tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45071115639562853032024-03-16T01:47:00.555-07:00reverse sweeperScott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-51499587229698227382016-05-19T09:35:00.002-07:002016-05-19T09:35:46.652-07:00SHIRE BRIGADE #10: CHRIS NASH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A chat as part of my "long-running", "highly respected" series for <i>All Out Cricket </i>magazine with the long-serving Sussex opening batsman and occasional off-spinner, Chris Nash, not long after the death of his teammate, Matt Hobden. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-chris-nash" target="_blank">Shire Brigade: Chris Nash </a></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-86323833030390163282016-05-19T09:24:00.002-07:002016-05-19T09:25:13.503-07:00DAVID GRAVENEY INTERVIEW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It started with a chat about Gloucestershire's loss to Minor Counties in the 1980 Benson & Hedges Cup, the first such giantkilling in that tournament. At the end of the chat, reasoning I had someone on the line whose reflections and opinions on the game would be saleable (romantic, I know), I asked if he'd do a longform interview for cricinfo, with the theme being selection. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He would, he said, but could I send the questions through in advance? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I could, I said. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, having first asked cricinfo if they would commission such an idea, I devised a load of questions, trawling through his eleven-year stint picking the England side, and emailing my go-to guy for cricketing insights. And then I emailed them to him. Tis was February 2015. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still in the employ of the ECB, Grav perhaps needed to ensure there would be no hidden traps, no ambushes. That wasn't my aim. It's not 2008. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He gave the questions his assent, but we couldn't seem to fix a time. The interview was eventually carried out in June. He gave very little away. Admirable, in a way. Confidences should be kept. But he had that curious facility for appearing to say a lot while saying very little that is the hallmark of politicians. Not even talking about Duncan Fletcher could get through his forward defensive. I put it down to him being indecisive, overly collegiate, a weathervane who blew this way and that. We made some polite small-talk and he asked if he could see the transcript before I filed it with cricinfo. I said that would be fine (while secretly thinking it was a bit much given he'd barely suggested there might be any cats in bags, let alone let them out </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">–to get among the pigeons or otherwise). </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I then told cricinfo I had done the interview. This was eight months after it had been commissioned. After the 2015 World Cup, when ESPN had spent a huge amount of money building a studio overlooking Sydney Harbour, not to mention manning it with expensive pundits. They told me they were cutting back on freelance contributions and now no longer wanted it. <br /><br />Arse. <br /><br />I contemplated trying to flog it elsewhere, but thought I'd wait and see if the lie of the land in Bangalore might change. By the new year, it had. So, I transcribed the interview <span style="line-height: 107%;">– </span>always, <i>always </i>a tedious task </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">–and then emailed David to let him know. I told him to get back in touch and "I will do the amends (within reason)". </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">He said he'd be in touch, because "there were several changes". I sighed, then told him he needed to do this before the end of the week. He didn't reply. <br /><br />Three days later I emailed again, by now starting to feel a bit irritated at all the hoops I was having to jump through. It may have shown in my tone, too. I told him I'd agreed to make amends "within reason" but didn't want to "bleed the interview of all colour", especially since "there was nothing controversial in there". </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The email I received back was an unequivocal baring-of-teeth, definitively refuting the notion that he was a pussy cat (which I may have based entirely on the fact that he smoked a lot). Afterwards, I posted this status on Facebook, which sort of completes the story. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Here is the interview. It's interesting, without being incendiary. I think we parted on good terms. But boy, it makes you realise how the jousting between a ravenous news media eager to fasten on to a poorly chosen phrase and officials keen to protect themselves thereform starts to pollute the air in which even these fairly harmless conversations take place. <br /><br />Oh well. Glad I'm not doing this particularly seriously. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/967943.html" target="_blank"><b>Talking Cricket: David Graveney</b></a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span>
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<br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-77125635359814397672016-02-26T15:53:00.001-08:002016-02-26T15:53:28.746-08:00PREPARING FOR ANOTHER SUMMER<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KQCY_a8rmNE3wgyyhDktV646uTRjU8pif3py5fZ0Y02-T4-PHNGWX-nDBi_41LF2UC3WDanAp3ShmBakHEYUoYiaSpUxI4dl0hQH4L-sh3fiJpmKhYsQLjTLsPjw8Deka5QsaOSjks_i/s1600/moddershall_1980.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KQCY_a8rmNE3wgyyhDktV646uTRjU8pif3py5fZ0Y02-T4-PHNGWX-nDBi_41LF2UC3WDanAp3ShmBakHEYUoYiaSpUxI4dl0hQH4L-sh3fiJpmKhYsQLjTLsPjw8Deka5QsaOSjks_i/s400/moddershall_1980.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Moddershall 1st XI when I started out</i></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The run up
to a new cricket season is markedly different for an old(ish) man – a man
perhaps able to count his remaining cricket campaigns on the badly gnarled
fingers of one hand – than it is for a fresh-faced, bright-eyed youngster. Back
when I was a teenager, life stretching out before me as a seemingly endless
sweep of run-soaked summers, my pre-season thoughts were usually little more
than idle daydreams – the usual fantasies of scoring 1000-plus runs, cup final
centuries, hooking this or that West Indian pro out of the ground. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As you get
longer in the tooth your horizons draw in, and you merely hope your body
survives the five months without breaking. You hope, too, that your enthusiasm
isn’t snuffed out by the various off-field duties and dramas that come with
seniority and responsibility. Having already lost the buzz once, in 2010, after
which I stopped playing for three years, I now know what the warning signs are.
But the beauty of that three-year hiatus, I later discovered, was that my focus
shifted away from myself, and my own diminishing powers, and onto the young
players in my team, helping them develop their talents. Pass on some wisdom,
learn about their personalities. <span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course,
there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with those lofty <i>individual</i> ambitions of youth, since to take care of your own
contribution is almost always going to help the team realize its collective
goals. Nevertheless, it’s easy to become too excitable, too fixated on personal
targets, build it up too much. As a batsman, a slow start to the season – a few
unplayable balls, a couple of bad decisions, a run out, an abandonment or two –
can mean those initial targets become more or less unattainable, and therefore oppressive,
a numerical reminder of the “failure” that the season is shaping up to be. We
can be our own worst enemies. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My best
ever season in terms of runs started fairly slowly. I don’t remember the
details (I have it written down in some dusty folder somewhere, when such
things seemed to matter a lot and before there was the Internet to document it
for you), but it wasn’t until late July that I really got going. I was heading
to Spain for my university gap year in October and so, to earn some cash, spent
a couple of months working at the Creda plant in Blythe Bridge, loading the
parts for white goods into big kilns then taking them off again. Then putting
others on, then taking them off. The tedium of the work made me appreciate the weekend’s
cricket all the more. Crucially, it made my thinking much clearer. It made me
value my wicket more. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbg0mQ37pZP6YB_L43T9cPEJ-41QVYHZdaROICGca_1nvKXZ5mtpbuYsNfMy1KNpaV48Q9h0sO_PbAPCqZVGYOMCJmx9E-zBnATTcJBkIfAGn99OvmJzR1lmoctIYjZsg3ov0jp-N3CWe/s1600/back-foot+forcing+shot+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbg0mQ37pZP6YB_L43T9cPEJ-41QVYHZdaROICGca_1nvKXZ5mtpbuYsNfMy1KNpaV48Q9h0sO_PbAPCqZVGYOMCJmx9E-zBnATTcJBkIfAGn99OvmJzR1lmoctIYjZsg3ov0jp-N3CWe/s400/back-foot+forcing+shot+001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>the good old days</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I ended up
scoring 895 league runs that year, but during those last six or seven weeks of
the season I didn’t think about aggregates or targets. I just batted. I was ‘in
the zone’. Relaxed concentration. The game was easy. The noise in my head was
off, for once. Yep, I just batted. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And that’s
the thing about targets: if you’re going to have them, <i>they should be about the process not the end</i> <i>result. </i>That’s something of a sports psychology cliché these days,
but it’s true. And it’s true because it works. What focusing on process not
outcomes means is that you should draw in the frame of reference for “What I
want to do” from <i>the whole season</i> to <i>the next game, the next hour, the next over,
the next delivery</i>… Stay in the process. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Simplifying
a little, that process boils down to three things, depending on the discipline.
