Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2017

twitter: @scloverssociety 30 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society Yorkshire’s relative lack of success under his captaincy (one shared title with Middlesex in 1949) was also linked to the emergence of a strong Surrey team under Stuart Surridge, while in the Test arena Bradman’s Australian team was a tough nut to crack. There was, however, no doubting Norman’s class as an elegant middle-order batsman and a handy medium-pace bowler – Martin reminded us that he dismissed Bradman in three successive Test match innings during the 1946-47 tour to Australia. Norman’s career spanned twenty years (1935- 1955), six of which were lost to war service, where he fought alongside Hedley Verity in the Green Howards during the Italian campaign. His amateur status restricted his appearances for England (20 Tests, 14 as captain), as he was often unable to tour overseas for business reasons. After retiring as a player, Norman was variously a Test selector, a summarizer on Test Match Special and President of Yorkshire CCC, famously resigning over the Boycott affair in 1984. Born in Royston, near Barnsley, he spent the majority of his retirement years in Sheffield. We were delighted that Norman’s four children – Susan, Richard, and twins Ed and Bob – were able to join us and add to the evening’s entertainment by sharing some personal reminiscences of their distinguished father. Annual Dinner 7th April 2016 Once again our annual dinner proved to be an outstanding success. We paid tribute to Yorkshire CCC after claiming the County Championship for a second successive year and our guests were Andrew Gale, Captain of Yorkshire, Martyn Moxon, Director of Cricket, John Hampshire, President of Yorkshire CCC together with Richard Barber who proposed ‘The County Champions 2014 & 2015’. In his response, Andrew Gale thanked all connected with the success - players, staff and supporters. The Indoor Season... As chairman it was with pleasure, I presented ‘The Goodwin Salver’ to Martyn as our ‘Cricket Ambassador of the Year 2015’, in recognition of his services to Yorkshire as a player and administrator; throughout the evening the ‘County Championship’ Cup was on display. Comedy was provided by Yorkshire comedian, Lea Roberts who kept us entertained with his witty remarks. Once again thanks to ‘The Omega Restaurant’ who lived up to its first class reputation and lastly but not least thanks to our secretary David Drabble who once again showed his expertise organising the dinner. Peter Mason Thursday 14th April 2016 Our final speaker of the season was Tanya Arnold, the popular BBC Leeds and national sports presenter. This was a wide-ranging meeting, covering not only cricket but also Tanya’s love of other sports such as athletics and rugby league, and presented from her professional viewpoint as a TV sports journalist. Tanya told us that she found rugby players much easier to deal with than footballers in interviews. She expressed her justifiable professional pride in being part of the BBC team that pulled off a scoop by getting the first TV shot of Usain Bolt in London just before the 2012 Olympics; interviewing GB shooting gold medallist Peter Wilson; and interviewing cyclist Lizzie Armitstead. She also filled in some of the background to BBC Look North’s three-legged charity walk earlier in the year by Harry Gration and Paul Hudson, which raised £270,000 for charity. A contrasting evening to our usual ones, where an impressive presenter came at sport from wider and different angles, an approach that was warmly received by the large audience. ...continued from page 25