The Twelfth Man 2020

Tom Hudson* reviews another full programme of speakers brought to a slightly premature end…. (* - except for Daniel Norcross , Andy Dawson and Chris Lewis , from notes by Chris Barron ) Daniel Norcross (L) with Paul Dyson We could not have wished for a more lively introduction to the new season. Daniel Norcross, one of the more recent addi- tions to the Test Match Specia l team, had been nominated as our 2018 Jack Fingleton Commentator of the Year. Right from the start, Daniel was intent on coming to receive the award in person and as a result he entertained us with his interesting life story, revealing his Yorkshire ancestry through his grandfather. Asked by our interviewer, Chris to explain his Dulwich College tutor’s report that ‘Daniel may never reach his true potential but will be priceless at cocktail parties’, he ran through his time at Oxford where, after five years, he left with a degree in Clas- sics that was of limited value in his subsequent career. He left a job in finance in the City, still nurturing the hope of a career somehow related to cricket. He made his first ‘fortune’ when, with a group of friends, they studied the workings of a pub quiz machine in their local. Having cracked the programming logic of the machine by dogged observation they embarked on a tour of pubs in south London where these machines were in use and cleaned up in every one. His subsequent route to the TMS commentary box was hardly a conventional one, but it was his leading role in starting the slightly anarchic Test Match Sofa online broadcast that first brought him to public prominence, incurring the displeasure of then chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke. Legal threats from that quarter were batted away as the disrupter broadcast was by this time being backed by the Disney Channel. Despite the suc- cess of Test Match Sofa , with 500,000 followers, Daniel became disillusioned by 2014 as it had seemed to evolve into a parody of TMS, which had never been his intention. It was his wife that suggested he try a long-shot by writing to Adam Mountford, the producer of TMS. To his amazement, he was invited to trial for commentary and the rest is history. Into the Q&A, Daniel showed his dexterity and huge knowledge of the game by answering a diverse range of questions about life in the TMS team, about working with Geoffrey Boycott, about individual matches and a welter of humorous anecdotes. The afternoon soon slipped by and, with plenty of daylight still available, the audience was clearly content to let the meet- ing run on. Only a need to get to Doncaster for his train back to London brought an end to proceedings. After the vote of thanks from family friend, Paul Dyson and the presentation of the Fingleton Award, Daniel took his leave at the end of a terrific season opener. DANIEL NORCROSS 14 October 2019 Wombwell’s winter of speakers Review