EAST RIDING CRICKET SOCIETY

Another 'in conversation' evening introduced us to James Carr – director of cricket of the Northern Diamonds and of the wider women's game in Yorkshire and the North-East.  This relaxed format was a perfect way to get to know James, a relatively new name to many but a coach fizzing with energy, enthusiasm and ideas. James first got interested in cricket through watching on Channel 4 and playing Kwik and street cricket while at primary school in Lancashire.  He played more formal, red-ball cricket at high school and joined a local club in 2001. While studying PE at college, he naturally veered towards coaching and over the next ten years completed his qualifications while working full-time in retail and project management. He was constantly looking for a role in cricket and his first opportunity came in New Zealand – as Cricket Development Officer for Southland, next stop Antarctica! There he found an area the size of Yorkshire but with a population of only 100,0

Well, the high turnout certainly wasn't due to clement weather – it was a freezing night. So it must be attributed to the presence of the very mild-mannered and unassuming Mr Graham Onions himself. The evening took a slightly unusual format, with the opening session conducted interview style prior to the open-floor Q&A after the interval. Rather than report verbatim, I'll try to summarise the information we gathered from our guest. As a lad of about thirteen, Graham lived near a cricket ground and would often come home from school, don his whites and walk there. He started out as a batsman, but as he grew taller and became more athletic turned more to bowling. He played several sports in his teens, so wasn't part of any academy or other formal set up, and was about to go to university when he was spotted by Durham coach Geoff Cook and instead decided to opt for professional cricket. Graham made his Second XI debut, aged 18, and soon realised that he had to impro

If our chairman has a fault, and that’s yet to be proven, it isn’t that of prolonging an AGM. We breezed through his own report, which sympathetically summarised our inability to meet for two years.  He also praised Maggie, Ian and Brian for keeping the society alive in that time. Maggie, as secretary, also kept it admirably brief focusing on thanks to Simon Foster for his help with finding our new venue and on membership numbers which reached a high of c. 90 in March 2020 and still stand at around 60. Please look out for an email canvassing views on our meeting dates for 2023/24, potentially moving to the first Thursday of the month and sometimes changing to a Monday if necessary to secure a particular speaker. Please also note also that our next meeting will take place on MONDAY 16 January so England, Durham and Lancashire seamer Graham Onions can join us. Brian introduced his signed accounts, current to September 2020 and distributed for all to read. All income and expendi

Apologies from our chairman and a new opportunity to write down questions for the speaker were the prelude to a helter-skelter evening. Paul Farbrace gave no sign of needing anything as simple as breath as he took us on an engaging and entertaining rattle through his cricket life and memories. With a mother who made cricket teas, and a father and two older brothers who played, Paul usually started as the 'extra' for an opposition short of a man or two.  He signed for Kent in 1986 after a year as a would-be goalkeeper at Coventry City, which ended when Steve Ogrizovic told him that he lacked two attributes for this role: height and ability!  He played as understudy to keeper Steve Marsh and was lucky enough play with one of his heroes, Derek Underwood, in the great man’s last game.  Moving next to Middlesex, he was part of their Championship-winning team but his true calling has proved to be coaching. Kent's Colin Page was an example of an 'old school c

W ell, there we were! We few, we happy few, we band of cricket fans – and not so few either. Around 7pm the gathering started, culminating in around 45 of us.  Familiar and welcome faces, new and equally welcome ones too.  The return of the smiles and greetings we’d missed out on. In a new venue, too.  Thanks to Simon Foster, we reconvened in Beverley Town CC's clubhouse alongside the pitch and scoreboard – how appropriate.  New venue, new private bar, new meeting day – and miraculously Brian's new confident handling of the PA system. I think he spent the last two years practising! Same format though, same expectations of a night of cricket talk and the airing of some robust opinions.  Not wrong there, then.  Mr Kevin Howells kicked us off for the new season – one of the voices of cricket. Familiar tones, familiar passion for the game expressed honestly and fluently. Essentially he dwelt on three themes during the course of the evening: intertwined and revealing o