Just as the cricket season reaches its height we now have rain to contend with as well as coronavirus increases especially on Teesside. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have never postponed garden refuse collections because of staff shortages. I can understand that, but why they haven’t postponed bottle collections instead confuses me. For goodness sake we’re in the height of the growing season, so how on earth are we to transfer garden rubbish to the tips in one’s car? Not everyone has room to compost everything and it takes months to decompose everything. Bottles ca
Just as the cricket season reaches its height we now have rain to contend with as well as coronavirus increases especially on Teesside. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have even postponed garden refuse collections because of staff shortages. I can understand that, but why they haven’t postponed bottle collections instead confuses me. For goodness sake we’re in the height of the growing season, so how on earth are we to transfer garden rubbish to the tips in one’s car? Not everyone has room to compost everything and it takes months to decompose everything. Bottles cans, cardboard and newspapers meanwhile are far easier to transfer to disposal sites, so why not postpone the collection of them instead?
I don’t know if any of you have dipped into The Hundred cricket matches yet where prior to the Test Match series against India we have had cricket regionalised more or less into cities instead of counties and 5 or 10 ball overs instead of the traditional 6 balls. I thought I’d give it a try and watch the Northern Superchargers based at Headingley in both women’s and men’s matches in leagues of 8 regions. First of all I found it incongruous that Joe Root should be playing for the Trent Rockets based in Nottingham and Jonny Bairstow captaining the Welsh Fire based in Cardiff. Fair enough that Ben Stokes should captain the Northern Superchargers until his sabbatical from all cricket due to mental stress and has benefits and has been replaced by Yorkshire’s David Willey and have given us the chance of watching Adil Rashid (the Juninho of cricket) perform his box of tricks, and Harry Brook (potentially the Joe Root of the future) calmly and elegantly topping The Hundred’s batting averages, but now that the Test Series against India has started losing many of England’s and Yorkshire’s finest contingent from this quirky new competition.
Also though we have the Royal 50 Over One Day Cup taking place at the same time, so Yorkshire have lost 10 of their players to the Test series and The Hundred but giving opportunities to their academy batters the chance of playing for Yorkshire’s county side, and these youngsters have certainly taken their opportunities with the likes of Willie Fraine, Harry Duke, William Luxton, George Hill, Matthew Revis and Matthew Waite all excelling. Could Boro follow the same lead this season in the Championship? Nevertheless why have two cricket competitions taking place at the same time as a Test Series? Well the general public seemed to like The Hundred, but what about the television viewers? I’m not so sure with this Americanised presentation and is it really cricket at all? I’ve given it a try but I don’t think I’ll bother again.
Chris Waters the Yorkshire Post’s brilliant cricket correspondent sums it up perfectly for me when he writes “Forget The Hundred and concentrate on the Royal London Cricket Cup even if it has been reduced to a Second XI shindig in everything but name. Much more happiness and beauty will follow and one will be spared and listening to commentators who seem to be high on speed and low on grey cells, an added bonus” John Arlott and Richie Benaud couldn’t have written it better. In fact the term “low on grey cells” is could also refer to Sky’s Super League commentators also, but that perhaps should be left for another day,
When I wrote in July that cricket seemed to have a bright future I didn’t foresee the drama of the allegations by Azeem Rafiq bring cricket to its knees. Yesterday’s meeting of the Parliamentary subcommittee has shown that cricket in England not only in Yorkshire is rife with racial prejudices. It saddens me that such people like David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and Tim Bresnan who I have always admired have felt the need to apologise for what have been racial comments. A lot of it possibly revolves around the culture of alcohol drinking in the club house at close of play which Asians and Muslims don’t participate in because of their religion. I’m not against alcohol per se as I’ve always liked a glass or two of red wine with my dinner every day, but have discovered that it is one of the reasons I always feel so tired, and have since decided to drink a glass of cranberry juice instead which is also beneficial to my urinary problems.
