Shine On you Crazy Diamond

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, 
you Piper, you prisoner, and shine!

Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Co-written by Dave Gilmour 

From Pink Floyd’s 1975 album: Wish you were here

Hi everyone!

A very warm welcome to the first blog of Season 2017!

I hope that you have overwintered well.

Of course, every Season brings anniversaries and memories of bygone years, of matches watched & players cherished who are never to be forgotten.

But some Seasons have a resonance all of their own.

Season 2017 is a Special One for me  … for it is a Diamond Season, my 60^th of supporting Sussex; the Oldest professional cricket club in the world and the Best.

There’ll be plenty of time throughout the season to reminisce about my first game; and many,many others!!

For today, suffice to say that Game No.1 for me was at the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells for Kent v Sussex.

Sussex were 58 for 2 when a player in his mid 20s walked down the pavilion steps and took guard.

Did he hit his first ball one-bounce through midwicket for 4? He must have done, surely?

In any event the scorecard shows he went on to score 127.

60 Seasons on - just as he was on that Saturday long, long ago - he is still my Favourite Player.

Young Jim

One-bounce through midwicket for 4

But today I want to Look Ahead.

In a Diamond Season Lord Ric’s Fixtures are Big & Bold; you’d expect no less.

If it all goes to plan, I will see all 18 First Class Counties.

As for where I’m going, I'll be heading west along the South Coast to one of the prettiest grounds in the whole of  England for games at Arundel. 

And then on to the Ageas Bowl; for Sussex’s regular wins over Hampshire!!!

In London, there are games at Beckenham & the Oval.

It is Lords, the Home of Cricket, on 21^st June, which is my 65^th Birthday.

Just as it was Lords for my 21^st Birthday, a mere 44 years ago.

Of course; I’ll be at the Nevill for a day of the Kent v Sussex game.
And to Canterbury to spend a day withe The Lads from the Borderers.

After the success in 2016 of visiting new grounds at Colchester, Worcester and Sir Paul Getty’s Wormsley, I’m planning this year to venture to Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Guildford & Radlett.

And finally, a much looked forward to first ever trip to West Country cricket, to see Somerset at Taunton.

Somerset v Hampshire at Taunton: Benson & Hedges Quarter Final 1974

The wicket keeper is Bob Stephenson

The batsman Viv Richards playing his trademark shot - exactly like Mine:

Whipping the ball from outside the off stump through the legside.

(OK: Sir Viv is one of Wisden's 5 Cricketers of the 20th Century & I'm "just"outside the Top 5!!)

But worry not, there will be lots & lots of days at my beloved Hove, watching from near the sight screen at  the Cromwell Road end.

Looking down the ground from the Cromwell Road end

So what of the Prospects for Sussex?

This year's Squad looks pretty strong.

There are some good Overseas players: the South Africans Vernon Philander and Stiaan van Zyl and the returning Kiwi Ross Taylor and South African David Wiese.

And joining from Warwickshire: batsman Laurie Evans.

Some well-established older hands too: including this year’s beneficiary Chris Nash, ever-young Steve Magoffin, Chris Jordan, wicket-keeper Ben Brown and captain Luke Wright.

And in the T20: Tymal Mills, back from his £1.4 million contract in the Indian Premier League!

The Highlight Ball of 2016 !

Tymal Mill's 93.3 mph ball bowls Chris Gayle of Somerset

Perhaps it was the ball that earnt Tymal £1.4 million ?

But I’ll be looking out especially for some strong performances from a very talented group of youngsters: including Jofra Archer, George Garton, Delray Rawlins and Abi Sakande.

As for some Targets for Sussex: What about:

ü  RL50: win 50% of the games

ü  T20: get to Finals Day

ü  Championship: promotion back to Division 1

Of course, it is never (just) about Winning …

It was Danny Blanchflower, who captained Spurs in their Double winning season in 1960/61, who said:

The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about Winning.

It is nothing of the kind.

The game is about Glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.

I like to think Danny could have been describing the way I always want Sussex to play!

For it was Lord Ted - who captains my All Time Sussex Dream XI - who said:

If you are going to lose, you might as well lose good and proper.
And try to sneak a win.

So: Let the Games begin!

I’m pretty much ready for my first game of Season 2017: 

Thursday 30 March for Cambridge University v Nottinghamshire at Fenners.

Fenners, where Cambridge have played First Class cricket since 1848
And, No: I wasn't at the very first match !!

A few weeks before my 21^st birthday in June 1973 I was at Fenners for all three days of the Combined Universities v New Zealand. 
It was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever, ever seen.

The Universities were captained by Phil Edmonds, who went on to play for England in over 50 Test matches.

But the Universities player who took the eye was the No.4.

