An unscrupulous intellect

Hi everyone!

In September 1967 Dad read an article in The Daily Telegraph that the European Cup Final (think Champions League, but a knock out basis from the start) was coming to Wembley on Wednesday 29^th May 1968 - exactly 50 years ago today.

Dad rang the Wembley Box Office & asked about tickets.

Amazingly, in those pre-Internet days it was as simple as “We’ll keep two tickets for you. Just send a cheque & a Stamped Addressed Envelope.”

A decade after the Munich Air Disaster – in which 23 of the 44 on board Flight 609 died, including 8 players, 3 coaching staff and 8 journalists - Manchester United managed by the legendary Matt Busby were back in the competition.

Though Dad & I were Spurs & Arsenal fans respectively, we took a keen interest in United’s progress.

In September they beat Hibernians 4 – 0 on aggregate in Round 1.

In Round 2 in November they went through 2 – 1 against Sarjevo, then of Yugoslavia.

All seemed to be going well ...  until in early January 1968 the Timetable for my O Levels (Editor: GCSEs for younger readers!) was published.

Disaster: an exam was to be held at 09.30 on Thursday 30^th May, the morning immediately after the match at Wembley.

My Latin O Level Set Books:  the Letters of Erasmus and the Poems of Catullus.

Mum & Dad had a ‘chat’ and a Deal was done.

If United got to the Final, I could go to Wembley.

Otherwise, it would be an evening of last minute revision and watching the game on the TV.

It was definitely a case of “Come on You Reds!”

The Quarter Final was against Górnik Zabrze of Poland, with United winning 2 – 1 on aggregate.

The Semi-Final opponents were the mighty Real Madrid.

United won their home leg 1 – 0.

And in a pulsating away leg in front of 125,000 at the Bernabéu Stadium they came back from 2 – 0 and then 3 – 1 to hang on to a 3 – 3 draw and win 4 – 3 on aggregate.

Dad & I were going to Wembley: United v Benfica of Portugal!!

Dad picked me up straight after school & we drove from Tunbridge Wells to London.

Was there time on the journey for some Last Minute Revision?

#JustPerhaps !!

We parked in the underground car park at the Marble Arch end of Park Lane and caught the Tube out to Wembley & - together with tens of thousands of supporters - walked down Wembley Way to the famous Twin Towers.

We bought a programme: 

And then took our seats high up close-ish to the half way line.

We saw the players warming up.

For United: captain Bobby Charlton (who had survived the Munich crash) & Nobby Stiles, both World Cup winners for England in 1966.

And George Best; just 22 years old and already one of the most famous players in the world.

What did they say about Bestie?

Maradona: Good

Pele: Better

George: Best

For Benfica: their captain was Mário Coluna and the No. 10 Eusébio, one of the greatest players of all time and the scorer of 733 goals in 745 matches.

Eusebio

In truth, the first half was fairly quiet.

But the game really came to life when Charlton scored in the 53^rd minute.

Benfica drew level in the 70^th minute when Graça scored.

It remained 1 -1 after 90 minutes.

We saw Matt Busby come on the pitch to urge his players on as the match went to Extra Time.

The following morning the Papers reported Busby as saying: 

 "It was a very simple team talk. All I said  was 'Whenever possible, give the ball to George!'"

Even though it was well after 9 o'clock, it was a sweltering evening. Physical fitness played its part, with Benfica looking exhausted.

Almost immediately, picking up the ball 25 yards from goal, Best broke into the penalty area and dribbled round the goalkeeper José Henrique and rolled the ball into an empty net. 

A couple of minutes later Brian Kidd scored United’s third, with Charlton wrapping up the win with his second of the game.

United had won 4 – 1, the first English club to win the European Cup.

We saw Charlton and the United players go up the steps to the Royal Box to and collect the Cup; and their celebrations back on the pitch.

Back at Marble Arch, Dad & I headed to home across South London.

We took the shortcut – as I always still do - via Brockley & Crofton Park, joining the A21 by the Catford Greyhound stadium.

As we drove out along the Bromley Road & passed Southlands Road, neither of us had any idea that I was within a mile of Merryfield, where I would live contentedly for over 30 years.

The Sevenoaks bypass had opened a couple of years before, but there was still three years before the Tonbridge bypass opened, so it was on through Hildenborough and then Tonbridge High Street.

Over Bidborough Ridge & down the hill by Southborough cricket ground.

As the clock tic-tocced well past one in the morning and we approached the Weavers Restaurant, a policeman flagged us down.

“Evening, sir. You’re out late?”

“We’ve been to the European Cup Final at Wembley. United won 4 -1!”

I could sense that - though he had absolutely no need to be - Dad was nervous.

But I wasn’t  … …

For the policeman was Charlie Morphie who lived in the one of the police houses in Dorset Road leading up to the Hawkenbury cricket ground and who – shifts permitting – was an opening bowler for the Saturday 1^st  XI.

The previous Sunday Charlie and I had been in the Hawks Sunday XI against Lingfield. If memory serves, with Young Ric at the non-striker’s end, Charlie had hit an enormous 6 high over midwicket to win the game off the last ball of the game.