However football unlike cricket doesn’t seem to suffer now with heavy drinking that it used to since Arsene Wenger brought in a different culture to diet and fitness. In the past cricket was the example of sportsmanship and behaviour - how many times did one hear the expression of bad sportsmanship being followed by the words “it’s not cricket you know”. Perhaps only golf and snooker are the only true sports when players call their own fouls.
Cricket, the game I love, is now at the crossroads and hopefully the Rafiq allegations will help to restore itself as one of England’s national sports, but sadly it ain’t going to happen in my lifetime.
Things are getting worse as more revelations occur about racism not only at Yorkshire but in cricket in general. The Yorkshire Post always the bastion of Yorkshire Cricket is as outspoken as ever that things must change. Azeem Rafiq was seen as a trouble maker; thank goodness he was as nobody listened. Tales of a young Asian cricketer being urinated upon are simply appalling. At least up to now I’ve not heard of racial unrest at Middlesbrough FC between Boro players as we have as many black players as white players. I know that in the past Lindy Delapenha took some racial abuse from some ignorant supporters and that there were many occasions when Boro fans did monkey chants and waved bananas at opposing black players, but I never heard of racial abuse from Delapenha’s colleagues. Yes Astor often gave him some stick, but that was more banter as he was black himself and often referred to him as ‘our kid’ and praised him when he scored.
The Ashes series starts a week today with England undercooked and frustrated having played only 29 overs in their warm-up matches. Still concerns over Ben Stokes injuries and mental state, but with the Perth test almost certain to be relocated because of 14 day isolation restrictions might give some hope if its replacement is likely to be a day/night match in Melbourne with a pink ball more conducive to swing. However after failing to win any test match on their previous two tours it’s vital that England get off to a good start at Brisbane where they haven’t won since 1986 and most of those defeats have been annihilations. All in all I fear that the Ashes will remain down under after this series.
The first cricket match that I can remember was at Brisbane in December 1946. All that I can recall from it was the controversy reported on the radio at the time concerning the Aussie captain Don Bradman who appeared to be out when the ball was caught from his bat at 72 for 2, given out by the umpire when all the England players and most Australians in the pavilion were expecting him to walk. Apparently only the umpire and Bradman himself thought that the ball hadn’t touched his bat but had looped into the air off his boot. All I can remember thereafter was that after two days play Australia made almost 600 for 5 wickets having been inserted. The third day was a complete washout through giant hailstones followed by torrential rain and the ground was flooded. Remarkably though play started on time and Bradman didn’t declare and with some big hitting from Ray Lindwall Australia were all out for there highest ever home score of 645.
England were caught on a sticky wicket, were all out for 141, made to follow on and scored 172 runs in their second innings to lose by an innings and 332 runs.
Ken,
It's been good to read your musings on cricket in the thread above, going back more than 4 months. I have just read the posts this afternoon.
I hope you continue the posts for a long time yet.
I LOVE cricket. Truth be told, I like Test cricket and Yorkshire cricket much more than football. I like Middlesbrough FC more than I like the rest of football (obviously I'd be more interested to see Boro play a game than Man City playing Real Madrid or whatever in the Champions League). I like international Rugby Union more, too. Picking up a few points from your posts:
1. Bradman is clearly the greatest batsman ever to play cricket - maybe the best player of all time, but how do we judge him against all-rounders like Gary Sobers or Wally Hammond who were also great batsmen but also very good bowlers and great fielders, or even more historical figures like WG Grace? I was amused to see how one-eyed Bradman was, though: asked to pick an all-time XI he picked eleven Australians with Wally Hammond as 12th Man. Not a hint of bias there, then!
2. I prefer Championship Cricket and Test Cricket (ie the Frist Class game) rather than limited overs cricket. I do accept, however, that limited overs stuff can be exciting - but 50 overs (ODIs and Royal London Cup games) give more time for recovery if there has been a "disaster" - like losing a few early wickets or having a couple of loose overs early on which can see the game race terminally out of control - than T20.
