Heaven is a cricket ground.



Photo by Selina Reid



For nearly 30 years between 1750-1780, Broadhalfpenny Down was the centre of the Cricketing world. The hospitable Richard Nyren, owner of the 'Bat & Ball' and one of the foremost players of the time, provided the headquarters for the Hambledon Club; a place of much feasting and carousing for the top cricketers of the day.

This happy brotherhood took on and beat the Rest of England in a series of matches for enormous wagers watched by huge crowds. The Hambledon Club established and refined the laws of cricket. It was also responsible for developments in the game, such as length bowling, a third stump, and improving techniques. As more cricket was being played in London, the centre of gravity inevitably moved from Hambledon and the Marylebone Cricket Club, formed in 1787, became the authority for the laws and the general governance of the game.



Photo by Selina Reid



The Broadhalfpenny Brigands CC was set up to restore the playing of cricket regularly on the historic Down. The Brigands have always sought to play their cricket in a spirit of jovial comradeship mixed with keen competition and to extend a warm welcome to the many visiting teams and spectators who come to enjoy sharing in the delights of cricket on Broadhalfpenny Down.

And it was Sunday pasted that I found myself driving up to enjoy the historical pastures of this most famous of cricketing grounds as a debutant for the Brigands CC. I have long been one of the many stopping on my countryside travels to enjoy the pleasure of watching the men in white dance across the living memoirs of crickets past. It was this Sunday after much chatting and finding links from a work collogue that I would get my chance to walk out of that pavilion.

The day itself could not have been nicer for the opening of the ground, a warming ray of sun greeted all in shorts and t-shirts, and by 13:45 the ground had already accepted many a picnic blanket on its boundary as well the greeting of the two sides. The changing rooms smelled of leather pads, cricket balls and my nerves had me changed into training shorts and shirt much earlier than required. I quick jog along the far side of the ground watching the cow’s shift much like clouds made me remember the simple reason for playing cricket was the joy of being outside in the warm glow of the summer sun.

Photo by Selina Reid

The pitch itself smelled like it had just been cut and the markings of the lines freshly painted in anticipation of the game to begin. The side itself (Brigands CC) a mixture of old hands and young terrors, public school boys mixed with those of naval importance as the applauding for the opening batsman continued to drift back towards the cows.

What happened next you half expect as you open in bowling in April, a little bit on the short side and cut away for 4. What happens after defines a bowler in terms of how they return, to have him hanging his bat in the sun lent an air of noise and a finger raised, and the mind relieved at my first wicket.

What was to happen in the next hour was nothing short of either the cricketing gods shining a light on a hopeful season or a dream coming true. As a 28 year old club cricketer of the average standard that most joy comes out of playing any cricket,  let alone that of a standard fit for boasting. Today was a five wicket day, you’re never sure when they will come about you’ll sometimes take 3 or maybe 2, but that perfect 5 wickets is always just an edge short or a dropped catch away.

Five wickets, I’m sure the trees that hide the ground from the road have heard many a rattle of stumps and bails hitting the turf. Today was my day to bask in that joy of the 5th wicket falling, and after my 7th over as I trotted back towards the rope, with no applause or adoring fans to meet, just a small hear d of Jersey cows with more thoughts on eating grass than that of the game played on it.

And so it begins.

England has been blessed in recent days with a coming of the sun to burn away any lingering thoughts of the harsh winter. And with the county season again choosing to start early all those souls that sit side-by-side within office blocks or at home looking at retired photographs of the cricket they once played can now start to think of the summer again, even if a touch earlier than normal.

The County Championship, the now not so popular competition among those under 25, fr many April is the time to dust off the pads, sand back the blade of choice, play a few defensive shots in front of the mirror before the wife walks in and start to dream of big scores in June. The shoulder aches after the first official rolling of the arm and the smell of the freshly cut square as you walk past the ground is tempting you to begin play early.