For batting, it’s decision-making. For bowling, it’s pressure. For fielding,
it’s awareness (or concentration, you could call it). </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Making the
right decisions as a batsman of course requires several skills: judging the
pitch and which shots are on, which not; working out each bowler’s threat and
how they’re trying to get you out; assessing the scoreboard situation and what
needs to be done. None of this is in your head as the bowler is running up, of
course. It’s done between balls, in conversation with yourself, and between
overs, in conversation with your partner.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For a
bowler, maintaining pressure also requires several ancillary calculations: what
each batsman’s strengths are and what fields to set; what’s in the wicket for
you and what the condition of the ball might allow; what the game situation
requires, etc. Nevertheless, the process is all about maintaining <i>pressure</i>, being patient. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As for fielding,
and <i>awareness</i>,<i> </i>that’s simply about being tuned into what the team is trying to do
– i.e. what a hyper-precise skipper wants when he moves you three yards this
way, two yards that – and what the batsman is trying to do to counter it. And
it is about keeping the team buoyant, switched on, optimistic. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In his
autobiography, <i>Out of My Comfort Zone</i>, the great Australian skipper
Steve Waugh wrote that “fielding is a true test of players sacrificing
themselves for the interest of the team because it’s the only facet of the game
where you don’t get statistically rewarded for your efforts”. And that is
precisely the point about making a slow start to the season, falling short of
your targets, be that as a batsman or a bowler. If you don’t hit the ground
running, you can still make a contribution that isn’t statistically rewarded.
Be a good teammate. Keep the troops going on those hot afternoons. Encourage
your mates out there scrapping hard to get you a total. Take your weary
bowler’s jumper to the umpire. Polish the ball. Go and console a fielder who’s
dropped an important catch. Buy the skipper four or five pints of lager because
you love him. Step out of your bubble (it’s stressful in there), think about
what the team needs, and keep putting in the pot. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-57144025009880029672016-02-03T14:44:00.003-08:002016-02-04T05:00:30.169-08:00DOES MIKING UP PLAYERS TURN CRICKET INTO A CIRCUS?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The latest blog for ESPNcricinfo (given a much snappier title than I've managed) was supposed to be a general look at the way broadcasters are encroaching on the game, particularly T20, asking whether, in the main, this was a good or bad thing, and in what ways. <br /><br />Then something happened. I was watching the 1st Australia vs India T20I at Adelaide when a quite extraordinary 2 minutes 20 seconds of live <i>international</i> cricket broadcasting happened, involving the current Australian Test captain (though not skipper on this occasion) Steven Smith talking live while batting to the three Channel 9 commentators, Mark Nicholas, Mike Hussey and Ian Healy. It lasted one Ravindra Jadeja over. It ended in Smith's dismissal and a rather animated send-off from Virat Kohli. <br /><br />So I wrote about that incident, and the wider implications of having players wired up and conversing with commentators. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/967137.html" target="_blank"><b>When Entertainment becomes Intrusion</b></a> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was a real struggle to whittle this down to 1200. I could easily have gone through the exchange sentence by sentence, riffing on the various issues it raised. </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6_aO-u0O7oXotmj2O4gRnB1wPJLBFtU1OPB5WwU9Pcm-qjI0zmLCXaoSaWodwvnhlsQCJr1YvVJ4ErcnR-YynjzZEJ9er-AjJmKIHrhJ_liPkz0fdLAyth5wAHQtFiYrI7XMqyoShvPfH/s1600/kohli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6_aO-u0O7oXotmj2O4gRnB1wPJLBFtU1OPB5WwU9Pcm-qjI0zmLCXaoSaWodwvnhlsQCJr1YvVJ4ErcnR-YynjzZEJ9er-AjJmKIHrhJ_liPkz0fdLAyth5wAHQtFiYrI7XMqyoShvPfH/s400/kohli.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the exchange as it played out in real time: </span></span><br />
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Australia are 82 for 1
off 8, chasing 189. They have taken 19 from the previous over. Steve Smith is
20 off 12 balls. </span></i></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Steve Smith’s miked
up. Steve, you’ve got ahead of the rate. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith: </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">What’s that, sorry? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas:</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: orange;"> You’ve got ahead of
the rate now. </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Smith: </b>Yeah, we’re going alright. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Ridiculously
over-the-top laugh from Nicholas. </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith: </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Hopefully we can keep
getting a few boundaries away here and there. We’ve got plenty of power, so…
It’s a pretty nice wicket out there. It’s coming on pretty well so all good at
the minute. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">He finishes just as
Jadeja leaps to bowl. Aaron Finch cuts to point. No run. </span></i></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Hussey:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Steve Smith, what’s the
plan against Jadeja? Where are you going to try and hit him? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Wherever he bowls it.
Just watch the ball and see what happens. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Again, Jadeja is entering his delivery stride when Smith finishes.
Finch lifts the ball over extra cover. It will skip away for four. </span></i></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith: </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">That’s a nice shot! </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> You commentate for us,
mate. You’ve got it covered. You’ve got the bird’s-eye view. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> What’s that, sorry? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas: </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">You’ve got the best
view. You call it for us. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> That was nice, that.
I’ll see what I can do for ya… </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Jadeja is running in
again…</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">
</span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Might have to run hard
here. Pretty long boundary straight. We’ll see how we go. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Finch drives to deep
cover. Smith calls “yep” and scurries to get on strike</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Now, are you
pre-meditating or not? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> When do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> premeditate?! </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas (laughing): </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Yeah, yeah. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Jadeja in. Smith works
the ball from outside off to deep mid-wicket. </span></i></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith (to Finch):</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Yeah, push, c’mon! </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">They settle for one</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
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<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Hussey: </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: orange;">That’s really
interesting, Steve: no premeditation at this stage. You’re just seeing the ball
and looking to react to it? </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Smith:</b> Oh yeah, you never know
what’s going through our minds. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jadeja is already running into bowl.
