My Cricket Memories 1
Sun 19 Apr 2020
With no cricket at the moment, Leicestershire CCC is talking to officials, players, coaches, members, supporters and staff about their cricketing memories. To start this brand new series, Club President Jack Birkenshaw MBE talks about the start of an amazing journey that saw him fall in love with the game.
In the 1950s, cricket in Yorkshire was a religion, and everyone you knew was playing for a local village club. The county team was made up of great players like Hutton, Lowson, Appleyard, Trueman and Wardle. It was a joy to visit Headingley and watch these great players in action.
The winters belonged to Leeds United where John Charles stole the show. Several rugby league clubs were on the doorstep, so we were surrounded with first-class sport.
My village Rothwell was famous for very little! It was the centre of the Rhubarb Triangle of England and it had one of the very few indoor cricket schools in the country. My good fortune was that I lived next door to the school, whose coach was a leg-spinning all-rounder who played with great success for Somerset.
He had a son, Miles, who was an excellent player and we became good friends. Mr Lawrence encouraged me to bowl in the nets as much as I wanted, so I loved every minute of my cricket education.
During the summer our workplace was a large greenhouse growing tomatoes and cucumbers. When September came it was transformed into a two lane indoor cricket centre with the best spin surface you could wish for.
Our coach was a magician with the ball, introducing us to googlies, flippers and toppers. Every net session was an adventure and even after a disastrous day, he would always remember one beautiful shot or one wicket taking delivery that you had produced. You could not wait for your next session. He was a master of few words, which is the art of an exceptional coach.
His coaching was full of passion, encouragement and experiments, because he wanted to find ways of getting people out. He would get local players to put a sixpence on their wickets, and if you knocked it off, it was yours. On a good night you could head home with a fist full of silver!
The school was a conveyor belt for professional cricketers, among them Tim Boon, Brian Bolus, Graham Atkinson, one H.D.Bird and his crème de la crème student, Sir Geoffrey Boycott.
Johnny Lawrence was a special coach, mentor and cricketer who was still a professional in the Huddersfield League at the age of 80.
Jack Birkenshaw
Leicestershire CCC President
* Thanks to Getty Images for the accompanying image.
Click below to read the other installments of the Cricket Memories series:
