Dorset Cricket Society

Dorset Cricket Society

Resumé of events 2006-7

Year

Month

Day

Speaker

Topic

2006
Sept
28th

David Rayvern Allen

In an excellent start to the new season David Rayvern Allen, author, historian and radio producer entertained us with a mixture of gaffs from broadcasters, plus 'bon-mots' about John Arlott, Jim Swanton and Brian Johnston. David also told us of the latest research about the 2nd Lord's cricket ground, where England captain Andrew Strauss recently unveiled a plaque.

Oct
5th

Sean Wallbridge

Sean Wallbridge is the manager of the Dorset Minor Counties side who reached the final of the one-day knockout at Lords this season. His account of the day, accompanied by a series of excellent photos from member Geoff Miller, provided a fascinating insight to what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at Lords.

12th

Don Seaby

Don Seaby lead us through the history of cricket stamps, from the earliest version produced by the Cape Verde Islands in 1962, through to the many modern versions that are issued by many of the cricket playing nations. Here in the UK we produce far fewer than some of the test nations, though there are also first day covers and card versions.

19th

Don Crossley

Don Crossley has travelled far and wide in his quest to collect autographs and cricket memorabilia. He is the founder of the Cricket Memorabilia Society, which now has over 700 members worldwide and he still searches out old books and photos while travelling the country on business. A truely 'memorable' afternoon!

26th

Alan Rowe

Alan spent 13 years as cricket development officer for Hampshire from 1993 to 2005. With a background of Yorkshire League cricket, Alan's obvious enthusiam for the game shone through his talk, particularly in his development of young cricketers through Kwik cricket and primary school teachers.

Nov
2nd

Matthew Keech

Matthew very kindly stepped in at short notice to describe his career with Middlesex, Hampshire and, briefly, Dorset during the 1990's. It was fascinating to hear the inside story of playing with internationals such as Mike Gatting, Phil Tufnell and 'The Judge', Robin Smith. Matthew also represented England at Under 19 level against New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan.

9th

Andrew Renshaw

Andrew has been the editor of the Hampshire Handbook for 12 editions and previously produced the newsletter for Hampshire members. Unlike the Dorset book, this book concentrates solely on the Hampshire County Club and their successes or otherwise in the previous season. Andrew even produced a retrospective edition of the 1954 handbook, which had never existed due to post-war shortages.

16th

Club members

Members brought a wide range of items recalling past memories and performances. 1913 Gents v Players autographs and scrapbook, The Bat and Ball Menu, A Cricketer's Tape Measure, Alan Rayment's 100* commemorative ball from Lord's and cuff links presented by Desmond Eager. The story of the week was Pete Frampton's imaginary tale and charred relic of the old, burnt-out pavilion at Meyrick Park

23rd

Paul Pritchard

Paul is a former captain of Essex CCC and entertained us with yarns from 30 years in cricket. From Essex U19's through a learning curve batting with Gooch etc and facing Marshall, Garner & Co, to the County captaincy. Tales of Chelmsford, Dean Park and on to Minor County cricket with Berkshire; coaching at Canford School and representing Gray Nichols. His views on cricket today were enlightening and perceptive.

30th

Stuart Robertson

Stuart is now marketing manager for Hampshire CCC, after spells with Warwickshire and the ECB. Stuart was credited in Wisden as being the person responsible for the development of 20-20 cricket. On this occasion he gave a detailed presentation of the recently announced developments at the Rose Bowl, intended to turn it into a world-class Test arena by 2010.

Dec
7th

Derek Hopkins

Derek treated us to the story of Suttoners Cricket Club, which he started as a teenager, thanks to the generosity of a church in Sutton Road, who donated 2nd-hand kit. From humble beginnings the club rose through the Junior League in Bournemouth to last season playing in the Dorset Premier League. Along the way Derek has worked tirelessly to administer the Bournemouth League and establish the Suttoners ground at Kinson Manor. He was richly deserving of his cricket OSCA, the award for cricket's volunteers.

14th

Derek Hopkins

A group of over 20 members assembled early for the pre-Christmas buffet, followed by one of Derek's quizzes. As brains were racked to remember Hampshire players of the 1950's and recall details from the video tour of Lords, an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. Many thanks to Derek for his quiz and to Richard for his hard work in organising our weekly meetings. We return on January 11th.

2007
Jan
11th

Richard Mockridge

The miracles of modern technology enabled members to enjoy memories of Colin Ingleby-MacKenzie and the 1st Championship for Hamsphire in 1961. A slideshow depicting images of that season along with an interview with Colin, then the Championship Dinner and finally Jimmy Gray. Hampshire player Alan Rayment rounded-off the afternoon, with his reflections on Hampshire's first successful captain.

18th

Warwick Rust

Warwick, who is a long-time player and secretary of the Bournemouth Evening League, recounted many stories of the teams and personalities who played between 1971 and 2006. Long before Twenty20 was invented, batsmen scored centuries in an innings of only 96 balls and one bowler took 7 wickets for 6 runs in under two overs! We even had one of the umpires present to confirm it!

25th

David Allen

David Allen entertained us with an amusing look back to the famous players of the early 20th Century and brought along examples from the Hampshire CC Heritage Collection, including the last ball used at Northlands Road, signed by Shane Warne. He pointed out that never have so many Hampshire players featured in an Ashes series as in 2006, a shame so many were Australians! We finished with a world-premiere video of Arthur Holt's home movies, featuring many of the Championship-winning players.

Feb
1st

Richard Mockridge & members

The late unavailability of today's guest speaker led to a retrospective afternoon, superbly organised by Richard. He showed images from a range of previous speakers spanning the 5 years of the DCS and inviting comments from the members, who included some of the past speakers.

8th

Phil Drake

The Dorset CA chairman is a talented cartoonist whose illustrations have appeared in the Dorset Handbook for many years. Phil displayed several cricketing examples, as well as some from his former life in the police and as a rights-of-way officer. It was a poignant moment to see a cartoon including Harry Woodman and Jim Welch on the screen, both sadly no longer with us.

15th

Jimmy Adams

Jimmy described his cricket career to date, from playing international cricket as an Under 15 to the early days of his Hampshire career and the need to score 'ugly runs'. In the past season, he proved his worth to the side with unbeaten scores of 168 and then 262. He enthused over playing with arguably the world's greatest player, Shane Warne, and his childhood hero Robin Smith. It was fascinating to contrast the modern game with that of former Hampshire batsman Alan Rayment, present in our largest ever audience.

22nd

Andrew Ferguson & Tony Wharton

Andrew's family farm at Dummer has evolved from farming dairy cattle to a crop of young cricketers. When the herd was sold Major Ferguson had the vision to convert the milking sheds into an indoor cricket school, where net sessions and a match can take place at the same time. There is also a bat-making concern on site. Andrew was accompanied by Tony Wharton who has developed the financial side of the business. It was disheartening to hear that there are no funds available from the ECB to support cricket schools.

March
1st

Tony Weld

Tony progressed from umpiring some Hampshire 2nd XI matches to scoring for the side. As a result he was invited to score in a World Cup match at Southampton in 1993. This in turn led to an international career, scoring for the West Indies, Pakistan and Australia on their various tours of England during the 1990's. He is now about to start his 2nd season as the Hampshire 1st XI scorer. An interesting afternoon, as we reflected on how a career can develop unexpectedly.

8th

Club Members

A different format saw members debating a variety of topics, including a lively debate on the extension of 'Hawkeye' technology into umpiring decisions for LBW. Our photo shows ex-Hampshire batsman Alan Rayment introducing a topic which enquired whether the modern players should listen to past players who are over 60. Other topics included the decline of local teams and parks pitches and a plea for the return of festival grounds like Dean Park in the County structure.

