Firsts

TestMatchCricketGame

Today I’m going to invoke a little nostalgia. The subject is first cricketing experiences – the powerful formative memories which fuelled your infatuation with the game. The landmarks which shaped your personal cricketing narrative. Your firsts. I’ll kick off by describing my own. And then I’d love to hear yours.

The first time you watched cricket

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Although I grew up with a cricket-loving father, and similarly inclined younger brother, with the game always on TV in our house, I resisted its lure until I was eight, in the summer of 1983. This was when I first watched a sustained period of play – probably, a couple of sessions. I was transfixed, but quite by what, I don’t know. Looking back now, it was something to do with the fluctuating rhythms, the ebb and flow, and in this particular case, the gradual but eventually triumphant ascendancy of bat over ball.

Given this was 1983, you might expect me to have been seduced to cricket by one or more of that era’s alpha males – Botham, Lamb, or an autumnal Willis.

In reality, my epiphany was the unlikely product of a partnership by, of all people, Graeme Fowler and Chris Tavare, who shared a second innings opening stand of 223 in the first of that summer’s tests against New Zealand. Both made centuries (105 and 109, respectively), and while England went on to win the match by 189 runs, for me, life was never the same again.

The first time you watched England in the flesh

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For various reasons I never had the chance to attend a test match as a spectator until I was eighteen. It was 1993, and the fag-end of a disastrous Ashes campaign, but at the close of the penultimate day of the sixth and final test, we had an outside chance of nicking a consolation goal, having set Australia 390 to win.

So my friend Adam and I threw caution to the wind, took advantage of the cheap fifth day entry fee, and trotted east from Ealing to the Oval. As everyone does the first time they watch ‘proper’ cricket live, we were struck by how vastly different it looked from TV viewer’s perspective: the angles, the distances, the blend of remoteness and intimacy.

We were lucky: Steve Watkin (4-65), Angus Fraser (3-44) and Devon Malcolm (3-84) did the business, dismissing Allan Border’s side for 229 to win by 161 runs. On my very first visit to the cricket, I had seen England beat Australia.

First commentator of significance

When I began watching cricket, Richie Benaud still reigned supreme, and rightly so. But for some reason I was always more conscious of the BBC’s other lead commentator. He was of a more prosaic mien, but with an unaffected warmth and authority which sat harmoniously alongside his sometimes functional wordplay.

I speak, of course, of the Bovril-voiced Jim Laker. Avuncular might seem a lazy adjective in this context, but it fitted him to a tee. As TV uncle-figures go, Laker was the uncliest, and remains today the commentator most likely to pretend he was pulling a ball out of his ear or produce toffees from a fraying cardigan pocket.

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A verbal show-off Laker wasn’t. “And he’s gone this time!”, was pretty much his only manner of describing the fall of a wicket. “He’s given that the kitchen sink!” would follow any meaty hook or pull. But he knew what he was talking about and you listened, keenly and dutifully, to whatever he said.

First favourite player

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As you can see, Mike Gatting. This was before he was England captain and, before you say it, certainly before the rebel tour. At this remove, I can’t quite put my figure on why I liked him, but for a start he was captain of Middlesex, my county side. Ridiculous as it sounds now, to my nine year old’s imagination Gatting exuded a faintly heroic air – rugged, stoic, redoubtable. And because he kept getting dropped by England, I felt sorry for him.

First cricket memorabilia

I’m tempted here to cite Test Match (above), the mid-1980s table-top cricket game which surely needs no introduction. But it came into my life at least two years after Cricket 83, the Panini sticker album. Just like the football ones – which enjoyed an ironic adult revival this summer – but for cricket. The Gatting photo, above, serves as illustration.

As with the football version, the individual stickers were not evenly distributed. I acquired at least four Graham Gooches, but nary a Monte Lynch. The Derbyshire badge remained stubbornly elusive. And it goes without saying that I never actually completed the bloody thing.

So…what about yours? The first cricket you watched. The first time you saw England in the flesh. The first commentator, favourite player, and memorabilia. Tell us your stories – what you remember, and why that memory has stayed with you.

