This is a new fixture in this cricket week. The secretary is like a parole officer for the ex patients of this school. His is an arduous job. His progress around the country and world is an onerous one. In any year he must visit places like New York, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Accra, Toronto, Cape Town, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong, Aden and Cairo where he his forced to dine with ex inmates. He must also attend matches at Twickenham, Murrayfield, Arms Park, Stade de France, Lords, Oval and Calcutta and other sporting events. It’s a tough, tough job though. I’m told that there’s not an hour in a day when a former inmate doesn’t contact him to get them out of a tight fix in Runcorn.
The secretary called on ex England and ex Gloucestershire gang of Sid Lawrence, Mike Smith, Reggie Williams, Tim Hancock, Paul Romaines and Dean Hodgson for the day. Only Hancock plays regular cricket anymore. We bowled rank . Hancock went ballistic and smashed every ball. When the spinners came on, their scoring slowed. They declared 10 overs short of their allotted 50 with 300 on the board.
Ambled into bat with score at 20 for 2. It was an ice cream day on the Close. Tried to remain ‘cool as you like’ but my manic heartbeat could be heard in Bath. Tim Hancock gave me the eye and asked where my bat was. For a moment I thought I’d forgotten it.
Two ex England opening bowlers were on. Mike Smith at one end, David Valentine Lawrence otherwise known as Sid bowled at the other. What a day to score a century. I’ll be able to bore everyone who’ll care to listen if I pull it off.
Opted for a new stance today. Put the bat in between my feet and squared up a bit; all for balance. I’ll try anything for it. It felt ok for a bit. I abandoned it when I attempted a cover drive that passed through mid on. I survived two lbw shouts off Mike Smith. Just as I started to get the measure of him, the umpire felt he had to give a third lbw.
Spoke to Mike Smith after the game and told him he was lucky. He puts his arm around me and said “the first one was out, the second one was out, the third was out.” Syd Lawrence also let me know that if I face him without a helmet next year, he’d skull me but he is a shadow, three or four shadows of the bustling fast bowler who frightened opponents. Middle age has set in around his waist. He doesn’t scare me.