He top scored in the 1^st Innings with 73 and then with 88 in the 2^nd , as well as taking 7 wickets for 146 in the match.

But who he was? 
And what has he been up to in the 44 years since that match?

Just the one clue: Like Lord Ric and Sir Viv, the No.4 turns 65 this year.

Why not join me at Fenners for a story or two about the No. 4?

I look forward to watching plenty of Cricket with all of you in Season 2017.

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

Shine On you Crazy Diamond co-writer Dave Gilmour lives in Hove, just down the road from the Sussex ground.

A few weeks ago he secured planning permission to develop Medina House, a derelict old bath house.

Is there a better place to live than in Hove overlooking the sea?

And just to the left of Marrocco’s; the best ice cream shop in the world !

I bet Dave is a double-scoop man !!

When Summer’s end is nighing

When Summer’s end is nighing

And skies at evening cloud

I muse on change and fortune

And all the feats I vowed

When I was young and proud

A E Housman  

Hi everyone!

Season 2016 ended with a very tense 3-way fight out between Middlesex, Somerset & Yorkshire for the Division 1 Championship.

With Somerset beating already relegated Nottinghamshire inside three days, it all came down to the last day of the season: whoever won at Lords between Middlesex & Yorkshire would be Champions.

I was lucky enough to be there on the Thursday for Day 3 with Richard Bradford & George Materna, both massive Yorkshire Fans.

Amidst a very exciting day’s cricket, there was time for a Spot of Lunch at the Lord’s Tavern !!

Please note the Healthy Option: Gherkins.

In a fluctuating final day, with Toby Roland-Jones taking a hat trick with the last 3 balls of the day, Middlesex won by 61 runs.

Meanwhile … … down in Division 2 Season 2016 was finishing much less dramatically, with Gloucestershire hanging on for a draw against Sussex.

In truth it has been a mixed season for “the Oldest professional cricket club in the world; and the Best”.

In the RL50 Sussex were bottom of the Southern Division with just one win from eight games. At least the one win was one better than Season 2015!

In the T20 Blast, although there were several very close finishes,  Sussex were 6^th of 9 in the Southern Division.

And  - a year after relegation - in the Championship Division 2 they were 4^th, most disappointingly never challenging for promotion.

But on the more positive side, young players from the Academy were introduced to the 1^st team, with Jofra Archer, George Garton & Phil Salt looking full of promise for the years ahead!

But cricket for Lord Ric is never just about the Results.

It is about so much more.

Of course, it is about being out in the Sunshine.

The Deckchairs at Hove 

I refer to research from Andrea Fagiolini of the University of Siena: strong daylight appears to improve sex drive.

“We found fairly significant differences between those who received the active light treatment and the controls.

Before treatment both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of about two out of ten, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction of about 6.3. In contrast, the control group only showed an average score of 2.7 after treatment.”

Suffice to say, and notwithstanding a very wet June, I was out in the Sunshine for plenty of hours in Season 2016!

And it is about sampling the Old & the New.

There were lots of days sitting in the deckchairs at the Cromwell Road end at my beloved Hove.

And the always looked forward trips to Arundel, Beckenham, the Nevill at Tunbridge Wells and to Lords and the Oval.

Arundel

And this season I was on the road for first time visits to Colchester, Worcester and to Sir Paul Getty’s ground at Wormsley and the Duke of Edinburgh’s at Windsor Castle.

Sir Paul Getty's Wormsley 

But above all it is being with Friends.

In the Sunshine at Hove:

Graham, the Young Man & David

Bill & Graham

Those I played village-green cricket with in the 70’s and 80’s at The Borderers:

The Lads at the Cromwell Road end

And those perhaps sampling their first cricket with me:

Mike, Mike, Muhammad & Tim at the Nevill

So many of you found time in your busy diaries to come & watch some cricket with me.

Thank you so very much !

I look forward to seeing all of you in Season 2017.

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon !!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

When Summer’s end is nighing thoughts always turn to the forthcoming Season.

Of course, every Season brings anniversaries and memories of bygone years, of matches seen which are never to be forgotten.

Season 2017 is a Special One for me  …

Long, long ago on Saturday 16 June 1973 Dad & I had walked round from Farmcombe Road to the Nevill for Kent v Nottinghamshire, captained by Sir Gary Sobers.

Just before 11.00 I witnessed something I was to think of and ponder many times over the decades that followed. 
And always when I entered the Nevill by the Tennis Club in Upper Cumberland Walk.

In Season 2017 it will be My Turn …

Will I accept the offer of the Pensioner’s Discounted Ticket?

Or will I – as Dad did a few weeks after his 65^th birthday – say: Thank you, but I’m not 65 until next year!

Where have the years all gone?

Time goes, you say?

Ah No !

Alas Time stays, we go

Henry Austin Dobson 

Young Passions, Old Bodies

Hi everyone!

