EAST RIDING CRICKET SOCIETY

What a cracker Maggie can pull! She’s welcome at my seasonal table, as is Mr John Barclay with his entertaining, witty and thoroughly good-natured cricket chat. Almost fifty of us turned up to hear John – former captain of Sussex CCC; MCC President (2009–10); president, English Schools Cricket Association (ESCA); and vice-president of the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation – who also happened to be our last speaker prior to lockdown in March 2020. He seemed flattered to be back, saying he rarely gets a second invite – although I find that hard to believe. Not only did he talk cricket. He also illustrated it vividly, with walkabouts and grand arm and hand gestures to bring his words to life. There was something of the pantomime in the way he involved us in his performance – for this was far more than a traditional 'speech'. We heard about his appointment as MCC President, as the choice of his predecessor Derek 'Deadly' Unde

A quick snow flurry seemed to have only minor impact on our November 2023 meeting , which included our now celebrated AGM – famed that is for its brevity. Our chairman offered due thanks to Maggie , Ian and Brian for their work , and all the officers were re-elected unopposed.  Maggie outlined our past and future speakers before Brian commented on the accounts , which covered a three-year period from October 2020 to September 2023.  We made a small profit over this period and our finances are strong.   After falling from a high of c.100 in March 2020, our numbers are growing steadily, with a warm welcome extended to many recent new members.  Our successful raffle makes a vital contribution , while our first all-pay summer special, with Barry Richards , raised our profile and paid for itself . Then we were into the meat of the evening with Jeremy Lonsdale – historian, author and deputy editor of the quarterly County Cricket Matters .  Although resident in Maidstone , Jer

Dean Headley – former England, Middlesex and Kent paceman and the third generation of a famous cricketing family – opened our 2023/24 programme with a superb informal Q&A .  Dean retired early after a first-class career (1991-2001) cut short by a chronic back injury and is now an ECB match referee.  He is also heavily involved in coaching young cricketers, as Director of Cricket at Stamford School (2018-23) and now as Head of Cricket at Blundells School, Tiverton (2023-). Read more about Dean here: https://wisden.com/stories/features/golden-streaks-and-fractured-dreams-the-cautionary-tale-of-dean-headley https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1129399/dean-and-daz-make-merry-in-melbourne https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/725159/-it-burnt-to-be-told-i-didn-t-have-the-heart-to-play-as-a-bowler https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1226317/like-father--unlike-son https://blundells.org/devoffice/news/new-head-of-cricket-dean-headley