Finch drives out into the covers. </i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith (to Finch): </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: orange;">Just the one, mate. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Smith (to Hussey): </span></b><span style="color: orange;">You never know mate. You’ve just got to watch the ball
and see what happens.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Smith is on strike for
the final ball of the over. </span></i></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Healy:</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: orange;"> He’s darting them in,
angled in to the right-handers. 103kph. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s unclear whether this is commentary
or advice. Smith tries to work a ball from outside off stump through the
completely open midwicket region. He gets a leading edge to extra-cover, where
Virat Kohli takes the catch and proceeds to give Smith a send-off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Nicholas:</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> Steve Smith is out,
and he’s unable to talk us through that. Understandably. What a disappointment:
21 to Steve Smith.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-78826511547162784562016-02-03T13:37:00.000-08:002016-02-26T15:55:20.200-08:00A WINTER OF EXPANSION<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQBnzzkiJLbyT_8kwUbokeEdRcjwXFK5BkdnN97qKm3KmGdpU6YskJlGQcwVTQgZUj099wanrdOUuG0XfW78PFFXr-xZzAM_VY72TrnXgcwPeEiOFdqOHlc9yLqQOJWqPPgRX-_oThsmw/s1600/great+chell+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQBnzzkiJLbyT_8kwUbokeEdRcjwXFK5BkdnN97qKm3KmGdpU6YskJlGQcwVTQgZUj099wanrdOUuG0XfW78PFFXr-xZzAM_VY72TrnXgcwPeEiOFdqOHlc9yLqQOJWqPPgRX-_oThsmw/s1600/great+chell+01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The pavilion at Great Chell: symbol of the precariousness of all clubs</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i> </i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It has been
a winter of expansion – not only of my waistline, but also of the NSSCL. Indeed, the
winter’s cricketing activity has been dominated by the NSSCL restructuring,
with several new additions coming in (including our own Sri Lankan enclave,
Moddershall Phoenix, straight in at the fifth tier) and a raft of major and
minor changes.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Primarily,
the expansion serves to reward ambitious clubs, allowing them access to the
area’s premier cricket competition. The restructuring into a ten-division
ladder is for the same purpose: to reward well-run, ambitious clubs. In theory, allowing a club’s 2nd XI to progress up <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">as high as</span> the second tier of local cricket (providing
they’re below the 1st XI, of course) means they can offer youngsters not quite
ready for the 1st XI (and seniors no longer good enough) the best possible
standard of cricket, rather than, at best, fifth tier. In turn, this hopefully enables
them to keep those youngsters that they have developed at the club for longer (with
the knock-on effect of preserving a club’s playing identity, of slowing down
the revolving door) rather than having them cherry-picked by fly-by-night,
house-of-cards clubs with plenty of money but no infrastructure who <i>are </i>able (they will say) to offer 1st XI
cricket.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not only
that, clubs that <i>are </i>currently struggling
for numbers yet still <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">retain </span>a dedicated core of players will not be punished,
or even forced to close, for not being able to put out two Saturday sides. If
you can muster up eleven, you can still play (without having to meet
unattainable ECB Clubmark goals). So, sensible all round.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While the
restructuring is all perhaps a little confusing at the minute – why are
Moddershall A still called Moddershall A if it’s a straight ladder? Why not
Moddershall 1sts through to 5ths? Does this affect the starring system? – the
changes nevertheless serve to illustrate the broader reality that the league <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is</span> a continually evolving entity (even if it was more comforting and less
disorienting when it was 1A and 1B, mirrored by 2A and 2B!).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Moddershall
ourselves were beneficiaries of this evolution in late 1989, when the folding
of one of the league’s founder members, Great Chell, allowed us into the NSSCL. We haven’t looked back. A season later, Chell (who had a phenomenal
pavilion, the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/938125.html" target="_blank">Lord’s of the Potteries</a>)
re-emerged, having merged with another founder member, Sneyd (whose pavvy
wasn’t quite so salubrious), before both clubs bit the dust. In the 1960s they
had West Indies Test players as pros, today they are a memory. A salutary lesson.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Rwk3lbwqxGlK6-jcpVQwWcByjcVAJiHCrGlDkdfGijHaIipCrRCL32STg4vK8CGjDySrH6ewVN_rGQUnpI6okBqLC2maceRlPsFSY6GyfGZp0V04au_pJUNuYrko4vBXBx-eH-FjSTRv/s1600/great+chell+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Rwk3lbwqxGlK6-jcpVQwWcByjcVAJiHCrGlDkdfGijHaIipCrRCL32STg4vK8CGjDySrH6ewVN_rGQUnpI6okBqLC2maceRlPsFSY6GyfGZp0V04au_pJUNuYrko4vBXBx-eH-FjSTRv/s1600/great+chell+02.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"The Lord's of the Potteries" [Chell photos provided by Gary Stanyer] </i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In our
early NSSCL days, we played many times against clubs that are either no longer
with us, or no longer members of the league: Nantwich, Crewe Rolls-Royce, Haslington, Buxton (it would
have been quite an early alarm-call, trekking from there to Norton-in-Hales for
a 12pm start in September: Derbyshire to Shropshire for a North Staffs & South Cheshire fixture!!). Nantwich left in the
mid-nineties and have since gone on to win the Cheshire County League on a
number of occasions. They were another of the NSSCL’s founder member clubs, one of the
dozen that started out in 1963 (coincidentally, the year that one-day cricket <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">bega<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n</span></span>, in the form of the Gillette Cup).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As well as
Chell, Sneyd and Nantwich, the other NSSCL founder members were Stone, Crewe LMR (today, Crewe), Longton,
Leek, Knypersley, Norton, Bignall End, Newcastle &<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>Hartshill and Porthill Park. These clubs were predominantly based in the
Potteries or in other sizeable towns, and their respective current fortunes – five
in the Premier League, three defunct, three down the pyramid, one elsewhere – show
just how difficult it can be to sustain a club’s strength (be that on the field
or in its social aspect) over a long period. It’s hard work, and requires
thousands and thousands of small acts of investment of time, love and energy
(not to mention, for some of those founder members still in the top flight, a well-thumbed
chequebook).<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The NSSCL’s
first great expansion took place in 1981, when several clubs took the plunge
and sought out a better grade of recreational cricket – the likes of Cheadle,
Little Stoke, Caverswall and Elworth, all of whom have won the NSSCL, as well
as Leycett, Kidsgrove, Stafford, Burslem, Barlaston, Betley, Buxton and Crewe
RR, who haven’t won the NSSCL. And in some cases, for various reasons, won’t.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everybody
played everybody once during that 1981 season. The top dozen went into 1A, the rest
into 1B, with second teams shadowing them in 2A and 2B respective<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ly</span>. My dad’s club, Little Stoke,
finished level on points with another team (I forget which) smack bang in the
middle of the table, meaning they had to contest a playoff. It was at Great
Chell, funnily enough (maybe the opposition was Great Chell themselves). It was
tense. There were several abandonments. Little Stoke engaged the Derbyshire
opener (and sometime Staffordshire
Academy head coach) Alan
Hill as sub-pro. He made quite a few good but ultimately fruitless scores. On one occasion, he
stroked 80 and it snowed. It was eventually resolved in the early weeks of
October. I forget the result. It’s not important. It’s the
exploring-the-massive-pavilion that counts.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After this
first Great Leap Forward, there was an occasional dribble of newcomers, usually
the best of the old North Staffs and District League, one of the oldest in the
country and the chief casualty of NSSCL expansionism. First it was Audley and Ashcombe Park in the mid-eighties. Next Moddershall
got in, then not long after that it was Checkley and Meir Heath, followed by
Haslington.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SPZprKi9iZMhfhnwZnBrldGaOXY7mG5UpFGjQ6VtNsqYJG6arxDJfLRGeL8Iim9nQf0s8zQtKbjK2ZLQt8kDfBMGfVTpDKr5L4ksH7F-s9j0uUD19jswgGiEsF0ux5j1BfqZjKtNeXOr/s1600/audley+cc.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SPZprKi9iZMhfhnwZnBrldGaOXY7mG5UpFGjQ6VtNsqYJG6arxDJfLRGeL8Iim9nQf0s8zQtKbjK2ZLQt8kDfBMGfVTpDKr5L4ksH7F-s9j0uUD19jswgGiEsF0ux5j1BfqZjKtNeXOr/s400/audley+cc.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Audley CC</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At some
point after that (my history is sketchy and the NSSCL Library has not yet been
built), they introduced a one-up one-down backdoor (or <i>trapdoor</i>) entryway to the NSSCL, designed to offer an incentive to
the restless, ambitious clubs in NSDL while quelling its officials by preserving
the latter’s identity. But NSDL were fighting the historical tide – fighting
evolution – and in 2005 the NSSCL expanded to four divisions, split into A and