My friends are gone, and my hair is grey

I ache in the places where I used to play

    Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen

Season 2016 is now well into its second half.

Plenty of days already at Hove and the much-loved annual trips to Arundel and to the Nevill at Tunbridge Wells.

And to Lords and the Oval too.

But - though my hair is grey - at the start of the year I set myself the goal of visiting some New Grounds.

For as Mr Cohen went on to sing:

Warm sacred dancing us to the end of love;

Young Passions, Old Bodies

So it was that back in May Mr Squire & I had a daytrip - by rail via Oxford and lots of stops in the Cotswolds - to Worcester for Worcestershire v Sussex in the Championship.

Worcester has a reputation as a very pretty ground.

The view from the Pavilion is wonderful:

Encouraged by the first New Ground it was off to Windsor Castle for the Royal Household CC v RSM Accountants; accompanied by the good Lady Piper no less.

Another wonderful setting:

Then to Canterbury for Kent v Worcestershire.

A bit of stretch to say Canterbury is a New Ground.

But I had not been for some 7 years and the ground now has some new stands.

And – would you believe it - a TESCO Express as you enter. (Ideal for buying a Pork Pie; Obviously !!).

It was great to meet up with The Lads, most of whom I had played cricket with at Tunbridge Wells Borderers in the (19 !!)70s and 80s.

I’m really looking forward to seeing them at Hove later this month for the Sussex v Kent game, when we will be joined by the Young Man over from New Zealand.

And from Canterbury it was to Colchester - again with Mr Squire - for Essex v Sussex.

A Quintessentially English county outground, the Castle Park had a good size crowd for an exciting day’s play, with Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer batting Sussex away from danger.

Let’s hope that the outgrounds survive the reduction in the number of Championship games in 2017 .

And so to the final New Ground of Season 2016: Sir Paul Getty’s Wormsley, off Junction 5 of the M40, for England U19 v Sri Lanka U19.

This is Country House cricket at its very finest.

You turn off the public highway, through the first security check and drive about 2 miles on a private drive, past the grazing sheep and avoiding the pheasants (pheasants, not peasants!!).

Just before the car park, you reach the second security check.

“May I have your name, Sir?”

    “Lord Piper of Beckley Furnace.”

The guard checked his list.

“Welcome to Wormsley, Lord Ric.”

Is Wormsley the prettiest ground in England?

Well perhaps it is …Though Arundel runs it very, very close.

Sri Lanka scored at 5 runs per over in their 257 for 7. 
Captain Asalanka with 70 and Ashan with 60 both looked promising batsmen. 
Dominic Bess (Somerset) bowled his off breaks tidily with 10 overs for 30 and 1 wicket. Wicketkeeper Ollie Pope (Surrey) made a wonderful stumping to dismiss Bandara off Hugh Bernard (Kent).

In their innings England were all out 149, losing by a whopping 108 runs. 
Only Captain Max Holden (Middlesex) with 40 looked up to much on the day.

I will be following the careers of all 22 players, in the hope that there will be a Test Player or two amongst them in the years ahead.

Plenty to have enjoyed  at the New Grounds of 2016.

And some more new ones to visit in 2017.

Taunton: which I had hoped to go to in 2016.

And Eastbourne: where Sussex are planning to play their first match since 2000.

But before then: there’s still time to come & watch some cricket at Hove with me this Season

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ^©

See you soon !!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

In the hope of finding an Ice Cream– which I never did !! – after lunch I wandered round the ground.

I did find a statue:

And then just outside the perimeter of the ground I saw some young boys playing :

My thoughts went back to playing in the late 50’s and early 60’s at the Upper Banner Farm Cricket Club; the famous UBFCC, who’s home ground was the field at the top of Farmcombe Road.

OK: Next Season I turn 65, my hair may be grey and my body old… 
But I’m still up for Young Passions.

Hope you are too!!!

A Day to Remember

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way

If I could reach the stars
I'd give them all to you 

Then you'd love me, love me
Like you used to do

If I could turn back time

By Diane Warren (for Cher)

When the Cricket Fixtures for the coming season are published in the late Autumn, there is always one which I look for first: The Championship game at The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells.

Will there be a game there this year?

What’s the date?
Who’ll be playing against Kent?

Last November there was Great News!

Indeed there was going to be County cricket at the Nevill in 2016.

And - for the first time since 2003 - it was going to be my beloved Sussex in a four day game starting on Sunday 17 July.

In the First half of my life I regularly took the less than 10 minutes’ walk from Farmcombe Road over the railway line to the ground.

And in the Second half each year I either drove or took the train from Bickley to Tunbridge Wells.

But - as all those of us who watch Countdown on Channel 4 in the afternoon know - there is a Third half.