3. I don't see the point of The 100. A meaningless, gimmicky, format, where old county layalties have been disposed of. I CAN see that if a wicket falls, it is interesting to have the new batsman face the next ball, which is an innovation brought in for the 100. The colourful clothing I could live with (but I'm happy to have white kit for the First Class game - where even putting players names or numbers on the shirts/jumpers would have been thought revolutionary a few years ago). The 5 ball "sets" and the ability to put two "sets" together, so the bowler could bowl 10 balls in a row if he was doing well? Not really needed, in my view. Counting the target/score down - similarly not needed: in limited overs cricket, you always get the "60 needed in 42 balls" information which can obviously be undertood by anyone whatever their ability at mathematics, in the previously existing cricket formats.
4. If you ARE to have The 100, it made no sense at all to have the Royal London Cup played in the 50 overs-a-side format AT THE SAME TIME. It devalued the RLC games to have 2nd team players put out - many of the "first team" having been taken away for The 100. I followed The 100 by radio. But if I had the choice to watch a Yorkshire team play in the Championship, the RLC or even at T20, I'd prefer all three (and in that order) to watching Northern Superchargers or whatever, in The 100. (Why didn't they call the "Leeds team" the Northern Powerhouse?).
5. Racism! Where to start? Let's make a quick few points rather than attempt an in depth analysis and, in any event, I think ANOTHER enquiry into Yorkshire's handling of the situation is now to be carried out, so we might have to wait for that to report. But I suspect very few people in 2021 would argue it is acceptable to insult people or treat people less favourably as a result of their race. I recognise that people behaved differently in 1939 to now (so only the most crass would give the name "N****r" to their dog - as a war hero did to his dog), but I can't imagine ever using the "N-word" or the "P-word" to another person. I do get that we have heard the terms Aussie, Kiwi, Windies etc used, but they don't have the same connotation and might not be used in a denigratory way. I don't particularly want to be called a Pommie or a Limey either, but I am sure the P and N words are used in a much more offensive way. So I can't see, for decades, the use of those words would have been regarded as acceptable.
"Banter" is a catch-all term often used when challenging language is used between colleagues. It is certainly true that, in the UK, it is very common for friends to be apparently offensive to each other. "How are you doing, you useless bast**d?" maybe accompanied by a clip around the ear as they pass each other. "Better than you, you porky tw*t". And they generally enjoy the badinage which, if it was really intended to be interpreted as a visitor from another country might interpet it, would certainly be regarded as hostile. Sometimes the stronger the friendship, the stronger the language which is used. But it is definitely courting trouble for such language to be used in a work situation (and professional cricketers are in a work situation). You'd think, if Player X calls Player Y a name and Player Y didn't like it, he'd raise the issue immediately. And that doesn't HAVE to be in a confrontational way. Player X might not have thought he was being offensive, or might be percieved to have been. Raising the issue (maybe quietly but certainly ASAP afterwards) would then give Player X no excuse if he continued the behaviour.
I'm not sure that saying "you lot" (whose use I realise is hotly disputed) when talking about a group of players, is quite the same. I CAN recall "you lot" being used in my local to describe white Newcastle supporters. Yorkshire supporters call Lancashire supporters "Lankies" and I wouldn't be surprised if Lancashire supporters call US something, too. But that isn't an attempt at being offensive. I think we should all be a little kinder to each other, whether of the same race or not. For example, in football terms, I don't approve of other teams' supporters referring to Child Abusers when coming to Middlesbrough any more than I think it appropriate to refer to supporters of visiting clubs being chanted at as "rent-boys" or its being suggested that Jimmy Savile was "one of their own". Different people are offended by different things. Those things offend me.
I cannot imagine a player now ever using the N or P words without meaning it to offend or at least recognising that it is likely to offend. Why be rude or offensive to other people? But, of course, if those words were used years ago, different considerations might have applied then.
I don't particularly want to have a situation where tweets or texts put out by children many years ago, are excavated as a means of criticising or damaging the careers of those people (now adults). 14 year olds make mistakes which shouldn't colour the rest of their lives. As we know even from the recent disclosures concerning YCCC, people who might be the victim of abuse in one context might very easily be an abuser by his own actions in another context. It doesn't make it right but, if everyone's life is investigated to the "Nth degree" there may be few who could legitimately cast the first stone.
