Cricket

[Xenophon PCDGS]

To add to these Lancashire reminiscences, 2015 is not so very long ago, but Lancashire had to play Glamorgan on their "adopted" Glamorgan ground at Colwyn Bay. There was a record Lancashire third wicket stand of 501 between Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince.

For those who like veritable run feasts, the May 1990 Surrey v Lancashire match at Kennington Oval did not disappoint. Surrey batted first and a certain I.A.Greig coming in as a middle order batsmen sent to ball to all corners of the ground, scoring 291 and allowing Surrey to declare at 707-9. To their credit, Lancashire entered fully into the spirit of the occasion and Neil Fairbrother decided the wicket was also much to his liking and scored 366 with 5 x 6 and 47 x 4, ably abetted by Mike Atherton with 191, which saw Lancashire reach an all-out total of 863 in reply.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The evergreen Trescothick in imperious form opening for Somerset.

It appears that he broke the fifth metartarsal on his right foot in that match against Lancashire, but continued batting and reached his century. He will be having surgery on that foot next Monday.

 

[EM2]

Yet we won (not entirely sure how, Essex should have a good long look in the mirror)

Terrible performance from Essex. How they managed to let that one get away I will never know.

 

[EM2]

The very mention of Essex always harks me back to a June day at Chelmsford in 2013, when Lancashire dismissed Essex for 20...

Yeah, but we're still County Champions

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Q - during the game there was a "first". Anyone remember...??!

Was it D J Brown substituting for G C Small?

 

[Howardh]

Was it D J Brown substituting for G C Small?

And you didn't even have to phone a friend. Well done that man.
First ever official "substitute" for a player called up for England otherwise they would be a batsman/bowler short.

 

[Howardh]

To add to these Lancashire reminiscences, 2015 is not so very long ago, but Lancashire had to play Glamorgan on their "adopted" Glamorgan ground at Colwyn Bay. There was a record Lancashire third wicket stand of 501 between Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince.

Distance mid-wicket to mid-wicket @ Colwyn Bay, 116 yards. @ Greater Old Trafford, 160 yards. And don't even start on the straight boundaries!
Love Colwyn; but I've often wondered why Glamorgan always seem to choose well supported and nearby Lancashire to play at Colwyn?!!

 

[Busaholic]

To add to these Lancashire reminiscences, 2015 is not so very long ago, but Lancashire had to play Glamorgan on their "adopted" Glamorgan ground at Colwyn Bay. There was a record Lancashire third wicket stand of 501 between Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince.

To be fair to Glamorgan, Lancashire was the ''adopted'' home of Messrs Petersen and Prince. I doubt whether either could have pointed out Poulton-le-Fylde on a map or located the source of the Ribble!

 

[Howardh]

To be fair to Glamorgan, Lancashire was the ''adopted'' home of Messrs Petersen and Prince. I doubt whether either could have pointed out Poulton-le-Fylde on a map or located the source of the Ribble!

Pedantically they might have if they ever played in the Lancashire leagues. Many a famous player did, before they were stars and notably when they WERE stars. Think even Viv Richards got a gig. It's where Big Clive started, and I'm sure Holding, King etc played when they were Test stars (anyone?).
Could you imagine facing Holding on rutted turf above the permafrost at Nelson?? No wonder the wickets were brown.

 

[Busaholic]

Pedantically they might have if they ever played in the Lancashire leagues. Many a famous player did, before they were stars and notably when they WERE stars. Think even Viv Richards got a gig. It's where Big Clive started, and I'm sure Holding, King etc played when they were Test stars (anyone?).
Could you imagine facing Holding on rutted turf above the permafrost at Nelson?? No wonder the wickets were brown.

Some even went on to live there - Sonny Ramadhin I believe? Didn't Learie Constantine have big connections too? I'm afraid the modern overseas/Kolpak player is usually a mercenary available to the highest bidder, although there will always be exceptions. Not being a Lancastrian I've never seen the League but I've a great respect for what it's achieved over the years.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Pedantically they might have if they ever played in the Lancashire leagues. Many a famous player did, before they were stars and notably when they WERE stars. Think even Viv Richards got a gig. It's where Big Clive started, and I'm sure Holding, King etc played when they were Test stars (anyone?).
Could you imagine facing Holding on rutted turf above the permafrost at Nelson?? No wonder the wickets were brown.

There was a local North-West TV mini-series not so very long ago about West Indian players of note who played in the Lancashire League.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Viv Richards started out with Lansdown CC in the then Famous Grouse Western League.

He was brought over by someone involved with Somerset, who is credited with saying that he would never make a cricketer ... not the best prediction there's ever been!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

And you didn't even have to phone a friend. Well done that man. First ever official "substitute" for a player called up for England otherwise they would be a batsman/bowler short.