B sections (with the NSDL folding and living on as a midweek competition),
which is where we have been, with a few changes in the cast, until the League’s
November AGM last year.</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So
now we have Milford Hall (who, I’m told, don’t get along with our junior section),
Sandbach, and Onneley & Maer to add to the long list of NSSCL clubs. But what
do all the new changes amount to? I don’t really know, beyond turning up on a
Saturday with enough white clothes not to embarrass yourself by having to wear
someone else’s, and trying your best for your team, for your mates... But what
this potted history <i>does </i>show us is that Moddershall, for a rural club (I mean,
we are not even in a village!), punches far, far above its weight. You only
need glance at the list of NSSCL winners over the first 53 years of competition
to see that.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">11</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Longton</span><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">6 <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Stone</span><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">5<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Leek</span><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">4</span></b></span><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Crewe</span><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">3</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Audley, Knypersley, Nantwich,
Newcastle & Hartshill, Norton, Moddershall</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">2<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Little
Stoke</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: orange;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<span style="color: orange;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span style="color: orange;"><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">1</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ashcombe Park,
Caverswall, Cheadle, Elworth, Great Chell, Norton-in-Hales, Wood Lane</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
four clubs that have won more NSSCL titles than us were all founder members of
the League. Crewe’s last title was in 1986,
and their next won’t be any time soon. Stone may have won twice as many NSSCL
titles as us (boosted by winning the last two year’s Premier Leagues, of
course) but they have also played over twice as many seasons (2016, our 27th
year in NSSCL, will see us having been members of the league for half its
lifespan).</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of the five
other clubs to have won, like us, a trio of titles, four were founder members
of the league (and one of them owed two of its titles to the current Moddershall
groundsman, on an early-career three-year pro’s assignment), albeit two of
those four are no longer <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">NSSCL clubs</span>. The fifth, Audley, an excellent club, joined
in 1986, four years before us. That means only Longton has a better “seasons
per title” ratio than we do.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHl2OBhyphenhyphenzz8YZcIWIyfFZ5u2PWldc-r210Xh5aBhvi7dQMyCxrbbmT1c1Qe0fGx4v4LM_gBJBxUajKnHmp-AsLqsReTnL-3TznMV2brGlo_2YHM-V2REQ2_RWXliN2vUyT0QaXNvfURNJ/s1600/scott%2527s+stuff+025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHl2OBhyphenhyphenzz8YZcIWIyfFZ5u2PWldc-r210Xh5aBhvi7dQMyCxrbbmT1c1Qe0fGx4v4LM_gBJBxUajKnHmp-AsLqsReTnL-3TznMV2brGlo_2YHM-V2REQ2_RWXliN2vUyT0QaXNvfURNJ/s400/scott%2527s+stuff+025.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is a
record of which we can be justifiably proud, particularly given that every
other club to have won three or more NSSCL titles has a significant population
base on its doorstep from which <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">they can</span> draw. Not only that, the absence from the
list of clubs with far greater financial resources than Moddershall
demonstrates just how difficult it is to win.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But it is
also a record on which we cannot afford to dwell. The league evolves, some clubs
prosper, others decline. The only thing that’s permanent is change, as they say.
There can be no complacency, no time for feeling sorry for ourselves because a
few good players have jumped ship, for one reason or another.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Given a
fair wind, it is within the compass of the present group of 1st XI players and
the quickly improving cricketers rising from the junior ranks to ink
Moddershall’s name on to that NSSCL roll of honour for a fourth time. And when
it happens, it will be the best thing <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">they</span>'ll do in local cricket. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span>
Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-73959824225753345812016-02-03T12:33:00.002-08:002016-02-03T12:33:54.952-08:00SHIRE BRIGADE #9: STEVEN CROFT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtlb-fzSTurD-BLpAVd8BETJSQY-pxAZ2ZH-whgVCxlS9bLWu43XvYIBPVMQaxpK3-WSkhZCkGkLBE0Xn5mKTpWVWggRYz3U9sKhQoGmELyL3lLZjMDLjylSCwG63qht9Z4-C_SkfvDbc/s1600/crofty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtlb-fzSTurD-BLpAVd8BETJSQY-pxAZ2ZH-whgVCxlS9bLWu43XvYIBPVMQaxpK3-WSkhZCkGkLBE0Xn5mKTpWVWggRYz3U9sKhQoGmELyL3lLZjMDLjylSCwG63qht9Z4-C_SkfvDbc/s400/crofty.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The ninth in the <i>All Out Cricket </i>Shire Brigade series took me to Lancashire. This made it half the counties chalked off on this first lap (assuming it will be recommissioned, and I don't, or even that I'll get to 18), having previously done Notts, Somerset, Northants, Durham, Warwickshire, Kent, Essex and Hampshire. Or Luke Fletcher, Pete Trego, Steven Crook, Colonel Mustard, Ian Westwood, Stevo, Foster and James Tomlinson. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The obvious choice for Lancs would have been Glenn Chapple, but unfortunately that couldn't be sorted. After that, it seemed as though current skipper Steve Croft would be the most "cult". While he's certainly a fan favourite, I had been warned by a journalist from one of the Lancashire locals that he was hard work as an interviewee, either because he was a bit dull or, more charitably, because he didn't feel he should open up for the press. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Either way, there wasn't a huge amount of quotable material by the time we'd done. Not that he was a bad stick.... </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-steven-croft" target="_blank">Shire Brigade 09: Steven Croft</a> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b> </b>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-11837485842313218312016-02-03T12:19:00.002-08:002016-02-03T12:19:19.906-08:00DARTS AND CRICKET<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfwQuJ7sjmmPDL5rmXZboOMnJ-WbOP1mwUAzosOkiDecWxZZE49F6WC-FYAaTbbFNDxqJhKCed8UPmb4bF_7gzrSJuyQxKHC1-rDlSGxF4vgWKGjrVyM6Z4WgBdjhQo7lkDZPqhw4Qiph/s1600/cookie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfwQuJ7sjmmPDL5rmXZboOMnJ-WbOP1mwUAzosOkiDecWxZZE49F6WC-FYAaTbbFNDxqJhKCed8UPmb4bF_7gzrSJuyQxKHC1-rDlSGxF4vgWKGjrVyM6Z4WgBdjhQo7lkDZPqhw4Qiph/s400/cookie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Darts. The national sport of Stoke-on-Trent. Obligatory to like it, therefore. And like it I do, although a fair bit of it through gritted teeth: the commentary, the walk-ons, those <i>inane </i><i><i>fucking </i> chants that never stop</i>. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I decided to make it the topic of a Cricinfo article, largely because it was on the TV every day and I'd been down to Ally Pally for a mate's 30th birthday, but also because I could think of four or five darts-and-cricket connections, including the bonkers Fred Trueman-presented TV show <i>The Indoor League</i>,<i> </i>Cook playing (Jimmy, not Bob or Gary) Anderson on TV, Graeme Swann revealing in a <a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/graeme-swann/id/4571" target="_blank">questionnaire</a> I sent him what his darts nickname would be, and Freddie Flintoff's commentary when MvG threw a nine-darter in Blackpool. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the process of 'researching' the piece, I also discovered that Fred had teamed up with Davina McCall to present a Sky TV gameshow called <i>One Hundred and Eighty</i>. I thought it would be execrable <span></span>– I mean, it was Davina effin' McCall (and her attempt to do the <i>One Hundred and Eighty </i>call is feeble) <span></span>– but I found myself getting into it. A lot. Check it out on The YouTube. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, have a read of this: <br /><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/959713.