Spring 2014 The Newsletter of Stourbridge & District Society Founded 1972

LEST WE FORGET N.B. - A.G.M. CHAIRMAN'S VIEW

n Monday, 3 August 1914 Ger- Members are advised that the AGM ricket has benefited enormously O many had invaded Belgium and will be held, in the bar, prior to the C from the world wide media cover- Great Britain went to war. Worcester- monthly meeting on 10 April. age of the recent Ashes series in Austra- shire went to Edgbaston to play War- The AGM will commence at 7pm. lia. There has hardly been a day when wickshire. Although some counties It will be limited to a maximum length it has not featured strongly in newspaper cancelled their remaining matches, of 45 minutes. headlines along with both radio and tele- Worcestershire did not and fulfilled vision. As a result, I would expect the their remaining six fixtures. After a short break, the season’s final ICC to use this as a convenient way of monthly meeting will commence. Their final match against Derby- promoting all that is outstandingly good shire at New Road ended on 1 Septem- Our guests for that evening are in . ber. Despite a career-best score of 158 Bob Carter and Derek Person. With the South African series by M.K. Foster, the visitors won by Details inside beginning and a stronger looking New five . Of Worcestershire’s Zealand playing India, there is a lot to eleven, G. N. Foster, Chester and John admire in the way sides are rebuilding Harber (this was his debut match) were The FOSTER GRAVES and providing a spectacle for the paying never to appear for the County again. public. G. N. Foster would play for Kent after he official date for the rededication The Ashes series was not only the war, but by then much had changed. T of the graves will be 13 May. The about an extremely poor performance by Frank Chester’s realistic dreams date has been specifically chosen, as it all of the English players, but was also of playing for England were shattered marks the centenary of the death of R.E. about an Australian side that outplayed along with his right arm at Salonika in ‘Tip’ Foster, the most famous of the England in every cricket skill, brilliantly 1915. Undaunted, he took up umpiring seven brothers. captained by Michael Clark. There were and attained a standard that all tried to The editor has been spear- times when he seemed to be in charge of emulate but none succeeded. heading the project to renovate the Fos- the whole country. The South Eastern ter graves on behalf of Malvern Civic bush fires and the Western Australian Society, with the full support of the shark cull could have been part of his present Foster family. remit. Perhaps with the Prime Minister, The members of the Foster fam- relaxing and admiring from afar. ily buried in Malvern Cemetery are: It was not of course that easy, The parents, Reverend Henry Foster cricket never is. When the breakthrough and his wife Sophia and six of their opportunities came England did not eleven children, namely: ‘Tip’, Maurice grasp them. Alistair Cook failed misera- and Johnnie plus three of their sisters, bly and was let down by all around him. Maud, Mabel and Cicely. With five consistently failing batsmen, In addition, the names of Clif- abject fielding, dropped catches (32) ford Bullock and Claude Giles, hus- statistically now in three series, there is bands of Mabel and Cicely respectively, nowhere to hide. Swann's exit from the have subsequently been revealed on the carnage halfway through the tour after toppled headstones. dismissing Clark before lunch at Perth is A crystal whisky glass has been unforgivable. Worcestershire’s wartime casu- There are so many unanswered alties included H. G. Bache (killed at produced by Stourbridge Glass Engrav- ers to mark the centenary of ‘Tip’ Fos- questions, however, England have Ypres, 1916), William Burns (above), surely never performed that badly before (Contalmaison, France, 1916), Christo- ter’s death. The proceeds from the sale of each glass will be allocated to a fund in a five match series. pher Collier (Mametz, France 1916), England need to regroup, as Aus- Arthur Isaac (Contalmaison, 1916), his set up to ensure the graves are main- tained in excellent condition. Glasses tralia, New Zealand and India are in the younger brother, John Isaac process of doing. The back room staff (Armentieres, 1915), Arnold Nesbitt may be obtained from the editor at Loughborough led by the impressive (Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium (1914) (address on back page). The renovation work is Andy Flower and his team of selectors and Cecil H. Palmer (Gallipoli, 1915). have produced a very successful team being carried out by Steve Allard’s ma- Lest we forget. sonry company of Callow End and is over the last six years. There is no need due to be competed by mid-April. for wholesale panic, too many changes The editor offers his apologies for the inadvertent will result in more failure. omission of any other Worcestershire cricketers If the name sounds familiar, who gave their lives for their country in the so- Steve used to turn out for Worcester- called war to end all wars. shire Nomads. Continued on page three

