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News and EventsAnnual General MeetingThis is advance notice that the Annual General Meeting of The Cricket Writers' Club will be at Lord's Cricket Ground on Monday, 15th April, 2013, starting at 3.00 p.m
Wisden 2013 OfferGreat news for CWC Members! Once again Chris Lane has been kind enough to extend a special offer price for this year’s Wisden. His offer is as follows:-
Hardback * ISBN 9781408175651 RRP £50.00 CWC PRICE £25.00 plus postage
Softback * ISBN 9781408175637 RRP £50.00 CWC PRICE £25.00 plus postage
Large Format * ISBN 9781408175644 RRP £66.00 CWC PRICE £35.00 plus postage
A free paperback edition of Wisden 1864 will be sent with all offers marked * above.
The Little Wonder 978140813623 £25.00 £19.99 plus postage - The Little Wonder, compiled by Robert Winder, is a history of 150 years of Wisden Cricketers
Almanack. Postage to a UK address is £3.00 Overseas postage is £7.50 (£5.00 to EC country) Maximum postage per order (regardless of how many copies) UK £6, EC £12, Overseas £18
To take advantage of this extremely generous offer, you should proceed as follows:-
Telephone MACMILLAN WISDEN DIRECT on 01256 302685 Quote reference GLR 8MB
Frank KeatingAlas, the mournful news this month appears to be unrelenting with the passing of Frank Keating at the age of 75 on January 25, writes Julian Guyer.
His funeral will take place on February 7, 12.45pm, at Belmont Abbey, Ruckhall Lane, Hereford HR2 9RZ. All friends and colleagues very welcome. After requiem mass, there will be a private burial; and refreshments for all at Lyde Arundel, which is across Hereford from the abbey.
Although he ranged across a wide field during a career with the Guardian where, as his former colleague Matthew Engel wrote, he invented modern 'posh-paper' sports writing, there can be no denying that cricket was one of his great sporting passions and this was reflected in his longstanding membership of the CWC.
In its obituary, the Daily Telegraph said Frank had described himself as the Sancho Panza of sports writing but added that such a label did him an injustice. Quite so, but how lucky indeed to be one of his Don Quixotes.
It was sometimes said Frank was a "sentimental" writer, implying a criticism. But, as Somerset Maugham noted, "sentimentality is only sentiment that rubs you up the wrong way". And why take issue with Frank's sentiments?
My thanks to Matthew Engel for the following information, which may prove useful to anyone intending to make the trip to Hereford on public transport:
There are trains from Paddington at
0745 arr 1025
0815 1106
0822 1143
0845 1151
0945 1225 (not recommended)
It’s about 15 mins by cab from the station to the abbey. The 0822 is direct via Worcester but slow; on all other trains, change at Newport. Punctuality is merely an aspiration on the Hereford line so beware.
Return trains
1633 arr 1932
1640 2006
1740 2126
1751 2114 (two changes)
1833 2132
All these involve at least one change.
If you have any routine queries re arrangements please call Matthew and Hilary Engel 01981 241210 or 07802 500348. Or email Matthew at ukengel@gmail.com
Jane Keating’s address for correspondence is Church House, Marden, Hereford HR1 3EN.
Christopher Martin-JenkinsMemorial 16 April 2013 - St Paul's Cathedral 11.00 a.m.The Cricket Writers' Club has now been informed that a memorial service for Christopher Martin-Jenkins, our former President, will take place at St Paul's Cathedral on Tuesday, April 16 commencing at 11.00 a.m.
Ticket application to MCC Lord's Cricket Ground.
Christopher Martin-Jenkins (1945-2013)The death of CMJ from cancer was a truly saddening way to start the year, writes Julian Guyer. Arguably the best-known Member of the Cricket Writers' Club, he held four of the 'great offices of state' in our trade, having been, the Cricket Correspondent of the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and The Times as well as the editor of the Cricketer.
He also completed the rare 'double' of being both President of the CWC, an office he held at the time of his death, and MCC, a position which provided him with unexpected controversy as well as joy.
I think David Warner, in one of several messages of condolence that made their way to me, spoke for us all when he wrote of Christopher: "This is a terrible loss. An outstanding man with a great love for cricket and a vast knowledge of the game. And always prepared to speak out strongly in support of county cricket."
