GerryShedd
Super Moderator
Geoffrey Boycott, not one for doling out praise, says in today's Telegraph of MJK:
"My former skipper, who has died aged 92, had a great sense of humour, no edge and was never officious. He was just a good man, a good gentle guy and you wanted him to do well."
He was an amazing captain of both Warwickshire and England. Also, he was an incredible short leg fielder who stood (no helmets in those days) amazingly close to the bat and took some stunning catches.
Yes, he was also a really nice guy. I played a couple of matches against him and one match with him and he was a total gentleman. One of my best moments in cricket is when I played in a match against Moreton-in-Marsh and batted with MJK. He was totally out of practice and scratched around for very few runs and got out before I did. My wish was that we could have added (say)120 with MJK making 100 of them and me scraping the rest. But it wasn't to be.
Guardian obituary here:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/18/mjk-smith-obituary
News is coming through of the death of M.J.K. Smith, a giant of Warwickshire cricket. He was my cricketing hero as I grew up.
Here's a quiz question for what may or may not turn out to be a rainy day:
When Ethan Bamber scored a hundred against Essex last year, he became the fourth Warwickshire batter to register a County Championship century as what we are now required to call a nightwatcher(!). Can you name the other three?
George Dobell reports on the injuries:
"Woakes has, in coach Ian Westwood's words, "the symptoms" of a hernia and is going to require careful management, while Barker has knee trouble. Neither are expected to play in the next game against Glamorgan. No decision has yet been made about Booth, who sustained a knock to the knee in the incident on Sunday).
If Crawley is the answer, what is the question?
The Bears top of the table at the moment. Somerset could overtake them; but Glamorgan need just 14 more to beat them with three wickets to fall. An exciting finish in prospect - and everyone's gone to have a cup of tea!
paulbear wrote:
Come on Gerry, I bet you had your sandwiches wrapped in brown paper as people in 'Them There Days' didn't use foil (You could buy a house for the price of a carton of foil) and maybe a thermos of tea. People then, wore suits to go everywhere so come on Gerry, were you cold without a proper jumper and a snorkel jacket. Only joking. : )
Sandwiches? Brown paper? Luxury! Me and me mates had to be happy with half a sandwich between 12 of us and it were wrapped up in half a sheet of newspaper rescued from the khazi. And don't talk to me about suits.... (Carries on endlessly in the manner of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch).
paulbear wrote:
Was anyone there for that 1927 game, was the bowling good or just bad batting.
Warwickshire 426-9 dec and 199-3 dec; Northants 169 and 78 all out.
In the Northants second innings, fast bowler Tommy Durnell took 7-29. Wisden said: "On a pitch, soft on top and hard underneath, the ball got up awkwardly and Durnell, bowling fairly fast with a high action, proved almost unplayable."
Durnell played only 14 first class matches but played for Smethwick from 1923 to 1948.
PS - no, I wasn't there!
In his report, George Dobell points out that Warwickshire's highest margin of victory, in terms of runs, is 378 which they inflicted upon Northants at Edgbaston in 1927.
Why stop at three?
All to play for.
Andy wrote:
Also, might be nitpicking, we didnt bowl badly at all, but we didn't bowl anywhere near as well as we could have considering the helpful conditions. Give em a 'hit me' ball in most overs. Yorkshire bowlers far more penetrative and relentless.
I fully expect this post to be misconstrued.
So what you're saying is that Sam Hain had the wrong boots on.
(PS - is that enough misconstruing?)
When the last wicket stand is the highest of the innings, you know that OHD is back.
Yes, OHD recalled at short notice from the Pears:
https://wccc.co.uk/news/oliver-hannon-dalby-to-return-to-warwickshire/
He might seek to play T20 around the world.
Still on Olly watch - Worcs were 186-9 when Olly joined Gareth Roderick yesterday. They put on 120 for the last wicket - Olly out for 20.
The new stand is to be named The Dennis Amiss Stand.