The Twelfth Man 2013

31 In the winter of 1974/75 he faced, as an opener, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. He hit a double century in the final Test at The Oval against the West Indies attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel and Vanburn Holder. He told us that he wished that he had patented the batting helmet he used in World Series Cricket. But the helmet had one fault, the players could not hear each other when they were running and this caused a number of run outs. Dennis said: “Richie Benaud was the first to notice it and an interviewer was sent to ask the next man to be run out, who was Alan Knott. The interviewer asked him, ‘Was he run out because he couldn’t hear anything because of the helmet’ Knotty replied: ‘I can’t hear you because of the helmet’”. Dennis retired as a player in 1987 but served Warwickshire as the Chairman of the Cricket Committee and then as Chief Executive from 1994 until 2005. He was a Test selector and he worked with Hugh Morris and Mike Gatting to ease Kevin Pietersen’s way back into the Test side. Neil Whitaker 8 December – Paul Smith Paul Andrew Smith heralds from Northumberland and played for Warwickshire from 1982-1996. He was a big hitting right- handed batsman and genuinely fast right-arm bowler, who made four first-class hundreds in his 221 game career. He was 19, when in 1986, he scored 1,500 runs as an opening batsman. He totalled 8,173 first-class runs at 26.44, and 283 wickets at 35.72, which included two hat- tricks and a best analysis of 6-91. In the one- day game he was able to turn a match with bat or ball, seeing Warwickshire to three titles in the 50-over game. Paul’s first-class career ended in 1996. He moved to America for a time, becoming involved with the Cricket Without Boundaries project in Los Angeles, which seeks to use the spirit of the game to turn youngsters away from crime. He also works for the Princes’ Trust in the UK and in 2007 published his autobiography entitled Wasted?. Paul followed the introduction with his own presentation; beginning with him playing schoolboy cricket aged 14 when Warwickshire scouted him. Later, aged 16, he spent 12 months with the MCC where he was still attached to Warwickshire. Paul remembered receiving a lot of help from Bob Willis in the bowling department and went on to describe his county career, and also time spent playing and coaching in South Africa and time in South America (read his book!). Paul then gave us a good overview of his time playing in Australia for Carlton, one of the top club sides of that time. His captain was Graham Yallop and a certain Mr Hogg opening the bowling! Paul also had an excellent knowledge of the West Indian players in our county game in his days and of course Brian Lara who was a team mate at Warwickshire. This took us to the most successful period with Lara, Dermot Reeve as captain and Bob Woolmer managing the team: once established they won seven trophies in two seasons. Paul then talked about his work in the USA and the Princes’ Trust, followed by a lively Question and Answer session to conclude a first class evening. 17 January 2013 – David Wigley Tonight we welcome our second father and son combination of the Winter Season: Canon Max and David Wigley. Max has spoken to the Society before, and he was one of the officiating clergy at Jack Sokell's memorial service. As a Bradford vicar he always made sure that Summer Saturday weddings were done and dusted in time for him to open the bowling in the Bradford League. David was a professional cricketer with Yorkshire, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire, before becoming a professional cricket coach, public speaker and master of ceremonies. His website is a magnificent production. When David left Yorkshire in 2002 it was suggested he had been unfairly treated. He had a first-class highest score of 70, and as a fast-medium bowler he took 136 first-class wickets, the premature curtailment of his career with Yorkshire has become one of the stories of what might have been. David informed us that he had left Yorkshire reluctantly and, in fairness they had a first class bowling line up at the time. David represented Yorkshire at all age levels, from U11s through to the Cricket Board. Studying at Loughborough, David played University Cricket with Monty Panesar. David entertained us with many stories and anecdotes from his playing days with Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire. He also had lots of stories about the South African contingent at Northamptonshire and their coach David Capel.