But there were also, as Peter Baxter and Tony Cozier point out below, so many entertaining private 'CMJ Moments" for those of us fortunate to have shared a press or commentary box with him down the years. For my part two incidents remain vivid, with both demonstrating Christopher's fundamental decency.
My first conversation with CMJ was during a county match at Southgate when I was working for Hayters, a fact which prompted Christopher to reply: "That's where all the stars start." Which only goes to show that even a man well-known for his judgment can be wrong once in a while. The second was years later at the Oval, during the final Test of the 2005 Ashes. It so happened I was in the seat next to Christopher's in the press box. At one stage he was looking through a series of cuttings in preparation for a radio interview with Michael Grade, the then BBC chairman. One piece suggested Grade was a "bit of a schmoozer".
CMJ turned to me and, in that gloriously well-modulated voice, asked: "What does schmoozer mean?" When I asked him afterwards if I could quote the conversation for a diary piece, I was filing for the Wisden Cricketer, he gave me the go-ahead without a moment's hesitation. As a result, I was able to write: "That's what I do when it rains. I advise CMJ on Yiddish." I don't suppose I'll ever have a better line.
The late 'CMJ' Peter Baxter, who first worked with CMJ more than 40 years ago, recalls his initial impressions of a future Test Match Special colleague.It is incongruous -- for both of us -- that I first met CMJ at Chelsea Football Club in 1970. I was producing the Outside Broadcasts department's commentary on whatever match it was and he was doing a report for the rival Sports News department (such was the strange organisation of the BBC at the time).
My department were impressed in those days by Christopher's command of the concise one-minute report, a fact which would surprise his more recent colleagues who only knew him when his relationship with the clock - any clock - had become more estranged.
When he joined Sports News, its legendary editor, Angus McKay, creator of Sports Report, told him: "We shall call you Chris Jenkins.
But Christopher stuck to his guns. "I'd prefer my full name, please." So 'CMJ' became common currency.
It was attention to detail that made him such a fine commentator and the choice of the right words to describe the action and the scene in which it was set. But what we will remember are those 'CMJ moments'.
I recall once being in the West Indies and describing to him the details of a difficult day I had just had, with everything going wrong, down to the road being dug up when I was hurrying off to get an interview. There was silence from him before he said, sadly: "My whole life's like that."
And he did the decent thing by letting us know of crises like cutting through the headphone cable from his Walkman and wondering why it had suddenly all gone so quiet. Or ringing me after the start of play at the Oval to admit he had gone to Lord's.
With the demise of Tony Greig just before Christopher, I remembered that in India in late 1976 I had set up a pre-Christmas phone-in to the England captain. It was an ambitious idea, but the arrangements were made with All India Radio. CMJ just had to get Greig to the radio station in Gauhati, where England were playing the East Zone. They ordered a taxi and Christopher told the driver, "All India Radio, please."
He knew the station was on the edge of town, but when rice paddies and green hills were going by, he thought it seemed further than he had reckoned. "How much further?" he asked.
"To Oil India?" the driver asked, as they were pulling up at the refinery.
To do him credit, Greig was amused, but -- not uniquely -- Christopher was late.
Principle and punch in Barbados Tony Cozier remembers how CMJ refused to back down after enraging Caribbean cricket followers before the healing power of rum soothed all wounds.Christopher Martin-Jenkins. There was the unmistakable ring of an English gentleman, through and through, to the very name of my fellow (BBC Test) debutant when I first became pretentiously known as "the West Indian voice" on Test Match Special in 1973. In the nearly 40 years that followed, sharing commentary and press boxes in England and the Caribbean,turning out for his team in a Sunday match on some idyllic ground in Surrey and entertaining the usually boisterous touring media at off-day parties at our modest Barbados beach bungalow, I found CMJ to be always that. As with the numerous, heartfelt tributes that followed his passing, I recall mostly his kindness, generosity, a dry sense of humour and his devotion the game's values and traditions. And, of course, he was the radio commentator supreme.
I only became aware of the eccentricities that made him so endearing to those in the profession second-hand; I did know of his propensity to be late for his stints on TMS when Shilpa Patel, the lively, and lovely, production assistant, would dash into the press box to summon me for mine with the rebuke," You’re becoming the West Indian CMJ".
We sometimes crossed swords. I found it completely out of character when he used sport's most pejorative word, "cheating", to charge that the dominant, pace-based West Indies teams of the 1980s deliberately slowed down their over-rates which "guaranteed them from defeat" and in the infamous Rob Bailey dismissal in the 1990 Barbados Test when he reported umpire Lloyd Barker had been pressurized into changing his decision by Viv Richards' "orchestrated appeal". "If that was gamesmanship or professionalism, I'm not sure what cheating is," he said.
