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SAMPLE EDITION SPRING17 2017 THE NightwatchmanTHE WISDEN CRICKET QUARTERLY SAMPLER THE NIGHTWATCHMAN THE THE WISDEN CRICKET QUARTERLY Nightwatchman Issue 17, out now, features the following: Cricket’s past has been enriched by great writing and Wisden is making sure its future Matt Thacker introduces issue 17 of The Nightwatchman will be too. The Nightwatchman is a quarterly collection of essays and long-form articles and Jon Hotten gazes into The Oval’s soul is available in print and e-book formats. Sir John Major on his (almost) lifelong liaison with England’s oldest Test venue Co-edited by Anjali Doshi and Tanya Aldred, with Matt Thacker as managing editor, The Nightwatchman features an array of authors from around the world, writing beautifully and Simon Barnes recalls Kevin Pietersen’s moment of sporting perfection at length about the game and its myriad offshoots. Contributors are given free rein over Charlie Connelly makes a remarkable discovery at The Oval subject matter and length, escaping the pressures of next-day deadlines and the despair of cramming heart and soul into a few paragraphs. Raf Nicholson doffs her hat to Rachael Heyhoe Flint There are several different ways to get hold of and enjoy The Nightwatchman. You can Mike Selvey comes over all misty-eyed as he remembers his youth subscribe to the print version and get a free digital copy for when you’re travelling light. If you don’t have enough room on your book case, you can always take out a digital-only Peter Mason says when it comes to pavilions, he’d take The Oval over Lord’s subscription. Or if you’d just like to buy a single issue – in print, digital or both – you can James Holland revisits the accomplishments – and pathos – of Arthur Tedder’s life do that too. Take a look at the options below and decide which is best for you. James Mettyear came of age in the long, hot summer of 1976 Michael Holding on the West Indies’ home away from home SPRING17 2017 Full subscription Simon Wilde delves into Charles Alcock’s precious legacy THE Annual print Digital subscription THE WISDEN CRICKET QUARTERLY Oval Farewells - the ground has been the scene of many a misty-eyed goodbye Nightwatchman subscription (with Annual e-book only free e-book versions) subscription Rob Smyth talks to Devon Malcolm about pace like fire £27 (+P&P) £10 Marcus Berkmann asks you to sharpen your pencils and bring your A-game Click to Buy Click to Buy Rob Bagchi gets nostalgic about Sunday finishes and tennis-ball cricket Elgan Alderman revives memories of the quiet man of Surrey cricket Alan Tyers works his fiction-writer chops to invent an Oval-inspired whodunnit Single copy Paul Eade sees light at the end of a dark, Swedish winter SPRING17 2017 Single issue (with THE on England’s swift journey from despair to elation Digital single copy free with free Jon Harvey NightwatchmanTHE WISDEN CRICKET QUARTERLY Single issue e-book version) Nick Miller discovers a Real connection (e-book only) £10 (+P&P) £4 Click to Buy Daniel Norcross measures his life in Oval moments Click to Buy Matthew Engel on a Lambeth Palace resident THENIGHTWATCHMAN.NET SAMPLER THE NIGHTWATCHMAN OF ROCK concerts AND WILD-EYED armadillos Charlie Connelly pores over The Oval’s distinguished history and comes away with an astonishing discovery The Oval has witnessed some Indeed, by 1971 things had become unforgettable sights in the course so grim that cricket faced the serious of its long and distinguished history: prospect of Surrey CCC going out of Hutton’s 364, Bradman’s duck, business altogether unless alternative Pietersen’s 158 and the two giant, forms of income could be found. The smoking, fire-breathing, wild-eyed fact that The Oval stood empty outside armadillos at the Vauxhall End. the cricket season was identified as a wasted opportunity; hence a major While cricket has been the dominant boost to the coffers came at the source of entertainment at The Oval end of September in the form of a since the middle of the 19th century, charity concert for the Bangladesh the old ground has played host to famine fund. Barely a fortnight after a surprising variety of events, not the end of the 1971 season, coconut all of them sporting ones. Take matting was laid on the square, a the giant, smoking, fire-breathing, stage constructed in the old covered wild-eyed armadillos, for example. section at the Vauxhall End, and The That story begins, implausibly, with Oval hosted “Goodbye Summer” – a the cancellation of the 1970 South fundraising all-dayer headlined by The African cricket tour. Surrey CCC was Who and supported by The Faces, in financial dire straits at the dawn of Lindisfarne, Mott The Hoople, and the 1970s and The Oval’s Test matches Atomic Rooster (who’d interrupted a represented a crucial payday. When US tour just to fly back and play). the 1970 tour was nixed, it left a hole in the Surrey finances dangerously More people