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Outside-edge Issue 97 Spring 2016

The magazine of the Exiles News and views on and about Gloucestershire County Club

Tom Graveney

‘, who has died aged 88, was the greatest, as well as the most elegant and graceful, professional batsman to emerge in Britain in the years after the Second World War.’ [Daily Telegraph obituary, 4 November 2015.]

Welcome to the Spring 2016 edition of Outside-edge

Editorial

It seems like only yesterday that we were all basking in the glory of Gloucestershire’s magnificent Royal Trophy victory. Since then, we have experienced the mildest of winters and enjoyed ’s terrific Test series win in . I was in for the Second Test where I was delighted to meet fellow Exiles and have since bumped into a of others who were also at the match. Watching ’ remarkable and also ’s valiant, emotional effort, we can truly say, “I was there!”

The month of January was one of seemingly endless obituaries to some of the nation’s favourite people, from Sir Terry Wogan to David Bowie. Similarly in Gloucestershire, since our last issue of Outside-edge, we have mourned the departure of some revered and much-loved cricketers: Ken and Tom Graveney, Barrie Meyer and Tom Pugh. In this issue, there are tributes to each of these fine cricketers provided by Exiles. Those dedicated to Tom Graveney show how he, in particular, inspired so much affection and admiration throughout the cricket world.

The start of a new season is always a time for great anticipation and hope that our team can achieve the kind of success we were able to celebrate last year. While we have been freezing in football and rugby stands, many avid followers of the game may have been checking the progress of the cricket ‘Down Under’. They will have noted the spectacular success of our new signing, , in the Big Bash. also arrives from ‘Oz’ with a gathering reputation as a batsman/ -keeper. Youngsters and Brandon Gilmour have enjoyed a successful season in and may well be pushing for 1st team selection during the season. We also welcome 20-year old right-arm seamer, , who arrives on loan from . Outside-edge includes a more detailed account of these valuable recruits.

At the Exiles’ Lord’s Dinner in February, it was very refreshing to listen to give a carefully considered yet optimistic assessment of the County’s chances this season. We bring you a report from this enjoyable event as well as details of the Exiles’ Day at Cheltenham to be held on July 20th.

The improvements to the County Ground have, once again, secured status as an international cricket venue. England’s Royal London ODI against at on Sunday, 26th June will be a highlight of the season. This will be followed by the England Women’s NatWest IT20 match against on 3rd July. Tickets for both matches are available from the County website.

As seemed to be marching imperiously towards a comfortable win in the Royal London Trophy, those of us who had witnessed some remarkable matches in the competition retained an inner calm from the belief that one-day matches can alter course quite dramatically. Doubtless, Gloucestershire’s season in 2016 will have several highs and lows, successes and disappointments but the team appear to have developed an inner resolve which can carry them through adversity. If our supporters can offer the kind of highly vocal encouragement in evidence at Lord’s, who knows what they may achieve this season.

Martin Jones

Tony Hickey Photography 172 Abbotswood Road, Brockworth, Gloucester GL3 4PF T: 01452 862897 M: 07767 400414 Email: [email protected]

Chair’s Message

Another season is upon us and what a fascinating one it will be, too! New faces, older ones seeking to build on last season’s success, Ian Cockbain back from injury…Fortunes can change in the blink of an eye but we know that skill and hard work play their part in any individual or collective sporting success. Taking the long view, we see that the highs and lows Martin mentions in his Editorial are a feature of most cricketing careers and even the most successful of our players, be they Tom Graveney, Craig Spearman or anyone else, have their moments in the shade. But they ultimately have featured in Halls of Fame and the record books.

In this issue of Outside-edge, we celebrate a quarter of you, the Gloucestershire Exiles, voting for the Player of the Year. Looking at the list of names is a fascinating reminder of individual performances of past players, some of whom we may have forgotten. But there they all are - part of the rich tapestry of Gloucestershire cricket. We are so grateful to Ron Lev who continues to sponsor the award he initially suggested. Ron has generously said he’ll carry on doing so until the 30th anniversary is reached! Potential future sponsors note: you have to be in for the long haul!

Thank you to all Exiles for all your support – taking out a membership and attending our events allows us to support the club, especially the needs of emerging young players. We look forward to seeing you, home or away – or possibly at another Lord’s final? – in 2016.

Sarah Blowen

Background Music

In our autumn 2015 edition, we featured Johnny Coppin’s song The Glorious Glosters which has been adopted by the team to be sung following a victory and which had its most notable outing at Lord’s last September. This prompted regular contributor Christopher Bell to muse upon what else might be deemed suitable background music for a cricket match. Do send us your own ideas!

Over the years Henry Newbolt’s “There’s a breathless hush in the close tonight” tends unbidden to sidle into my memory. Especially at Cheltenham, where those rather austere College buildings evoke something akin to the atmosphere of Clifton in the original poem. But if on the ground Gloucestershire are contesting a 20- match, then you can be certain there will be no “breathless hush”. The opposite in fact: instead music, proudly raucous music, in snatches and distorted in transmission. I am of course decidedly old and, as would be suspected, not addicted to Big Bashes and Blasts. However, I accept that recorded music for one-day matches is somehow here to stay and my conclusion is – thinking again of the College ground – that the County should do well to draw on the surprisingly appropriate words of certain well known hymns and oratorios. What is needed are recordings by a good, powerful choir and a much-improved public address system. Then those arriving early, peering anxiously at the sky, can be reassured with a rendering of “But westward look, the land is bright!” Even the best of matches can sadly be interrupted by rain or bad light. I suggest as the skies darken that “Abide with Me, fast falls the eventide” is played and then, inevitably as Duckworth and Lewis calculations begin, first “In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes” to be followed by “The day Thou gavest Lord is ended, the darkness falls at Thy command” and perhaps as the teams head for the pavilion: “For all the saints who from their labours rest”. But what of those splendidly sunny days when Gloucestershire achieve equally splendid victories? Not a hymn, but either that well-known celebratory chorus from Handel’s Messiah or even (from the Magnificat) “He hath put down the mighty and exalted the humble and meek!” Ideal for when we next beat Yorkshire or Surrey, perhaps?

The Exiles Return to Lord’s

Barely five months after the County’s Royal London Cup Final win many Exiles, and their guests, headed back to Lord’s for what has become a highly popular biennial event, a dinner held in the Committee Dining Room, and this year the cup took pride of place on the top table.

The evening was a perfect demonstration of what the Exiles do best, combining a social event with fundraising activities to support the County. Guest speaker for the evening was , Director of Cricket for England, who mixed and mingled with the guests both before and after the dinner – and even when the Pavilion was briefly evacuated for a fire alarm scare! He looked back on his England playing career, especially the highs and lows of playing in Ashes series, talked about those he had played with (which inevitably included …) and spoke openly about his hopes and expectations for his new role, talking regularly of his desire that the current England players should inspire young people to take up and remain in the sport. Key to this would be England winning the World Cup which will be staged in the in 2019. He also reminded those gathered that he had been awarded his international debut by fellow guest David Graveney, who was at the time the Chairman of Selectors for England. Graveney, too, was extremely open with guests, speaking more about Gloucestershire cricket and his own hopes for the season to come.