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/959713.html" target="_blank">T20's Spiritual Brother</a></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> </b></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-50764499340044227182016-02-03T12:02:00.001-08:002016-02-03T12:02:43.202-08:00PAUL HARRIS: GLEANINGS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">'Arro. Or Arrow, maybe. <br /><br />He got some stick from the Poms (especially Boycott). And from the Aussies. But he gave precisely no fucks. He got stuck in. He did a job. He wasn't neurotic. And, given that he played a lot of cricket with Kallis, Smith, Steyn, Boucher, Amla, Morkel et al, he was mighty good fun to chat to: self-effacing without being meek, cheeky without being infantile or too laddish. <br /><br />That said, if you're going to phone a bad line in South Africa, try not to do it from a bad line in rural England. With the dictaphone too close to the regular phone, creating feedback. Especially if the guy has a <i>really </i>bassy Saffer accent. Because it isn't at all difficult to transcribe that. <br /></span></span><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/953437.html" target="_blank">Gleanings: Paul Harris</a> </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Thanks to David Fairbrass Jr for sorting it out</span><br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-15249161994845568542016-02-03T11:50:00.001-08:002016-02-03T11:50:34.641-08:00SHIRE BRIGADE #8: JAMES TOMLINSON <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The first I heard of James Tomlinson was when Moddershall's professional, Imran Tahir signed for Hampshire midway through our 2008 title-winning campaign. Hampshire were struggling at the time and Immy gave them instant cutting edge, taking 12 for 183 on debut, and 44 wickets in seven games, as they avoided relegation from Division One. <br /><br />But he wasn't the only bowler who did well for them that year. James Tomlinson took 67 wickets with his lively left-arm swingers, the most in the County Championship (either division). He's also a thoroughly nice bloke, as I found out when I had a chat to him for the <i>All Out Cricket </i>Shire Brigade series, which shows off his all-round good-eggedness. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-james-tomlinson" target="_blank"><b>Shire Brigade 08: James Tomlinson </b></a> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-45118485030514575962016-02-03T07:27:00.000-08:002016-02-03T07:27:04.765-08:00FLASHING AT FOOTITT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everyone in cricket remembers the quickest bowlers they faced. The heightened awareness, the sense of limits, the physiological messages that "you shouldn't really be doing this, you're out of your depth". <br /><br />For me, there are four, plus a couple of others that bowled the odd sharp ball. In chronological order, rather than speedgun, first there was Barrington Browne, the most beautiful bowling action I've ever seen. Then there was Mick Lewis, twitching and spitting and swearing, a man who looked like the guy from Green Day who would go on to bowl the most expensive spell in the history of ODIs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fourth express paceman was Tino Best, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/724077.html" target="_blank">a story</a> I've told <a href="http://reversesweeper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/smells-like-tinos-spirit.html" target="_blank">a few times</a>. But before him, while having a two-year sabbatical from Moddershall with Wollaton in the Notts Premier League, was Mark Footitt, the left-arm quick who carried the drinks and bowled at cones all winter. At 30 years of age, and with next Test tour going to India, Footy is unlikely to get himself a Test cap, especially with Finn and Wood (not to mention Woakes, Jordan and Plunkett) vying for the third seamer's position. <br /><br />You never know, and a good debut season in Div One with Surrey might convince the selectors to give him a run. It's odds against, mind. And my own experience of playing against him as a raw 21-year-old would suggest that he isn't quite up to scratch. <br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, it was fun hearing Footitt stories from one or two old comrades and foes, most of which went into this ESPNcricinfo blog <span style="font-size: 12pt;">–</span> which, again, has a slightly clunky title. I'd have gone for: <i>Fast-Tracked Footitt a Lesson in Perseverance</i> (or a synonym of the last word beginning with 'f'). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/947585.html" target="_blank"><b>'The Cordon': Memories of Mark Footitt's club career</b></a> </span><br />
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Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-67820203718585357462016-02-01T10:49:00.000-08:002016-01-27T12:51:09.668-08:00PROS AND CONS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the back end of last summer I was asked by <i>All Out Cricket</i> editor Phil Walker to write something about the hallowed club pro: the greats and not-so-greats, the upside and downside, a few yarns. I'm not entirely sure whether he realized that I'd written something very similar for them a couple of years earlier (while he was editor) but I was happy to oblige. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, time soon caught up with me and I found the deadline approaching with no work having been done. One Friday in September, the day of the deadline I headed to London for the Lord's one-day final, having explained to Phil, using a mixture of truth and white lie, why I hadn't yet filed. <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I arrived at my mate's house (he was in Devon) and stayed up till 4am working furiously on this and another piece for AOC. Then I turned in for what was a smidge over 4 hours' kip, then dragged myself across town to Lord's. <br /><br />Upon arrival, I checked the seating plan for where to park myself and my totally knackered Dell laptop and USB keyboard (keeping it real at the Home of Cricket). Who should I be sitting next to? Yep, Phil Walker. Ace. Only, he hadn't arrived. Acer. So I cracked on with writing about Sobers and Learie Constantine, SF Barnes and Shane Warne. But then he did arrive. Arse. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I apologised for my slackness with the Pros prose. He said: "No problem. Monday's good." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I apologised for my slackness with the piece about Staffordshire's 1000th game. He said: "No problem. We're pushing that back a month to a different issue." I thought: "Well, you could have fucking told me that yesterday, before I stayed up till 4am working on it." But I said: "Oh, cool." Mainly, because I was in the wrong. <br /><br />So then we watched the match, a humdinger, and I had a much-needed beer with a couple of journalists before schlepping first to Archway, to pick up the bag I'd travelled down with (as I'd be going to stay with friends in Woking for a couple of days), and then on to Dalston, where I was meeting said friends for drinks before heading on to Hackney Wick to an Altern 8 rave, at which I would start the process of writing about their dancer, Martyn, with whom I'd played junior cricket. I was still awake at 8am, by which stage I was a little bit tired. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, the piece about the pro's turned out alright<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span> And the strapline calls me a "stalwart clubbie"... </span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/pros-and-cons" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></a>
<a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/pros-and-cons" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prose and Cons</span></span> </b></a><br />
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<br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-30076902886787461092016-02-01T07:07:00.000-08:002016-02-01T07:07:03.220-08:00A VISIT TO DUKE'S<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The pill. The cherry. The tater. The conker. In no other sport is the ball such a crucial component of how the game is played. But then, in no other sport is the ball subject to such dramatic change – some natural wear-and-tear, some, erm, man-made – over the course of its life. <br /><br />And this is why we love cricket: a ball that is in a process of continuous variation, a pitch that is in a process of continuous variation. An ever new set of conditions to 'read'. The quality of the cricket ball (and the pitches!) therefore plays a hugely significant part in balancing out the cricketing ecosystem, ensuring that neither batters nor bowlers become predators or prey for too long. <br /><br />And cricket balls had been in the news a lot during the latter part of 2015: first, in the wake of #60allout, various Aussie luminaries advocated their fair nation using the Duke's ball in first-class cricket; then, when the pitches in the Emirates and Cape Town were too flat, people called for them to take up the Duke's, too. And then there was the pink ball to be used in Test cricket's first day-night game... </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />It was with all this in mind that I went down to East London to speak to Dilip Jadojia, boss of Morrant Sport, who own Duke's, to find out why their hand-stitched ball was better than the much-maligned Kookaburra. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The resulting article was difficult to write up, insofar as it inevitably came quite close to advertorial in places: Dilip's observations about having cricket balls that were good for the game of cricket of course overlap significantly with his commercial interests. That said, there are a good number of second opinions out there who would fully support his claims. All told, it was an interesting two-hour chat with a very, very smart cookie. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/942747.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/942747.html" target="_blank"><b>In quest of a durable cricket ball</b></a></span></span><br />
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Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-18322495252441192712016-01-29T06:32:00.000-08:002016-01-29T06:32:25.729-08:00SHIRE BRIGADE #7: JAMES FOSTER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not many people play Test cricket for England while still at university. One such was James Savin Foster, the Essex stumper rated the best in the world by none other than Jack Russell, who said that "he's taken wicket-keeping to a whole new level". </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">35 years old now, Fozzie has recently landed a job as cricket professional at the Forest School, where he himself was a pupil twenty years ago. The school have allowed him to play one more season of county cricket, and the way Jonny Bairstow's been keeping there are a few at Essex who'll argue that he still should be playing for England. <br /><br />In the dregs of the summer I tootled along for a chat at the ramshackle Chelmsford ground, and as an added bonus I was not only able to chew the fat with former Essex and England leggie Robin Hobbs (one of only five to have been capped by England in the last 50 years) but also saw Jesse Ryder score a masterful hundred, taming Jimmy Anderson in the process. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-james-foster" target="_blank"><b>Shire Brigade: James Foster</b></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* The others are Adil Rashid, Scott Borthwick, Chris Schofield and Ian Salisbury)</span><br />