came through The Oval’s close to the waterline. turnstiles that day than had watched Newspaper Image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to thanks to With All rights reserved. Board. British Library Image © The Newspaper (www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk) Archive British Newspaper The THENIGHTWATCHMAN.NET THENIGHTWATCHMAN.NET 5 SAMPLER THE NIGHTWATCHMAN Surrey’s entire season – in which they the ground hosted the Melody Maker in the venue, making future events including WG Grace, the Hon Ivo Bligh won the County Championship for the Poll Awards concert, a bill headed by financially prohibitive. The venerable and the Prince of Wales – the future first time since 1958 – as somewhere Emerson, Lake and Palmer that also old ground had seen its last giant, Edward VII – arrived to see what the north of 35,000 enjoyed a peaceful, featured Wishbone Ash, Genesis, wild-eyed, fire-breathing armadillo, at all the fuss was about with this grown- sunny day kept nicely in order by Focus and Fudd (although nobody, least until Merv Hughes ran in to bowl ups’ version of rounders. the official show security, the Hell’s not even the most switched-on old at Michael Atherton in the sixth Test Angels. While the music began at 11am, head, seems to remember Fudd. Even of the 1989 Ashes. While the crowd showed initial it wasn’t until sunset that things really members of Fudd probably don’t enthusiasm for the spectacle, and took off, with The Faces – fronted remember Fudd). It was a glorious • • • “frequently expressed their applause at by Rod Stewart in a tiger-print suit – late-summer day and a crowd of the wonderfully smart fielding, catching tearing the place up in preparation for some 30,000 prog-rock fans filled the The closest thing The Oval has and passing of the ball between the arrival of The Who. pavilion, seats and outfield, sending seen in terms of razzmatazz and fielders” according to the London Daily up a giant cloud of hash smoke that hullabaloo since those heady rock News, the unfamiliar nature of the In tribute to the venue, the show’s drifted away over the gasholders, days is probably when American game and the miserable weather meant MC wore cricket whites and pads and provoking a widespread case of the sport has come to visit. In 2011, the “those present began to dwindle away carried a bat as he announced the munchies right across south London. Chicago Bears came to train ahead rapidly after an hour’s play”, leading to headliners’ arrival on stage. The bat of an encounter at Wembley with the Chicago’s 7-4 victory over All-America was then wrested from his grasp by Emerson, Lake and Palmer closed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The NFL side concluding largely unobserved. One Keith Moon, who proceeded to use night with a set that included a full- arrived practically straight from the early leaver was the future king who, it as makeshift drumstick during the blooded rendition of “Tarkus”, the airport and the session was closed to asked later what he’d thought of the opening song “I Can’t Explain” before seven-part first side of their album of all but the media. That much bulk and game, said that, though he considered sending it spinning far into the crowd, the same name released the previous padding had not been seen on the baseball “an excellent game” he thought much to the alarm of the compere year. The cover of Tarkus featured hallowed turf since Inzamam-ul-Haq cricket was “superior”. who’d borrowed it from the Surrey an eponymous, heavily-armed, wild- walked out to bat in the ill-fated 2006 nets with a solemn promise to return it. eyed armadillo on tank tracks – it Test. Surrey’s Jason Roy and Matthew There have been quite a few nailed- represented, according to Keith Spiegel turned out to give a few of the on Australian victories at The Oval The Who played a storming set, the Emerson, Darwin’s theory of evolution NFL lads a grounding in the basics of over the years, but a handful have day passed off without any serious in reverse, something that can still be cricket, much to the amusement of definitely had nothing to do with incidents, the Bangladesh fund observed at the Oval’s bars during the the Bears’ coach Lovie Smith (who, if cricket. Australian Rules football first finished the day £15,000 richer, final session of a Test match Saturday. names are anything to go by, would arrived in Kennington in 1972 when Surrey’s immediate financial future As part of the live show, two giant have fitted right in to a late-Victorian a crowd of 10,000, including Prince had been secured and Melody Maker Tarkuses were rolled out on either Gentlemen’s XI, where he’d bowl some Charles, watched Australia’s leading described The Oval as “an ideal side of the stage, trundling around in economical lobs and make a few side Carlton defeat an All-Stars team natural venue for staging a rock approximate symmetry and providing useful late middle-order runs).