So nobody should now be using outdated racist language in 2021. I'm not sure it was EVER acceptable but clearly we can't judge the 19th Century by 2021 standards. I'm absolutely convinced that the definition as to which people should be called "women" would have had 100% acceptance when I was born but, particularly if you write children's books in 2021, the issue might seem rather different now. Neither should people's opportunities to play for a team or progress within it, depend on their race. In terms of YCCC, I'd be happy and I'd expect the management of the team to be happy to have the best players playing for the team, based on their abilities and performances rather than their race. I'd LOVE it if we could have all 11 players born in Yorkshire - as happened for most of its history, with some exceptions like Lord Hawke, until more recently - but there's no reason why people born in Yorkshire (and therfore its players) shouldn't have an Indian, Pakistani, Afghani, Chinese, African or other heritage. I don't care what the colour is. I wish Adil Rashid played Championship Cricket for us these days (rather than only limited overs). It would certainly improve the team.
As regards "dressing room culture" and drinking etc, this is a more difficult area. Most people who play recreational cricket probably expect to stay behind after the game, and have a few drinks. In fact if the bar didn't make money from sales of alcohol, many local clubs would fold. So are we to stop those people who play for a hobby, for recreation, exercise and love of the game, having drinks? That would be ridiculous. It's part of the enjoyment. I recognise it may be different for professional cricketers for whom the new sports science diet is everything. But even for sports professionals, going out for a drink with the team is often a bonding exercise - even at MIddlesbrough FC. Nobody should be FORCED to drink alcohol and it's difficult to imagine that could happen now, any more than a vegan being forced to eat meat. But there have been times when even I have been out with colleagues and have drunk non-alcholic drinks. Once for a year, and twice for different 6 month periods, I didn't drink alcohol but it didn't stop me going out and socialising with friends at pubs, nor attending works events where alcohol was taken by others.
Calling someone with a "difficult" foreign-sounding name or giving that person a nickname "Dave", "Steve" or whatever. How do we look at that? I suppose that depends on the spirit in which it was intended. It MIGHT have been an attempt to make fun of the "foreign" name, or it might not have been. It MIGHT have been intended as a friendly gesture to welcome the newcomer into the fold (or it might not have been so intended). I can imagine there have been quite a few Sri Lankan cricketers over the years whose names have been so long or complicated that it might have been tempting to use a shortened nickname instead. I suppose looked at in 2021, the sensible step would be to get the players together, and ask the new player how HE pronounces his name so the others can learn it. But I'll bet there will be few cricket teams or football clubs where some foreign players over the years have NOT been given a nickname because the others find it difficult to pronounce the real name. In fact, as I think about it, I have been called some offensive nicknames over the years - though my name is very easy to say - but I have always known that there was no intended malice. Players need to use common sense.
Maybe we all need to think whether the language we use MIGHT be considered appropriate or not. But the standards of 2021 might be very different to those even 10 years ago. The proper aim is to ensure that, whilst we can't wrap everyone in cotton wool, people should not have to face language or actions which, objectively considered, are rude, offensive and inappropriate. Really, people should try to be NICE to each other. Sadly not everyone is nice. But I'd hope the situation in the UK, as regards racism, is better now than it was 50 years ago. Sadly, still further to go.
I wonder how we are in the UK compared to other countries? Australia, USA, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Burma, Nigeria, India, Russia, France...? I genuinely don't know (as the only one of those I've been to is France, though I have very grave suspicions about the USA and I lobbed the others in suspecting some of them WILL have significant racism issues - doesn't absolve us, though).
Anyway let's get the cricket played out on the field and the back pages rather than the front pages of the newspapers. I have NO IDEA how we will do in Australia this winter but I will be following it closely. Like the Boro. No predictions from me, but lots of hope.