The opinions expressed in Boundary View are not necessarily those of Stourbridge Cricket Society Dave Nicklin (President) Committee Members: Mike Tomkins (Chairman); Craig Smith (Secretary); Ken Workman (Treasurer); Terry Church (Programme Secretary) ‘MAD JACK’ by Terry Church ack Flavell is one of three Worces- Together with Len Coldwell, he A keen left-handed golfer, Jack J tershire capped players to hail from was one of the best new-ball pairings in was a member at Enville for many Wall Heath (the others being Paul Prid- in the 1960’s, when years, becoming in 1981. He geon and Stuart Lampitt), not a bad Worcestershire won two Championship bought a garage in Heathton and, after record for a village that does not appear titles, finished second twice and fourth converting it into a restaurant, was a on many maps! and fifth once. He had the perfect ap- popular host for many years – like me, John Arthur Flavell shared his proach to his trade, with an unshake- many will remember the legendary birth date, 15 May, with another Black able faith in his rock-solid belief that Cricketer’s grill from the menu! He Country Worcestershire “great”, Don later moved to Barmouth, in North Kenyon, who was Jack’s senior by five Wales, where he ran a hotel. years and born down the road at Jack’s life was like his Wordsley. – straightforward with no frills – but he Jack’s 401 first-class appear- also paid attention to detail and never ances produced 1,529 wickets. He missed a trick on or off the field. He played four times for England, all spoke plainly in a broad Black Country against Australia. His low number of brogue and never refused a challenge. caps was due to the fact that he played How we Wall Heath lads looked for- in a golden age of pace bowlers, which ward to the County games at Dudley, included , , travelling on the bus to see our village , Peter Loader, Alan Moss hero. I have been a keen autograph and all-rounder Trevor Bailey. hunter all my life and the first two Known initially as “Mad Jack”, pages in the book that I was given for a it took him several seasons before he birthday present in 1950 are filled with cut both his pace and run up to become the signatures of Worcestershire and one of the outstanding new ball bowlers Albion players all obtained for me by in county cricket. He took over 100 my hero, Jack. wickets in a season eight times and, in no batsman deserved to survive against A modern-day Flavell, master of 1961, his season’s haul of 171 wickets him for long. line, length and unrelenting hostility (avg. 17.79) put him top of the national He also played professional would be an England-ever present. averages. Three hat- tricks were football for West Bromwich Albion achieved, as well as nine wickets in an and Walsall. He fulfilled the role of a On 25 February 2004, Jack Flavell, innings on three occasions, including rugged defender with the theory that aged 74, died in his sleep at Barmouth, his best return of nine for 30 against “the winger might go past me; the ball Gwynedd. Kent at Dover in 1955. He was one of might go past me, but never both at the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1965. same time.”

EARLY DAYS OF ENVILLE CC FLAVELL SIGN nville Cricket Club is some age for its whole extent is literally as smooth as a E a sports club. It was founded in billiard table and is, of course, only kept 1850, and for some time, it appears, was so by the most constant care and the considered to possess the best ground not combined use of the mowing machine, just in the country, but in the whole drawn by horses with clogged feet. world. Lord’s ground, however is not like the The paragraph below is taken Enville ground a perfect level throughout from a programme produced on the occa- its whole extent, but varies as much as sion of the club’s centenary in 1950. The three feet from the horizontal line. The extract dates however from the mid- Enville ground, therefore takes prece- nineteenth century, and comes from an dence of Lord’s and must be accounted unbiased source: the finest cricket ground in the world.’ ‘As it is the largest and best The extract is all the more con- cricket ground in the world, a short de- vincing for the fact that it was not written scription may not be unacceptable or out by a member of the club or even by a of place. It perhaps needless to state that local – but appeared in the Illustrated it has been laid out at the sole expense as News on 1 August, 1857. well as from the designs of its noble The paper does not say so, but it owner, who is President of the Maryle- would appear that the London magazine bone Club and who, in addition to this had made mention of Enville at that par- official position, occupies a high place in ticular time because of a unique three- Following on from the article about the cricketing world as batsman, bowler, day match which was played on 30, 31 the Kenyon Arms pubs sign, by a -keeper and fielder. Lord’s cricket July and ended on the publication day of curious coincidence, the crest of the ground is seven acres in extent, the En- the article. A United All England Eleven, Flavell family appears on the cur- ville ground upwards of eleven acres. Of comprising some of the finest county rent sign of the Flyford Arms at this the space levelled for play is six players of the day, were totally outplayed Flyford Flavell, Worcestershire. acres and a half, which space throughout by the Earl of Stamford’s XXII. This was