15th

John Grimsley

John is an English representative of the Bradman Museum in Bowral, Australia. His obvious enthusiasm shone through his talk as he described Bradman's career, touching on the social history of Australia as he grew up in the 1920's and 30's. Bowral was The Don's hometown in his formative years and his first club side. It is now the home of the museum as well as the Bowral Oval, a frequent venue for touring international sides. John was also kind enough to bring along examples of memorabilia including Harold Larwood's contracts with Nottinghamshire.

22nd

Roger Bosher

Roger is Secretary and Manager of the Dorset Over-50s side, having been a player for several seasons. He gave us a detailed and at times hilarious insight, from the team's inception in 1985, one match only - in a knockout competiton, to the present day when there will be two XI's and a number of friendly matches. Roger was accompanied by Keith Balmer, captain from 2000-2005, who brought us right up to the present era of captain Guy Lawton.

29th

Mark Coeshaw

Mark, of Notts Sports, gave us an in-depth insight into the world of artificial pitches, explaining the significance of all three parts to an artificial wicket. He stressed the importance of getting a consistant base by using similar-sized pieces of aggregate and the necessity to roll the wicket to retain an even bounce. The next layer determines the amount of bounce and whether the wicket retains any moisture. Of the three layers, the 'grass' is probably the least important. An interesting afternoon, especially those still with links to clubs.

April
5th

Derek Hopkins

Our season closed with the 1st AGM of the DCS followed by one of the season's highlights; a Derek Hopkins quiz. Grey matter was quizzed and hearing aids turned up, as we tried to put the flags of the Caribbean islands into order, watched England's successes in South Africa and puzzled over pictures of Duncan Fletcher (Zimbabwe) facing Jeff Thompson, with Rod Marsh keeping. A cream tea closed proceedings until Thursday September 28th.

To see memories of the previous year's programme click here
Click here to return to home page

	© Copyright 2007 The Dorset Cricket Society. All rights reserved. Last revised:24th September 2007 <- Click on DCS to return to Home Page Send comments to Webmaster