This year I came from a new direction; driving from Hove across East Sussex through Lewes, Uckfield & Crowborough. It felt like my own Third half had begun!

There was a only a modest size crowd as I met up with Sally & David Lambourne – who both watch cricket with me regularly – and Bob Ayers and Mike Varney, each father of one of Nicole’s best friends and each on the first ever visit to the Nevill.

We sat – as Tradition demands – at the Railway End between the sightscreen and the iconic marquees.

We were soon joined by Graham Bishopp, who I played cricket with at the Upper Banner Farm Cricket Club and then at the Borderers in the 1960’s and ‘70s.

And then by Graham Clayton (a member of the Team of 1969. Captain: Lord Ric) and his friend Bill; with whom I had watched Sussex v Middlesex in a T20 Blast at Hove on Friday evening.

There was a spare seat next to me and a Lady asked if she could sit there.

My Favourite Sister-In-Law (Auntie Barbara) has told me never to judge people on appearances.

But straightway I knew the Lady wasn’t the Ukrainian - 27 years’ old - Blonde that a Lord Ric Blog really deserves.

To start with … She wasn’t a Ukrainian. The Lady had that wonderful, mellifluous speaking voice that can only be acquired from a really expensive private education in England.

And though she had been 27, a gentleman - if really pushed - would have said 27 was a “couple” of decades ago.

But … She was Blonde!

In the way that so often happens at Cricket, we started to chat.

She told me that it was her first visit to the Nevill; though (like me) she had recently watched Sussex play at Arundel. 
She had driven up from Chichester. Her husband had planned to come too, but at short notice he’d had to go into work as his boss had a child who was ill. She’d decided to come on her own.

I told her that I had grown up very, very near the Nevill: the ground where I had seen my first County game almost 60 years ago in 1958.

Did I tell her that Young Jim scored 127 on that Saturday long, long ago? Of course, I did!!

That I had driven up from Hove, where Dianne & I now lived at weekends and to where I plan to retire. (OK: Not just yet!!).

I explained that Dianne wasn’t interested in Cricket, though we’d both gone to an England v Australia Ladies T20 game last season with Sally, who was sitting just in front of me.

The Lady asked if any of my children were interested in the game.

Not really, I replied. My elder daughter Nicole has taught in Abu Dhabi for the last three school years; she was about to come back to teach in the UK. I’d gone out to see her last October and seen several days of the Pakistan v England Test Match.

And your younger daughter?

I heard my voice catch as I said that very, very sadly Laura had died a few months ago. 
Dianne, Nicole & I were just taking each day a day at a time.

The Lady said how sorry she was.

And – as well-educated, middle class English people do – we quickly and almost seamlessly moved the conversation on.

After tea I decided to go for a stroll round the ground. OK, it was to get a Good Boy ice cream! After all it was National Ice Cream Day!!

And when I returned to my seat the Lady had left.

The Lady may never have been Ukrainian and she hasn’t been 27 for a while.

But she did have that wonderful speaking voice and she is a Blonde.

 I’ll be looking out for her at Arundel next season!!

------

I said goodbye to Sally & David and Mike as they each made their separate way home.

At Close of Play Bob & I walked along Upper Cumberland Walk & back over the railway line to my car parked in Delves Avenue.

I dropped Bob off at the station and drove through Tunbridge Wells town centre and then past Skinners’ School, where I’m an alumnus.

As I got on to the Tonbridge bypass, I realised that - as it always is – the game at The Nevill is A Day to Remember.

I thought of Mum & Dad, to whom I owe so much and whom I think of every day.

And I thought of Laura.

Over the years Laura & I had hundreds of conversations - & silences too!! – on our walks with Lottie.

Many, many topics covered.

But we didn’t ever talk about Life after Death.

Rather like the central heating clock, neither of us would have thought we knew enough about how it all worked.

But Laura will now …

Mum & Dad taught me never to do Deals with the Devil.

As plenty of you will know, I hope to be alive and well in the Summer of 2039.

I will turn 87 that June.

And Sussex – the oldest professional cricket club in the world - will be celebrating its 200^th anniversary.

I’d like to be able to walk to the Ground and enjoy the celebration lunch.

And in the 20+ years between now and 2039, there’ll be time for lots & lots of Cricket watching, the game which has been such a huge part of my life.

But as I headed past Sevenoaks and on towards the M25 and back to Merryfield, I knew that if the Devil offered me the Deal of no more Cricket watching in return for half an hour with Laura, then I’d take it.

Who really knows if there is Life After Death?

And if there is, whether the Dead can ‘connect’ with the Living?

But just in case … …

Laura:

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way

If I could reach the stars
I'd give them all to you 

Then you'd love me, love me
Like you used to do

If I could turn back time 

Love Dad xxx