EAST RIDING CRICKET SOCIETY

We kicked off the 2025/6 season with a corker of a meeting. Our speaker was Mr Stephen Chalke, the prolific and prize-winning author, oral historian and publisher, who last visited us in 2011 during our days in Hull, at the old Humberside Police Sports and Social Club. Although based in Bath, Stephen has worked on and with many YCCC players over the years, including Bob Appleyard, Geoff Cope, George Hirst and Ken Taylor, and in his latest book, One Hell of a Life (the 2024 Wisden Book of the Year), he turns his attention to the great Brian Close. After a welcome by Simon Foster and a brief intro from Maggie, we were off - and rapidly too.  Stephen is a fount of information and stories – many of them humorous, but some more sombre in character.  This is largely because his subject Brian Close is such an interesting and multi-faceted personality, including darker aspects that were not ignored. Stephen was first drawn to Brian in 1963, at the age of just 15...

James Taylor's attitude to life came across strongly as 'I’ll find a way'. The ex-England, Notts and Leics batter found a way to get into cricket, to bat even in tough conditions, and to field at short leg.  More importantly, after seven Tests and 27 ODIs, aged just 26, he found a way to rebuild his life when a heart attack in 2016 brought that career to an abrupt and unexpected end. And not just rebuild, but build a life he is clearly happy with. James was open about losing pretty much everything at that time. Only golf, which he didn’t play, remained open to him. However, determination – plus practice in his garage – has made him a scratch player in under four years. Appointed as the England Men's Test Selector and Chief Scout (2018–22), he spent most of his time working with Ed Smith, a man he obviously rates highly and from whom he learned much. He also loved the job, especially given the status of the successful England teams at that time. Now forging a new caree...

Among his many talents, Mr Mark Ramprakash MBE is a great mimic and brought along a famous name or two on Monday 20 January. How many, I lost count. But I do know that Mark's audience was larger still. So much so that extra chairs were needed – and plenty of them – as a record crowd of members and friends thronged Beverley Town CC . Did Mark mention Strictly (Come Dancing)? Well , perhaps just a little! Despite a 25-year playing career with England, Middlesex and Surrey that brought 35,000 runs and 114 centuries, Mark reckons that winning Strictly in 2006 has eclipsed all that in the public mind. When presenting him in 2013 with an MBE for services to cricket, even HM The Queen wanted to know if he was still dancing …. And the man behind it all was Darren Gough, a Strictly winner in 2005, who persuaded the reluctant Mark to sign up. But back to cricket! Mark has English and Indo- Guyanese heritage and has lived in Harrow all his life . ...

  We had the distinct pleasure of two guests tonight as Mr Geoff Cook brought along his – and our – good friend Pat Murphy. As player, coach and administrator, Geoff is one of the most significant figures in English cricket in the last forty years. Born in Middlesbrough, he always played as much cricket as he could and started his career in Northants, where his second-wicket partnership with Robin Boyd-Moss remains a record. Geoff also holds the Northants appearance record, playing for the club 774 times (1971–90) and captaining the side from 1981 to 1988. He was a long-serving secretary and chair of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA), and played in a handful of Tests and ODIs (1981–83). In 1991 he took up a role as Director of Cricket at Durham, shortly before the club achieved first-class status in 1992. Then as Head Coach (2006–13), he led the county to a Friends Provident Trophy (2007) and three championship wins (2008, 2009 and 2013) – successes gained lar...

'A hell of a ride, and good fun' ( Jack Brooks , ERCS meeting, 25 November 2024). Well, Jack delivered a talk as fluently and directly as he always bowled – straight and to the point. He played for three counties: Northants, Yorkshire and Somerset. His best result was his first and only first-class 100 at Old Trafford. As a latecomer to professional cricket, he played the game as he would wish to watch it. He didn’t view it as a 'real' job (he’d had one of those) but as having fun with his mates. After a trial with Surrey came to nothing, he answered a call to open trials with Northants. In his first match he took 6 for 90, scored some runs and thought it would bring him a one-year contract. Instead he was offered four years, and his highlight was opening the bowling against Australia as part of their pre-Test warm-ups. He did a Lions tour and roomed with Jonnie Bairstow. While various counties tried to get him after that, Yorkshire's offer seemed quirky enough to ...

It was a bit odd having our first meeting in November rather than October but Jeremy Lonsdale was well worth the wait. He began by reminding us that we were celebrating the 60th birthday of East Riding Cricket Society, almost to the day. Our first meeting was held in Jackson's Ballroom, Hull on 4 November 1964, with the Hull Daily Mail reporting that over 100 attendees gathered to listen to Yorkshire great Bill Bowes. And who was Jeremy talking about in 2025? None other than that very same cricketer – now the subject of Jeremy's biography, An Unusual Celebrity: the Many Cricketing Lives of Bill Bowes , shortlisted for the Cricket Writers' Book Award 2024. Perhaps a coincidence – or perhaps a cunning plan. Bill made his first-class debut for MCC in 1928, for Yorkshire in 1929 and for England in 1932, taking 68 wickets over 15 Tests. Meanwhile his first-class total of 1639 wickets at 16.76 (bettering the career average of S F Barnes) and 1531 runs at 8.6...