Meanwhile, in other news, the ECB have a farce on their hands with the Andrew Gale racism case. What a surprise. The Daily Telegraph say the disciplinary proceedings are on the verge of collapse after Ashwell Prince conceded the comments weren’t racist.

Elsewhere the debate continues over the ODI squad for Sri Lanka and the retention of Alastair Cook. Thanks for all your comments so far. Even forty eight hours later, James Whitaker’s comments still beggar belief:

“The highs and lows he’s had over the last 12 months, it takes a unique sense of will to come through that. To keep getting up when you’re knocked constantly and to show a degree of humbleness when you’re doing well is unique in any leadership. We believe we have a unique leader and a unique person and that should not be underestimated”.

As I mentioned on the original thread, it does help to “come through that” if your employers are unable, for political reasons, to sack you.

There’s plenty else to discuss. Scyld Berry had an interesting piece yesterday on the lack of British Asians within positions of influence within English cricket. If you want a definition of the word ‘coruscating’, take a look at Dmitri Old’s letter to the ECB. Hampshire are up. Lancashire and Middlesex are in a fight to the death. And don’t forget our quiz.

 

 

22 comments

  • When I first watched cricket I really didn’t know what it was I was looking at, but I have a clear memory of seeing dismissed batsmen trudging back to the pavilion on the grainy black-and-white tv. Since I must have been about 9 at the time I suspect this was the 1964 Ashes series. It was another four years – 1968 – before cricket sparked any genuine interest, and at 13 I was unmistakably a late developer in that regard. It was the Ashes again, and I watched as much as I could, and discovered Test Match Special.

    My first favourite player was John Edrich, and that was before the first cricket match I ever watched in the flesh, in which he played a brilliant innings of 130, regularly smacking the bowlers back over their heads for six (over my head too and out of the ground on several occasions). This was 1969 and not a “proper” match – a local Cornish club side, abetted by several international stars, including Edrich himself, against the International Crusaders. Sobers, Lloyd, Boycott…. I was hooked. Of course Edrich was not known for his attacking style but he stayed my favourite until supplanted by Dennis Amiss. Amiss featured prominently in the first Test I ever watched live, England v India at Lord’s in 1974. The close of play score on day one was 334 for one, Amiss 187*, Edrich 93*. Madness, but heaven. Since I had just moved to London, having previously lived many hundreds of miles from the nearest Test venue, I made a fairly regular habit of going to Lord’s and the Oval over the following years.

    I’m going to count Wisden as my first item of memorabilia. It was the 1969 edition, hardback, and I no longer have that one – although I do have a replacement in among a rather large number of others.

    Commentator – John Arlott. Straight away I found his style irresistible. People listening to TMS these days who don’t remember Arlott, or even CMJ, Trevor Bailey, etc, really can have very little idea of how brilliant it was then. Things ain’t what they used to be, in so many ways!

  • I very vaguely remember the 91 West Indies and 92 Pakistan series, but my most vivid early memory was the 93 Ashes. I spent the summer alternating Shane Warne and Tim May impressions in the back garden.

    It was a funny thing, being a young England fan watching Warne repeatedly destroy our batting. An intoxicating mixture of admiration, anger, love, hatred, fascination.

  • First favourite players: anyone who could hold a bat in the early to mid 90s, so mainly Gooch and Stewart. I didn’t like Atherton at first, but he grew on me and was probably my favourite by the late 90s. His remains the only sporting autobiography I have ever bothered to read.

    Later on I liked Trescothick and Pietersen.

    Bowling wise I have always been less partisan, enjoying watching foreign spinners like Warne and Mushtaq (and later Murali) far more than the dross served up by England. I really, really wanted Tufnell to come good for an extended period, but somehow he never did.

  • Favourite live memories were the 1998 series against South Africa. I went to the final 2 days of Manchester (where we snatched an unlikely draw), Nottingham (Atherton vs Donald) and Leeds (where we bowled them out to win the series).

    What an incredible 6 days of cricket. In terms of the quality and intensity of cricket played it was up there with 2005.