Ah, thank you, sir .... I'll declare an open forum - oh, sorry, wrong topic!

More seriously, though, what surprised me is how long ago it was - 1982. I thought that it was a comparatively recent rule change to allow a full substitute for a player called up by England, but obviously not - that's 36 years ago!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I suppose when Clive Lloyd and Harry Pilling were batting together for Lancashire, you would have seen "the long and short of it"....

 

[Howardh]

I suppose when Clive Lloyd and Harry Pilling were batting together for Lancashire, you would have seen "the long and short of it"....

During 5 Live's commentary the commentator suggested that there were more than several stories could be told about Harry which couldn't be told on air.
C'mon, just one, even if it's the edited highlights!!

 

[Busaholic]

Viv Richards started out with Lansdown CC in the then Famous Grouse Western League.

He was brought over by someone involved with Somerset, who is credited with saying that he would never make a cricketer ... not the best prediction there's ever been!

No, indeed: the judgment of many county officials has been somewhat lacking over the years.
I only saw Viv in the flesh on one occasion, the Australia v West Indies match at the Oval in the first World Cup in 1975. Alvin Kallicharan had just deposited Dennis Lillee for four consecutive fours in the same over, and Lillee almost literally had steam coming out of his ears. My Jamaican workmate friend and I (particularly him!) were almost beside ourselves, we were sitting almost behind where Lillee was bowling from, and by the third boundary he commenced bowling at the fence. I can't in honesty remember the sequence of events after that, except to say that when the unknown Vivian Richards came in to bat (at no. 5?) his class shone through, such that I turned to my friend and said 'THIS is the guy to watch, mark my words'. Sure enough, he made 291 at the Oval the following summer when the West Indies toured, and a previous double century at Trent Bridge too. I'd have no hesitation in naming him the predominant batsman of the period I've been watching and following cricket, which is over 60 years.

 

[Busaholic]

During 5 Live's commentary the commentator suggested that there were more than several stories could be told about Harry which couldn't be told on air.
C'mon, just one, even if it's the edited highlights!!

I like the Jack Simmons stories too, although most involve food and drink!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

"Alvin Kallicharan had just deposited Dennis Lillee for four consecutive fours in the same over, and Lillee almost literally had steam coming out of his ears."

Now, there was a player ... the man who scored one of the best centuries I've ever seen. He was playing for Gloucester CC in the old Western League in around 1996 or 1997, when he would have been about 46 or 47. I was scoring for Newport CC First team, and we were a good team .... but we simply couldn't bowl to him! Without seeming to score quickly, he went to twenty, then forty then sixty and eventually to a hundred without, I think, giving a chance.

Our captain several times made the fatal error of moving a fielder to the place where he'd just scored runs to plug the gap .... of course, Alvin saw this and played the ball to where the fielder had been. I've spoken to several of the players in our team that day, and they agree with me about the quality of the innings.

One other thing - after the match, we're in the bar and he's chatting with everyone, being a good, very modest, all round person. It was difficult to realise that but on his day, he had been one of the best players in the world!

Here's a link to the innings that Busaholic refers to above:

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Day 1 (Tea interval)

Nottinghamshire (first innings) 133 all out
This after being 80-3 at one stage

Lancashire (first innings) 73-0 (14 overs)

 

[A Challenge]

133 all out isn't very good! But then from 73-0 Lancashire's now at 117-3!

 

[Busaholic]

"Alvin Kallicharan had just deposited Dennis Lillee for four consecutive fours in the same over, and Lillee almost literally had steam coming out of his ears."

Now, there was a player ... the man who scored one of the best centuries I've ever seen. He was playing for Gloucester CC in the old Western League in around 1996 or 1997, when he would have been about 46 or 47. I was scoring for Newport CC First team, and we were a good team .... but we simply couldn't bowl to him! Without seeming to score quickly, he went to twenty, then forty then sixty and eventually to a hundred without, I think, giving a chance.

Our captain several times made the fatal error of moving a fielder to the place where he'd just scored runs to plug the gap .... of course, Alvin saw this and played the ball to where the fielder had been. I've spoken to several of the players in our team that day, and they agree with me about the quality of the innings.

One other thing - after the match, we're in the bar and he's chatting with everyone, being a good, very modest, all round person. It was difficult to realise that but on his day, he had been one of the best players in the world!

Here's a link to the innings that Busaholic refers to above:

Thank you so much for that - I hadn't thought to look on YouTube. He was described as 'a left-handed Kanhai' by one cricket writer, and that's high praise indeed. Both those batsmen played for Warwickshire and the most wonderful innings I ever experienced was Kanhai's, also at the Oval, in a one day semi final against Surrey. Such a small but, nevertheless, powerful man. None of the Surrey bowlers had a clue where to bowl to him.