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<br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-73839922033666792432016-01-27T06:31:00.000-08:002016-01-27T06:31:32.686-08:00THE DECLINE OF STOKE'S INNER-CITY CLUBS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another month, another 'Cordon' blog for ESPNcricinfo. I cannot really recall what prompted me to write about the old, defunct grounds of the Potteries – not only Great Chell and Sneyd, but all the other factory grounds that have fallen by the wayside – but I do know that 24 hours after it was published I received an email from my editor in India telling me they had had the UK office on the phone, not particularly happy with the content. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Apparently, UK cricinfo was just about to embark on a series of interviews with the ECB about grassroots cricket, and felt that I ought to have offered them right of reply. First, this isn't a news piece; it's a column. Second, it wasn't remotely scathing of the ECB (although I think here the headline was a little alarmist). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My stock at the UK end of ESPNcricinfo is non-existent, with pretty much every pitch having been rejected there on the grounds of them having no budget, so I don't suppose I've done anything drastic to my prospects of getting more work from them. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, there was a quickly cobbled together paragraph shoe-horned into the piece, and nothing more was said. All a storm in a teacup, no doubt. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/938125.html" target="_blank"><b>'The Cordon': The Slow Withering of English Club Cricket</b></a></span></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-18848362295602643082016-01-27T06:14:00.001-08:002016-01-27T06:14:21.325-08:00TALKING CRICKET: AGGERS ON RADIO BROADCASTING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the better feelings to be had in this line of work is when someone relatively famous* <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">– that is, someone who you imagine is far too busy to be chatting to you – is generous with their time. Such was the case with Jonathan Agnew who, either side of a man coming to fix his oven, gave me the benefit of his broadcasting wisdom over a long, rambling hour on Skype. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">In one way, it was a fairly difficult interview to conduct. So fulsome were his replies that he often ended up answering three or four questions at once, all of which had me scrabbling down my notes, furiously crossing out while also scribbling keywords, hopefully to have him expand on a throwaway remark or observation. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">It was hard work, but in another sense it was very easy, because you start to develop a 'second ear' which follows the conversational flow not so much as would anyone in any ordinary exchange <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">– i.e. to grasp meaning and elicit information </span>–but to listen for quotable lines, for juice. Aggers was a constant stream of juice. Without doubt the most eloquent interviewee I've had. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">That's not to say I agree with everything he said. On the technical matters of broadcasting, I defer to his authority. But on strictly cricketing matters I find he can be a little rash, a little quick to offer opinions, often conservative opinions. Nonetheless, that doesn't alter the fact that he's very engaging company (he has since given me a couple of other interviews, one for my book, another for a piece in <i>The Cricketer </i>(about the Stanford T20 game in 2008) and definitely someone you'd want to have a beer with. <br /><br />It's a real shame, I think, that this piece got less than a thousand social media shares, especially given how the story of Shahid Afridi (an interesting yarn, no doubt, but pretty niche) received over 25,000. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* I say <i>relatively </i>famous. There was an episode of <i>Pointless </i>recently that showed five pictures of sports broadcasters, and Aggers was the lowest score: that is, the best answer. My cricket blindness prevented me from realizing this. I went for Claire Balding, the second highest. The others were Hazel Irving, Peter Alliss and Bobby George. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></span>
<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/934693.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">Talking Cricket: Jonathan Agnew</span></b></span></a><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-77685336318030231352016-01-27T05:46:00.003-08:002016-01-27T05:46:56.453-08:00HOW TO SET THE FIELD FOR LEGGIES (IN ASIA)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAGn8egFSFhNG_bVOgdjz0Si998jFOEh7fNI9aOniAHiXjz5myQiC2bEClow2w6v2g6v7knA2FjdZQeuCP9hHwWLu0K40XHtiXA590QHNgKIHyFHjgwLS7NPi1qsYVPdIigo0D9Fp_J8A/s1600/rashid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAGn8egFSFhNG_bVOgdjz0Si998jFOEh7fNI9aOniAHiXjz5myQiC2bEClow2w6v2g6v7knA2FjdZQeuCP9hHwWLu0K40XHtiXA590QHNgKIHyFHjgwLS7NPi1qsYVPdIigo0D9Fp_J8A/s400/rashid.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's funny which pieces get the most attention, the most traction on social media. Usually, they are ones involving Asian themes, and in this regard the ESPNcricinfo subeditor that chose the headline of this one did well. (I didn't dare venture below the line. Indian commenters are a special breed...)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The piece was published in advance of England's tour of the UAE, when it seemed likely that Adil Rashid would get a gig. He did, of course, starting with a five-for in a Test that England almost swindled after it had ambled along for four days, but fading quickly as both he and Moeen failed to exert any kind of control on the Pakistani batsman. Still, he has gone on to have an exceptional Big Bash League, and looks a crucial prospect for our T20 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Around the same time, South Africa were arriving in India for their own Test series with an old friend Imran Tahir having been picked for what was likely to be his last flirt with the five-day game (he remains a first-choice pick for SA's white-ball teams). <br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This piece recapitulates an idea that I developed while watching Immy's torrid early experiences in Test cricket, trying to figure out a way for him to be more effective. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/928759.html" target="_blank">How to Manage Legspinners in Asia</a> </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span> Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-40549583193687952752016-01-27T05:29:00.003-08:002016-01-27T05:29:46.734-08:00SHIRE BRIGADE #6: DARREN STEVENS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The sixth in the <a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/tag/the-shire-brigade" target="_blank">monthly series</a> caught up with one of county cricket's most underrated players (at least, if we're judging by England selection). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Darren Stevens is a destructive batsman whose late-career reinvention as an all-rounder who purveys some of the tricksiest dobbers on the circuit has often kept Kent afloat during a tricky period, as this once powerhouse club adjusted to their financial realities and rebuilt with a team of homegrown talent (Billings, Bell-Drummond, Blake, Riley, Cowdrey, Northeast et al) and no overseas player. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is still trooping on, now almost 40, and Jimmy Adams and Rob Key will be hoping they can squeeze a little more out of Stevo before he heads off into the sunset. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-darren-stevens" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Darren Stevens: Shire Brigade </b></span></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span> Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-54520728280254431072016-01-27T05:19:00.002-08:002016-01-27T05:21:20.450-08:00J.K. LEVER: GLEANINGS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Truth be told, I didn't remember much about JK Lever's career. I found out from Phil DeFreitas (an interview I did in October 2014 that <i>still </i>hasn't been published) that Lever was coaching Lashings, so I thought it would be worth pursuing. <br /><br />I remembered him bowling the last ball of a Lord's final against Notts, with four runs needed, and being carved to the Tavern boundary by Eddie Hemmings. I remembered a few other TV appearances as the swing-bowling spearhead of a very strong Essex side in the 1980s <span lang="EN-GB">–</span> the likes of Gooch, Ken McEwan, Keith Fletcher, Neil Foster and Derek Pringle, with a solid support cast of Brian Hardie, Paul Prichard, Stuart Turner, Ray and David East, David Acfield, et al. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsErhbrBEH2mceizF0Ai2ZDQzUjfapGevRQupjUekd6Y9mlOBpVoSbdFiCm8esph9t4Fa3TkKMfD23s6lrA_SR7JD2e7Fgoll5MpIGUbzAOwxz3Ym48US0CYPXH56zpDu26TcHt4s2dON/s1600/lever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsErhbrBEH2mceizF0Ai2ZDQzUjfapGevRQupjUekd6Y9mlOBpVoSbdFiCm8esph9t4Fa3TkKMfD23s6lrA_SR7JD2e7Fgoll5MpIGUbzAOwxz3Ym48US0CYPXH56zpDu26TcHt4s2dON/s400/lever.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lever flanked by Turner (left) and Fletcher</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Turns out he had one of the most successful (and controversial) England debuts of them all en route to playing 29 Tests. That said, and without being churlish about a charming fellow, he was <a href="http://reversesweeper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/peter-lever-gleanings.html" target="_blank">only the second most interesting Lever</a> to have played for England that I've interviewed...</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/917123.html" target="_blank"><b>JK Lever: Gleanings </b></a></span><br />
