The Twelfth Man 2016

24 8 October – Stephen Chalke Our Chairman opened up our winter season with an update from the AGM. This was followed by a fitting and moving tribute to the great cricketers and friends of the Society, I refer of course to Brian Close and Frank Tyson of which more will follow in the next Twelfth Man . Jim then introduced our distinguished guest Stephen Chalke who is an academic with degrees in multi subjects. After a varied teaching career Stephen is now concentrating on writing and publishing through his own Fairfield Books. Stephen has won many awards for his cricket books, one of which is the acclaimed No Coward Soul , the biography of Bob Appleyard. Stephen’s latest tome Cricket’s County Championship has taken three years to complete and was the subject of Stephen’s introduction this evening, uniquely covering the books subject matter in 20 overs so to speak. 1) How the counties originated going back as far as 1863. 2) Lots of stories up to 1886 when Notts and Surrey were in dispute as to who was the best. 3) By 1890 there were eight counties, the big six plus Gloucestershire and Sussex. 4) Surrey were proving formidable and by 1899 we had 15 competing counties. 5) By 1906 Yorkshire and Kent had decreed county-born players only. 6) 1914 brought World War One and the Championship was suspended until 1919. 7) Up until 1920 the southern counties dominated. 8) By 1925 the northern counties showed their mettle. 9) Up until 1936 the northern counties dominated. 10) 1939-1945 World War Two again suspended and several grounds badly bombed. 11) 1947 brought a scorching summer and the crowds came back. 12) 1950s and the great Surrey and Yorkshire sides dominated. 13) After a few near misses Yorshire won in 1959. Wombwell’s Winter Season 2015/16 Reviewed by Tom Hudson, Mick Pope and Neil Whitaker Photos: Brian Sanderson and Malcolm Cusworth 14) The 1960s brought the one-day game on to the scene. 15) By the late 1960s the overseas players came. 16) 1975 Leicestershire won the Championship without a single Leicestershire-born player. 17) By 1984 the one-day game began to dominate. 18) 2003 brought about the two-division Championship. 19) 2011 the Championship is bolstered by exciting Test cricket. 20) Up-to-date county cricket still up and running. Stephen carried on with lots more information, anecdotes and funny stories, to take us well into overtime and complete a fascinating evening. 22 October – Alex Morris Alex was born in Barnsley on 4 October 1976. He was a stylish left-hand bat and medium pace right arm bowler, with a nice Stephen Chalke with Margaret Brayshaw