CIGARETTES, SINGLES AND SIPPING TEA WITH IAN BOTHAM – SIGNS OF A WELL SPENT YOUTH!

Yesterday, after a frenetic eighteen days of T20, the domestic cricket season returned, albeit briefly, to the calmer confines of the four day county championship. As I watched the livestream of the afternoon session between Essex and Somerset I was taken back to childhood summers in the late 1970s when I would watch the match shown live on Sunday afternoons throughout the months on BBC2. Each week as 2pm approached I would position myself in front of our black and white television hoping as the familiar title music began that there would be a shot of the three church towers that, being in close proximity to the ground, were always shown when the game being televised was from Taunton.

The matches shown were part of the John Player League, which itself seems odd in this day and age when tobacco companies are no longer allowed to sponsor the sport. But things were different in the 1970s. Back then as well as Benson and Hedges also giving their name to the 55 over knockout completion that took place in the early part of each season. cricketers were more likely to be photographed smoking a cigarette than agonising over the details of the diet they were following to maximise their fitness!

As I watched Sir Alistair Cook move steadily towards yet another hundred, I noticed that Essex were scoring at a rate of 3.68 runs per over and I mused to myself how that probably wasn’t all that different to the run rate in those limited over games I watched as a boy. The John Player League was made up of 40 overs a side and I remember how a total of 160 was considered a decent score and if teams were to reach the giddy heights of 200 they were deemed to have performed exceptionally well. And so, like the scores of 250 plus and the attendant run rates of more than 12 an over that are sometimes seen in todays twenty over games, I did something else that couldn’t have been dreamt of in my youth – I ‘googled’ Somerset’s run rate for the John Player League in 1979. That they won the competition that year by scoring an average of just 4.25 runs an over is remarkable enough itself, but what makes it more astonishing still is the fact that Somerset’s victorious double winning side included the likes of both Viv Richards and Ian Botham both of whom are remembered for their prolific scoring.

Dull though this statistic might seem to some, I shared it on a couple of cricket related Facebook groups and received numerous comments which suggested that that I am not alone in harbouring fond memories of watching the JPL on Sunday afternoons. And these recollections prompted more of my own. At the time my Dad was a curate and, as the games were scheduled to finish at around 6.40, he was never around to see the final overs of the game as he’d would have needed to leave home before 6pm in order to get to Evensong in good time. One of his parishioners though was a particularly keen follower of cricket and, arriving at church rather later than my father, would often be able to update him on the score.

The parishioner in question must have learnt of my interest in cricket as on a couple of occasions he was kind enough to take me to Taunton to watch Somerset play. He was a Vice President of the club, a class of membership that allowed him, and his guests, to sit in the elevated area of what then was simply the Pavilion. I remember feeling particularly honoured, and really rather important, to be afforded the opportunity to sit in the cinema style seats that allowed you to view the game from high up behind the bowlers arm. It was from there that I once saw the South African all rounder Mike Procter hit the Somerset slow left armer, Dennis Breakwell, for six successive sixes across two overs for Gloucestershire. That whoever was captaining Somerset that afternoon gave the elf like Breakwell that second over seems somewhat brave to me now but at the time I was simply thrilled to be watching one of the great allrounders of the day in action.

And it was over the top of that same Pavilion that I remember the aforementioned Viv Richards hit a massive six in what was one of the first John Player League game I actually attended at Taunton. I forget now who it was against but I remember sitting on the grass where the Somerset stand is now located and seeing, if memory serves me right, the great man take 34 off a single over, a feat that I seem to recall was achieved by another player that same day at another ground! Over the years the county ground at Taunton has, of course, been developed, and so over time the Pavilion became the Old Pavilion and more recently it was knocked down and replaced by the new stand that now bears the name of Marcus Trescothick, a Somerset legend who was possibly still in nappies the first time I ever saw Somerset play live in 1977. That was a game at Clarence Park in Weston-super- Mare played against Northamptonshire and I remember David Steele, England’s hero of the previous years Test series against the West Indies, fielding just in front of me as Brian Rose began the innings which would end with him scoring 205, his highest score in first class cricket.