County cricket on the other hand is in full swing with all teams reporting for duty over the weekend of April madness in the sun drenched grounds across the counties. I for one was lucky to escape the clutches of 'home duties' and made it down to the Rose Bowl Sunday to watch an interesting 3rd day of cricket from the new stands. I arrived to the ground on or about 11:00 only to hear the sound of many an appeal as the last 3 batsman were returned to the hutch by 11:20, oh the dismay of an early collapse, and not just from the batsman as Simon Jones & Dominic Cork both having to leave the field for treatment (Simon not returning) De Wet the new South African/Englishman found early wickets be it off no balls.

I have a habit when watching County cricket to always be wishing the best from my fellow countrymen (Australians) no matter which county they are playing for. I have many a story of  an over night case of man-flu stopping me from getting to work, only to jump trains in the morning to see certain player obtain a 100. This day Di Venuto the 37 yr old veteran who's time in the gold & green are long past the Tasmanian opener, yet I always admired his gritty batting and on this day it seemed I might of got a milestone had it not been for the young Hampshire spinner Danny Briggs bringing my joy to an end on 40 as I opened the bag of sandwiches. My day concluded with an 'almost' historical moment as Stokes took to Dawson like a bowling machine putting him over the ropes 5 times only for a conference call to Nic Pothas insuring a 6th was not to leave the ground.

And so now my summer has begun a touch before the calendar tells me so, and a lot earlier than my wife would like. This week I shall begin the ritual of following the weather reports across 3 different websites and 2 news channels, the kit bag will be given an airing out, and the cricket shoes a wipe down, the whites still seem to be cream but the mind is completely bonkers on this silly little game. This weekend brings the early fixtures of the year, time to air out the arm pits with a few loose overs, and see if the bat works. Saturday brings a pre-season club match in Otterbourne and Sunday brings a debut at The Cradle of Cricket, and the weekend will bring further musings of a summers cricket is all that matters from April and September.

The Rule of 4.

Yesterday as England was in the grips of the hottest day for 2011 at a mild face warming 21 degrees, so much so that men small & large were removing t-shirts at an alarming rate. With the sun showing its wares this early in April the mind tends to drift ahead a few weeks to the start of the cricket leagues, when I say ‘cricket’ leagues I don’t mean your jaguar driving, freshly pressed whites and bats with sponsor’s logos. I’m talking of the time of year when grass stained trousers show the signs of a veteran.



Having suddenly noticed someone had slipped him a Fosters, Warney quickly disposes of the venom



With the season sharply approaching and the weather now drawing more of us towards the green grass of the beer garden it made sense to look into proper preparation to a day playing cricket. There are many debates on the use of beer before, after and sometimes during sporting conquests. With many feeling its usage should be at a minimum, and others think maybe 1 is alright. My good friend Andy and I found ourselves pondering the theory of the pre-match drink, and where it sits in loosening up a player who is tense on the day leading up. We know or have been told of horror stories of nights gone wrong and days in the field ruined by an over indulgence of the amber fluid kind.



Andy tells of a great little tale from his university days when preparing for a big game against a Rival University the captain had specifically requested no pre match drinking. All the team were waiting at the bus for the 11th man, 15 minutes late Johnny Smith rocks up with his bit of skirt (she was only wearing a dressing gown – sparking riotous scenes) from the night before p*&@”d out off his mind. After a 2 hour journey he is still drunk on arrival at the crease as the innings went along his hangover grew. Dear old Johnny was not in a good state at tea! Unsurprisingly they lost the game and Johnny lost the rest of his student loan in fines.



Very few can drink and play cricket, Ponting an exception to this.



I stand on a simple mathematical equation, one not as difficult as the duckworth lewis method, but just as important to the fabric of cricket life, it is simply named ‘The Four Beer Rule’ and is in affect from the first Friday of any cricket season to the final Friday in August.

The Four Beer Rule for me works on many levels, as I'm a big fan of the ‘one round’ where the sum of those in attendance must be equal to task of necking the no. people in the amount of beers, with 4 being the limit to a round.