  • I, like everybody else, could write forever about our wonderful game, but I just want to share one poetic moment with you all if I may – Commentary.

    Richie Benuad calling a test match between England and the West Indies, when Malcolm Marshall was at his nastiest, dangerous best – “Monty Lynch………………….it’s his birthday today…………………here’s Marshall”.

    Thank you!

  • well it looks like Peter Moores exceptional talent and legacy is bound to help England not win the world cup – lancashire relegated for the second time in 3 years – amazing for the best coach in the country, amazing …………

  • 1st cricket watched:
    a) On TV – the 1975 WC Final.
    b) Live – this game:
    http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/106/106047.html

    Pretty decent selection of players for a first game – and Bob Willis took a hat-trick.

    1st time seeing England in the flesh:
    The 1986 defeat by India at Lord’s (when Gower was sacked as captain). Splendid preparation for a lifetime of disappointment.

    1st commentator:
    John Arlott – he didn’t do TV tests but he did the Sunday League games that used to be BBC2’s Sunday afternoons before Sunday Grandstand. I was watching the famous Gloucestershire vs. Warwickshire game when he cracked the immortal “the bowler is Small but the bat is Broad”.
    And Richie, of course.

    1st favourite player:
    Gordon Greenidge

    1st memorabilia:
    The board game Knockout Cricket and the John Player Cricket Yearbook 1976 (read and reread until it fell apart – I can still recite long sections virtually word for word).

  • The fog of middle age clouds the memory like the evening mist that shrouds my beloved Somerset levels. Yet just as Glastonbury Tor pierces the ethereal cloud of Merlin’s aged breath, so I recall a few landmark moments that rise above and define my lost and mostly forgotten cricketing moments.

    Us real cricket enthusiasts at school were notable for our early exit from the annual single-wicket competition and for the volume we invested in each appeal as the ball of scrunched-up paper, tightly bound with Sellotape, bounced with surprising spring against a much-trashed and dented litter-bin wicket. We were the much-dismissed talent, the lost boys playing in free periods when teachers were looking elsewhere. We played on a narrow, hidden, concrete strip, a no-man’s land, between the booming fibreglass shell that housed the swimming pool and a chain-mesh fence that rattled like a maraca as its killjoy net contained the school boundary and the scorecard of our dreams.

    My best friend in the late seventies was my transistor radio with its crackly, tinny, reception, the strange angles, heights and impossible locations I had to find while twisting and turning for a signal. I listened in bed as Liverpool dominated the European Cup, and I stole moments at school as Botham made an instant impact on his first test. Someone described the young debutant as six-foot tall and just as wide. It may have been John Arlott. It should have been John Arlott.

    The first match I saw was Somerset against the Australian tourists in 1975. There were some marquee players in attendance – Botham, Close, Richards, Lillee, Chappell, even the sainted Vic Marks. But the moment I remember most was chatting with Ashley Mallett on the boundary, who signed my match-day programme and left a lasting impression for simply engaging with me as a young kid. Anyone remember engagement?

    The first time a real-time player really stood out for me as a spectator was Mark Ramprakash and his match-winning innings in the 1988 NatWest Trophy final at Lords. I think he won MOM as a 19 year old and announced himself as a cricketer of note. Why is it that having seen him that day, at the start of a fine career, I feel somehow personally responsible for his failure to excel at international level. It is as though I formed an early proprietorial attachment to Ramprakash simply because I was there when he first stepped on to the world stage. I was still there for him when he won the glitter ball, so, strictly speaking, there has been a redemption of sorts! But it was never the same.

    The first time the Taunton mist welled up my eyes at a cricket match was when my son scored his first age-group century for Somerset. After years of being his chauffeur, banker, personal assistant, coach and shrink, adopting eccentric David Shepherd-like rituals every time he faced a ball, I was forced to realise I had no more influence on his cricketing future than I did with that of Mark Ramprakash. I kept putting off the day that I had to accept my son had grown up. It was a hard day when it arrived.