Another childhood memory was autograph hunting. As a boy I used to pore over the sports pages of newspapers that in those days had full reports of every county cricket match. And there were pictures too, pictures I used to cut out and glue onto sheets of paper that I kept in ring folders, and organised into sections, one for each of the 17 first class counties that existed at the time. This treasured possession would then accompany me to games and, loitering close to the pavilion, I would hold it open in front of passing players in the hope that they’d sign the photographs of themselves in action.

As all self respecting schoolboy should, I also had an autograph book too, reserving several of its pages for England players who, in the days before central contracts, would regularly turn out for their counties in between Test matches. I remember asking John Emburey to sign when Middlesex visited Taunton. Noticing the heading I’d given the page in which I’d asked him to sign, the right arm spinner was initially hesitant to put pen to paper as he’d yet to be selected for national team. I assured him though that he soon would be and he must have believed me because he duly added his autograph to that of David Gower and others of his ilk. Within a week he was playing Test cricket!

Another favourite of mine to have players sign was a book I had been given as a Christmas present. Together with sports journalist Dudley Doust, ‘The Ashes Retained’ was written by Mike Brearley the former England captain. It was a memoir of the Ashes series played in Australia during the winter of 1978-79. Having joined the long line of adults and youngsters who wished to acquire the autograph of arguably the greatest captain England has ever had, I eventually made my way to the front of the queue and proffered Mr Brearley my copy of his book. Interested in what I thought of it, he asked me which chapter I had enjoyed the most. ‘Rags to Riches’ I answered without hesitating, referring to the chapter detailing Derek Randall’s 150 in the second innings of the the fourth test played at Sidney. To which I was somewhat embarrassed to hear one of my then heroes inform me that that was the only chapter in the book he had had no part in writing himself! Despite my faux pas, however, that giant of the summer game was still gracious enough to sign the title page.

‘The Ashes Retained’ was also the focus of a contact I had with another icon of English cricket – the late, great Bob Willis. Warwickshire were playing Somerset but Willis wasn’t playing. This wasn’t because his run up was longer than there was room for on what was then and still remains a relatively small ground but rather because he’d apparently not made it to the ground in time for the start of play. As a result he was sat with spectators in the stand and seemingly had been enjoying a glass or two of the locally produced liquid refreshment. He was in the mood to chat and as I showed him the book he delighted to inform those around him of how it held within its pages a picture of him batting, something which, having taken the book from me, he turned to and proceeded to proudly display to anyone and everyone who was in his vicinity.

Those were formative days for me, days that instilled in me a love for the game that has stayed with me until now. Interestingly to me, despite the slower run rates that were the norm in those days, I nonetheless remember the games being just as exciting as those played today. How I used to love watching the likes of Vic Marks and Phil Slocombe scampering between the wickets to take a quick single as they inched Somerset towards what today would be considered a modest total to secure a win for the home side. And though I have thoroughly enjoyed being at Taunton this year to watch the likes of Banton, Smeed, and Kohler-Cadmore belting the ball to all corners of the ground, I sometimes wonder if the matches that took place all those years ago were more more enjoyable than those today. If so, perhaps it’s because the scoring of runs was more difficult back then that the games thus seemed more compelling.

That the playing field on which the battle between bat and ball took place was more even is without doubt, for how else could the same format have produced both Viv Richards 34 from a single over and the astonishing bowling figures of Brian Langford, another Somerset player who, in a match against Essex in 1969 ended with the incomparable figures of eight overs, eight maidens, no wickets for no runs! Or maybe it was because each of those one day games in the 70s and 80s was an occasion, one that, rather than being concentrated into an amorphous few weeks, came along at intervals throughout the season, offering contrast to the longer championship games.