4 being the limit to a round back home (Melbourne) works well, mainly as you can tend to get a round in for under tenner ($2.50 for a beer) for 4 people, and if you can’t you are clearly in a bar/pub too fancy for the likes of you and your mates. Being under a tenner means that everyone can afford a round for 4. Plus it means you can take out of the bank exactly a tenner avoiding those moments passed 4 pints when your brain tries to trick you into thinking a 5th & 6th is a great idea washed down with tequila.

Now the ‘one round’ works well in groups of 3 and 4, but I find when drinking with just one other mate that 2 pints is not enough to discuss the days play at the cricket or to come up with good selections for the following days racing, and this where the double round should be employed yet not straying from The Four Beer Rule, with each member buying 2 lots of 2 pint rounds, finishing your night on the round figure 4 pints, and not opening up the wallet for more than a tenners worth.

Many will feel that they can test and find faults in such a theory and I have watch many who have failed to take hold of The Four Beer Rule and lose their way home with nothing more than a lamb sandwich to talk to. I know that there is always an exception to any rule, and we may find that within our cricket club the likes of ‘Bruce’ or ‘Pig’ can indeed put away beyond a tenners worth of rounds in a night, and it is these men that we try to avoid. We are all informed of drinking in moderation, but what is moderation? To me this is a bit airy fairy and doesn’t give your cricketing male who values figures and statistics a point of reference.

Good luck in the weather and remember – DON’T BE A FOOL, KNOW YOUR RULE

Matthew Salmon - Positive Cricket

Matt Salmon has a busy summer ahead of him, once getting past his college exams he will have sun filled days not just playing cricket, but coaching at his home club of Petersfield, Dorset County juniors as well as his involvement in the English Schools Cricket Association (ESCA) national finals. As he said to me he shall be “eating, sleeping and breathing cricket”

It has been a rapid rise for Matthew into the coaching ranks, having started his cricket playing at a late stage of colts in 2007 with Petersfield U15 in a familiar fashion to many of us being asked to help fill in for a side lacking in numbers, this helping hand led to a successful season with lot of wickets and runs.

Like many of us, Matt's first experience of cricket was enough to pull him deeper into the fabric of life at a vibrant cricket club, having suddenly found himself involved coaching U11’s at Petersfield, he was getting full use of his Level 1 Course. From this and a family connection between his father and Dorset Under 11’s Coach Don Crawford, Matt found himself putting in the early stages of a coaching apprenticeship under Don.

Matt described his first year at Dorset in 2009 as a chance to observe and be involved in small groups specializing in wicket-keeping, but also found himself coaching seam bowling and general batting technique. From this humble beginning of retrieving cricket balls and laying out markers Matt had shown a knack for getting the best from the young chargers in his command, and in January 2010 he was given the opportunity to be heavily involved in the pre-season preparations of the side until Easter, it was with his infectious enthusiasm that he was named as Assistant Coach of the U11 Dorset side.

It was around this time that Matt’s story takes a dramatic turn in events, with such a quick rise into the ranks of junior coaching, and having embarked on his Level 2 Course Matt found himself short of breathe and struggling to play cricket. On examination by a doctor he was diagnosed with a very rare form of lung & throat cancer. With the diagnosis of a damaged lung, a large tumour is his left lung and 7 weeks of intense radiotherapy scheduled, Matt was only able to find a small amount of time to return to the nets of Petersfield CC. It seemed that the fresh air , the friendly nature of a cricket club and the continued chasing of cricket balls was just the medicine for Matt as on his return to the doctor it seemed that his lung had almost fully healed itself. Some would call such an event a miracle, from talking to Matt it was clearly a result of a positive sense of being.

With the cancer setting him back a mere 2 weeks in hospital, a time he describes as a lonely moment when all he could think of was his friends, fellow team-mates and returning to cricket, Matt returned to coaching with Petersfield CC and Dorset in a bumper season for the youngsters as they went on to win all bar a single match against Somerset, including a memorial 9 wicket victory over Hampshire.