Forever Dormo
Thanks for your wise thoughts which I agree with on most points, but do enjoy T20 cricket also. My brother doesn’t think it’s cricket at all, and I accept that some shots like reverse sweeps and deliberately swatting a ball over a wicket keepers head one wouldn’t want to see in a Championship or Test Match, but are good improvisations until they go wrong. I loved the elegance of David Gower, but before hlm Tom Graveney was my favourite batsman although not as successful for England as he was in county cricket with Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, but nevertheless so stylish. I love seeing Adil Rashid bowl, quite different to the leg break bowlers of my youth such as Roly Jenkins, Bob Berry, Doug Wright and Eric Hollies.
I remember listening to the radio when Don Bradman made his final appearance at the Oval in 1948 as a guard of honour gave him a glorious round of applause as did the crowd. My dad remarked at the time that it would be a different environment if Eric Hollies bowled him out first ball.Well dad wasn’t quite right, Hollies deceived the Don clean bowling him out second ball for a duck thus denying him the 4 runs he needed to finish with a career average of exactly 100. Those were the days of uncovered wickets and England almost always selected a leg break bowler in their side, but none of them were the equal of Adil Rashid. He is my favourite bowler of all time, though before him it was Johnny Wardle.
Wardle was a left arm spin bowler with the ability to bowl a ‘chinaman’. Now there’s a term one doesn’t hear today. It was the wrong‘un bowled out of the back of the hand that turned right to left, the equivalent of the off spinner’s googly. The one thing about T20 cricket though is how much it has improved fielding. I recall the 1965 South African tourists and the amazing fielding of Colin Bland in the covers at Scarborough. Johnny Wardle by then was into his 40s and not as agile as he used to be and was playing for TN Pearce’s Xl against the South Africans and fielding in the covers and was unable to stop the ball, but forever the joker pulled out an apple and threw it into the wicket keeper’s hands much to the amusement of the crowd as the ball made its way to the boundary. Ah, nostalgia again, but like you is my favourite sport.
@forever-dormo In the early 80s, I used to play quite a lot of cricket (at a very low standard) and we often played teams comprised of British Asians. They were passionate about the game and very competitive but we always used to enjoy our games against them. There was no racism or jibes on either side.
My future son in law is a wicket keeper and batsman for his team in Wiltshire and I watched him play earlier this year against a team made up of British Asians. As always at a local cricket match you end up chatting to the supporters of both teams and we had a lovely day with lots of laughter and kindness exchanged.
Last time I saw him we were chatting about the issues at Yorkshire and his team had obviously discussed things together. They were of the view that Rafiq’s anti Semitic comments meant his allegations were less credible. We chatted a bit more and he came to realise that institutional racism is very different from an individual making a mistake as a youngster.
He’s a good lad who has an envious ability to listen to other points of view and to change his mind if he’s feels he’s made a mistake. He commented that his team felt that the British Asians regularly “cheated”, which they associated with their ethnic background, but when I asked him whether other teams also “cheated” he accepted that they did and all of them are made up of white players. He acknowledged that he hadn’t thought of things that way and I’d like to think he might be able to influence his team mates
On the subject of the P word, our office cleaner, who had a huge heart and would do anything for anyone, was a born and bred Wiganer, a town with a tiny percentage of non-white residents. If we needed something urgently, such as batteries or a light bulb, he’d happily volunteer to pop across the road to get them off the “P_k_” on the market. He meant no harm and no matter how often we told him that his language was unacceptable he couldn’t see that he was doing anything wrong. I guess if he heard Dave Whelan using the term “Ch_nky” to describe a certain section of society, he’d struggle to see why we had a problem.
As an aside, I’ve made my son in law a lamp for his Xmas present from my old bat. Photo attached.
Excellent essay exploring some of the issues around the use of language offensively or in jest.
All I would want to add is that I might have expanded more on context. Words by themselves are neutral, it is the context in which they are used and the perspective of subjects that has the capacity to make them offensive and the sensitivity of the author of the words which has the capacity to make them (or fail to make them) amusing.