    Test Match Special was always my alpha and omega. John Arlott’s commentary in his inimitable Hampshire burr still painted pictures better than anything on television. The current crop aim for Arlott’s Leonardo touch, but lack the brush strokes, colour, charm and avuncular authority.

    Oh, how the glad confident morning of my first cricketing memories has been stolen by thieves, who seek a barren afternoon of sad and desperate profit at the expense of us all.

  • My first real memory of cricket is climbing on the slips cradle with my siblings while my father was playing, but also being at my nana’s and having WA cricket on the radio in the background in the kitchen. Wish I knew who those commentators were.

    My first favourite player if I am strictly honest was Clive Lloyd, though he was quickly replaced by DK Lillee and Michael Holding.

    First favourite English player was Derek Randall. I loved watching him field and his mad moving about but then he was replaced by Gower. For sheer grace, I’ve never seen anything like him.

    First live match was a one dayer at the WACA when I was 15. I got to watch Michael Holding and Joel Garner bowl. I’ve never yet seen anything in cricket to beat that.

  • One other thing, for one of the Windies tours in the mid 70s, my father went out and bought a colour tv. That’;s probably why I fell in love with Clive Lloyd. Such a fine fielder in covers/midwicket that he got called ‘Supercat’ and he carried a monstrous sized bat out to the crease or so it seemed.

  • First time I watched cricket: 1985 Ashes. I was 10, and had been vaguely aware of my dad and grandpa watching this confusing sport in previous summers, but that year for some reason it just drew me in. I started bugging my dad to explain all the rules, and by the end of the 6-test series had committed teams, stats, idiosyncracies to memory. I can still remember David Gower’s double century at Edgbaston, and the same man catching Wayne Phillips off Allan Lamb’s boot.

    First time I watched England in the flesh: 1992, when my dad got tickets to England v Pakistan at Edgbaston. It was the Sunday, and after the first two days had been washed out, we got to see both sides bat, with runs from Javed Miandad and Alec Stewart. I don’t remember much else about it, apart from that feeling mentioned above that live international cricket is a completely different experience from the televised version. (I’d been to a county match before this, but it was at an out-ground in front of a couple of hundred, tops – not quite the same atmosphere.)

    First commentator of significance: definitely Benaud. In the late 80s he always seemed to be a cut above the bluster of Ray Illingworth and statement-of-the-obvious style of Jack Bannister.

    First favourite player: probably Gower, because in that 1985 Ashes series he made everything look so easy.

    The great thing about watching cricket, for me, is that it has given me numerous conversations and “quality time” with both my dad and my grandpa that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Even after going to Trent Bridge for day 4 of the 2005 Ashes (yes… the really nailbiting day), I dragged the friend I was with on a considerable detour on the way home afterwards, so I could visit my parents’ house and rehash the whole day with my dad.

  • 1st cricket watched:
    a) On TV – the 1976 England v West Indies series. Viv Richards in full flow. I also remember Selvey bowling, funnily enough.
    b) Live – As a young child I saw Sussex v Notts in the JPL in 1976, I think. It’s on the blog. First county game was Lancashire v Hampshire at Liverpool in 1988. Only time I ever saw Wasim Akram in the flesh.

    1st time seeing England in the flesh:
    Day 2 of the Ashes test in 1997 at The Oval. Phil Tufnell’s game, when he took 12 in the match, I think. Free ticket as well. I then went to the Oval each year until 2013.

    1st commentator:
    As a kid I didn’t like John Arlott. Couldn’t handle the old sod. Probably love him now. Jim Laker I liked and remembered. Like most kids, it was from the Sunday League coverage.

    1st favourite player:
    Monte Lynch (which is really odd as someone mentioned him above), and the usual suspects, Botham and Richards.

    1st memorabilia:
    I had Test Match, I had subbuteo cricket, I had that first game on the ZX Spectrum where regularly in a test match your two openers would put on 70-ish for the 1st wicket and then got out. I’m a programme collector, sort of, and also all sorts of stuff I accumulate through the years. Ticket stubs etc. I suppose I could also count my GN Powerspot bought because David Gower used one.

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