Year	Month	Day	Speaker	Topic
2006	Sept	28th	David Rayvern Allen	In an excellent start to the new season David Rayvern Allen, author, historian and radio producer entertained us with a mixture of gaffs from broadcasters, plus 'bon-mots' about John Arlott, Jim Swanton and Brian Johnston. David also told us of the latest research about the 2nd Lord's cricket ground, where England captain Andrew Strauss recently unveiled a plaque.
	Oct	5th	Sean Wallbridge	Sean Wallbridge is the manager of the Dorset Minor Counties side who reached the final of the one-day knockout at Lords this season. His account of the day, accompanied by a series of excellent photos from member Geoff Miller, provided a fascinating insight to what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at Lords.
		12th	Don Seaby	Don Seaby lead us through the history of cricket stamps, from the earliest version produced by the Cape Verde Islands in 1962, through to the many modern versions that are issued by many of the cricket playing nations. Here in the UK we produce far fewer than some of the test nations, though there are also first day covers and card versions.
		19th	Don Crossley	Don Crossley has travelled far and wide in his quest to collect autographs and cricket memorabilia. He is the founder of the Cricket Memorabilia Society, which now has over 700 members worldwide and he still searches out old books and photos while travelling the country on business. A truely 'memorable' afternoon!
		26th	Alan Rowe	Alan spent 13 years as cricket development officer for Hampshire from 1993 to 2005. With a background of Yorkshire League cricket, Alan's obvious enthusiam for the game shone through his talk, particularly in his development of young cricketers through Kwik cricket and primary school teachers.
	Nov	2nd	Matthew Keech	Matthew very kindly stepped in at short notice to describe his career with Middlesex, Hampshire and, briefly, Dorset during the 1990's. It was fascinating to hear the inside story of playing with internationals such as Mike Gatting, Phil Tufnell and 'The Judge', Robin Smith. Matthew also represented England at Under 19 level against New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan.
		9th	Andrew Renshaw	Andrew has been the editor of the Hampshire Handbook for 12 editions and previously produced the newsletter for Hampshire members. Unlike the Dorset book, this book concentrates solely on the Hampshire County Club and their successes or otherwise in the previous season. Andrew even produced a retrospective edition of the 1954 handbook, which had never existed due to post-war shortages.
		16th	Club members	Members brought a wide range of items recalling past memories and performances. 1913 Gents v Players autographs and scrapbook, The Bat and Ball Menu, A Cricketer's Tape Measure, Alan Rayment's 100* commemorative ball from Lord's and cuff links presented by Desmond Eager. The story of the week was Pete Frampton's imaginary tale and charred relic of the old, burnt-out pavilion at Meyrick Park
		23rd	Paul Pritchard	Paul is a former captain of Essex CCC and entertained us with yarns from 30 years in cricket. From Essex U19's through a learning curve batting with Gooch etc and facing Marshall, Garner & Co, to the County captaincy. Tales of Chelmsford, Dean Park and on to Minor County cricket with Berkshire; coaching at Canford School and representing Gray Nichols. His views on cricket today were enlightening and perceptive.
		30th	Stuart Robertson	Stuart is now marketing manager for Hampshire CCC, after spells with Warwickshire and the ECB. Stuart was credited in Wisden as being the person responsible for the development of 20-20 cricket. On this occasion he gave a detailed presentation of the recently announced developments at the Rose Bowl, intended to turn it into a world-class Test arena by 2010.
	Dec	7th	Derek Hopkins	Derek treated us to the story of Suttoners Cricket Club, which he started as a teenager, thanks to the generosity of a church in Sutton Road, who donated 2nd-hand kit. From humble beginnings the club rose through the Junior League in Bournemouth to last season playing in the Dorset Premier League. Along the way Derek has worked tirelessly to administer the Bournemouth League and establish the Suttoners ground at Kinson Manor. He was richly deserving of his cricket OSCA, the award for cricket's volunteers.
		14th	Derek Hopkins	A group of over 20 members assembled early for the pre-Christmas buffet, followed by one of Derek's quizzes. As brains were racked to remember Hampshire players of the 1950's and recall details from the video tour of Lords, an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. Many thanks to Derek for his quiz and to Richard for his hard work in organising our weekly meetings. We return on January 11th.
2007	Jan	11th	Richard Mockridge	The miracles of modern technology enabled members to enjoy memories of Colin Ingleby-MacKenzie and the 1st Championship for Hamsphire in 1961. A slideshow depicting images of that season along with an interview with Colin, then the Championship Dinner and finally Jimmy Gray. Hampshire player Alan Rayment rounded-off the afternoon, with his reflections on Hampshire's first successful captain.
		18th	Warwick Rust	Warwick, who is a long-time player and secretary of the Bournemouth Evening League, recounted many stories of the teams and personalities who played between 1971 and 2006. Long before Twenty20 was invented, batsmen scored centuries in an innings of only 96 balls and one bowler took 7 wickets for 6 runs in under two overs! We even had one of the umpires present to confirm it!