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</xml><![endif]-->Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-1806878324962117272016-01-27T05:04:00.000-08:002016-01-27T05:22:13.508-08:00SHIRE BRIGADE #5: IAN WESTWOOD <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The fifth installment of my <a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/tag/the-shire-brigade" target="_blank">monthly series</a> for All out Cricket was a chat with the diminutive, nuggety Warwickshire opener and sometime skipper, Ian Westwood. Not a bad lad, considering he has a Brummie accent... </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-ian-westwood" target="_blank"><b>Shire Brigade: Ian Westwood</b></a></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-66807966706380555722015-10-24T16:53:00.000-07:002015-10-24T16:53:02.060-07:00RELIVING GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S ONE-DAY GLORY YEARS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mid-September, and a trip to London to watch unfancied Gloucestershire take on fat cats Surrey in the Royal London Cup final, once upon a time the showpiece game of the English domestic first-class season but now something of a poor relation to the glitz of Twenty20 Finals Day. <br /><br />A smallish crowd <span></span>– the larger part of which were down from the West Country, it seemed, rather than south of the Thames <span></span>– were treated to <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/royal-london-one-day-cup-2015/engine/match/804869.html" target="_blank">a slow-burning classic of a game</a>, with Sangakkara at one stage looking like he was waltzing Surrey to victory, until his dismissal triggered a tense hour-and-a-half on a crusty pitch. Gloucestershire fought superbly, and eventually squeezed out a victory, one that was highly reminiscent of their glory years under John Bracewell and Mark Alleyne at the turn of the century, when they completely dominated limited-overs cricket. <br /><br />It was this one-day dynasty that formed the subject of my ESPNcricinfo blog for September, and I managed to run into quite a few of that team around the ground: Mike Smith, Jack Russell and Alleyne in the press box, Ian Harvey and Jon Lewis in the Tavern pub, clearly enjoying themselves. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/921321.html" target="_blank"><b>Reliving Gloucestershire's One-Day Glory days</b></a> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-41679712143162866932015-10-24T16:34:00.001-07:002015-10-24T16:34:16.692-07:00THE SHIRE BRIGADE #4: PHIL MUSTARD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With their close ties to the PCA and access to the England cricket team, <i>All Out Cricket</i> magazine could be forgiven for ignoring the less glamorous parts of the English game. True, they do run interviews with the likes of Moeen Ali, Joe Root and Ben Stokes every three months, it seems, but they also like the less heralded characters of the county game, which is who I'm trying to write about in the Shire Brigade series <span></span>– players who can be considered cult heroes, or stalwarts for their clubs. <br /><br />Fourth in the series, after Nottinghamshire's Luke Fletcher, Somerset's Peter Trego and Northamptonshire's Steven Crook, is the Durham wicket-keeper Phil Mustard, 'The Colonel', still an important part of their one-day team but someone who has lost his place in the Championship side to Michael Richardson and has been loaned out to Lancashire. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm led to believe he is an avid consumer of magazines from a shelf or two above the natural home of <i>All Out Cricket</i>, and while that does perhaps add to his cultic status, it wasn't really something that was ever going to make the cut. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/the-shire-brigade-phil-mustard" target="_blank">Shire Brigade: Phil Mustard</a> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-535125029239534212015-10-24T16:20:00.001-07:002015-10-24T16:20:50.167-07:00STAFFORDSHIRE'S 1001st GAME<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the end of August I pootled on down to a sun-baked Knypersley CC to watch the opening day of Staffordshire's fixture with Buckinghamshire, their 1001st game in the Minor Counties Championship. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was able to interview to a few people – Keith Stride and Sid Owen, as well as both coaches, Dave Cartledge and Simon Stanway – for my book about the Minor Counties' cult players, and I was able to chat to several people in a non-professional capacity. It was an enjoyable day, and I was able to write a piece for <i>All Out Cricket </i>magazine about it, with another due in the next issue of <i>The Cricketer</i>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.alloutcricket.com/cricket/features/staffordshires-great-and-good-celebrate-1000-games" target="_blank">The Manchester United of the Minor Counties</a> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span>Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-7903640591553595902015-09-02T08:36:00.004-07:002015-09-02T08:36:57.482-07:00WASIM JAFFER INTERVIEW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some time in July I headed out Solihull way, to a Lashings game (a bizarre carnival worthy of a piece in itself), to interview, among others, the current Himley CC pro Wasim Jaffer on the subject of the five great Indian batsmen of his era, all of whom he played with across a 31-match Test career: Sachin, Rahul, VVS, Ganguly and Sehwag. <br /><br />I was able to pinch two twelve-minute periods in amongst the various corporate glad-handing he was contractually obliged to undertake, and the result was an interview that ESPNcricinfo refused, despite having commissioned it ("there's nothing here that hasn't been said before"). In spite of my best efforts to elicit specific examples of their technical strengths and weaknesses, specific anecdotes illustrating his general observations, Wasim played a steady hand, blocking carefully, eschewing high-risk options... </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, if you're not <i>au fait </i>with the copious literature on the aforementioned stars, here's the piece, which I sold on to Wisden India for considerably less than cricinfo would have stumped up. Sigh. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.wisdenindia.com/interview/tendulkar-genius-attention-detail-stood-out-jaffer/174712" target="_blank"><b>Wasim Jaffer on the Big Five</b></a> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-76775918190154938072015-09-01T16:26:00.000-07:002015-09-01T16:26:15.796-07:00HERATH AT BARNFIELDS <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My effort to smuggle as many North Staffs cricket stories on to the widely read virtual pages of ESPNcricinfo continues apace, this month with the story of Rangana Herath's brief and not especially successful couple of months at Moddershall in 2009, at least some of which was directly copy/pasted from a lengthier comparison of his stint as pro and Imran Tahir's (<a href="http://reversesweeper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/imrangana-taherath-tale-of-two-spinners.html" target="_blank">Imrangana Taherath: A Tale of Two Spinners</a>). This follows fairly recent pieces on <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/724077.html" target="_blank">Tino Best</a>, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/858311.html" target="_blank">Shahid Afridi</a>, <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/880671.html" target="_blank">Adam Sanford</a>, and, self-aggrandisingly, me <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/904075.html" target="_blank">nudging 50-odd</a> against Bilawal Bhatti. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As ever, the earnestness of the some of the comments is both amusing and disturbing all at the same time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/913813.html" target="_blank"><b><br /></b></a></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/913813.html" target="_blank"><b>Herath's Cold Summer at Staffs</b></a> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4507111563956285303.post-32146953024245968532015-08-20T14:52:00.000-07:002017-03-12T12:44:24.665-07:00THE BEST XI, PART 1: THE 'LOCALS' <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Moddershall 1999: five of this lot make it</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of my most recent (and
shortest) contributions to the Moddershall monthly (ish) newsletter, <i>Barnfields Buzz</i>, was a select XI of the best 'local' players I'd played with:
that is, either amateurs or </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">English </span></span>professionals I played an extended period with, thus excluding those who deputised here
and there, such as Samit Patel or Chris Lewis. <br />
<br />
I also excluded players from my university days, and those I played with in
Staffordshire age-group cricket or in my handful of games for the North Staffs
& South Cheshire League XI. <br />
<br />There were a few names that came into consideration – Wayne Stones, Scott Elstone, Hamza Siddique, James
Cornford, Chris Beech, Phil Hawkins, and a few more – but in the end there could only be XI.
