Disappearing World
Martin Chandler |Published: 2023
Pages: 286
Author: Berry, Scyld
Publisher: Pitch
Rating: 4 stars
Scyld Berry has been writing about cricket for nearly half a century and, of course, has been watching and enjoying it for a number of years longer than that. He is therefore as well qualified as anyone to reflect on English county cricket and the enormous pleasure it has given to so many over that time.
We have probably got to a stage now where all but the most diehard lovers of the county game realise that the threat level is now severe. I will confess now to being amongst that number who listen to the news but haven’t always taken it in and have relied on the fact that the status quo will continue for no reason other than it has for well over a century.
Against that background I found Scyld’s introduction a rather depressing read, as his lucid and concise explanation of the issues involved caused it to dawn on me for the first time precisely why the threat is now so pressing, and on reflection I can only agree with him, and that a celebration of our eighteen county structure is called for.
So what follows are eighteen essays, all a joy to read, and no two the same in approach so, after much thought, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to do the book justice is to look at each of the chapters in turn.
In strict alphabetical order Derbyshire therefore start things off and, of course, they are one of the counties that some considerable expendable. Scyld examines a fine history of fast bowling, and the county’s illustrious line of wicketkeepers before, for once, dwelling on the present.
In the case of Durham all history is relatively recent. Scyld’s look at the Championship’s only new member in the last hundred years reinforces the fact that if he won’t do it himself someone really needs to write up Paul Collingwood’s life, that the ultimately tragic story of Colin Milburn should never be forgotten, and that the county’s treatment by the powers that be in recent years has been shabby to say the least.
The story of Essex cricket is likened to that of New Zealand, and a side consistently punching above their weight. We all knew that of course, but perhaps not just how impressively Essex have overcome adversity. Remarkable too is the way the cricketing gospel is spread around the county now. Hands up those who knew that 70% of the playing staff come from state schools, and that as many as seven of the 2019 Championship winning side were born in the same Essex hospital?
For Glamorgan read Wales and a county that is one on its own. This time Scyld does meander through the history of county, but stops off along the way to nominate an eleven of remarkable characters only two of which, Wilf Wooller and Jack Mercer, made a significant mark on cricket history.
With Gloucestershire Scyld dwells on the very first match the county played, back in 1870, in which the legendary WG and his siblings all featured. After the Graces, Gilbert Jessop and Wally Hammond are both lauded and the county’s long line of spinners mentioned together with the rather more recent success of Mark Alleyne’s unfancied team at the end of the last century.
The Hampshire chapter starts off in Hambledon and the story of the Nyrens before spending some time looking at the Honourable Lionel Tennyson, the county’s captain between 1919 and 1933. More recent times are not overlooked however, and Rod Bransgrove, long time chairman and, realistically, the man who saved the club, getting due credit for his efforts.
Unsurprisingly the essay on Kent centres around the county’s tradition of producing top class wicketkeepers. The great autocrat of the game in years gone by, Lord Harris, looms large as well and there are some splendid quotes on the subject of Frank Woolley. There is not a great deal about Kent currently, but there is a reminder of the way the county ‘rewarded’ Chris Tavare after his two seasons in charge in 1983 and 1984.
Naturally I was particularly interest on the Lancashire chapter, one which has a very different approach, starting and finishing with the considerable commercial success the county has had in recent years. From there Scyld goes back to the very start before moving forward to the days of Neville Cardus, Ted McDonald and batsmanship that was the antithesis of ‘Bazball’.
Leicestershire are having a difficult time at the moment, and indeed life for the East Midlands county has often been a struggle. This chapter is perhaps a little more of a conventional history, but one that looks hard at the influence of Mike Turner, whose efforts eventually resulted in the success the county enjoyed under Ray Illingworth in the 1970s. There was more success at the end of the 1990s, but it has been largely downhill since then, although with Paul Nixon’s tenure as coach and the emergence of Rehan Ahmed perhaps there will be another resurgence in the county’s fortunes.
The chapter on Middlesex follows the county’s various homes before settling on Lord’s, and looks at its tradition of employing cricketers born all over the globe. It begins however with mention of the original ‘Brylcreem Boy’, Denis Compton, the man who be top of the list of many as to the English batsman they would most like to have seen play.
Northamptonshire, along with Somerset and Gloucestershire*, are one of the three counties not to have won the County Championship since it was officially constituted in 1890. Success for them often proved elusive and Scyld spends some time telling the story of a win over Leicestershire in 1939, the county’s first in 100 attempts. Like Leicestershire Northants in the 1950s had a Turner (in their case Ken) who single-handedly ran the club in such a way that by 1965 they came very close to winning that elusive title.
As with Hampshire and Gloucestershire Scyld looks a long way back with Nottinghamshire, to the days of William Clarke and George Parr. Always one of the wealthier counties it was Notts who signed the legendary Garry Sobers in 1968, certainly an event worth recording in any book.
The Somerset essay starts with an acknowledgment of the county being runners-up six times in the twenty first century in their continuing quest for a title, before Scyld moves back to their earliest years when, if they were never going to be champions, there were still some notable victories. In between there also stories of the sides between the wars and in the post war years when few professionals were available, before Brian Close was brought in to turn things round, something he certainly succeeded in doing.
The wealthiest club in the Championship, Surrey, do not always make themselves popular with the opposition, but no doubt there is an element of jealousy in that. Top class signings have been many, particularly in recent years, but there have also been some regrettable events, Scyld referencing in that respect the loss of Australian Alan Marshal in 1910 after a ‘police incident’ and the dreadful tragedy of the loss of Tom Maynard in another a century later.
Turing to Sussex Scyld begins with some fiction, from Hugh de Selincourt’s famous novel The Cricket Match, to the schoolboy fiction of Anthony Buckeridge who created the character Jennings. From there he moves on to Alan Ross, a cricket reporter but a renowned poet as well. Moving on to consider the disproportionately large number of family pairings to have appeared for Sussex Scyld then, at last, fails to resist the urge to elect an all time eleven for the county.
Off field activities also take up some time where Warwickshire are concerned, both ancient ones and the original acquisition of the Edgbaston ground, and then more recently the extensive redevelopment of the last few years. The county have also had their successes on the field, notably their titles in 1911 and 1951, and since the end of the last war have always cast their net widely in their search for talent.
Worcestershire’s New Road ground, in the shadow of the Cathedral, is an image which Scyld waxes lyrical about, and quite rightly to0. He goes on to look at the individuals who supported the club for many years, and the little-known fact that in the Edwardian era the legendary Victor Trumper was almost persuaded to join the county.
Which just leaves Yorkshire, Scyld’s own county, where he begins with the words; There has, it would appear, never been so much trouble at t’mill, before starting with the racism controversy which, at the point he finished writing had yet to result in the recent decision from the Cricket Discipline Commission. From there the only way is back in time, and no doubt because Scyld is a Yorkshireman himself, this one is perhaps the best essay in the book.
On finishing Disappearing World I found myself wondering whether its author enjoyed writing the book as much as I enjoyed reading it, which prompted me to re-read the introduction, after which I have every confidence that he did.
*Unlike Somerset and Northamptonshire Gloucestershire were acknowledged as County Champions on a number of occasions in the 1870s, prior to the competition being formally organised
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