“On your way, sir”,  I heard Charlie say.

“And, Young Ric: Good luck with those Latin Set Books in the morning!!”

PS

So, dear reader, you’ll be wondering … … How did the Latin O Level go?

Well, Skinners’ School Class 5A in School Year 1967/68 had several Bright Boys.

Three would go on to Oxford 
(Editor: I didn’t know that there even was a University at Oxford!!!!)

And two would win Open Scholarships to read Classics at Cambridge.

I hardly need tell you that my own ability was far, far below their league ...

However, very fortunately Young Ric had picked up something from Desiderius Erasmus:

# Tribuo Is A Ire

(Which very roughly translates to: #GiveItAGo)

Come & watch some Cricket with me & I’ll explain how the Zambian Elephant came to my rescue in the Latin Set Books exam !!!!

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own. 

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

The time is fair again

Hi everyone!

I am not a day of season,

For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail

In me at once; but to the brightest beams

Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;

The time is fair again.

All's Well That Ends Well, William Shakespeare

I hope that you’ve Wintered well.

(Or Summered well if you’re based in the Southern Hemisphere!).

We’ll erase all memory of England’s Ashes tour Down Under.

Lost 4 – 0; lucky to score Nil!

With Easter now behind us and ‘hopes’ of some warmer, dryer days ahead – that The time is fair again -  thoughts inevitably turn to Season 2018.

There’s an ambitious – you’d expect no less – list of games.

Old Favourites:

Lords & the Oval for those sell out Thursday & Friday night T20 games.

Along the Coast to Arundel for that most wonderful of outgrounds.

And to the Ageas Bowl outside Southampton for Sussex’s usual easy win over Hampshire!!

Fortunately the Nevill at Tunbridge Wells has been spared for another year. 

This year’s annual visit will be a special day, which I’ll tell you a little more about below …

Time too for Beckenham, Canterbury, Chelmsford & Taunton.

There’ll be New Grounds too: to Bristol, Northampton, Radlett & to Scarborough for Yorkshire v Surrey.

And – as always – lots & lots of days in the deckchairs at the Cromwell Road end at my beloved Hove; Never in Doubt!!!

Jason ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie has recently joined as Sussex’s coach & there is a strong squad - especially the bowlers  - and a newly appointed Captain in wicketkeeper Ben Brown. Luke Wright skippers in the T20.

Sussex’s T20 overseas player is Rashid Khan, a 19 year old leg spinner from Afghanistan who holds the record for the milestone to 100 One Day International (ODI) wickets in just 44 matches, beating Mitchell Starc’s previous record by 8 matches.

As for my targets for Sussex this Season:

Championship: Promotion back to Division 1

RL50: Win half the games

T20: Reach Finals Day

We’ll see …

Every season brings memories of earlier years, of games & players that will Never Be Forgotten.

And Season 2018 has three Special Anniversaries.

Firstly, in May I’ll be remembering 50 years ago: Wednesday 29^th May 1968.

It was – of course - the night before my Latin O Level set books exam: Caesar’s Gallic Wars & the Poems of Erasmus.

But no time for revision that evening for Dad & I were in North London … …

Where were we?

And just what happened?

On 20^th July it will be 50 years since a famous comeback game.

That Saturday in 1968 the Central Recreation Ground, Hastings for Sussex v Kent was the place to be.

Did Lord Ted really land his plane on the outfield?

And hit Derek Underwood for 6 into Queen’s Road?

Well perhaps he did!!

And the 3^rd Anniversary is on 7^th June, when it will be 60 years since a 5 year old little boy watched his first game of County cricket.

The Nevill, Tunbridge Wells for Kent v Sussex.

Sussex won the toss and batted.

The second Sussex wicket fell at 58 and a 26 year old walked down the Pavilion steps …

Who was he?

What did he do first ball?

I’m looking forward a tremendous season of cricket.

And I hope you are too!

So get your diary out & remember what Jack Kerouac (almost) said in On the Road:  

 Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. 

Come to the goddamn cricket.

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own. 

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

Time erases the details

Time erases the details of our lives in favour of something larger.

Philip Larkin 

Hi everyone!

It is nearly 40 years since the last game that Dad & I watched together: Kent v Middlesex at the Nevill, Tunbridge Wells on my 27^th birthday in 1979.

In the previous 20 years we had been to so many, many  games: from the Nevill to our beloved Hove, to Canterbury and to Lords and the Oval.

Dad in Spring 1973

Just as his son would come to do, Dad loved to tell ( and re-tell!!) the tales of a handful of his favourite Days at the Cricket.

Next season it will be 70 years since two of Dad’s favourite stories: The 1948 Australians visits to Hove to play Sussex and to Hastings to play the South of England.

More on these two games in 2018, but for now suffice to say Don Bradman scored 100s in both games. 

Dad always said that in the Hove match The Don hit his first four balls to the four corners of the pitch; and perhaps he did !!

Today I’d like to tell you about another of Dad’s favourite games, one that took place exactly 80 years ago today:

Sussex v Kent at Priory Meadow, Hastings on Saturday 7 August 1937.