From his achievements with Dorset junior program Matt found himself invited to be involved in the National ESCA cricket finals being held at Derbyshire’s County Ground, being involved in both the ASDA QWIK finals and also the hard ball finals, whilst he was up there he had the opportunity to meet the English cricket team’s king of the lads Graeme Swann on the final day. Matt's 2010 was one of ups and downs and was to finish off with a surprised nomination and short list for Hampshire & IOW's Outstanding Personal Achievement to Sport, which he unfortunately did not go on to win.

2011 could well be Matt's last year with Dorset, as he is hoping to attend university in the Autumn, but despite his drive to attend Nottingham University to study physiotherapy, coaching will not be far from his mind, and he hopes to continue his involvement within a County set-up during or after his return. The way Matt speaks of coaching, is not of a career choice or opportunity to be famous, but is for the joy of helping others and the pleasure you can receive in return from seeing them do well.

It obvious that Matt's illness has changed his outlook on not just coaching, but life itself and it reflects in the way he talks of his philosophy of fun while learning and providing the players with a stress free platform from which to step towards success. An answer you don’t expect from a 19 year old.

**This article is part of an ongoing series for the Hampshire Cricket Board on people involved in grassroots cricket. If you know of any extraordinary people involved in the Hampshire Leagues, please get in contact with the Cricket Observer. All past and present articles can be found in the HCB Archive**

SECL Rule Change

I recently had the opportunity to attend what some in cricket clubs loathe, AGM’s. these meetings of the mind between club and league can produce the most nodding heads in the room as we all struggle after a long day at the office to again listen to the monotone sounds of a large committee of volunteers discuss the basics of a league that is variably unchanged for 100’s years.

Personal I enjoy the meeting of captains and teams prior to the beginning of battle, this time off the field allowing the competitive cricketer the opportunity to lay down ones weapons at the door and talk in peace of the past season, hopes for the coming one and what we have done in the months of ice and snow.

The Southampton Evening Cricket League (SECL) is a traditional evening competition for which I have been told fables of players such as Robin Smith & Malcom Marshall fame strutting around on the municipal grounds of Southampton, with images of crowds 6 deep on the boundary edge. These days the 4 soon to be 5 division league is much more in the aide of those who cannot find time to escape life’s’ duties on a weekend, or for those clubs looking for an extra game (that’s where we fall) With expansion this season to 5 Divisions it shows a distinct rise in those taking up the game, even if it is in its shortest format of 16 over’s. The more men wearing white the better I think the world would be.

With the 80th year of the AGM a change was to come in the form of a new bowling rule, currently a team can bowl 1 bowler a maximum of 4 overs per a match, with most teams relying on the use of 4 bowlers. The new rule proposed was to restrict teams to 2 bowlers of 4 overs and the rest to make up the 8 remaining overs.
Why?
The committee and the argument from those in favour were to bring more people into the game, and to restrict sides with 4 “star” bowlers knocking over the opposition quickly.
Why?
For 80 years the SECL as far as can tell has always been a competitive league, based on results. In the past no club has been forced to bowl only 4 bowlers and are well within their own rights or team ethos to give everyone ago, but they haven’t for fear of losing. An argument was spoken of a side who are named after one of the major sponsors of the league and their situation of an aging team that wishes to stay competitive in the future by blooding youngsters (15-17yr olds) this season, and they fear the threat of 4 seam demons making light work of the juniors.

Is this not your choice? Yes I can see that without these youngsters you may not field a side, and heaven forbid you may even lose a few games, and at worse it could be a season of relegation battles rather the trophy and trebles, but in a league based on wins and losses why should I care if you field a young team or an old team, for its not the age of the side but how we play the game that counts.

Teams must be responsible for the way they choose to have club involvement, some sides are your all winning no losing, others like a mixture of both winning & fun and then others are there just for the post match beer. Our side falls in the middle ground of fun first with the by-product of happy team, a winning team. And our skipper has managed the difficult task of keeping people involved and winning as best he could last year, and might I add with success having won the Division crown.

For those who bowl tend not to bat, and those that bat will not be bowled is the general rule of thumb within the side. This generally allows our team of all-rounder’s to be given a chance to perform in one part of the game. Now this worked and allowed us to win games as well enjoy our Thursday afternoons in the fading sunlight, had we not won games I doubt anything would have changed for our 4 bowlers would still been given the ball more than they were given the bat.

