The Twelfth Man 2016

27 photo of me taking that catch with the scoreboard in the background and it’ll be in my house for ever.” “Second team cricket has given me the opportunity to work on my leadership qualities. The club offered me a full-time job on the coaching staff and I accepted it.” ~ 2016 ~ 14 January – Steve Garratt First-class umpire Steve Garratt was our first speaker of 2016; he last came to the Society in 2009 with his boss Chris Kelly. “I don’t usually get asked back after I’ve spoken,” joked Steve. “I get a fair bit of barrackering when I umpire at Headingley, but I enjoy umpiring Yorkshire. They’ve got some talented cricketers.” He is one of the few first-class umpires who haven’t played first-class cricket. “I think it’s a big advantage to have played first-class cricket, I am still learning. At first I struggled to be accepted but after about five years the players’ attitude towards me changed.” Steve was a member of the committee, which decided to abandon the toss, but only for matches in the second division because the clubs in the second division were producing wickets that only suited seam bowlers and didn’t encourage spin or fast bowlers. After the decision to abandon the toss in second division matches was passed it was then decided to abandon the toss in first-class matches by those higher up in the ECB chain. He then read the arguments by Rob Key who agreed with not having the toss and Andrew Gale who wanted the toss retained, which was followed by a healthy debate by the members. Steve said he would relay our views to the next committee meeting. Steve was one of the umpires in the 2014 Roses match at Emirates Old Trafford, which led to led to Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale getting suspended for four matches. Steve said: “Both me and Steve O’Shaughnessy, the other umpire involved, knew that both Lancashire and Gale were close to the edge with disciplinary points. So we asked both captains to keep things under control, then it all happened.” “Ashwell Prince messed about with his thigh pad and Gale said something. We had to report it. That night both Steve and me wondered how we could have avoided it. To be fair, Gale was man enough to go into the Lancashire dressing- room and apologised the next morning and he apologised to us as well. Gale wanted to speak to the ECB, but they refused as he was going to give evidence against the ECB. We wanted to speak on Andrew’s behalf, but the ECB wouldn’t allow us. The whole escalated upwards and ended up with his ban. It was a disgrace that Andrew wasn’t allowed to collect the trophy.” Steve added: “Then in his first home match back I give him out to head high no ball and I had to apologise to him.” 21 January – Paul Bedford Jim introduced tonights’ guest, Paul Bedford, ECB Head of operations,(non-first-class cricket), who has the job of managing all operations that exist outside the first-class game and complement the work being done to raise standards across all levels of cricket in England and Wales. Prior to joining the ECB, Paul was Chairman of the Shepherd Neame Surrey Championship, a trustee on the Surrey Cricket Board, an MCC tours committee member and Area Representative. His skills have been developed in a variety of roles and organisations: working in national roles with British Gas as a commercial contracts manager and training manager, as well as Beachcomber Tours, a tour operator which specialises in Mauritius and Southern Africa. Paul’s club cricket playing credentials were established when playing as a colt for Cranleigh Cricket club on the Surrey/Sussex border. The local club, steeped in tradition, played against clubs in the Northern League and in South Wales, providing him with an invaluable insight into how cricket is perceived differently around First-class umpire Steve Garratt with Vice-Chairman Ron Firth