So, on first consideration the use of the phrase "you lot" might not really seem offensive. However, in the context of a minority of people in a club, which minority comes from a section of the community that has been and still is subject to racial discrimination and vilification, then it is easy to see that the subjects of the words will most likely not feel included and also will quite likely be offended; but also that the author of the words has shown at the very least, a lazy insensitivity. I need to be careful, because of course none of us were present and so have no idea if the words were said or more specifically how they were delivered, so please consider my example hypothetical.
You are absolutely right that it is each of our responsibilities to challenge discriminatory language whenever we hear it. To be fair to Rafiq Azeem, he did admit that to some extent he was complicit in the Yorkshire dressing room by not challenging things at the time. But it is a very difficult thing to do, even today, for anyone to speak out contrary to the herd. Many of us have to undergo the mandatory annual training sessions that show us what we should all do and without fear and consequence, when we encounter offensive behaviour or language. However, the very fact that we have to repeat that training every year is a very good indicator that there is still a very long way to go before racial (other diversifications also apply) differences become irrelevant to everyone in society.
It strikes me that in YCCC a lesson is being learned, even if it is being learned the hard way, and irrespective of the precise details of exactly what has gone before, I think that the club, going forward, will become a more inclusive place.
As an aside, I’ve made my son in law a lamp for his Xmas present from my old bat. Photo attached.
Wonderful creativity Martin.
What a lovely idea, Martin. My skills too are on the artistic side. I made a couple of frames of different coloured Portuguese sugar bags one gets with one’s coffee, and I have also a collection of about 3 dozen small Portuguese ‘bica’ coffee cups hung on the walls of my Portuguese kitchen, plus 6 prints of Algarvean towns and villages all duly framed to remind me of what was my second home for 28 years in the Portuguese winter.
@martin-bellamy: Wow, that bat lamp will be unique. If you'd had the bat signed first by Geoffrey Boycott or Ben Stokes....
@martin-bellamy: Wow, that bat lamp will be unique. If you'd had the bat signed first by Geoffrey Boycott or Ben Stokes....
Never too late for a bit of forgery 😉
@powmillnaemore: I agree that context and the way words are spoken are very relevant to the issue. The tone of voice used, a smile or a wink etc make the effect of the words different to the same words if sent in a text or a letter, or if spoken in a different tone and without that smile. And not everyone seems able to imagine how the words coming from their mouth might be interpreted by others (or misinterpreted/misunderstood). And early apologies if words are used insensitively can head off serious ructions which might otherwise build up.
My Dad would frequently preface something that he was about to say "No offence intended, but..."
It used to annoy the hell out of me that he could think that saying that excused the (evidently) offensive thing he was going to say. If he knew it would offend/was offensive, then why say it at all?
Different times, different standards maybe, but a distinct unwillingness to face up to things he knew in his heart were most likely wrong.
And don't get me started on what was his other favourite justification, "It says in the Daily Mail that..."
@martin-bellamy: I don't want this to be a contest of "I played cricket, but at a lower standard than you..." but....
I never played cricket at club level (eg NYSD League level), but I did play cricket at University*, on my return "home" I played for a social team which used to play friendly games in the evenings and some at weekends (Young Lawyers teams etc)**, and I played some village cricket both in the league, more often at 2nd team than 1st Team level - and at midweek league level***. In summary I have to say I was a VERY mediocre cricketer though I did get to play some games on decent grounds and wickets (Ashbrooke at Sunderland and also at Hartlepool and Stockton).
But to deal with the above:
* OBVIOUSLY I was not good enough to play for the University otherwise I'd have been by definition First Class, but I played games for my College and, amusingly when the College was on a summer cricket tour in the West Country, and Yorkshire were I think playing Somerset, Geoff Boycott had been unwell and unable to play for YCCC. Instead, and to "get his eye in", he played for a club side in a friendly against my College on one of the days. He scored a hundred and retired. He did not subsequently field, but we won the game.