Guest Speaker, Andrew Strauss

At the end of the evening County Chairman Roger Cooke extended a vote of thanks to Andrew Strauss, and Exiles’ Chair Sarah Blowen thanked Jon Paine for organising such a successful event. Two years ago when a similar function was held at Lord’s heavy snow was falling by the end of the evening. There was nothing like that this year, but what was similar was the farewell message as Exiles headed away: “See you in Cheltenham!”

Do we have your email address / proper contact details? Please contact Simon Franklin (details on the inside back cover) if these need updating.

Welcome to Gloucestershire!

There will be a number of new faces at Bristol this season, joining the County staff from far and wide and adding strength to both the and .

It is always satisfying when a club can develop talent from within and that is what has happened to George Hankins and Brandon Gilmour who were both awarded two-year contracts by the County late last year. Hankins, 18, had a wonderful 2015 season, breaking batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond’s record for most runs in a season at Millfield School and also making his highest County Second XI score with 166 against Warwickshire. He was selected to play for an England Under-19 Development side against Australia Under-19s. The Bath CC player hails from and has been with Gloucestershire since he was 15. He was last season’s Academy Player of the Year. -born Gilmour is 19 and made his first Second XI century last year, against MCC Young Cricketers, and captained the side during the latter half of the season. An aggressive batsman, he joined the Academy in 2013 and plays his for Downend. Both players were rewarded for their successful seasons when they were selected to spend the winter at the renowned Darren Lehman Academy in .

George Hankins (centre with Academy players and Patrick Grieshaber)

Coming to Bristol from Australia is the highly promising Cameron Bancroft who is 23 and a team mate of at for whom he made his first-class debut in 2011. An opening batsman and wicketkeeper, he will be available for the County’s first five Championship matches until Klinger returns. Described as a “patient” opening batsman, his future appears to be more in the red ball game and he was selected for Australia’s Test squad to tour last October, before the tour was cancelled for security reasons. He did, though, make his T20 debut for Australia in January this year against . He went into the 2015-16 Sheffield Shield season with a batting average of just over 36 and with five centuries to his name, but comes to Bristol in fine form having already added two more to this total with big hundreds against and Queensland.

The bowling resources have been boosted with a season-long loan signing of Josh Shaw from Yorkshire, who is expected to play in all forms of cricket. The -born twenty year old is a right-arm fast- medium bowler and is well known to Richard Dawson as Shaw played under him as part of his progression through Yorkshire’s Academy and Second Eleven. He also played for England Under-19’s in 2014. He made his T20 debut for Yorkshire last season but is yet to make his first-class debut although looks set to form a pace triumvirate with Craig Miles and Liam Norwell.

Also joining the staff but more with the one-day matches in mind, and perhaps helping to fill the boots of James Fuller, is , a left-arm fast-medium bowler who leaves Sussex after ten years and where he worked under former Gloucestershire favourite Jon Lewis. Liddle is 32 and has had limited opportunities throughout his career in Championship matches, but was said to be Sussex’s most consistent bowler in one-day cricket, especially in T20 cricket where he has already played 75 matches. Such was his success that he was signed by the Gladiators to play in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Also joining the County, but only for the NatWest T20 matches, will be another of Michael Klinger’s team mates, Andrew Tye. A late developer, at 29 he made his international debut for Australia in January in the T20 series against India having burst onto the scene in the Big Bash League playing for the Scorchers where he was described by , then Australia’s T20 , as the find of the tournament. He was part of Australia’s recent World Cup T20 squad and is a high-quality “death” bowler, particularly with his ‘’. He was signed to play IPL cricket for the Super Kings in 2015 but this year was snapped up by the where he will play alongside the likes of Brendon McCullum, and Aaron Finch. He will head to Bristol in May after the IPL tournament and looks set to play a leading role as the County seeks further one-day honours.

We welcome them all and look forward to seeing them in action in the County colours.

Book Reviews

Never Say Die by Tim Lezard

Journalist Tim Lezard has edited a book celebrating Gloucestershire’s unlikely triumph in the RL One-Day Cup. With a foreword by BBC’s cricketing correspondent , Never Say Die is a 60-page, full- colour publication charting the County’s road to Lord’s, where they defeated a star-studded Surrey side in a nail-biting final. Illustrated with stunning photographs by Martin Bennett, Tim Lezard had exclusive access to the players after the game and their frank interviews appear alongside contributions from fans.

Lezard, from Dursley, said: “This book allows readers to relive the game through the eyes of the players and fans who were there. No-one gave this Gloucestershire side a chance but they pulled together and what followed was a triumph of determination, guts and no little skill.”

Tim also chatted to coaches Richard Dawson and about how they masterminded the , re- living the final through their eyes as they watched from the Lord’s balcony. There are also match reports and photographs from the two youth games during the lunch break, resulting in victories for Cam and Frampton CCs.

Stylishly designed by Simon Rees and Liz Hickson at Rumba, the book is dotted with tweets and newspaper headlines from around the world. It is available to but for £14.99 from www.neversaydiebook.co.uk.

In Memoriam – Gloucestershire Cricketers killed in the Great War By Roger Gibbons

Club Historian Roger Gibbons tells us that he is often accused of living in the past! However, this is not in vain: Roger has recently produced a detailed account of all eighteen first-class Gloucestershire players who lost their lives in the Great War. “In Memoriam – Gloucestershire Cricketers killed in the Great War” is obtainable for £8.00 plus postage and packing from the County Shop or from the author at Acre House, Acre Street, Stroud, GL5 1DR for £9.00 postage paid. All proceeds from the sale of the book are for the benefit of the GCCC Heritage Trust which aims to raise funds to set up a new Gloucestershire Cricket Museum and Learning Centre at Nevil Road, Bristol.

To introduce the book, Roger has produced a few quiz questions relating to those players who appeared for Gloucestershire in the early years of the twentieth century. All answers can be found in his book, but we’ll give them to you at the end of this edition of Outside-edge too. So, can you name…? 1. The son of one of WG Grace’s biographers 2. His brother, a Vice President of the Football Association, is believed to be the first man to call “soccer” 3. An Old Cliftonian and Cambridge University undergraduate, at 20 years and 221 days old, the youngest ever Gloucestershire cricketer to lose his life 4. Educated at Cheltenham College, a career soldier who also played for Kent. The highest ranking Gloucestershire player to lose his life 5. Although not killed in the war, living on to 1963 and into his eighty-fifth year, he was reported as having lost his life when the ship on which he had been due to sail was sunk off the coast of Chile. He had, in fact, missed a train on his way to join the ship, which sailed without him 6. An officer in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, killed in action in Egypt whilst serving with the grandfather of the Club’s current Patron, the Earl Bathurst 7. A Captain in the Royal Flying Corps, shot down and killed east of Ypres whilst on a photographic patrol. He had also played cricket for Sussex

Summer’s Crown –The Story of Cricket’s By Stephen Chalke. (Fairfield Books. 2015. http://www.fairfieldbooks.org.uk )

Stephen Chalke, himself an Exile, will be well known to many of us, writes Howard Allen. He is a cricket writer of renown and he has won the Wisden Book of the Year prize in 2004 and 2008.

In his latest book, Stephen tells the story of cricket’s County Championship now in the 125th year of its fascinating history. The book celebrates the achievements of great teams and players, memorable matches and bizarre episodes, times of crisis and also the fascinating social history that moulds it all.