Continued opposite . . . NEWS & VIEWS SOUTH AFRICANS ark Ashbourne and some of his have been received. Although there is a LEAD BY EXAMPLE M friends will be doing a sponsored long way to go, the Foundation is confident walk from Worcester to Cardiff at the start that its initial target of £100k will be of the 2014 season. The aim of the project achieved by summer 2014. n the hullabaloo of the disastrous is to help raise funds for the commissioning A committee member of the I Ashes debacle with players and of the statue that will honour the life of Worcestershire CCC Heritage Group, Mark others jumping ship, three notable Basil D’Oliveira, who died in 2011. also belongs to Stourbridge Cricket Club events, involving South African The walkers will start and the entirely separate cricketers, may have passed without off from New Road, Worcester cricket society. He has been the full notice they each fully de- on May 1st (the day after the instrumental in securing serve. Firstly, the retirement was Derbyshire game). They plan to grants and funding for announced of Jacques Kallis, argua- arrive at the SWALEC cricket much-needed improvements bly South African greatest-ever all- ground, Cardiff (notably the changing rooms rounder – not midway through a se- around lunchtime on May 4th, and net facilities) at ries, but with due notice that he when Glamorgan will be Stourbridge Cricket Club in would quit after the final Test against hosting Worcestershire on the Amblecote. India. opening day of the first-class In addition to the Kallis played 165 Tests, aver- match. statue project, the D’Oliveira aged 55.25 with the bat, bagged 291 Their trek of more than Foundation also aims to est- wickets and snapped up 196 catches. eighty miles will include ablish a formal system to set In his final Test, he typically bowed overnight stops at Much up a regular exchange of out with a farewell century against Marcle, Raglan and Newport. It young and keen cricketers, India. Unlike most all-rounders, he will be a tough task. The fitness from all walks of life and usually batted at second wicket down. of the party is being assessed and improved background, between South Africa and the Secondly, after losing the first as necessary by Ross Dewar, United Kingdom. Test of the post-Kallis era to a Worcestershire CCC’s fitness guru. Although places are limited to a Mitchell Johnson-inspired Australia, Mark, who is aged 46 and registered baker’s dozen for persons wishing to do the South Africa’s captain, Graeme as blind, wants to help raise funds for the complete walk, casual day walkers are Smith galvanised his team to set up a Foundation to erect a statue to Basil outside welcome to participate – at their own risk. best-of-three decider at Newlands. the entrance of the recently-opened Premier Also those individuals must make their own In the second Test, South Af- Inn at New Road. At the beginning of 2014, arrangements for their respective homeward rica thrashed the visitors with a full donations amounting to over 12,000 pounds journeys. day to spare at Port Elizabeth. Al- though the chances of Australia get- ting 447 to win, it seemed that Rogers Please support this worthwhile cause by making a donation either via and Warner hadn’t been told. They www.doliveirafoundation.org.uk/events/events.php put on 126 for the opening wicket. or contact Mark on 07506 747619. After reaching 152/1, the wheels fell donation and support will be very much appreciated. off as the remaining wickets literally fell like nine pins. . . . for just 64 Chairman’s View continued from page one . . . from previous page more runs. Once again Dale Steyn The sacking of Pietersen at this a prestigious occasion which supports the (4/55) showed that pace bowlers don't moment in time may prove to be a mis- claim that Enville was one of the finest ven- have to be awkward, gangly giants. take. The cost of his central contract, lost ues in the country. Pity Steyn got injured in the deciding Test Match revenue, not to mention match The Earl’s XXII batted first and encounter at Newlands. winning performances may have a detri- scored 236 of which two professionals, Ed- The third incident will surely mental effect on cricket in this country for gar Willsher (44) and Crispin Tinley (40) have sent out a severe warning to the foreseeable future. We do not know, scored the most runs; Caffyn took 8/70. The South Africa’s opponents, two or of course, the severity of Pietersen's knee England XI were dismissed for 113 – Ed- three years hence, if not sooner. injury. Sending him to pastures deep in ward Drake taking 8/70 – and after follow- In the Under 19’s semi-final in Australia did not help Cook's captaincy! ing-on, the same bowler took 5/49 with his Dubai in February 2014, the Austra- especially when Prior was dropped and, underarm deliveries to rout the XI for 79. lians were blown apart by a fast, ac- therefore, not around late in the tour to The Earl of Stamford’s XI won the match curate and extremely hostile bowler offer advice. by an innings & 44 runs. named Kagiso Rabada. His eight Without doubt superstars are very In 1870, the I Zingari XVIII proved overs yielded figures of six for 25. rare, they can win series as well as too strong for the All England XI. The note- Eighteen-years-old, Rabada’s matches, fill grounds and empty bars. worthy item about this match was the ap- posture and mode of was Botham's Ashes may never have pearance of WG Grace, though he made reminiscent of the West Indian Frank- happened without Mike Brearley's inter- scant contribution, just 14 & 10, twice suc- lyn Stephenson of Nottinghamshire, vention and awareness. cumbing to the bowling of Rev. Payne. The the last man to perform the Double. Let us hope that cricket somewhere above-mentioned Drake had been ordained Time will tell whether or not benefits from Pietersen's outstanding abil- in the intervening thirteen years as he was Rabada achieves greatness, but I have ity for a little while longer, wherever that named on the scorecard as Rev. ET Drake. a feeling he just might. may be. He made 64 – top score for I Zingari – be- Kevin Pietersen apart, South I look forward to seeing you, if not fore being caught by WG off the bowling of African cricketers tend to shun the his brother, GF Grace. limelight and simply get on with the during the summer, at our meetings next winter! This article first appeared in the job. Black Country Bugle Annual (2003) MEETING NEWS February - Ian Davidson Not to be confused with the Rhodesian batsman of the 1970s with a similar name, February’s guest speaker was Ian Davidson, a former commercial manager of Leicestershire CCC. Ian communicated his undoubted passion for the game, with the enthusiasm that is the zeal of those who never actu- ally played the game at a senior level; a ball fast and straight enough to smash Ian’s NHS specs into tiny specks, ended his cricket before it had even begun. After a career in marketing, Ian Davidson landed the job at Leicestershire. The County suffers from a number of issues, notably its proximity to both and Edgbaston (not to men- tion Derby and Northampton), lack of lucrative sponsorship plus an ageing, declining membership. Leicestershire’s income in the last financial year amounted to £2.5m, of which £2m was funded by the ECB. Sponsors are turning away from the game due to lack of exposure in the new two division structure. Ian Davidson talked from the heart and held trenchant views, many of which were shared by the capacity audience. He stressed that counties have to become all-year businesses and provide facilities that members, sponsors and spec- tators expect and increasingly demand in the present day.

