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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.
His father Deonarine got him into cricket – and football, as a young player with Watford FC and lifelong supporter of Arsenal (a brave admission!) – and at the age of just 17 Mark signed his first professional contract for Middlesex CCC.
That first season took him into a rather rowdy and opinionated dressing-room, run by captain Mike Gatting and including such big personalities as Angus Fraser, Phil Edmonds, John Emburey and Simon Hughes.
Mark made his England debut in 1991 under the captaincy of Graham Gooch – cue one of those rather convincing impersonations!
Mark thinks the 1990s was a fantastic time to play international cricket, facing bowlers like Ambrose and Walsh, McGrath and Warne – not to mention a certain Merv Hughes.
After retiring in 2012, Mark wasn’t sure what to do but found his career path when invited to coach England under-17s.
He then went on to work as England Men's batting coach (2014–20) and is now president and consultant batting coach at Middlesex CCC and director of cricket at Harrow School.
He sees good coaching coming from caring, supporting and challenging players – getting to know them as individuals.
Looking back on his England debut, unlike today no effort was made to make it special – no cap presentation or invitations to the family.
Instead he just turned up, went in the dressing-room and looked for the bag with his name on it!
Mark also writes for the Guardian and Wisden, and in the tricky position of a player-turned-journalist he tries always to write honestly while being constructive in his commentary.
Asked about his batting records, Mark remarked on his liking for Headingley and for Yorkshire crowds.
He made his first and 100th hundreds against YCCC at Headingley, and his Test debut also came at the same ground.
At Harrow School and at Middlesex CCC, he's working to create links with their surrounding communities to try to develop a wider cricket-playing base.
He also believes the art of batting is under threat from short-format cricket and the drive to play for entertainment rather than results.
Joe Root still has it though, and Harry Brook is developing all facets of his game.
Geoff Wellsteed gave our thanks for a wonderful evening of great humour, stories and insights, while also drawing attention to those career statistics that Mark so modestly overlooked.
A stupendous thank you goes to everyone who contributed to record raffle receipts of £311.
And as an aside, many congratulations to our Deputy Chair Simon Foster, sadly absent ill on the night, on recently becoming a first-time grandfather!