In every aspect the book is a treasure trove, with a very fine selection of photographs and statistical information. The layout of the book is superb with each section containing a commentary on the author’s selection of the exceptional players of each decade and also a rich collection of stories such as ‘’s wonder week – Cheltenham, August 1928’ (see later) or the account of the rise of Durham in recent times.The appendix contains a rich collection of information and will provide much food for debate amongst cricket aficionados.

I have so enjoyed this tome. Not least there is Stephen’s inimitable style, his gift for analysis and his rich vein of wit. There is every opportunity here to enjoy the many superb moments from the first 125 years in the history of the premier cricket championship in the world. Referred to earlier in the review of Stephen Chalke’ s book on the County Championship, there follows an extract from “Summer’s Crown” (Fairfield Books).

Wally Hammond’s Wonder Week Cheltenham, August 1928

Gloucestershire cricket came first to the Cheltenham College ground in 1872, expanding to two games in 1879, then to a three-game festival in 1906. It was held in August, starting on the second Saturday when much of the harvesting on the surrounding farms had been done.

Charles Light, a young Cotswold forester, attended for the first time in 1926. “We cycled from Sheepscombe, through the harvested fields. Then at the ground there was a big yard where you could park your bike all day for twopence. Dennett, the old Gloucestershire spin bowler, was on the gate, collecting the money.”

Wally Hammond, the rising star of the county’s cricket, spent that summer of 1926 in a nursing home, battling against a life-threatening illness contracted in the . Yet any fear that his great talent had been diminished was soon dispelled when on his return in May 1927 he scored 1,000 runs in just 22 days. However, even that was less remarkable than his week at Cheltenham in August 1928.

Returning from Test, he joined the Festival, on Wednesday, against Surrey. It had rained the previous day, and the pitch, drying out under a hot sun, was ‘on the difficult side’. Yet Hammond, brimming with intent, cut his first ball for four and ‘sent the score along at a merry pace’. He was out early in the afternoon for 139.

The next day he held four catches, took the wicket of and, with the pitch still not easy, came off at close of play on 64 . On the final day he took his score to 143, then – as Charlie Parker spun his way through the Surrey batting – he held a further six catches, all in succession. In one match he had scored a century in each innings, taken the wicket of Hobbs and set a world record, still unequalled, of ten catches.

Worcestershire were Gloucestershire’s next opponents. “The village cricketers all used to come on the Saturday,” said Charles Light, “and the beer tent did good business. Flowers Bitter was the best. It was a penny more than Stroud or Ciren Beer, but it was worth it.” In the morning they saw Hammond take the new ball. burned down on a heavy dew, the ball swung and came off the pitch at pace, and in barely an hour Worcestershire were all out for 35. Hammond took nine for 23, one of his smashing a stump. The other wicket fell to Parker, by Hammond in the slips.

“The wicket was a bit tricky,” was Hammond’s explanation to the local paper – but not so tricky that, when he batted, he could not stay in for two hours and make 80 runs. ‘He did not reveal his most attractive form,’ wrote, ‘but he seldom wasted an opportunity to score by a cleverly placed stroke.’

In four days he had scored two centuries and an 80, held ten catches in a match and taken nine wickets in an innings. Yet such was his reputation – ‘the young man of 25 on whom the mantle of WG Grace has fallen’ – that not everybody that day was impressed.

“We only had the one day off work each week, you see,” recalled Charles Light, who was not among the crowd. “If we came, we had to miss our own match and we were playing at Ampney Crucis. I remember getting back to North Cerney on the bus, and we met our secretary. He was an older man, he always came to the festival, and we asked him all about it. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘it was rather dull.’ Those were his very words. He reckoned Hammond’s 80 was slower than usual.”

Exiles Player of the Year 2015 - Michael Klinger

Michael Klinger driving in typical finish

After another astonishing season with the bat and leading the side to RL Trophy success, Michael Klinger was duly elected as the Exiles’ Player of the Season for 2015.

John Lee noted, “There was a great anticipation when he strode to the wicket.” Betty Johnson admired the wonderful way he never doubted the Gloucestershire players and led by example. Clive Major summed up what most people thought: “His leadership of an inexperienced side has been outstanding. He has given us a season to remember!”

Whilst Michael received the lion’s share of the votes, second place was secured by Liam Norwell.

Simon Ireland said, “He stepped up to lead the attack wholeheartedly and often extremely effectively, dismissing a high percentage of top quality batsmen.” Howard Allen summed up the thoughts of many: “Much admired. He showed great commitment and skill after injuries. Well done, Liam!”

Jon Paine

A Quarter of a Century of Gloucestershire Exiles’ Players of the Year

Ron Lev writes: From the time I joined Gloucestershire Exiles in its seventh year, 1978, having attended the club’s home match against the year before (my very first on home soil), it was inevitable that I would be talked into joining the Exiles’ committee.

During the Exiles’ AGM in May 1991, I proposed the creation of an award for the player of the year which would be voted for by the members. As it was considered to be an expense which the then bank balance could not support, I offered to start the ball rolling by funding my own suggestion. This was gratefully acknowledged and accepted.

Tony Wright appeared on the front cover of Outside-edge issue number 50 Spring 1992 with the announcement that “he was overwhelmingly elected as Exiles’ Player of the Year 1991”. Our very first Player of the Year!

From the list below, you can follow the winners since Tony’s success, the most prolific being Mark Alleyne. The award has usually been presented at a suitable moment during the Cheltenham Festival and, occasionally, at the Meet the Players Dinner.

1991 Tony Wright 2004 Jon Lewis 1992 2005 Alex Gidman 1993 Jack Russell 2006 Hamish Marshall 1994 Courtney Walsh 2007 Steve Kirby 1995 Jack Russell 2008 Steve Snell 1996 Mark Alleyne 2009 Steve Kirby 1997 Mike Smith 2010 James Franklin 1998 Mark Alleyne 2011 Will Gidman 1999 Mark Alleyne 2012 Ian Cockbain 2000 Jon Lewis 2013 Michael Klinger 2001 Jeremy Snape 2014 Will Tavaré 2002 Craig Spearman 2015 Michael Klinger 2003

Cheltenham Festival Exiles’ Day

The 2016 Exiles Day will be held at Cheltenham on Wednesday 20th July, the opening day of the CC2 match against Leicestershire. As usual, a dedicated marquee will be provided. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available from 10.15, with play starting at 11.00, while a comprehensive buffet lunch will be served at 13.00, followed by afternoon tea and cakes during the tea interval. There will also be a pay bar. The function will take place regardless of the weather.

Tickets cost £34 and can be obtained from Ian Herdman, 46 Conifer Crest, Wash Common, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 6RT (Tel: 01635 42284). Please make cheques payable to 'Gloucestershire Exiles' and enclose a S.A.E. The closing date for ticket applications is Saturday 9th July. An application form is enclosed with this issue.

We look forward to welcoming everyone there!

Ian Herdman

A reminder of our SUBSCRIPTION RATES effective from 1st January 2016: membership £15, Joint membership £20, Concessions £10, and Life membership (from 65) £100. Please ensure you are paying the correct rate! Thank you 25 Years of Exiles’ Player of the Year: Tony Wright, Mark Alleyne and Craig Spearman receiving their Exiles’ Player of the Year trophies

The Gloucestershire Exiles remember: Ken Graveney 16 December 1924 – 25 October 2015. Tom Graveney 16 June 1927 – 3 November 2015

‘An innings by Graveney remains in the memory. Simply by closing our eyes we can still see and delight in the free uplift of his bat, the straight lissom poise and the rhythm of his swinging drives.’ So wrote the Editor of Wisden in 1965, and it sums up much of the many tributes we’ve received from Exiles to Tom Graveney who died one week after his brother Ken in November 2015.

