The Twelfth Man 2011

30 from his unique writing style which appeared in the Times from 1967-1985 and had a huge following. Antony continued with his own memories and anecdotes which were of a very high entertainment value. Question and Answers: • Q: Your father’s unique and brilliant comments were made by him to sound so easy; was it so or did he just make it appear so. A: Definitely the latter. A lot of work went into it and it took a lot out of him because he was so dedicated to the sport. • Q: What is your view on the widespread use of ex. players as commentators. A: With one or two exceptions you tend to loose a broad range of journalistic knowledge. I would suggest that they are paired with a real professional i.e. Arlott /Bailey; Johnson/Laker etc. these partnerships can work really well. • Q: What was John Arlott’s influence on your father. A: Apart from the drinking it was very very positive. They were very close friends and had a lot in common. Both were very well read, and in the case of Arlott, he had been a very good cricketer. Overall his experience as player and commentator placed him in a unique position, especially when interviewing players. • Q: Apparent abandonment of the game by the BBC and ITV. A: A sorry situation for our national Summer sport. The BBC should be taken to task for such neglect and also the other parties who have influence over these things. The question and answer session continued to provide a fascinating and enlightening evening. February – Derek Leslie Underwood Jim Greensmith introduced our legendary guest and included some personal memories: Known as ‘Deadly’, there were those at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on 30 th June 1966 who said they had never heard of the fair haired 22 year old quickish left-arm spinner from Kent who was making his Test debut against Gary Sobers’ West Indies. Here in Yorkshire, we had. It was on 9 th May 1964 that Yorkshire, under Brian Close, met Kent in the County Championship at Bradford Park Avenue. Kent made 249 with their No.9 Derek Underwood being bowled by Close for a duck! Day two was washed out and this was still the era of the three-day Championship. Underwood took two of the three Yorkshire wickets to fall before Close declared after passing the follow-on target... and then Kent picked up another 67 before declaring, to set Yorkshire 215 to make a win. It was a thrilling finish, in which Kent won by 14 runs – with 7-97 for the unknown Underwood. I watched Derek toil economically but wicketless in that 1966 Trent Bridge Test, but I can still see vividly his diving catch at cover to remove Sobers on 94 in the West Indies second innings... and I still have the recording of John Arlott growling “No, no, no....” as Charlie Griffith bounced him as West Indies went in for the kill on the last afternoon. I am sorry Stewart Anderson is missing tonight: my greatest Underwood memory is of 27 th July 1972. Day one of the Headingley Ashes Test and Australia win the toss and bat. Derek is on before lunch and from the South Stand I can see that it is leaving the right-hander. During the interval I met Stewart and I told him: “Derek is bending it!” Stewart scoffed: “Not before lunch on the first day!” Australia crashed in the afternoon. There were two fairy-tail catches by skipper Illingworth and Derek followed his 3-37 in the first innings with 6-45 in the second as England romped home in three days and secured the Ashes. It all introduced us to a new horrible F-word ... fuserium... which they say cannot happen now because of the antidotes in Andy Fogarty’s shed. Derek played in 86 Tests for England and 26 One- day Internationals, taking a total of 297 Test wickets at 25.83. He played in a total of 676 first-class matches, bagging a total of 2,465 wickets. Truly ‘Deadly’. Jim then added that Derek had visited WCLS twice before; once to receive the Young Cricketer of the Year (many years ago) and secondly to receive Cricketer of the Year (also many years ago). Derek still holds one Test record: having bowled more overs for England than any other player, and his other record was having more ducks for England than any other player (now surpassed by Mike Atherton). Derek commenced with a recollection of his early memories, and recalled that his first county opportunity came due to an unfortunate car accident causing him to replace an injured David Halfyard in the Kent side. Derek’s first county match was against Yorkshire at Hull Anthony Gibson receives his Wombwell glass from Margaret Brayshaw after his talk on 10 February Derek Underwood with Society vice-chairman Ron Firth (17 February)