The public reaction was typically overblown. He was removed by the local station as part of its commentary team and the sports editor of one paper wrote that he should have been "put on a plane out of Barbados".
Even on the rest day of the Barbados Test four years later he remained wary when the landline from the Cozier beach bash was out of order (I had informed him and the others that they could file their reports from there) and the nearest pay phone had to suffice. Trouble was that it adjoined a rum shop and CMJ was well down the line for making his call. Reluctantly persuaded to join the others in the shade of the bar while they waited, CMJ was somehow identified and a hostile reception expected. A couple of rum punches soothed his nerves as did the informed cricket talk that ensued. There was not a mention of over-rates or the Rob Bailey incident. Of course, he missed his place in the telephone queue.
PETER BYRNEWell-known in particular to Members on the southern circuit, where he provided immense help as a volunteer press-box scorer, Peter died in December after suffering a heart attack upon returning from a holiday in the United States.
Like CMJ, a vice-president of the Cricket Society, he also served that organization as both Treasurer and a Trustee.
Of course, it was often possible to bump into both Mr and Mrs Byrne at Lord's. For many years Peter's late wife Lilian answered the MCC telephones, with her work highlighted by David Hopps in a piece he wrote for the 1995 Wisden.
Peter was a great ice hockey enthusiast, in common with his friend Norman de Mesquita, and it was quite something to see the pair of them in harness at Lord's or The Oval. Such was the service the rest of us got, we rarely had to bother the official scorers. It always used to surprise me how Peter, a chartered accountant by profession who also scored for BBC local radio, found time to run his own business given his devotion to sport and cricket in particular.
His booming voice and forceful manner could make Peter seem a slightly intimidating figure on first acquaintance, but he was especially helpful to me when I was starting out and I know he will be much missed by many Members.
As advised in an earlier e-mail, Peter's funeral will be held at the West London Crematorium (Harrow Road, London W10 4RA) this Wednesday (January 16) at 9.30 a.m.
After the service, people are invited by MCC to the Bowlers' Bar in the Pavilion at Lord's, where coffee and sandwiches will be served, an event which would have prompted some typically trenchant comments from Peter.
2013 HandbookIt may seem somewhat 'previous' to be talking about this now, but in the next couple of months I will be compiling this year's Handbook. If there was an error in last year's edition or your details have changed since then, please drop me an e-mail (julian.guyer@afp.com) as soon as you can.
In the meantime, whether you are in Kochi, Kennington or Knowsley, I wish you all the best. As they used to say in Portsmouth, and still do at HMS Nelson: "Come cheer up my lads, tis to glory we steer". And if glory is as much beyond you as it is me, let's hope we can all manage to fall in with some sympathetic subs at the very least.
NEWS FROM OUR SPONSORS WILLIAM HILLWILLIAM HILL are asking for information in these last two categories to be used in previews, stories, broadcasting items etc. This will all help to enhance the relationship between the Club and William Hill, thus improving the chances of a further extension to their sponsorship.
Speciality bets & individual information - All Members are urged to contact Rupert Adams(radams@williamhill.co.uk) at ANY TIME for any betting price information. THIS IS AN EXCLUSIVE SERVICE offered to CWC Members, so please take advantage of this offer.
Representatives of William Hill enjoyed the Annual Lunch in September, where they saw and presented the new County Championship Player of the Year Trophy, the inaugural winner of which was Nick Compton. They are already looking forward to the 2013 event, provisionally booked for Monday, 30th September. Please note that we have never provided William Hill with a list of CWC addresses and e-mails. If you contact them, it is possible they may return the favour!......... but it is not our intention to provide William Hill with all that information. Indeed, it is a firm Club policy NOT to provide your personal information to any company whatsoever.
Representatives of William Hill recently met our Chairman, Pat Gibson, and Mark Baldwin. William Hill expressed their satisfaction with the co-operation experienced in 2012, as a result of which they announced they would like to increase their sponsorship to £5,000 per annum for 2013 and 2014. The Club is grateful for William Hill’s sponsorship and the Committee would like to encourage all CWC Members to maximise the benefit to the Club of this ongoing interest.