The Graveneys provided cricketing role models for a whole generation. For Ian Herdman, “Tom was my boyhood hero, with his elegant batting and imperious cover drive.” Dennis Sobey’s memories of the Graveneys cast him back to his teenage years. “What can I say about them? As a passionate young teenager attending religiously the Cheltenham Festival from 1959, access to the Gloucester players was never a problem. Tom was a real gentleman who never refused a request for his autograph. Warm, kind and obliging, he had an immaculate signature.”

Richard Tovey can go one better than an autograph: “I won Tom’s benefit bat on my 11th birthday on August 9th 1959 when Gloucestershire played The Duke of Beaufort's XI at Badminton. It was presented to me by the Duchess of Beaufort and hangs on our stairs at home alongside other bats from my cricket life! It was a very exciting moment for a fanatical schoolboy cricketer!!”

The excitement of meeting one’s hero was even greater for Ray Tarling: he actually got to play with him! “It was about 1957/58, the year of Sam Cook's benefit. The organiser of the match worked at S. Smith and Sons in Bishops Cleeve and the game was to take place on their sports field. My father, who worked there at the time, was asked if I would like to play (a question which I believe nowadays would be referred to as a "no brainer"). I turned up at the appointed time and was informed I think by one of the umpires that if I was bowling when the beneficiary came to the , it was the custom to allow him a to get off the mark, and that the gesture would be extended to me when I batted.

Gloucester batted first and Tom was soon in full flow, striking the ball all round the field. As I recall, he scored about 75 in twenty minutes with this usual grace and elegance. I am convinced that whatever the circumstances, he could bat only in that way.

When I was asked to bowl, the two batsmen at the wicket were Tom and : two Test batsmen! The runs continued and wickets fell so that Sam Cook came into bat while I was still bowling and, mindful of the protocol, I bowled a slow which fortunately he managed to reach and patted down for his run. The innings eventually came to an end. I cannot remember the total now but I think was caught on the off my bowling.

It was now time for the opposing side to bat and inevitably my turn came. I walked out to the crease as last man only to find that I was facing Tom. The first ball I managed to get the bat behind and in the excitement of hitting the ball I had completely forgotten the protocol. A moment later, Tom leaned down the wicket towards me and said, "Well, run then!". I did and got my run. The batsman at the other end scored a single and I was back again facing Tom. The wicket-keeper who was almost in my right trouser pocket said, "You'll be out this ball" - my first instance of - but it was an accurate forecast and I was bowled for one run.

Later on, I heard that Tom had touched a ball on its way through to the wicket keeper, which he caught. Apparently Tom said "I hit that...... why didn't you appeal?" The wicket keeper said, "Because everyone's here to see you bat.” To Ray’s mind, Tom embodied the spirit of fair play that is the essence of cricket. In every generation there are sporting heroes who capture the imagination, even if they are not ‘local lads’. For Scot Douglas Sutherland, seeing Tom play at had him hooked: “I was called into the as a National Serviceman in 1954, from my home in Edinburgh. I spent about nineteen months of my two years at RAF Newton, ten miles from . Having two days leave due, (not long enough to get me home and back), I spent some time in June, 1955, at Trent Bridge, where England were playing South Africa. Having had no pretentions of being more than an average Scottish schoolboy cricketer, I thought I would go to see how "real" cricketers played.

England batted first, and Tom Graveney opened with Don Kenyon of Worcestershire. I sat open-mouthed, watching Tom's silky batting style, and in particular that cover drive, which, even to this day, has never been bettered.

Tom scored forty-odd in that innings, but I can still remember leaving the Trent Bridge ground in a daze at the beautiful, classic batting that he had provided the spectators with that day.

From then on, every morning, I scanned the cricket columns of the national press looking for his scores and then decided to apply for membership of Gloucestershire. Even after my two years in the RAF, when I went back to Edinburgh, I continued to seek out his, and ultimately, Gloucestershire's scores and results. Eventually, I applied for County membership, and later became a Life Member of both the County and the Gloucestershire Exiles. By this time I had made my home in Hertfordshire, but still looked upon Gloucestershire as my first love as far as was concerned.”

Ken Cook writes of his idea of sheer perfection: “Watching Tom Graveney bat together with George Emmett, both centuries at The Oval versus Surrey in the 1950s.”

Christopher Bell was lucky to see the Graveneys develop as cricketers in style and substance – although sometimes having two Graveneys in the team led to confusion: “Tom particularly in those early post-war years seemed to me to embody the best of Gloucestershire cricket. Just as another Tom, the off-spinning , always did too. The young Graveney T.W. had much of the elegance of Charlie Barnett and also began gradually to emulate the sheer power of Barnett's and indeed Hammond's strokes. Somehow Cheltenham seemed the ideal setting for Tom, both at the wicket of course, when exchanging amiable chat with spectators or helping carrying the blanket round the field into which coins could be thrown to boost a team mate's benefit. I always remember his puzzled face when suddenly asked to bowl, returning slowly to long on after just one over, leaning over the fence and telling us "I think the skipper got muddled and thought I was Ken !"

Christopher continues: “Both brothers were lovely people and I retain that clear memory of seeing them both at Cheltenham only a few years ago; smiling, laughing with friends and still palpably enjoying the cricket to which they had contributed so much for so many years.”

Indeed, many Exiles remember revealing encounters with the Graveneys in later life. Exiles’ Secretary Nigel Dean, a journalist by trade, recalls: “I had the privilege of interviewing Tom when I was Head of Sport at Severn Sound Radio in Gloucester in the Eighties. We met at his , the Royal Oak in Prestbury, and he was polite, relaxed, warm and friendly yet still forthright in his views on cricket. My only regret is not having seen him play in the flesh. But I can remember watching on black and white television as Tom scored 96 on yet another of his England recalls against at Lord's in 1966. In glorious hindsight, we at Severn Sound should have made more of the likes of Tom and Bomber Wells at that time. What cricket wisdom and what a fund of stories they had.”

Former editor of Outside-edge Howard Allen also interviewed Tom, who talked about that very recall in 1966. “Tom said to me: ‘What shattered me as I went down the pavilion stairs and into the Long Room was that the members started to clap and this continued when I walked onto the ground. I thought ‘What’s going on’ as I haven’t done anything yet. Some short-pitched (a warm welcome from Hall and Griffith) soon gave me a wake-up call and brought me back to Earth – this got me going.’ Tom was soon unleashing memorable elegant strokes. He was on 65 overnight.

Tom continued: ‘On the Saturday I was handicapped by a badly bruised hand. I got to ninety and turned a short ball away for two and then hit Wes (Hall) behind square for four. I was on 96 when Gary (Sobers) moved third man squarer leaving a gap between gully and second slip. Wes bowled me one that I tried to run down in the gap but it lifted and I nicked it to the keeper.’

Tom commented: ‘Lord’s is a wonderful place and I loved to bat there. I averaged over 50 in my 10 Test innings prior to 1966 and from 1966 to 1968 I averaged over 80 in my final six innings.’”

