
Following allegations of a drinking
culture that dogged the winter, England introduced a Midnight Curfew, which was
broken by Stokes and Atkinson.
Source: BBC
As someone who loves Martinis ( Best in the World !) at
Duke’s Hotel in St James's & with memories from the 1970s – which I am trying
to forget – of Away trips with Tunbridge Wells Borderers CC …
Shaken, not stirred
It isn’t for me to reach for John 8:7:
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.
A few weeks before the Midnight Curfew in Chelsea’s Rex
Rooms nightclub, on 26th May
2026 Paul Newman - for 18 years the cricket
correspondent of the Daily Mail - had written
an article in The New York Times’ The Athletic:
English cricket’s complicated relationship with alcohol
Of course, there are plenty of Top Tales of Cricket & Alcohol with No Harm Done.
A favourite of mine is about Old Brightonian WHV Levett.
Hopper played for Kent - and one Test for England - in the 1930s and just after WWII. He regularlry deputised for Les Ames.
Hopper & Les
Hopper's Obituary included:
After a night of heavy entertaining, Hopper Levett took his place behind the stumps and never even flickered as the first ball whistled by outside the off-stump for four byes.
The batsman tickled the second down
the legside, Hopper took off to dive and take a spectacular catch, rising to
say, beaming:
"Not bad, eh, for the first
ball of the morning?"
But
The ECB starts its section about alcohol in its report
entitled ‘Holding up a Mirror to Cricket’ by stating:
A heavy drinking culture excludes a significant number of people.
The report highlights some completely unacceptable
alcohol-fuelled behaviour, particularly around the conduct and attitudes of men
towards women. There can be no doubt that this is putting women off playing and
watching the game.
On the afternoon of Day 1 I sat in the Pavilion with a friend.
Looking around the ground at Hove Actually, I saw plenty of advertisement boards from Alcohol Suppliers.
The text below comes from the back of the Scorecard.
Official Pouring Rights Sponsor
Shepherd Neame
Who have the UK brewing rights for Singha
Official Cask Ale & Still Wine Provider
Harvey’s Brewery
Official Cider Partner
Thatchers Cider
Official Sparkling Wine Partner
Roebuck Estates
Don’t even get me started on the sponsorship from Dafabet,
the online betting and gambling site.
Official Betting Partner
Dafabet
As the Club's Press Release in July 2020 stated:
Chief Executive, Rob Andrew said: “We are thrilled to have agreed a new major partnership with Dafabet, a company who have a wealth of knowledge and experience within the sporting world.
“During these uncertain times, it has never been more important to secure agreements like this which will help sustain the financial future of the Club.
“We thank Dafabet for the support
they’ve shown in us and look forward to working closely with them over the next
three years. We can now focus on the season starting in August and the squad
wearing the new T20 shirt as soon as the Vitality Blast gets underway.”
Financial times are extremely difficult at Sussex.
Even though there are around 10,000 alcohol-specific deaths annually in the UK and an estimated 1.4 million adults experience problem gambling, with millions more considered at risk, the Club clearly believed it had to take the Alcohol & Gambling Pound to help sustain the financial future of the Club.
I guess Matthew 7:16 sums it up all too aptly:
Ye shall know them by their fruits
----
Plenty of Season 2026 still to come…
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 & there is Arundel on Wednesday 29th July.)
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 know … You’re thinking:
Ol’ Ric, you’ve turned into a Victor (I don’t believe it !) Meldrew.
I may well have One Foot in the Grave & there probably aren’t too many more Seasons for me Dozing … Up in the Deckchairs.
[Editor:
How many, many times have we all heard Ric say:
Top of My Bucket
List is:
2039
Turn 87
Attend the Lunch to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Sussex County Cricket Club]
But as Dylan sang:
The times they are a-changin’
In 1982 Sussex – with 13 wins, 1 loss & 1
abandoned game - romped to victory in the Sunday League competition.
Their 56 points was
12 more than 2nd place Middlesex.
John Barclay lifting the Cup
The John Player cup !
In July 2005 in the UK all domestic and global sports sponsorships by Tobacco companies were completely phased out
Four decades on from Sussex winning the John Player League ...
When it comes to Tobacco Sponsors, not even Rob Andrew is thinking it has never been more important to secure agreements like this which will help sustain the financial future of the Club.
Although it may not be in my time …
The day will come
when there are NO Alcohol & Betting at the County Ground.
I Dafabet you it will !!
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