** The Young Lawyers games were of varying levels of seriousness, including 40 overs a side games against reasonable teams at the weekend and 20 overs a side games in the evening against similar teams (hospital staff teams and teams of other professions, for example). I mention it because it's topical in view of the news that, a few days ago, The Star at Harome has been closed because of a recent fire which ran through the thatched roof and damaged the building below. One 40 over weekend game was played there against a "Star" team and I can tell you that, apart from losing the game, the mid-afternoon cricket tea there was WELL up to standard - probably the best I've ever eaten.
*** Playing for the village team in the Midweek League, there were several Asian Teams in the league at various levels. There were never any issues, and neither should there have been. Most teams didn't have a clubhouse or a bar to repair to after a game - particularly if "works teams" - I'm not talking about Dormans or ICI grounds here for most of the teams although I have played some games there, but more like building firms, painting and decorating firms etc, but in any event not all the village teams have their own bar, so I guess we are lucky - and therefore if you were playing at a local authority venue like the pitches at Mill Hill in Middlesbrough, or near the Rugby Club at Redcar, we tended to play the games then go home, unless we agreed to go to a pub afterwards. Socialising after the midweek games wasn't really much of "a thing" - you'd go to the venue after work (no time to go home first) and wanted to get the game finished whilst the light was OK then go home for a meal! I suppose a group of Asians might get together to play cricket, if they enjoy it, just as much as a group of Young Lawyers or hospital staff.
Having said which it is YEARS since I picked up a cricket ball in anger. Great game to watch though, especially with a glass of something refreshing in hand which is sadly not possible at football games.
@powmillnaemore:
I agree, no point in saying "no offence intended..." if you then go on to say something that must inevitably cause offence. You either don't say it, or you use other words which don't cause offence.
In Law, the joke most often used by non-lawyers is that by starting with "With Respect..." the advocate usually means to signal that he has NO respect for the person he is addressing. That's not very wise, particularly if the words are spoken to the Judge who has to decide the case (I mean, it's always better to have people "on side" rather than offending them!). Even if used to an opposing advocate, it's unwise. After all, what goes around comes around and might come to bite you later. I'd always say something like "Might I respectfully suggest X, Y Z....?" and it was always MEANT with respect, and I'm sure was always taken that way. There were very few in court for whom I had no respect but in that rare event I'd not pretend it but use a different formula. So although solicitor advocates might refer to opponents as "My Friend" and barristers as "My Learned Friend", in the rare event I had an issue with my opponent, then rather than saying "With respect to My Friend...", I'd say something like "It might assist Mr Bloggs for the Respondent (or Counsel for the Respondent) if I made it clear that X, Y and Z", but I wouldn't say "friend" without meaning it. It was just my thing and I don't suppose many, if any, noticed it. Words are important in court.
I had a discussion with my wife just this morning about the Mail and the Express. They are hardly newspapers "Of Record".
@forever-dormo I used to play at school then stopped when I started work. Later, having moved to Hett in Co Durham, I somehow found myself playing for a division of British Steel based in Redcar. From memory, we were called Redcar Technical Centre and played in a mid-week evening Teesside league, plus quite a few friendlies at weekends. I absolutely loved it. I recall one friendly at Westerdale in the NYM, which was an idyllic venue and a lovely family day. Some of the best days of my life whilst my two girls were young.
I then moved with work across the Pennines and found the wet pitches didn’t suit my medium/fast pace bowling, although it made batting slightly easier.
Thanks for the kind words about the lamp, here’s one I made for my fishing mad daughter and her partner.
...Thanks for the kind words about the lamp, here’s one I made for my fishing mad daughter and her partner.
Are you taking orders for Christmas Martin? I am very impressed.
My wife's cousin has a penchant for making lamps out of anything he can lay his hands on, but these of yours are really very, very good. There is a market out there if you wanted to explore it.
@powmillnaemore:
I agree. I think the fishing rod one is even better than the cricket bat, but in either event the recipient will recognise it as a personally-designed present and no doubt will treasure the present.
Forever Dormo
Geoff Boycott was born in Fitzwilliam and regularly played for Barnsley along with Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird and Michael Parkinson in his youth, but occasionally played for Castleford Cricket Club at Saville Park when Yorkshire hadn’t a fixture on a Saturday. Cas play in the same league as Scarborough, the Yorkshire Premier League North and were Champions this year, although I’m not sure where the standard equates to the NYSD League.