Howard also reminds us of the context of these achievements: “Between 1951 and 1968 Tom batted on 16 occasions in Test matches at Lord’s, scoring 843 runs at 56.20 with two centuries and five scores of 50+. However the assessment of the skill – leave alone the enchantment of Tom’s batting - must be set in the context of the quality of the bowling that he faced. Here is a selection – quite mouth-watering: Lindwall, Miller, Johnston, Heine, Adcock, Hall, Griffith, Sobers, Benaud, Gibbs, Tayfield, Ramadhin, Valentine, Bedi, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar.”

Roger Gibbons recalls the joy of catching up with one’s idols when they do turn out to be all that you imagined: “It was one of those Cheltenham days; I think the season was 1999. The rain had stopped, the ground staff were getting the outfield ready and a group of us were discussing recognising players just by initials: P.B.H., D.C.S., M.J.K. although we restricted ourselves amongst the Gloucester “greats“ to the shorter versions: W.G., W.R.H., and T.W.G. No disagreement on the first two but, for the third, after seven of us had said Tom Graveney, an eighth, dissenting voice, said Tom Goddard. Anyway, the ground was now ready, play resumed and nothing more was thought about the matter.

Later that same season, returning by train from watching Gloucestershire beat either Yorkshire in the B & H Super Cup Final or in the NatWest Trophy (I can’t remember which), I spotted Tom a few carriages away. We needed to change trains at Swindon to come on down, him to Cheltenham and me to Stroud, so as we all walked across from one platform to wait for our onward train, I caught up with him and told him the story of the discussion at the College Ground a few weeks earlier. He smiled, thought for just a couple of seconds, and said wryly, “Ah, but I think you’ll find that Tom Goddard was T.W.J.G.”

Thirty five minutes later, when I got out of the train at Stroud, I left Tom in the company of four or five other Gloucestershire supporters, happily remembering past days. I was almost tempted to remain on the train to Cheltenham.”

In his later years, Ken Graveney’s visits back to the UK were few and far between. He came across in 2005 when brother Tom was MCC President and prior to that, he visited in 2001 and there is a photograph in the 2002 Gloucestershire Year Book of the two of them taken during a fleeting visit to the Sussex match at Cheltenham.

Roger Gibbons again recalls that 2001 visit: “In 1995, Grahame Parker wrote an essay entitled “The Graveneys” which was published by Richard Walsh in a Limited Edition of fifty copies. It dealt with the playing careers of Ken, Tom and David and included a photograph of the three of them together, signed by Tom and David. To get Ken to sign the photo would be the icing on the cake. Enquiries were made as to whether they would be back on the following day, so that I could bring my copy of the book for Ken to sign. Unfortunately, the visit was only a brief one and Ken was leaving early next morning and would not be back. My suggestion that I could easily get to Stroud and back that afternoon within an hour or so would also not work – they were only at the ground for a few more minutes. Tom, however, suggested that if I could get the book to his home that evening, he would ensure that Ken signed it before leaving on Sunday morning. This was done and the book was returned to me on the following Tuesday, duly signed by Ken and with a note “thanking me for my kindness”.

“Great memories of two Gloucestershire players who, incidentally, both played in the first game that I watched – against the West Indians at Cheltenham College in 1950.”

Christopher Berkeley writes: “About 30 years ago Tom was in the Courage Old England team that played exhibition matches around the country. My brother-in-law James helped manage the team and got to know these legendary players pretty well. James arranged for the team to sign a small bat that Tom presented to my eldest son David (then aged two and a half) at the County Ground in . David sat on Tom’s knee and recited the then West Indies Test team in full (a party piece of David’s at the time and not bad for a two year old!). Tom loved it. Ever since then he has been known simply as ‘Uncle Tom’ in our family. I can’t recall what Tom achieved with the bat that afternoon in Taunton under that famous peaked of his, but I do recall vividly a blinding catch that he took in the covers which had me marvelling at the still amazing reactions of a 50-plus year old. Thanks, Uncle Tom, for some wonderful memories. You made batting look effortless and greatly inspired my generation of schoolboy cricketers.”

Douglas Sutherland sums up the comments we received from so many Exiles: “And so, "Long Tom", thank you for being the key that opened the door for me as regards pure cricketing style and the gentlemanly conduct which you always provided during your wonderful career. I, like countless others, was much saddened when reading of your passing. And, although I never had the privilege of meeting you and thanking you personally - these memories of you will always be with me.”

Sarah Blowen

The Cheltenham Cricket Society will particularly feel the loss of Tom: a long-time Cheltenham resident, he was their President from 2003 until his death, actively recruiting speakers for meetings and a personal friend to many.

The Exiles may like to know about a 35-minute CD that Tom recorded for the CCS in 2010 in conversation with Stephen Chalke. It contains personal memories of his career and his thoughts about the game and makes fascinating listening. Copies cost £6 to cover the costs of production and postage. To buy one contact Pat Rose or any member of the committee - contact details are available from www.cheltcs.councilcricketsocieties.com

‘It’s all very well being elegant…until you lose your middle pole” Tom Graveney remembered

The tributes featured above from Exiles reveal how generous Tom was in sharing his love of cricket with fans of every generation. Here, Exile and cricket writer Douglas Miller recalls a lifetime of watching and meeting with his cricket hero.

I feel sure that Exiles of a certain generation will be queuing up to pen a few words on the great Tom Graveney. Ten years younger than Tom, I know exactly where I was (playing Colts cricket at school) as word kept being relayed of his with in the Lord’s Test against Australia in 1953. One hundred and sixty-eight they added that day, and though Tom was out in the opening over next morning for 78, he had become the first England batsman of the post-war generation to withstand the might of and . , it might be recalled, had been dropped after the first match of the series, leaving Tom as a solitary standard bearer for youth.

Brought up in the north a short rail journey from Old Trafford, I was at the mercy of a fixture list that brought Gloucestershire to play Lancashire in school holidays in 1947, but never again. So it was not until 1961, by which time Tom was biding his time qualifying for Worcestershire, that I first saw him in action. I was now an undergraduate slinking away from much-needed revision for my finals to Fenner’s, where Tom was helping himself to 152 of the few first-class runs the regulations allowed him to make that year.

The graceful ease with which he made his runs against an undemanding Cambridge attack that day was to be in evidence again on the many occasions on which I would later see him play, none more poignant than when, as a newly-elected Associate Member of MCC, I stood in the Warner stand to greet the return to the Test arena of a man who had freely said that his England days were over. A heavy defeat at Old Trafford in the opening Test against West Indies had led to a clamour for changes to the England team. There was a first cap for Basil D’Oliveira, but the headline in The Times was reserved for the recall of Graveney at 39.

The crowd rose that day, with nostalgic euphoria perhaps never since matched at the home of cricket, as Tom joined in the middle, the score 8 for 1. It was a special moment for his partner. ‘I never thought I’d be batting with my childhood hero,’ was a disarming aside from the Yorkshireman as Tom prepared to face . Tom’s friend went across to speak with the bowler. ‘I knew exactly what he was saying,’ Tom later confided as he prepared for a ball that would be dug in short. It was met with the middle of the bat as Tom set about restoring order to the innings. Next day we prepared for his hundred, but it was not to be. He fell caught behind off Hall for 96. It was the start of a splendid renaissance, crowned with an innings of 165 at The Oval, where I was again a privileged spectator.

