EAST RIDING CRICKET SOCIETY

A middle-order batsman and off-spin bowler, John Abrahams played 1st class cricket for Lancashire CCC from 1973 to 1988. Appointed First XI captain in 1984, he immediately led the side to a notable Benson & Hedges Trophy victory over Warwickshire at Lords, when he was named Man of the Match by Peter May despite a duck and no wickets! Since retiring, John has played a pivotal role in England youth cricket, responsible for teams at Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 levels, coaching England to victory in the inaugural ICC Under 19 World Cup in 1998, and later serving as the Under 19s Operations Manager. Many of his charges have since gone on to achieve international success - among them current Test stars Alastair Cook, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Haseeb Hameed. All welcome! Join at any meeting - £15 a year/ £5 on door .   Venue : Brewery Bar, King William IV , Hallgate, Cottingham HU16 4BD, 7.30pm for 7.45pm   Raffle : £2/ticket - prizes include 2017 Yorkshire CCC m

Mark Arthur, December 2015 A chance to quiz Chief Executive Mark Arthur and Commercial Director Andy Dawson , alongside spinners Azeem Rafiq and Karl Carver , and paceman Ben Coad . For YCCC, 2016 was a season of near misses - with semi-final losses in T20 Blast and RL 1-day competitions to set alongside a third place finish in the County Championship. And, looking ahead, 2017 will see changes at the club, with new 1st XI coach Andrew Gale replacing Jason Gillespie, and a new captain, as yet to be announced. Elsewhere within the county, 2016 brought innovation - with the Yorkshire Diamonds featuring in the inaugural Women's T20 competition, and the introduction of a pyramid structure for club cricket, culminating in an Abu Dhabi final. Add the international success of Yorkshire players, county cricket finances, problems over the planned redevelopment of Headingley Stadium, MCC's red card proposals ... a lively evening is guaranteed! All welcome! Join at any meeting -

In 1877 James Douglas Logan , the 19-year-old son of a Borders railwayman, left Scotland for a new life in Australia. En route he landed in Cape Town - and there he stayed. In little more than a decade the entrepreneurial L ogan - like his friend and ally Ce cil Rhodes - amassed a huge fortune via the diamond fields and railways of his adopted country. But how could he achieve the social elevation he craved? The answer lay in the British Empire's favourite sport – cricket. In Empire, War & Cricket in South Africa , profu se ly illustrated wi th rare and unpublished photographs and documents , Dean Allen uncovers Logan's fascinating rags-to-riches story . Although hopeless at cricket , Logan played a vital role in developing the sport in South Africa, sponsori ng teams primarily as a means of personal advancement. Using Lord Hawke as his agent, he arranged some of the earliest international matches between England and South Africa - once having the c aptain and

Cricket, Nazis and Sid Waddell! Quite a combination! Don't miss award-winning novelist, journalist and author Dan Waddell tell the remarkable tale of Felix Menzel, Maurice Jewell and the 1937 English cricket tour of Hitler's Germany ( more ...) An exiled Yorkshireman, born in Pudsey, Dan's other cricket books include The Test Match Special Quiz Book and The Wit and Wisdom of Test Match Special . And in his memoir We Had Some Laughs:My Dad, the Darts and Me , recently longlisted for the world's richest sports book prize, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year , Dan describes growing up with his father Sid, TV's inimitable 'voice of darts'. Meet Dan Waddell and bag a signed copy - all titles available to buy on the night. Shop early for Xmas! Watch Dan here . Read more here . Coming up ... Dean Allen, YCCC 1st XI stars , John Abrahams, Angus Fraser , John Holder All welcome! Just £15 a year - join at any meeting / £5 - on door

Angus 'Gus' Fraser - ex-England paceman, Test selector, Middlesex CCC Director of Cricket and Sky pundit - tops an exciting East Riding Cricket Society line-up next winter. Joining Gus in the convivial surroundings of the Brewery Bar, King William IV, Cottingham HU16 4BD will be retired Test match umpire and Test Match Special regular John Holder , ex-Lancashire captain and current England Under-19 Operations Manager John Abrahams , author Dan Waddell (son of legendary darts commentator Sid), and sports historian Dean Allen . Five top speakers - plus a Yorkshire CCC special with First XI stars, Chief Exec Mark Arthur and the chance to win a signed 2015 Champions bat - all for just £15 a year . Everyone welcome! Join at any meeting. For more information : email ercsoc@gmail.com or call Maggie Sumner (Secretary) on 01482 861848 . YCCC' s Will Rhodes & Jack Leaning, December 2015 PROGRAMME 2016-17 12 October - Dan Waddell , author of We Had Some Laug

Cricket lovers are in for a 'spell-binding and exhilarating evening' when journalist Grahame Lloyd visits the society in March. When Garry Sobers hit Malcolm Nash for six sixes off one over at Swansea in 1968, a cricketing Everest was finally conquered. And 38 years later history was made again when the ball supposedly smashed around the St Helen's ground was auctioned by Christie's for a world-record £26,400 ... except the ball was the wrong make, a Duke & Son and not a Stuart Surridge. After a six-year gap the ball re-emerged at another auction, prompting Grahame to launch Operation Howzat!, an 18-month quest for the truth about a key element of one of the game's most iconic moments. Featuring an interview with John Parkin, the batsman at the opposite end during the famous over, historic BBC TV footage of the Six Sixes, poetry and song, Grahame follows the trail from South Wales to India - encountering a host of colourful characters along the way and lifti

Thanks to former England Test star and BBC Sports Personality of the Year David Steele for a hugely entertaining evening at the King Billy after Dickie Bird was forced to cancel. David sent his best wishes to the Test umpire - a personal favourite as Dickie never gave him out LBW! Renowned for his batting, David took on the mighty Australian and West Indian pace attacks of the 1970s with a predominantly front-foot method. Borrowing the night's star raffle prize - a bat signed by 2015 County Champions Yorkshire CCC - he showed (left) how a batsman can move much more quickly from the front foot to the back than vice versa, as well as demonstrating the difference between his technique and that of another front-foot devotee, Geoff Boycott. David is also a great admirer of Yorkshire great Sir Leonard Hutton - a selector in 1975 when David was first picked for England. 'The top hand is life, the bottom hand is death,' Sir Leonard told him - a lesson David has never forgotten.