		25th	David Allen	David Allen entertained us with an amusing look back to the famous players of the early 20th Century and brought along examples from the Hampshire CC Heritage Collection, including the last ball used at Northlands Road, signed by Shane Warne. He pointed out that never have so many Hampshire players featured in an Ashes series as in 2006, a shame so many were Australians! We finished with a world-premiere video of Arthur Holt's home movies, featuring many of the Championship-winning players.
	Feb	1st	Richard Mockridge & members	The late unavailability of today's guest speaker led to a retrospective afternoon, superbly organised by Richard. He showed images from a range of previous speakers spanning the 5 years of the DCS and inviting comments from the members, who included some of the past speakers.
		8th	Phil Drake	The Dorset CA chairman is a talented cartoonist whose illustrations have appeared in the Dorset Handbook for many years. Phil displayed several cricketing examples, as well as some from his former life in the police and as a rights-of-way officer. It was a poignant moment to see a cartoon including Harry Woodman and Jim Welch on the screen, both sadly no longer with us.
		15th	Jimmy Adams	Jimmy described his cricket career to date, from playing international cricket as an Under 15 to the early days of his Hampshire career and the need to score 'ugly runs'. In the past season, he proved his worth to the side with unbeaten scores of 168 and then 262. He enthused over playing with arguably the world's greatest player, Shane Warne, and his childhood hero Robin Smith. It was fascinating to contrast the modern game with that of former Hampshire batsman Alan Rayment, present in our largest ever audience.
		22nd	Andrew Ferguson & Tony Wharton	Andrew's family farm at Dummer has evolved from farming dairy cattle to a crop of young cricketers. When the herd was sold Major Ferguson had the vision to convert the milking sheds into an indoor cricket school, where net sessions and a match can take place at the same time. There is also a bat-making concern on site. Andrew was accompanied by Tony Wharton who has developed the financial side of the business. It was disheartening to hear that there are no funds available from the ECB to support cricket schools.
	March	1st	Tony Weld	Tony progressed from umpiring some Hampshire 2nd XI matches to scoring for the side. As a result he was invited to score in a World Cup match at Southampton in 1993. This in turn led to an international career, scoring for the West Indies, Pakistan and Australia on their various tours of England during the 1990's. He is now about to start his 2nd season as the Hampshire 1st XI scorer. An interesting afternoon, as we reflected on how a career can develop unexpectedly.
		8th	Club Members	A different format saw members debating a variety of topics, including a lively debate on the extension of 'Hawkeye' technology into umpiring decisions for LBW. Our photo shows ex-Hampshire batsman Alan Rayment introducing a topic which enquired whether the modern players should listen to past players who are over 60. Other topics included the decline of local teams and parks pitches and a plea for the return of festival grounds like Dean Park in the County structure.
		15th	John Grimsley	John is an English representative of the Bradman Museum in Bowral, Australia. His obvious enthusiasm shone through his talk as he described Bradman's career, touching on the social history of Australia as he grew up in the 1920's and 30's. Bowral was The Don's hometown in his formative years and his first club side. It is now the home of the museum as well as the Bowral Oval, a frequent venue for touring international sides. John was also kind enough to bring along examples of memorabilia including Harold Larwood's contracts with Nottinghamshire.
		22nd	Roger Bosher	Roger is Secretary and Manager of the Dorset Over-50s side, having been a player for several seasons. He gave us a detailed and at times hilarious insight, from the team's inception in 1985, one match only - in a knockout competiton, to the present day when there will be two XI's and a number of friendly matches. Roger was accompanied by Keith Balmer, captain from 2000-2005, who brought us right up to the present era of captain Guy Lawton.
		29th	Mark Coeshaw	Mark, of Notts Sports, gave us an in-depth insight into the world of artificial pitches, explaining the significance of all three parts to an artificial wicket. He stressed the importance of getting a consistant base by using similar-sized pieces of aggregate and the necessity to roll the wicket to retain an even bounce. The next layer determines the amount of bounce and whether the wicket retains any moisture. Of the three layers, the 'grass' is probably the least important. An interesting afternoon, especially those still with links to clubs.
	April	5th	Derek Hopkins	Our season closed with the 1st AGM of the DCS followed by one of the season's highlights; a Derek Hopkins quiz. Grey matter was quizzed and hearing aids turned up, as we tried to put the flags of the Caribbean islands into order, watched England's successes in South Africa and puzzled over pictures of Duncan Fletcher (Zimbabwe) facing Jeff Thompson, with Rod Marsh keeping. A cream tea closed proceedings until Thursday September 28th.