I was later to meet Tom on several occasions. In 2000, I was fortunate to win the quiz of the Council of Cricket Societies, a competition in which the winners of societies across the country were entitled to participate. Tom had sat in the audience that day as president of the Council, the normal roles reversed as he applauded our efforts at recalling some of the trivia that makes cricket the great game it is. Then came the presentation and the beautiful silver chalice intended for the winner was overlooked as Tom picked up the gavel that had called the meeting to order. Sadly there was no photographer to capture the false start or the subsequent presentation of the real trophy. One of life’s regrets!

Earlier, chatting across the lunch table with Tom, I had learned how he had always felt bedevilled by the epithet so freely applied to his batting – elegant. ‘It’s all very well being elegant,’ he said, ‘until you lose your middle pole – then they say you are casual. That’s why I always felt sorry for .’ I was not to know then that there would soon be further conversations. Invited by Stephen Chalke to write a biography in collaboration with a cricketer I knew, I opted to take on a book with Don Shepherd, the legendary bowler, not, I have had to tell countless populist followers of the game, the cheery from Gloucestershire! There was deep mutual respect between Don and Tom. , , and Peter May were just three great batsmen who found runs conspicuously hard to score against the Welsh county, but with Tom honours were more even.

Wanting to know more about Don Shepherd’s special skills and how he ranked with his contemporaries, I made contact with a number of his most illustrious opponents. For Tom a brief telephone conversation was not enough. ‘We must meet up,’ he said. ‘What about lunch at my golf club?’ So I joined Tom after his morning round. Our conversation ranged widely that day, touching on the famous recall to the colours in 1966, insights on the captains under whom he had served and his own problems as a captain. ‘With all those spinners, I never knew who to put on first, so I always went for the one who had taken most wickets last time out.’

There were stories about his time with Gloucestershire and the sad end to his time with the county. He had been promised a letter assuring him that his salary would not suffer with the loss of the captaincy. ‘I’m still waiting for that letter,’ he said with a wry smile. He recalled touring the West Indies with and in the party and chuckled at the memory of both suffering from sea sickness on the way home. ‘They shared a cabin and, to be honest, they deserved each other!’ Len Hutton had been a captain whose ultra-defensive attitude and wish to rein in Tom’s strokes meant that he probably failed to get the best out of his young batsman, while Tom reflected rather sadly that he felt ‘never really rated me.’

Writing a few subsequent books, I found Tom was a man who would be only too happy to help, ever willing with a refreshingly honest viewpoint and a few hobby horses, ‘Let’s go back to uncovered wickets, then we’ll see who can play!’ So it was for many an amateur and professional scribe, for Tom never tired of talking cricket. I saw him a few years ago at the Cheltenham Festival in 2011, already a shadow of the fit 79-year-old who had become President of MCC, the first professional to hold one of cricket’s most distinguished offices. I mentioned my summer’s umpiring exploits. I had never expected to see a Graveney attempting the reverse sweep, I ventured to tell him, thinking back to a stroke essayed by son Tim in a match for MCC. ‘I hope you gave him out lbw,’ was the fatherly riposte.

The last time I saw Tom, I was visiting Cheltenham in the company of MJK Smith, on whose life I had written a short book. We were due to address the Cheltenham Cricket Society in the evening. There were always hopes that their long-serving president would be able to attend, but whatever attraction the speakers might have promised that night, foul weather ended the chance of Tom leaving the care home to which he was now confined. To make sure we would see him, we had arranged to call in for tea. It was more than two years on from our last meeting. Tom was noticeably frailer, but the sparkle was intact, the television keeping him abreast of the game he had adorned for so long. It was a privilege to sit with him, ironically alongside the batsman whose failure at Old Trafford in 1966 had paved the way for Tom’s momentous recall. Somehow I guessed that I would not see Tom again. I have been immensely privileged to have known my childhood hero so well.

Douglas Miller

‘In Memoriam’ Quiz Answers:

1. WM Brownlee 2. OE Wreford-Brown 3. CL Mackay 4. AH du Boulay 5. AHC Fargus 6. Hon HFW Charteris (Lord Elcho) 7. JWW Nason

Barrie Meyer, cricketer and umpire 1932 – 2015 Barrie Meyer enjoyed a marvellous stint behind the stumps for Gloucestershire before embarking on a second successful career as a Test Umpire. The following Obituary appeared in .

Barrie Meyer at the time he played for Gloucestershire, circa 1965 Photo: Bob Thomas Sports Photography

Barrie Meyer, who died aged 83 in September 2015, became a well-respected umpire after an all-rounder’s sporting career which involved football in the winter and cricket in the summer; he stood in 26 Test matches and 23 one-day internationals, including the World Cup finals of 1979 and 1983.

The younger of two sons of a bus driver, Barrie John Meyer was born at Bournemouth on August 21 1932. He showed early aptitude for ball games when, aged three, a perfect right-foot half-volley demolished his mother’s prize Swiss clock. His biggest day in football came in January 1956, when Bristol Rovers (lying sixth in the old Second Division at the time) were drawn at home to United in the third round of the FA Cup. The “Busby Babes” included England’s Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor – but Rovers won 4-0, with Meyer scoring the second.

Cricket started to take over when Meyer became Gloucestershire’s regular wicketkeeper in 1958, after a few matches the previous summer. Once installed behind the stumps, until missing a game in 1967 he played 259 successive County Championship matches, three short of Alf Dipper’s County record, although that was eventually beaten by Ron Nicholls – another sporting all-rounder, who was Bristol Rovers’ goalkeeper in that FA Cup upset – who managed 276 in a row between 1962 and 1972.

Meyer was a neat, unflashy wicketkeeper, who often had to contend with the variations of Gloucestershire’s two England off-spinners, and John Mortimore, on some difficult surfaces. He finished with 826 dismissals (117 of them stumpings), a number exceeded for Gloucestershire only by Jack Board before the First World War and Jack Russell in more recent times.

Meyer played his last County game in his benefit year of 1971 and, after a season as second-team captain, became a first-class umpire in 1973. “I don’t think I was very good at first,” he said, but others disagreed: he stood in his first one-day international in 1977, and two of the Tests against New Zealand the following year. A willingness to admit to the occasional mistake got Meyer into trouble in 1984, when he went into the West Indian dressing-room during the Lord’s Test and apologised to after realising he had given him out to a “terrible” lbw decision. “No problem, man,” Richards said. But the officials of the TCCB (fore- of today’s England Cricket Board) felt that it had created an uncomfortable precedent and issued a reprimand. Meyer was unmoved, reflecting later: “I considered that I had done the honorable thing.” Tom Pugh (1937 - 2016)

Tom Pugh, who has died at the age of 78, was Gloucestershire’s most successful ever captain. Behind that bare fact lies a multitude of sins.

After a defeat and a victory at Lord’s for Eton against Harrow (the young being the wicket keeper with Tom at slip), Able Seaman Pugh did his National Service and was then offered employment by a friend of his father, Walter Coles. Coles, when faced with criticism by a board member in his company that “Pugh is going off to America to play racquets for seven weeks - he has just had the summer off to play cricket for Gloucestershire - I would like to play rackets in the winter and cricket all summer”, replied laconically, “If you can find a county that will have you, you can do just that”.