The following are some of the deals William Hill are offering CWC Members:-
Free 2013 William Hill Diary. This will be sent to your address, providing you e-mail Rupert Adams to order a copy. The diary comes with a free £10 bet. (radams@williamhill.co.uk)
Timetable of William Hill odds/information/speciality bets. In the past these have been provided for me to send out/post on the CWC website. William Hill prices’ bulletins Again, these will be posted on the CWC website, although they may be sent direct to Members’ in-boxes. ECB announces winners of County Journalism Awards 2012ECB today announced the winners of the second annual County Cricket Journalism Awards which recognises outstanding contributions towards the coverage of domestic
cricket during the County season.
David Jordan, who covers County Cricket for the Sportsbeat press agency, was named Young Journalist of the Year. He receives a £5,000 scholarship from the ECB to report on an overseas cricket event preferably involving County teams.
The other winners were:
National Newspaper of the Year: The Daily Telegraph
Online Publication of the Year: ESPN Cricinfo
Regional Newspaper of the Year: The Yorkshire Post
Special Award for Outstanding Innovation and Support of County Cricket: The Cricket Paper
The Derby Telegraph was also highly commended by the judges in the regional newspaper category.
The judging of the awards was conducted by a four-strong panel comprising the Chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club, Pat Gibson, BBC Radio reporter Kevin Howells, Paul Bolton who covers county cricket regularly for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and ECB Chief Executive David Collier.
The awards were presented to the winners today by ECB Chief Executive David Collier as part of an official reception hosted by the Lord’s Taverners for this year’s LV=County Championship title winners,Warwickshire.
The winners accompanied the Women’s County Champions, Kent, to Buckingham Palace for the annual presentation of the trophies by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, who is Patron and 'Twelfth Man' of recreational cricket’s official charity.
ECB Chief Executive David Collier said: “ECB is keen to promote the coverage of county cricket and we were delighted with both the quantity and quality of entries for this year’s competition. Congratulations go to all our winners and our thanks to The Cricket Writers’ Club and the judging panel for supporting this initiative once again.
Chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club Pat Gibson added: “The winners in the national newspaper and online categories were rewarded for significantly improving their coverage and while The Yorkshire Post continues to set the standard among the regionals they were challenged hard by other newspapers from around the country.
“As for the Young Journalist award, it was encouraging to see so many entries from young writers who obviously have a passion for the game. This bodes well for the future of cricket writing. Overall, the standard was very high and we are proud that our members contributed most of the material.”
TONY PAWSON (1921-2012)
The Cricket Writers' Club is sad to report the death of Tony Pawson yesterday 11 October, 2012.
Major Henry Anthony "Tony" Pawson OBE (born August 22, 1921) was the the son of Albert Pawson. Tony a renowned sportsman, writer and notable Corinithian played a total of 69 matches for Oxford University CC and Kent CCC. He batted right-handed, scoring 3,807 runs (including seven centuries) at an average of 37.32. He occasionally bowled right-arm off-breaks, taking seven wickets at an average of 40.00. Tony was Kent CCC's oldest player at the time of his death. He was cricket correspondent of The Observer and chaired the Cricket Writers' Club between 1980-81. Tony was a good all round sportsman and also played football to a high level. He won a blue for Oxford University (1947-48) and played 2 league matches for Charlton Athletic F.C. scoring on his debut and assisting in two other goals versus Tottenham Hotspur in December 1951. In June 1988 he was awarded the OBE for "services to angling". The Funeral was held at St. Andrews Church, Chilcomb, Near Winchester, Hampshire on Monday 22nd October 2012 at 14.30. Family flowers only with donations to The Wheelyboat Trust, a charity that helps disabled anglers, c/o Richard Steel & Partners, Alderman House, 12-14 City Road, Winchester SO23 8DS. A Thanksgiving Service will be announced later.
AWARDS ANNOUNCED AT CRICKET WRITERS' CLUB 66TH ANNUAL
LUNCH STAGED ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2012
Winners of Awards presented at the Cricket Writers' Club Annual lunch were:
Cricket Book of the Year 2012 : Steve James - The Plan - How Fletcher and Flower Transformed English Cricket (published by Bantam Press)
Peter Smith Memorial Award 2012 : County Cricket Club Groundsmen accepted by
Stuart Kerrison of Essex CCC
CWC Young Cricketer of the Year 2012 : J. E. Root of Yorkshire CCC
County Championship Player of the Year 2012 sponsored by William Hill : N.R.D. Compton of Somerset CCC
Note : Photographs from the Luncheon can be viewed via Cricket Writers' Club - Facebook page.