Furthermore, though still limited in overs, those Sunday afternoon games were long enough to require those watching to set aside a day, or at least a half day, if they wanted to enjoy them properly. They offered a genuine break from the everyday unlike todays T20 games which are frequently squeezed onto the end of an already busy day and not infrequently necessitate a rush from work if one is to make it in time to see the opening over. Irrespective of whether one watches the games at the ground or online, the ubiquitous coverage of every game, though wonderful, can at the same time be a little exhausting.

Now that their is a dearth of meaningful cricket in August, I consider myself fortunate to have grown up when I did, able as I was to spend my summers watching the game I have grown to love. During my early teens my Dad was ordained and we moved to Taunton. Living now closer to the ground I was able to seemingly spend my whole summer at the county ground, cycling there early on match days complete with my packed lunch, the latest Playfair Cricket Annual and just enough money to treat myself to a Slush Puppy if the weather was hot and sunny – which in those days, of course, it always was.

For one glorious week though things got even better when I was able to dispense with my cheese and pickle sandwiches having been asked by a friend if I’d like to help him operate the mobile scoreboard Somerset use to employ alongside it’s permanent static one. The normal operators were unavailable for some reason and my friend and I were given the temporary honour of pulling the levers that changed the numbers on the metal boxes that attached to the scoreboard’s frame. While today’s modern electronic scoreboards may be less cumbersome than those used in the past I’m not sure they are any more efficient at conveying the actual score – and what is absolutely certain is that the way they do so in far less romantic than their mechanical predecessors.

But it wasn’t just being able to stand on the roof of the scoreboard and watch the game by gazing over the top of that part of it that use to fold up that made the job so thrilling. More than that we were allowed to go to the pavilion during the lunch and tea intervals and sit in the same room as the players were eating their cucumber sandwiches!

I hope such opportunities remain for youngsters today because, though we may not have been on the same table as he was, I can’t help thinking that life doesn’t get very much better than when you get to take tea with Lord Ian Botham!

That close encounter with ‘Hero of Headingly’ is something that I will never forget. I wonder if he remembers it too!

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Other cricket blogs:

To read ‘Bazball, Bazchess, Bazlife’, click here

To read ‘Online criticism: it’s just not cricket’, click here

To read ‘Cricket: It’s All About Good Timing’, click here

To read ‘A Tale of Two Tons’, click here

To read ‘A Somerset Cricket Players Emporium’, click here

To read ‘A Cricket Taunt’, click here

To read ‘Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Deseted Cricket Ground’, click here

To read ‘Brian and Stumpy visit The Repair Shop’, click here

To read ‘A Cricketing Christmas Carol’, click here

To read ‘At Season’s End’, click here

To read ‘A Historic Day’, click here

To read ‘On passing a village cricket club at dusk one late November afternoon’ click here

To read ‘Cricket – through thick and thin’, click here

To read ‘A Song for Brian’, click here

To read ‘I’ve got a little CRICKET list’, click here

To read ‘My love is not a red, red rose , click here

To read ‘Stumpy – a legend reborn’, click here

To read ‘A Cricket Tea Kind of a Day’, click here

To read ‘A Day at the Cricket’, click here

To read ‘The Great Cricket Sell Off’, click here

To read ‘How the Grinch stole from county cricket…or at least tried to’. click here

To read ‘How Covid-19 stole the the cricket season’, click here

To read ‘Life in the slow lane’, click here

To read ‘Frodo and the Format of Power’, click here

To read ‘If Only’, click here

To read ‘Eve of the RLODC limericks’ click here

To read ‘It’s coming home…’, click here

To read ‘A Song for Ben Green’, click here

To read ‘Enough Said…’, the last section of which is cricket related, click here

A Jack Leach Trilogy:

To read ‘For when we can’t see why’, click here

To read ‘WWJD – What would Jack Do?’, click here

To read ‘On Playing a Blinder’, click here

To read ‘Coping with Disappointment’, click here

And now a couple of cricket blogs with a theological flavour

To read ‘Somerset CCC – Good for the soul’, click here

To read ‘Longing for the pavilion whilst enjoying a good innings’, click here