In 1959, when Pugh played a handful of first-class matches, Gloucestershire should have won the Championship; the committee, according to both Tom Pugh and Tom Graveney, “did not rate Laker and Lock as spinners” and after had been spun out at Cheltenham, and Brown and Smith had bowled Championship leaders Yorkshire for 35 at Bristol, the fateful decision was made to produce an underprepared wicket at Gloucester and stake all on winning the toss. won the toss for Surrey, who were batting for a second time by the end of the first day, and by tea on the second day Gloucestershire had been beaten by 89 runs, whilst Yorkshire were taking maximum points. In the last two matches Yorkshire took 24 points against Gloucestershire’s 0 and the Championship was lost by 18 points.

The captaincy in 1959 had been shared between George Emmett and Tom Graveney, but with no chance of his being recalled to England colours to play South Africa in 1960 under Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney had the captaincy and, as it happened, very nearly, the batting to himself. Only he and Martin Young averaged over 26 (Arthur Milton’s season being badly curtailed by injury). The 1960 season ended with Pugh and Graveney adding 43 to beat Essex (they had added 256 against Derbyshire - a record which stands to this day) and Gloucestershire dropping to 8th in the Championship.

Against this background it was decided to change the captain. Martin Young was regarded as too old (although he was to play with distinction for another 4 years), Milton too injury prone, and the choice fell on Pugh. Tom Graveney was neither consulted nor informed, and walked out. Years later he told me, “I never enjoyed being captain, and Pugh was mad enough to take it on and could easily have done it well - he could bat but his main asset was his enthusiasm - but I felt they treated me appallingly and I had no choice but to leave”.

Unlike Graveney, Pugh could not carry the batting, and in 1961 no one averaged over 32 (David Carpenter managing the remarkable achievement - for a top order batsman - of making 1000 runs at an average of 22 without a hundred!) The nadir was reached when Pugh was adjudged lbw to with a which broke his jaw. In typical Pugh fashion he agreed a declaration with Raman Subba Row and Gloucestershire won by 3 wickets - with 110 overs bowled on the third day.

However at the end of 1961 Pugh was re-appointed - against the stated wishes of Milton who had captained the side in his absence - and took the side on a very successful pre-season tour of Bermuda (persuading to make a guest appearance on the football field). Under him in 1962 Gloucestershire won 14 first-class matches - an achievement unequalled before or since. The County rose to 4th and were again let down by the batting - they had the lowest batting bonus points in the top 8 - but Pugh’s own performance had been abysmal as captain (he averaged less than 15).

With Tom Graveney back in the Championship making runs for Worcestershire, public opinion - led by the Gloucester Citizen - turned against Pugh and he was sacked. Heartbroken - he never played first-class cricket again, and concentrated on rackets - turning himself into - arguably - the world’s finest ever doubles player.

Whatever history says we can safely say that no other Gloucestershire captain will have his appointment and still a subject of conjecture over half a century after his last first class match, will be short- listed to play , marry a Bond Girl, (who predeceased him) nor will be charged (and acquitted) under the Sexual Offences Act of 1956 for keeping a brothel. O tempora O mores - we will not see his like again.

Christopher Horne.

Spot the ground!

Roger Gibbons has recently acquired an album containing a dozen or so photos containing mostly Gloucestershire players from, almost certainly, the . From the pavilions in the background they are probably from two separate club grounds. Roger would like to know if anyone can recognise the locations from the photos printed below – please let us know if you can!

The Skipper in full flow

Liam Norwell as whole-hearted as ever

Gloucestershire on the attack!

GCCC Exiles’ 2016 Hall of Fame Nominations: Mark Alleyne and Tom Graveney

Geoff Wyatt puts the case for Mark Alleyne’s inclusion:

I grew up in Hertfordshire and was introduced to County Cricket at Lord’s as a schoolboy during the wonderful 1947 Compton - Edrich season. I did not move to Bristol until 1983, but have obviously enjoyed supporting my new County for the last 30 years.

My cricket record books would tell me that your initial choice of nominations for the GCCC Hall of Fame were very worthy legends of the noble game. BUT the same record books are unable to show me any contribution these players gave towards winning a single trophy for Gloucestershire during their illustrious careers. I would therefore like to nominate "the forgotten legend" of GCCC who I think should top the list of our Hall of Fame and not only because they may be listed in alphabetical order. During his playing days for GCCC, I list just a few of his achievements:-

1. He captained the GCCC side for the whole period from 1999 - 2005 during which time he collected ALL 6 trophies that the County ever won and that is more one-day trophies than any other County captain past or present. 2. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2001. 3. In 1999 the PCA nominated his match-winning innings of 112 when captaining and winning the B & H Super Cup against Yorkshire as the best individual performance of the whole season. 4. He represented England in ODIs at home and abroad. 5. He was the complete all-rounder including a wonderful fielder, close or away from the wicket. He was also an excellent wicket-keeper on the few times he was called upon and has 3 stumpings recorded in his first-class averages. 6. An inspiring captain whose field placings, use of bowlers and whose knowledge of the individual strengths and weaknesses of the opposition was second to none. These qualities alone were largely responsible for so many trophy wins. 7. Even Queen Elizabeth II, whose favourite sport may not have been cricket, recognized his massive contribution to the game and presented him with an MBE. 8. At the age of 18 he was the youngest player ever to score a first-class 100 for the County. 9. At the age of 22 he was the youngest player ever to score a first-class 200 for the County.

I realize I am coming to end of this article and have ' forgotten ' to name my nomination but I am sure the many “Boo Boo” supporters amongst our readers will know who I am referring to!

Howard Allen adds: I fully support the nomination for Mark Alleyne, the captain and all-rounder during the County’s ‘golden years’ – making Lord’s GCCC’s ‘Second home.’ However, I am keen to break our golden rule of ONE NOMINATION only for each year in the Spring Issue. I nominate Tom Graveney to accompany Mark – mindful of Tom’s death in 2015.

Tom Graveney was one of GCCC’s internationally renowned cricketers. We have nominated to date three in GCCC Exiles’ Hall of Fame – (2013), Walter Hammond (2014) and W.G.Grace (2015). Belatedly Tom was added to the ICC Hall of Fame (est. 2009) thus joining some 60 great cricketers. Thus he must be included in our own list.

Tom Graveney’s statistics for GCCC (1948-60)

M INNS RUNS HS 100s 50s Avge. 296 506 19705 222 50 97 43.02

He passed 1000 runs in a season 12 times.

At Test Match level from 1951-69:

M INNS RUNS HS 100s 50s Avge. 79 123 4482 258 11 20 44.38

Twelfth Woman

Exile Cally Barlow, the wife of former Gloucestershire coach Eddie, recalls here her life in cricket and writes candidly about Eddie’s career.

Not quite when Adam was a lad but many moons have waned since the game of “flannelled fools” became my summer passion and the game for hooligans played by gentlemen my winter one. How times have changed!

My father played cricket and my first husband watched but it wasn’t until my son went to Prep school that my interest was seriously aroused. The school minibus had broken down and we were asked to ferry our team to an away game. We duly watched our little Comptons and Truemans playing their hearts out and then it was time for tea. I was hooked!! I can still remember the divine taste of those cream cakes... Since then I have eaten cricket teas in a fair few parts of the world but none surpass the WI teas at Worcester. The sponge is to die for!

Living in Lancashire at the time, I used to take the boys to Old Trafford (courtesy of a corporate membership). We sat in the Ladies’ Stand, long gone now, and the children leapt up at every opportunity to get autographs from whoever was standing at third man. , I remember, was particularly kind to repeated requests.