By encouraging sides to find a 5th bowler this could prove detrimental to the league, many of the sides we played found it hard to have 4 solid bowling options let along a 5th and in some cases a 6th. Even in the top Divisions you don’t want to be showcasing men unable to hit the strip. The by-product of this will result in pie-chuckers getting more overs therefore increasing the runs and lowering your chances of wickets, so in the end you will have more batsmen walking the boundary and topping up the tan than you will actually batting, so in the end 1 extra person gets to bowl, where as 8 more men get to watch the openers bat.

The SECL would have been better off introducing a retiring batsman rule of say 50 runs, thus allowing a team to rely on batting as a unit rather than putting all its eggs into one basket of 2 openers. When looking at some of the averages and discussing this with other sides it was clear that teams having a strong opener/s were keeping the rest of the side watching birds. By having this rule you appease to every cricketers thoughts process, not everyone can bowl, but every loves to bat. And is this that brings the pleasure to the amateur player, you never get caught by the good wife practising your googly in the mirror its always that blazing cover drive that see’s us using cooking spoons as MRF’s.

Out with the Old, in with the Bold.

It was as if all the lead up matches had been taken as they were warm-ups for the real show. As Ponting strode out to the wicket with a gritted face of determination knowing that this is career defining moment either way it ends up. Having failed against the lesser sides and claiming his big score was only around the corner, he was now to turn the corner.

A knock of courage when the entire stadium is against you for most of the tournament the media as well, stories of broken TV’s, match fixing all a ploy by the local tabloids to throw off the World Cup holders. It was a tough ask for any team to win 4 World Cups in a row, a feat not even achieved at a football level. Since Steve Waugh's men began the dynasty in 1999, the football title has changed hands four times: from France to Brazil, then Italy and now Spain. Winning one world tournament is exceedingly difficult, let alone three in succession.

This was not an Australian side of aging superstars like the one that claimed the Ashes white wash on home soil,, the side was one with a foot firmly planted on both sides of the fence, with veterans in Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin & Brett Lee at least 3 of these have seen the last of World crickets 6 week festival and one will be hard pressed to hold his spot down for the next. Australia took the risk of playing an all pace attack in a land of dusty roads, the results were either going to be bowling sides out for little or giving them a lot. Unlike the summers Ashes tour no blame I feel can be laid on the selectors as for once they took the best available, some will talk of Doherty instead of Krezja but what one did the other would have done no better.

It was the single loss to Pakistan that in truth sent them home a little earlier, having lost that match it set them up to play India much earlier than they would have liked. Winning would have enabled a match-up of less importance against a sloppy West Indian team. Hindsight can be life’s burden when dealing with the past, but if the stars align this Indian side should go on to win the trophy. India’s batting towards the tail is like fighting a centipede of runs, the further you get down the order the more runs are available. Even the dismissal of Sachin and the denial of his 100th century in front of partisan crowd of color and sound, was not enough to put out the flames of runs burning in the scorched outfield.

That is little consolation to this 2011 Australian squad, roughly half of whom didn't experience any of those earlier successes. Times change, and to be beaten by an India side that was better than Australia is no disgrace. Ponting's team entered the tournament with the No.1 ODI ranking - for now, they still hold that position - but were far from being the favorites’.

There were factors beyond their control that contributed to their lack of success. Their two frontline spinners, Nathan Hauritz and Xavier Doherty, were unavailable due to injuries, as were fast bowlers like Clint McKay and Ryan Harris, who could have added variety. Two weeks in the middle of the tournament without a match, when their clash with Sri Lanka was washed out, didn't help either.

But ultimately, Australia just weren't good enough. Four teams will reach the semi-finals, and will deserve to be there. Australia did not play well enough to join them. That is not to say that the powers that be should blindly accept that nothing can be done. Moving on and making hard decisions will allow regrowth and rejuvenation.