NICK COMPTON LANDS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2012 AWARD SPONSORED BY WILLIAM HILL
The unique contemporary design of the new Trophy, sponsored by William Hill, consists of a flat dish, six-and-a-half inches in diameter, mounted on a section of cricket bat willow.
In the centre of the dish is a rotatable, free-standing disc, engraved on one side with the seam of a cricket ball, and on the other with the distinctive logo of the 66 year-old Cricket Writers’ Club. Two silversmiths, one in Sheffield and the other in Canterbury, and a traditional hand-engraver were involved in the manufacture of this valuable sterling silver Trophy.
The plinth was made from willow provided by the Maidstone-based cricket bat manufacturer, Salix.
There are six hallmarks:-
The original silversmith’s own mark; the sterling silver mark 925; the lion passant denoting English silver; the Sheffield Rose for the city where the dish was made; the letter U denoting 2012 and, most particularly, the special Diamond Jubilee Hallmark, which is a profile of the Queen’s head inside a diamond-shaped
lozenge.
The original concept came from our Treasurer. Wendy Wimbush wanted the Trophy to be suitable for either a batsman or a bowler. With the willow plinth, it is fitting, therefore, that the first winner is a batsman Nick Compton of Somerset CCC who has performed with such great distinction this season.
CWC - Old Trafford 2012
Brian Scovell, chairman of the CWC's Facilities Committee, reports on his visit to Old Trafford on September 10, 2012 on the opening of the Media Centre.
"Peter Baxter agreed with me that Lancashire CCC should be congratulated on a fine job. There have been scares since the plans were drawn up in 2006 but the tired, satanic-looking ground is now on the way to becoming a modern stadium to be proud of. I spoke to a lot of people and everyone praised the press facilities, especially the press box which is different to those at the other Test grounds. It is on the second floor, the optimum place for the best view of the pitch and it has two large doors at each end which can open to let in both fresh air and noise from the crowd. There are six large TV monitors above the front tilted glass with small monitors for those in the front row who can't see them. The working tops are red which brighten up the 108 seater box. There is plenty of space to move around.
The press lounge is large and airy and everyone was impressed by the coq au vin, salmon, gammon, rice, cabbage, beetroot (David Weir's favourite training booster) and other welcome offerings. Players come up from the dressing rooms below to attend interviews in the same room after play. The toilets were imaginatively designed and the photographers appeared to be happy about their facilities.
Nothing works perfectly on day one and the automatic doors were still on manual at the media entrance on the ground floor and the two Schindler lifts were malfunctioning. The promised lockers hadn't arrived but all these matters will soon be put right. Perhaps coat hangers might be useful. The smartly dressed staff were all extremely helpful.
Another scoreboard - the main one is rather hidden on the right of the press box - is planned and the historic pavilion is being built up to the height of The Point, the 1,000 seater suite which should be the club's biggest money-spinner. The pavilion's exterior facade remains because it is a Grade One listed building. The hotel on the right is being extended to replace the old building which housed the last press box and a stand will go up next to it. On the West side, another Grandstand is being added.
It has been a fantastic year for British sport - with the exception of the highest paid performers in football - and I think our most travelled correspondents will agree that English cricket now has the finest press facilities in the world. Not having been to Pakistan and Bangladesh, I might be corrected but I doubt it. Only Arsenal's Emirates' Stadium comes close to matching our standards.
The Kia Oval and the Ageas Bowl still have matters to solve. Both developments stalled for various reasons but what they have is still far superior to the facilities of almost all of the 108 Test grounds.
Latest news on the ECB v CWC T20 series decider which stands at 2-2: Steve Elworthy has been trying to arrange a date but time is running out. WILLIAM HILL
The CWC, thanks primarily to the efforts of your Chairman and Mark Baldwin, has entered a three-year agreement with William Hill. This will provide the Club with an additional, and very welcome, source of funding and, we hope, our Members with some useful information during the course of the season. It will also lead to the creation of a new CWC Award for the County Championship Player of the Year, with the Club providing a perpetual trophy and William Hill one for the winner to keep. Rupert Adams of Hills writes: “William Hill is delighted to establish a structured link with such a respected body as the Cricket Writers’ Club. We hope that the association will benefit both parties for at least the next three years.
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