The current winter season of cricket talks draws near to its conclusion, with arguably the pick of the offerings left until the last two months.

20 March - Jack Birkenshaw This evening’s guest may not be aware that he was instrumental in taking the very last wicket in the ultimate first- class match to be played at the Memorial Ground. In the match against Northants in 1981, Jack Birkenshaw caught Neil Mallender (7) off the bowling of the devilishly dangerous Tim Curtis! More famously, Jack played for three different counties (his native Yorkshire and Leicestershire, prior to joining Worcestershire) and took a hat-trick against the Black Pears. After retiring as a player, Jack became an (he stood at Test level) and a coach.

10 April - The AGM will be held in the bar from 7pm until 7.45pm. A short break will follow after which we will welcome Bob Carter and Derek Pearson at 8pm. Robert George Mallaby Carter played 177 matches for Worcestershire between 1961 and 1972. His only other first-class appearance occurred when he played for MCC in 1973. In that match he dismissed M.C. Cowdrey twice - his only wickets of the match. Bob Carter belongs to that special breed of bowlers whose career haul of wickets (523 avg. 26.22) exceeded his tally of first-class runs (324 avg. 4.62). In comparison, the ability of Derek Pearson with the bat is clearly superior to that of Bob Carter. During his County career, which stretched between 1954 and 1961, Derek scored 712 runs (av. 8.57) and took 202 wickets (av. 26.47). He also played 2 matches for Combined Services. He was no-balled for throwing in 1954, 1959 and 1960. Both of tonight’s guests played League cricket for Stourbridge.

Many thanks to Terry Church for another season of extremely interesting and varied choice of speakers.

Sports Argus Cricket Annuals wanted! 1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1969 and 1970 The Stourbridge & District Cricket Society is a member of the Council of Cricket Societies Phone: Richard Evans: 01902 654354 www.sdcs.councilcricketsociety.com Email: [email protected]

Worcestershire Cricket - 2014 edition • Midland Club Cricket Conference & Worcestershire Schools. A comprehensive review of the 2013 Season • Worcestershire cricket of 25, 50, 75 & 100 years ago • Worcestershire Quiz The annual includes: • Comprehensive County statistics from 1899 to date • Full scorecards of all Worcestershire’s first-class matches • Results of Limited Overs and matches Copies of the annual review, priced at £7, are available from • Results of Worcestershire 2nd XI matches the Supporters’ Shop at New Road. Copies can also be • Final Tables of Birmingham & District Leagues, Worcestershire obtained by sending cheque, for £8.30 (postage paid) payable County Leagues to: A. D. Collis, 34a Chawn Hill Stourbridge DY9 7JB

BOUNDARY VIEW DEADLINES

Deadline for receipt of copy is for each Issue is (Last Friday of Month) Autumn (August) Winter (November) Spring (February)

Preferably all articles should be typed and emailed to the address below The editor reserves the right to edit or refuse the publication of any material submitted without further reason. Editorial Contact Details: E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: 01384 442244 Snail Mail: 34a Chawn Hill, Old Swinford, Stourbridge DY9 7JB