All cricket in those days was played in whites. There would be mild clapping if a player performed well, by both team and spectators, and some ladies still wore pretty dresses and sun hats. The umpires made all the decisions on the field and the “chirping” was funny, aimed at putting batsman off his stride, rather than questioning his parentage or worse.

Then came a move to Gloucestershire and a decision to be made. Did I join Gloucestershire whose County Ground was miles away, or Worcestershire, a short hop up the M5? The news broke that Botham was leaving Somerset and going to Worcester. I had watched the antics of ‘Both’ and his friends from afar and decided that it was best to keep it that way and so GCCC got my vote. I have since changed my mind about Botham as he has done some wonderful charity work.

Having become friends with Bomber Wells’ wife Mary, she told me he asked if I would like to join the Gloucester Regional Committee. I jumped at the chance and went to my first meeting at the Chairman, Roger Eggleton’s offices. He opened the meeting by saying, “Good evening, Gentlemen”. Malcolm Noad raised his eyebrows and said “Mr Chairman, we do have a lady present”. Apologies from Roger but I said, “Mr Chairman, I am not in the least offended and will treat Gentlemen as an all-encompassing term. I will do anything I am asked except I will not make the coffee”. I later asked Malcolm how many women were on the Committee and he said “One”. When I asked who she was he said “You”.

Shortly after that I began working for the late cricket writer Gerald Howat who had written biographies of Hutton, Hammond and amongst others. He was then doing the schools’ reporting for the Daily Telegraph and needed a secretary and chauffeur as he hated driving. I duly obliged and went roving round the counties with him and typing up his reports. The Eton and Harrow game was memorable, as we were sitting in the press box at Lord’s, all alone when the door swung open and , covered in cameras and wearing top hat and tails, barged in. We were goggle-eyed. “What has happened to standards” he thundered and proceeded to describe a scene of drunkenness and debauchery at the Nursery End picnic spots. A great friend of mine is now coach at Harrow and I have been to a couple of the games which are now overs games, not innings, so the spectators are not bored rigid by a draw, neither of the cricket masters wishing to be on the losing side. They were firmly told if the format didn’t change they would no longer be welcomed at Lord’s. I was also fortunate to be at the U19 International match of England v West Indies at Oundle School. Gerald asked me at the end of the game who I rated and without hesitation I picked and . Not a bad choice!

Bristol at that time still had the old scoreboard and I can remember Robbie Clifton taking me up to the top on a series of ladders which were most unsafe and listening to the ropes and pulleys while the numbers and letters were changed. The top floor of the Pavilion was dangerously unsafe and I was told by to watch out for the rotten floorboards.

Ah yes, Eddie. How my life changed! He had been brought in to shake things up at Bristol and he certainly did. I first met him at the Cheltenham Festival where he came over to me when I was sitting on a wall with my little scoring book, nicked from my son. “What’s the score?” he asked. Of course I knew who he was and thought that as Coach he should know but nevertheless told him. We chatted for a few minutes and then he strolled off. The next morning I was late and came hurrying through the Members’ entrance to find him leaning on the corner of the Pavilion. “What’s this”? The scorer arriving late”? “Oh well, come and have a coffee”. My introduction to EJB.

I eventually got my act together and moved to South Africa. Eddie had just become the Director of Coaching for the Superjuice Academy, a combined Western Province and Boland set-up to produce first- class cricketers. I was his secretary and accompanied him to the nets. Probably his best “find” was who caused such a sensation with his unorthodox action. It took a lot of persuasion to get both and to play him, the former saying he would be laughed off the ground for playing a bowler with such an action, to the latter saying they wouldn’t be able to set a field to him.

Eddie then decided to give up cricket and buy another wine farm. It lasted about 6 months until he was asked to coach at Griqualand West in the Northern Cape. We decamped to Kimberley which was a real Wild West sort of place where it was not unheard of to settle disagreements with fisticuffs.

Then came the call from Bangladesh, a country we both adored. Again, I was tied to the computer and followed Eddie like a shadow. One thing Eddie didn’t like was the inability of Committee members to arrive on time to meetings. The traffic in Dhaka was horrendous but he always managed to get there on time so why couldn’t they? Eventually he told me to write in the minutes that so and so was late. When I took the draft minutes to the Chairman he exploded. “You can’t write that Cally, the President of the Board will know I was late”. Eddie said he wasn’t removing it and for a few meetings everyone turned up on time.

Everything looked set fair for a very happy two-year contract with the BCB. Eddie was full of ideas. Turning old Gymnasia buildings, with their full run-up potential, into indoor nets to overcome the monsoon which curtailed outside practice. Making pitches suited to English conditions which, with all the labour available, would have been possible. Printing manuals in Bengali so everything was understood by the players. Above all making sure that things ran like clockwork.

The icing on the cake was Test status and when the ICC inspectors came Eddie made sure that all was in order. He could not believe the hoops they had to jump through to determine if Bangladesh were ready to host international competitions. All he could mumble was “Hmm. New Zealand would never have got Test status with the grounds or facilities they had”. Eddie worked wonders with the Bangladesh team and to this day they absolutely revere him. When I return to Bangladesh they always ask “Are you Mrs Eddie Barlow”? When I say I am, they want to shake my hand forever.

Then came the stroke. I’d like to say it was all a blur, that it was a nightmare, but in truth it was a terrible time. In hindsight I wish we had stayed in Bangladesh. Their personal care at the Army hospital was second to none. I thought he would be better on home ground but that was the worst mistake. Yes, his friends and family were around but the care was questionable to say the least. His neurologist told him he would never walk again and one of the nurses let him fall and hit his head on a wall. His mental facilities were not impaired but his left side was. Some friends were sure he would get coaching in South Africa but that was not to be. His medical bills were horrendous and so he turned to Wales where his great friend said “Get over here; we need your expertise and knowledge”. My mother was in the first stages of dementia so, with my brother ever grateful, we moved into her house and I got a new job of caring for two people!

Eddie’s new coaching job was with North East Wales Cricket and he set to with his usual gusto. The PCA had come up trumps, thanks to David Graveney, and provided him with an electric scooter so rather than me pushing him up and down the nets in a wheelchair, he was mobile again. He worked with different age groups and took them on tour to South Wales with me in attendance. The boys adored Eddie and one of the U14 side said to me one day “You know Cally, he is such an inspiration to us all”.

Sadly, while on holiday in Jersey with my family, Eddie had a brain haemorrhage and died shortly afterwards. A few days before he had been out in the garden with the grandchildren, showing them how to use their new cricket gear which we had got them for Christmas. I looked out of the window and saw it had begun to snow and called them in. He was coaching right up to the end.

The advent of the various forms of one-day cricket complete with coloured clothing and the attendant razzamatazz was probably down to one man, . Eddie was delighted to be part of that circus and it certainly shook up the establishment. Players were better off and the PCA was formed to help players and ex-players, contracts were offered and Sky TV offered a great deal of money to broadcast games, on their terms I might add. I know one should never say “In my day” but we all knew that Test matches started on a Thursday, finished on Tuesday, with a one-dayer in between on Sunday. Now the scheduling is all over the shop with hardly anyone going to the County games. The Cheltenham Festival is still a big attraction and I am happy to say that I have now come full circle, being again on a Regional Committee (Cheltenham) and living in Cheltenham. The Festival still holds its attraction and when I go past the Pavilion I can still see Eddie standing there.

Andrew Tye, the County’s new recruit for the Nat West T20 Tournament