The selectors will be loath to make any major changes, including to the leadership, before the review of Australia's on-field performance is completed around August. After the Ashes debacle, they have their own jobs to worry about without rocking the boat further. Why pre-empt the review, they will ask. But it would be wise to use the Bangladesh trip to look at some new faces, men who might become key players for Australia over the next few years.

The last of the Winter Reads.

The sun is starting to win the battle against the clouds into my front room which can only mean that the days shall given extra time and the season is only a few weeks away. So with a flurry of reading I have come across my final two winter reads for the off-season.


The summer rarely brings an end to the turning of pages, but these books tend to be of the statistical variety rather than of the stories of great series and moments in history.

My first review is of the IMRAN KHAN by Christopher Sandford, I must admit that this book was plucked from a discount counter only catching my eye on by the staring Imran on the cover and my memory casting itself back to 1992, the year I actually started to take an interest in the sport. As a 10 year old growing up in an English household in the sprawling Northern suburbs of Melbourne, England were favourites to win the World Cup, the first of its kind played in the colourful pyjamas’ that we are now all common with as standard attire.

Following the fortunes of the English side around the lounge room television with my extended Dorset bred family I watched the Pakistani’s take victory from England. Imran Khan to me stood out as beacon of power, grace and brilliance as he led them to an unlikely victory at the MCG. I only knew the much needed stories of his love life and those tails of 1992.

As I opened the pages of this biography, I found this to be more a collection of notes taken from other biographies. Christopher Sandford seems to have read everyone else’s views and placed his own amongst them. Imran is intriguing character painted as crickets playboy of the 70’s his love life is written length of his trips to London and his love of all the beautiful women and if I was a lover of the tabloid types I would have found the lengthen moments of this time interesting, but in truth it just dragged out.

Much of this biography talks of the man outside of the ropes and his early political ambitions within his manoeuvring to gain control and power among the Pakistan Cricket Board. As a direct reference point to Imran not much is left out by Sandford, including the collection of series statists from almost unknown cigarette sponsored one-day series played in Pakistan/India. Imran’s early days are well research as his rise though the Warwickshire ranks and Oxford elite. The only fault I found with this book is its dragging need to go in-depth of series nor I or many others knew were happening and on the sub-continent, and yet the thin coverage of his greatest moment in the World Cup victory and the tournament itself.

Having read much about Imran in past books, some of these featured in the Winter Read reviews. I felt that Sandford left the great image of Imran holding the World Cup on the MCG as a passing moment rather that a timeless achievement.

This book is the definitive collection on all things Imran Khan including his move into Pakistan politics and building of his Cancer Hospital, and for those who wish to get an outsiders view on a private man I would suggest this read. If you are breezing reader who enjoys a story as much on the romance of the sport as its characters I advise you look to else ware.

My final review of those books we use to keep the cricket fires burning can best be described as a nightstand leveller, a book that is a good little page turner for those times before we slip into our dream worlds of taking wickets for our prospective countries on sun soaked days. The World According to Bumble by David Lloyd, is a collection of short stories in no particular order and are the musings of the better known Sky Sports commentator.

David is known as the joker in the pack among the team Sky’s television troupe, and his thoughts on all things cricket, pubs, county championship and what makes a good cricketer are as detailed as a brown painted wall.

I’m sure David Lloyd has a vast amount of cricketing knowledge from his days as an English player and coach, and in many ways he has seen the game from all its angles even behind the stumps and sat at a press conference, yet this book seems to jump from jokes of players in dressing rooms (Freddie Flintoff and cup of ice story worth a read) to the improvement of the Lancashire Leagues don’t seem to sit as well side by side in this large script short chaptered book.

Despite the lack of meat in the read this is the perfect book for the new found lover of cricket, and would make for a good addition to the cricketing bag for the season to be read in short bursts while either waiting to bat or in those times of an early exit from the field. I would look forward in anticipation of a serious book from David Lloyd as what he does cover briefly could do with further detail in a book all to itself.

Make this your final read before the season and prepare your mind for the laughs to come from the misfortune of teammates or giggles of the pranks to come of a season in the sun.