@ken:
Well, Ken, WikiPedia is not to be trusted to the exclusion of critical faculties....but a quick look there tells me that the ECB Premier Leagues are the highest level of Club Cricket in England. There are 29 of them in the country and 4 of those leagues are in Yorkshire. Following re-organisation, they are the Bradford Premier League (BPL), the Yorkshire Premier League (YPL) North, the YPL South and the NYSD League.
Every year (COVID permitting!) there is a Yorkshire Championship which is played between the winners of the BPL, the YPL(N), the YPL(S) and the top Yorkshire team in the NYSD - because of course, half of the NYSD consists of teams from County Durham.
The leagues in Yorkshire are comparable in strength. There are some who would have said, in the "old days" that only Len or Ken could remember, that the old Bradford League (which in 2016 merged with the former Yorkshire Central League to become the BPL) was the strongest of all the cricket leagues in the country but they are meant to be equal. And the fact that the NYSD, or even the Yorkshire teams within that league, can hold their heads up in the highest company can be seen in their results.
The NYSD has won the national inter-league competition (the LCC inter-league competition formerly known as the President's Trophy) on 12 occasions, holds the longest sequence of wins in that competition (7, from as recently as 1988-1994) and the longest sequence of victories within that competition (36). In 2018 Richmondshire CC (which has won the NYSD 6 times since 2012 including the last 3 years consecutively and is therefore the current NYSD Champions) won the ECB National Club Championship. So whatever people might think - from Bradford, Pudsey or even in Liverpool or Lancashire, or wherever - the NYSD successfully fights its corner against the best of the best in club cricket Premier leagues.
@powmillnaemore How about this one that’s going to my brother in law for Xmas?
Now that's a serious flash unit on that Polaroid camera!
Several years ago we bought a lamp made from an old Kodak Brownie for our son who is keen on photography.
Note, we bought it not created it.
Hats off to you.
@powmillnaemore Cheers. Not bad for an ex-insurance broker!
Yorkshire CCC have had a good clear out this week. Some of their players I’ve admired over the years have now been tainted, Martyn Moxon, former players such as Michael Vaughan, Tim Bresnan, etc it’s so sad really. I’m not too surprised about Andrew Gale though, yet he seems determined to challenge the decision. Maybe this racial abuse goes back as far back as the Len Hutton era who when England’s captain on the tour to the West Indies in 1953/54 discouraged fraternisation with the opposition, but then Hutton was an aloof character much like Geoff Boycott several years later.
However Fred Trueman particularly didn’t get on with Hutton and there were calls for him to be sent home for his uncouth behaviour. At a reception it was rumoured that he asked the High Commissioner “Pass the salt, Gungadin”. He survived the tour but was docked his winning bonus and never played under Hutton again.
When my wife and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary in Barbados I was asked by a bajan where we came from, and after I mentioned Yorkshire he asked me if I knew Geoff Boycott and I replied “Not personally” and he then spent 15 minutes idolising Boycott, which I did find rather strange as West Indian batsmen were generally hero worshipped for their flamboyance, which hardly described Boycott. Whenever I bumped into this bajan man he told me that he had told all his friends that I lived in the same village as Geoff Boycott despite assuring him that I didn’t and had never even met Boycott, although I had met Fred Trueman. He then started singing a calypso “Freddie Trueman, Freddie Trueman, who taught you how to bowl out Australia?” Lovely people the inhabitants of Barbados and very religious. When passing the church at St Lawrence Gap on a Sunday we could hear them singing their gospel songs with the church doors wide open. Magic!
Not a bit surprised to wake up this morning to find that England had made such a poor start to the Ashes series. In almost English-like overcast conditions I was surprised at the omission of Stuart Broad and the decision to bat. Normally I’d have stayed up till 1am as that is my usual bedtime, but after Joe Root was dismissed I’d had enough and decided to have an early night.
