The Twelfth Man 2013

28 of cricket gold. Indeed, for part of his description of Richardson, you could easily have thought he was talking about an early Freddie Trueman. Keith’s description of these stalwarts left you in little doubt that his latest book would be well worth reading. The Question and Answer session covered all the usual subjects including other notable Surrey players, also the recent tragedy of the untimely death of Tom Maynard, and the impact it had on the team. As usual the session went into overtime to conclude a very special evening. 25 October – Mike Smedley Mike Smedley was an opening batsman who partnered Geoff Boycott in the Yorkshire Second Eleven, but who forged his first-class career with Nottinghamshire: from 1964 until 1979 he captained the county and ultimately became Nottinghamshire President. Mike was born at Maltby, near Rotherham, home of Fred Trueman, where he developed his ability as a right-handed batsman in his schoolyard. He was selected for the Yorkshire Second Eleven in 1960, versus Cumberland, at Wakefield, where he scored 90 not out on the first day, travelling back on the school train next day to complete his 100 before being run out. Mike played with Boycott for Yorkshire Seconds at Barnsley in 1961, and the following year, he and Boycott opened the innings for the first part of the season. Yorkshire had some good batsmen in those days, so in 1963 Mike turned to Nottinghamshire. He will not forget the start of the 1966 season, when he played for MCC against Yorkshire and caught Boycott at short leg off Basil D’Oliveira. He compiled 1,000 runs in a season nine times and a total of 16,482 runs in 360 first- class matches with 28 centuries. He also scored 3,674 runs in 206 one-day matches. A fine fielder whether at cover or slip, Mike took 261 first-class catches and 55 in one-day cricket. Mike informed the audience that his tally of runs in first-class cricket equalled the days he had been married, obviously a man with an eye for statistics. He had many memories of his schooldays, early cricket days, and players of his era: Boycott, Hampshire, Balderstone, Birkinshaw, Bore, and many others. He had a wealth of stories about his Nottinghamshire days and playing with the ‘greats’ of his era: Sobers, Rice, Hadlee, Rice etc. With stories and anecdotes from his experiences as Captain and President of his adopted county and a particularly interesting Q and A session, we were given a unique insight into the world of the journeyman county cricketer. 15 November – John Abrahams John was introduced by our stand-in- Chairman, Ron Firth, as having a distinguished career with Lancashire from 1972 to 1988. John then gave us a resume of his highlights and lowlights. Lowlights: I only bowled when all else failed! Press report, which stated: “Will Lancashire be at full strength or will Abrahams be playing!” Highlights: Phone call from Jack Bond offering John the captaincy with an interesting turn of phrase “we wanted a white captain really, but after Clive Lloyd we thought we’d do it gradually”. Winning the one-day Cup v Warwickshire in July 1984 and being given the Man of the Match as an added bonus even though I didn’t get any runs or wickets – some say it was for winning the toss!! After a 15-year career with Lancashire, being lucky enough to be given a coaching role with the National Cricket Association covering the Northern Counties at U15s and U19s. Mike Smedley with committee member, Colin Barker, on 25 October 2012