One or two might quibble with the batting order, but such is life. </span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">* * * </span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was thinking not long ago
about the excellent overseas professionals Moddershall have had, and wondered
how many internationals I’ve played with at Barnfields. Then I got to thinking
about who’d feature in the best homegrown XI I’d played with at club level.
This is my team:<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>1. Karl Glendenning </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Opening batsman for Wollaton,
where I played in 2006 and 2007, Karl was (and might still be) the leading
century maker in Notts Premier League history. Glendo didn’t leave too many
balls, so gave the bowler a sniff, but he was possessed of a dreamy cover drive as well as having plenty of other shots in his repertoire, and thus could wrest the initiative in
games very quickly. Once he’d done so, he quite often came down the gears, a
typical Yorkshireman ruthlessly focused on making a score. And in a team of
excellent catchers, he would be the first-choice grabber.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2. Roger Shaw (wk) </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s a close call for the wicketkeeper’s
spot between Rog and Phil Hawkins. Phil shades it standing up, and Rog probably
had the edge standing back. They were both effective, if markedly different
batsmen – Phil a rock-solid accumulator who played square of the wicket, Rog
quite likely to hit the first ball of the game over extra cover for six – and
it’s this game-changing ability that <i>just</i>
sees him shade it.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>3. Jon Addison </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">An inspirational figure who
transformed Moddershall from a small </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘</span></span>provincial</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">’</span></span> club to arguably the best in the area for
a three- or four-year period at the end of the 1990s, principally by making us
all feel ten feet tall when we took the pitch. Put simply, he knew his way
around league cricket and understood exactly how to make runs on club pitches, particularly
when they were most needed. An effective left-arm spinner on a worn or damp
pitch, he also caught several incredible slip catches, and would sneak in a
three-man cordon in this team (mainly because he wasn’t the most mobile elsewhere, hence
the nickname ‘Agile’).<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>4. Richard Harvey </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A slightly unorthodox though
highly gifted strokeplayer with lightening fast hands and a tennis player’s ability for
swatting the low full-toss as far as anyone I’ve set eyes on. Harv left Moddershall at
21 to play top-flight cricket, joining Longton, who would become our
arch-rivals for the next ten years. He went on to skipper Staffordshire for six seasons, and was the decisive factor in converting Longton from
under-achieving show ponies into hardnosed winners (a league ‘three-peat’ from
2003 to 2005), selling his wicket as dearly as almost anyone I’ve seen. Also,
he had bucket hands and moved well, so would field pretty much where he wanted
in this team.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>5. Sam Kelsall</b> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I only played one season with
him as a 15-year-old (him, not me), but aside from his obvious talent he had <a href="http://dogbeforewicket.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/sam-kelsall-role-model-bb04.html" target="_blank">an exceptional attitude</a> and bone-deep appetite for the battle, not taking a backward
step against the likes of Tino Best and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. His medium-pacers were also useful at
covering gaps in our team, and it’s good to see them doing such a steady job
these days.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>6. Iain Carr </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A superb cricketer who, in this era of open payments, could probably
command close to £10,000 per season (as could No7 in our team) but who never
took a single penny out of club cricket. Happier against high pace than spin or
dibbly-dobbly seam, Iain would muscle away bouncers whatever their speed, and was
the first man to make a NSSCL double-hundred. Bowling lively seam up with a hint of out-swing from a
high action, when he was free of shin splints he was capable of destroying
batting line-ups, as attested by three nine-fers, including one in a famous win at Longton. Fields
slip for the spinners. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>7. Andy Hawkins </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In his pomp, Hawk was arguably the best pace bowler in the league, if not the
county, swinging the ball away at good pace and getting awkward bounce. A
Guyanese pro and former Windies ODI player at Audley once compared him to facing Curtly Ambrose </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">– not bad for a part-timer!</span></span> He was also a
very positive and hugely talented batsman, one capable of making telling contributions
against high-class bowling. With a bit more drive and/or self-belief, and
perhaps a more forgiving left knee, Andy could easily have made a good career
playing county cricket for a decade. Mr Moddershall. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>8. Tom Savill </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another teammate at Wollaton,
the enigmatic former Cambridge University captain and Notts Academy
member was a new-ball bowler who, if he clicked, could hurry it through in the
mid-to-high eighties from a slingy action that might also send down the odd
unintentional flattie. An absolute nightmare to face indoors! Tall and
technically correct, he was also a very accomplished batsman, good enough to
get a couple of first-class fifties against Warwickshire and Northants.<b> </b>When he was hot...<b><br /> </b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>9. John Myatt</b> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘Mauler’ may not have made
too many friends in the opposition ranks, and occasionally caused ructions in
his own dressing room, but he was an out-and-out winner who was harder for the
opposition to get rid of than Alien or Predator. Good at smashing average
bowling, super-courageous against high pace, with a method that worked against
spinners, John was also an aggressive, skiddy line bowler with a sharp bouncer
who later morphed into an excellent dobber as the hair grew more silver. Despite
being a fixture at first slip, he’d get nowhere near this team’s cordon – but might
not be that easy to tell as much.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>10. Paul McMahon (c) </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Skipper of Oxford University,
England Under-19s (with Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett and others),
Nottinghamshire 2nd XI (where he was contracted for six years),
Wollaton, and now Cambridgeshire CCC, Macca is the most astute tactician and
best communicator of his ideas that I’ve played with or against. An excellent
off-spinner and an initially limited, though gritty batsman who has continued
to improve as he’s got older, it’s no accident that his spell as pro at both
his current club, Peterborough, and Cambridgeshire has coincided with their
most successful ever periods.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>11. Glenn Heywood</b> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘The Ten to Two from Crewe’ was signed from now-defunct
Crewe Rolls-Royce on the back of a blistering performance on a hard, green
pitch in our promotion year of 1996, when he put Hawk on his bum, Harv in hospital, and Addo back in the hutch
by flattening his stumps – the latter then making a bee-line for him in the bar
that evening to tap him up. He brought raw pace and x-factor to our side, and
was a hugely important if hot-and-cold component of our historic league title success
in 1997. He also owned no kit whatsoever and if he turned up ten minutes before
the start (his nickname referred to both his arrival time and duck-footedness) you thought yourself lucky. Might be batting one place too high in this side, mind. </span></span></div>
<br />Scott Oliverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13538172265090774038noreply@blogger.com0