The Twelfth Man 2011

32 those occasions that is very difficult to give a sense of the presentation, you really need to be present to appreciate it. Many of the signs were based on real cricketers (dead and alive) with the most famous of them all, W.G.Grace, having pride of place. Others who feature well are Lord Hawke, Bradman, Hutton and Boycott. The question and answer session took place during the presentation and specifically related to the pictures being shown. Out of the many signs featured, there were some particularly notable ones including: The Cricketers Arms at Baildon, which was painted by Albert Schevalier- Taylor and sold for £650,000 at Sotherbys; The Cricketers Arms at Horbury featured Don Bradman using his Sykes bat which was made in Horbury and which he used throughout his career. Sykes were eventually bought out by Slazengers; The Cricketers Inn at Totley, Sheffield was originally opened to quench the thirst of navies and is still open to this day. There are only ten cricketers which actually have pubs named after them, but obviously many pubs with sporting themes in their names. This fascinating subject took us well into overtime to conclude a memorable evening. March – Arnie Sidebottom Completing the Society’s season was a former old boy of the Society’s coaching classes, all rounder Arnie Sidebottom. Arnie was the first graduate of the Society’s coaching classes to play first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England and he also played football with Manchester United. “When I went to the coaching classes I was an opening batsman. I played for England Schools as an opening batsman; I even opened the batting for Yorkshire when Geoff Boycott, Martyn Moxon or Ashley Metcalfe were not playing. But Yorkshire had a lot of batsmen so I developed my bowling.” He expressed his surprise at his son Ryan’s return to Yorkshire. “I am excited but also surprised that he’s gone back to Yorkshire after what happened to him before. He had seven or eight offers, all much higher than Yorkshire’s, but he told me he’s got something to prove. He’s worked hard all winter and he will give 120% in every game he plays.” He added: “I believe that Yorkshire are on the right track by trying to get back to Yorkshire-born players and they have a lot of exciting players.” Arnie believes that in today’s game fitness is important. “The game has totally changed since I played. Fitness is as important as batting or bowling. I’ve seen a lot of talented young players who fall away because they don’t work at their game.” Arnie was asked if there would be others who play professional football and cricket. “It will never happen again, I was the last. My dad didn’t want me to work down the pit so he spent all his working hours to buy me football and cricket boots. He would spend hours bowling at me or playing football with me. Then I played football for a youth club in Barnsley. Manchester United invited me for trial. I played a game for the B, then the A teams, after that I played for the reserves against Wolves in front of 27,000 and signed for them in 1972 and got £22 a week. I left Manchester United and joined Huddersfield Town, but the breaks between cricket and football got shorter. Huddersfield told me I had to decide between football and cricket. Geoff Boycott told me he could get a five-year deal for me so I concentrated on cricket.” “I didn’t enjoy playing for England. I was probably past my best when they selected me after I had been banned for three years for going to South Africa. The Test match against Australia were the worst five days of my life. Authors of ‘Inns & Outs’ Anthony Collis and Geoff Wellsteed with Society secretary Mick Pope after their talk on 17 March.