Kallicharan's lack of standing in the chronicle of top West Indian players is, imo, almost largely political, stemming from the Kerry Packer era of World Series Cricket, then the 'rebel' South African tours. I don't remember all the ins and outs of it, but I do remember that Alvin was at odds with many of the other top WI cricketers: also, he was, like Kanhai and Ramadhin, of Asian descent in a time when the racial component of the West Indies team was becoming of great importance. When I first saw the West Indies team, their captain was a white man, Gerry Alexander, and I don't believe, looking at his record, he was there on cricketing excellence grounds!

 

[ian1944]

Another notable West Indian who played in English league cricket is the Guyanese Rohan Kanhai, who had a successful spell at Ashington (currently in the Northumberland and Tyneside League, I don't know what it was then) from 1964, actually seven years after his first Test appearance. He's commemorated in the town by having the Wetherspoon named after him.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

133 all out isn't very good! But then from 73-0 Lancashire's now at 117-3!

One of those Lancashire wickets to fall was a certain Hameed who has featured in recent postings on this thread, in a new capacity as a number three in the batting order, but with no noticeable improvement in batting form. Perhaps he might like to think that hockey or lacrosse may be a better sport in which to participate.

Day two now in progress and Lancashire are now just all out for 338. Good to see one of the openers recording a century with Jennings being ninth man out for 126 with 21 x 4.

Good bowling return by Broad....20 - 7 - 41 - 4.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Day 3 of 4

Lancashire duly took the remaining Nottinghamshire second innings wickets this morning and Nottinghamshire were all out for 138. Lancashire won by an innings and 67 runs with almost two days to spare.

Excellent bowling returns in that second innings by the main Lancashire strike bowlers:-
Onions..........17.4 - 4 - 55 - 6
Anderson.......18.0 - 7 - 26 - 4

 

[Howardh]

Day 3 of 4

Lancashire duly took the remaining Nottinghamshire second innings wickets this morning and Nottinghamshire were all out for 138. Lancashire won by an innings and 67 runs with almost two days to spare.

Excellent bowling returns in that second innings by the main Lancashire strike bowlers:-
Onions..........17.4 - 4 - 55 - 6
Anderson.......18.0 - 7 - 26 - 4

At last, a bit of a cheer for a Lanky season that needed kick-starting. Just as batsmen (HH apart) are finding form and we're on a roll we have to break off for some meaningless one-day competition; and I don't think the final is even at Lord's.

 

[Cletus]

Dipping in and out of the IPL to catch the English players.

Joss Butler hit 96 not out Friday, then a better 94 not out this afternoon, his 5th consecutive half century, equals an IPL record I think.

Good to see another Kent win also!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Thank you so much for that - I hadn't thought to look on YouTube.

My pleasure!

 

[kevconnor]

For those who may be interested in how Hameed is is getting on he played a game in the Lancashire league over the weekend for Southport and got 157. He was also back in for Lancashire in the 2nd 11 against Northamptonshire yesterday when he got 75.

 

[Howardh]

For those who may be interested in how Hameed is is getting on he played a game in the Lancashire league over the weekend for Southport and got 157. He was also back in for Lancashire in the 2nd 11 against Northamptonshire yesterday when he got 75.

Thanks - much as I hate the breaking up of the Championship to play some fairly meaningless one-day stuff, at least it gives the out-of-form batsmen a chance to either hit themselves into form in the one-dayers (Davies) or to go to the seconds/clubs and find some form there (Hameed). Club cricket isn't to be scoffed at - there are few *easy* runs as the wickets are often below first-class standard, teams may well have a pro bowler and with amateurs, a batsman has no idea of what's coming at them - as often the bowlers haven't a clue either!
I's like Lancashire to reach the semi's with games in hand so they can ease Hameed into the one-day side, grab a game and maybe get that 50 to see him back into the CC and scoring again.

If the England openers fare badly v Pakistan, the Indian series starts quite late (August) and Hameed has form against them - could we be opening with Jennings and Hameed??

Note: 21st May Hameed 107 (123) Lancs II v Worc II in the second XI one-day trophy.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Royal London One-Day Cup

Notinghamshire 409-7 (50 overs) v. Leicestershire

The top order all flourished with the bat at the expense of some expensive Leicestershire bowling:-
Patel 100
Wessels 76
Moores 76
Nash 56

Two Leicestershire bowlers to suffer after completing full bowling spells:-
Aaron........10 - 0 - 86 - 2
Griffiths.....10 - 0 - 83 - 2

They were not the worst as one bowler fared even worse:-
Parkinson...9 - 0 - 87 - 0