Aunt Margaret had packed the picnic: Margaret’s cheese scones were the best in the world and there was a Michel Roux surprise meat pie (just joking, Lady Lambourne!!).

Light on the Salad; obviously!

My Grandad Jack and my Dad caught the Dengates bus from Horns Cross.

It was widely rumoured that Pedestrians overtook Dengates Buses on Rye Hill ...

provided they didn’t asphyxiate on the exhaust !

Down through Broad Oak and Westfield and across the Ridge, they were dropped off at Hastings station.

A few minutes later they had walked down Havelock Road and taken their seats on the Castle side of the ground.

Sussex’s first game at Hastings was way back in 1865, against local rivals Kent.

I know that Dad was a regular visitor in the 1930s and after the war. 
By the early 1950’s Mum & he (and in June 1952 me too) were living barely a mile away in Warrior Square, St Leonards.

As for the ground, built on land reclaimed from a natural harbour, it was still close to the sea. 
As Gerald Brodribb  wrote in Cricket at Hastings: "There cannot be a first class ground in any town, anywhere else, that's more centrally situated."
Overlooking Priory Meadow there was a mixture of Regency houses with their iconic wrought iron balconies and more ordinary B&Bs running up the hill from the Old Town towards the Castle.

Looking at the scorecard for the 1937 game, the great Frank Woolley and England wicketkeeper Les Ames were in the Kent XI.

Woolley was aged 51 and in his final season of a career of 145 centuries and - the only non-wicketkeeper ever to do so – over a 1,000 catches. Not to mention over 2,000 wickets!

Sussex had a strong team too; they would go on to win by 10 wickets.

In their XI were the two Langridge brothers, James and John (the only batsman to score at least 70 first class 100s and not play Test cricket), England fast bowler Maurice Tate (one of only nine people ever to get a career double of 20,000 runs and 2,000 wickets) and Jim Parks Senior.

John Langridge and Maurice Tate are in my Sussex All Time Dream XI.

As for Jim Parks, his obituary in Wisden said: “Jim was essentially a county player, immensely dependable, but lacking the touch of genius which marks the top class.”

Perhaps Wisden was a little understated for a career of 468 matches, over 21,000 runs (including 41 centuries), 850 wickets and 325 catches.

1937 was the Season of his Life for Jim Parks.

The backstory is that in October 1936 Jim’s wife Irene had died of TB.

We all respond to Grief in our own way.

And in 1937 Jim responded to Irene’s death by scoring 3,000 runs (including 10 centuries) and taking over a 100 wickets; a world record which surely will never be beaten.

This year the Sussex Cricket Museum published a wonderful book titled James H Parks and his 1937 World Record to which I am indebted in the writing of this blog.

One of Jim’s 10 centuries was at Hastings, watched by Grandad and Dad.

What a day’s cricket it was.

The Cricketer reported: 

“Sussex batted the whole of the first day in beautiful weather. John Langridge (159) and Jim Parks (106) had a partnership of 225 for the first wicket in 2 ½ hours. 

Sussex scored 552 in the day.”

And more than 120 overs bowled by Kent. No problem with over rates back in 1937.

A gloriously sunny day, Sussex scoring lots of runs... and Aunt Margaret's cheese scones. Just the perfect Day at the Cricket !!

Four decades after the last telling of "When Sussex scored 550 in a day" I can still hear Dad saying that it was one of the best days watching cricket he ever had.

And he would always end by repeating what Jim Parks Senior said about Cricket:

Cricket's a game, son and a game to be enjoyed!

The Two Jims

Sadly, the Priory Meadow is no more. Sussex played their last game there in 1989.

(It is not true that it is me five sun hats along resting me eye after lunch !!)

Today the old ground houses a nondescript (and I’m being kind) shopping centre.

The only remaining sign of the cricket is a bronze statue.

But as I think back across the years to all the cricket I watched with Dad, well I hope you agree that:

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. 
But I don’t go along with that. 
The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.” 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 

 ----

We’re heading into the last couple of furlongs of Season 2017.

OK, you can’t join me for cricket at Hastings any more and I can't promise that Sussex will score over 550 runs in the day (though they surely will have done by the time I write the Blog !!), but there are still several games to be played at Hove.

Do join me if you can !!!

After all ….

Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can star in your own. 

See you soon!!

Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace

Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52

PS

My own favourite memory of cricket at Hastings is Sussex v Kent in July 1968.

Next season will be the Golden Anniversary of  travelling down on the train from Tunbridge Wells to Hastings.

Five of my Sussex All Time Dream XI were present:

John Langridge, who had played in Dad’s tale 31 years before in 1937, was Umpiring.

Young Jim himself, John Snow and Tony Greig.

And as for the 5^th?

I can do no more than repeat what Greigy wrote : 
“Our 12^th man was sent out to clear a runway of sorts so that Lord Ted could land his private plane.”

Can it possibly be true?

Well  ... next Season come to a Day at the Cricket with Lord Ric and I'll tell you REALLY what happened on that Saturday long, long ago!!