The Twelfth Man 2013

33 hailed from Baildon, an area from which a fair few Yorkshire crickets originated. David’s latest book, The Sweetest Rose , relates the story of Yorkshire’s 150 years of first-class cricket, which includes many turbulent times in an attempt to give a completely unbiased point of view. There were also special chapters on Michael Crawford and Ted Lester – two stalwarts of Yorkshire cricket. 28 February – Northamptonshire Evening Our Chairman introduced our guests for this evening from Northants. David Ripley, now head coach after a distinguished playing career, Andrew Radd, the long-serving journalist at Radio Northampton and author of a couple of books on the club, and last but not least, Northants Chief Executive, David Smith. David introduced himself and gave us a perspective of his background. Geordie by birth, played with Warwickshire (mid-70s to mid-80s), three years as chief executive at Leicestershire and then moving to his present post. David told us he had a lot of fond memories of playing against Yorkshire, at both Headingley and the out grounds of that time. He then gave us an overview of the present situation at Northamptonshire and the difficulties faced by a small club with a small wage bill. They have to try to compete by signing young promising players and finding other ways of earning income (e.g. concerts at the ground). David Ripley played youth cricket for Carlton in Leeds and for Yorkshire Colts. Winning his Yorkshire cap at 14 he played for Northamptonshire from 1984 to 2001 and for England (U19s and one-day Internationals 1984-1986). He took 678 catches and 85 stumpings in his 307 first-class games, scoring 8,693 runs at 28.4 with 9 centuries. David gave an overview of the Club’s prospects for the new season, the main thrust being the four-day game at the moment and working hard towards a first class, one-day outfit after recent disappointments. David went on to give some amusing stories of his playing days, including the statutory tale or two about Sir Geoffrey! Andrew talked about his early days of covering the Club when it was shared with the Football Club. He also gave us an amusing background about some of the old characters that graced the club together with some interesting facts and figures. This was followed by a lively Q and A session to conclude an excellent evening. 7 March – Allan Stuttard Our Chairman introduced us to our guest for the evening, a real character of the Lancashire League, Allan Stuttard, who played with Walsden and Todmorden as man and boy. Allan commenced his introduction by telling us that his main claim to fame was hitting Garry Sobers for 5 sixes in one over: he was now able to admit that there had been a slight exaggeration by the Walsden supporters and it was in fact only 4 sixes. Allan went on to tell some amazing stories of his career in local and then Lancashire league cricket, and that he had played for six decades. He also claimed that Twenty20 cricket developed in his part of Lancashire by local lads who played from when the pubs shut until they opened again! Allan’s background took us to his army days and then the past Korean War days with the David Warner receives his WCLS glass from Margaret Brayshaw Northamptonshire guests (left to right): Andrew Radd, David Ripley and David Smith