As the sun sets on the 2017 season, Chris Maguire hands out his end-of-season cricket awards. As usual they’re a mixture of serious and tongue-in-cheek. Laurence Olivier Award for Acting The winner is Norcross legend Rick Blampied. After taking the cover off one against White Coppice he turned to us and said: “You know me lads, I walk if I hit it.” Just to rub salt into the wounds the wannabee Zlatan Ibrahimovic lookalike then got a 50. Cricket Karma Award I don’t advocate cheating but when I gloved Norcross’ Jordan Delph straight to Rick Blampied at first slip in the return fixture and got given not out I realised there was a cricket god. It was worth standing…
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On Saturday White Coppice’s 19th straight defeat of the season brought the curtains down on a winless campaign. Bowled out for 23 by Vernon Carus 2nd, the match finished before our resident vet Matt Smith had left the surgery and arrived at the ground. The only good news is the animal he was treating that had delayed him didn’t die. So how did a proud cricket club like White Coppice formed in 1875 endure such a torrid season? This is the story of the 2017 season and the club that refused to die. Pre-season Our best batsman Kyle Dixon was one of a number of players to leave in the close season. He’d been a brilliant servant to the…
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On Saturday, White Coppice play their final game of the 2017 season against Vernon Carus still searching for their first win. I’m the world’s most positive bloke but I don’t think there will be a lot of money on us breaking our duck (especially because I’m due to be captain). Coppice’s troubles this season are well known. We’ve lost as many players as we have games (18 at the last count ) but we’ve not forfeited any games even when we had to take to the field against New Longton with only seven players. However, the player shortage is not unique to small village clubs like White Coppice. On Saturday I had a good chat with Fulwood & Broughton in…
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September is almost upon us which means we’re entering the final month of the cricket season. Congratulations to Netherfield for winning the Northern League at the weekend while the Palace Shield’s Premier Division looks like it’s going to the wire between Garstang and Fulwood & Broughton. Good luck to all the teams in the promotion mix. Of course when you play at White Coppice Cricket Club nobody talks about promotion anymore. Saturday’s defeat against Whittingham & Goosnargh was our 17th straight defeat of the season. We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves. Although we haven’t won a game success for us is fulfilling our fixtures and hopefully picking up the odd win. However with just a few…
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I’ve been very lucky in my career as a journalist to interview some of the biggest names in business, politics and sport. Quizzing Sir Richard Branson, putting politicians under the spotlight and interviewing England football managers and Olympic gold medallists is an honour and one that I don’t take for granted. However if I had to identify the experience I enjoyed above all others in my 25+ year career it was spending nearly two hours in the Test Match Special box at the recent England vs South Africa Test match at Old Trafford. I felt like the kid with the golden ticket to get into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. TMS is 60 years old this summer and has been a constant…
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As a kid growing up I used to hate the Paul Hardcastle song ‘19’ and I like it even less now. On Saturday White Coppice were bowled out for 19 by Withnell Fold. It should have been 20 but Ross Dixon thought he’d hit our first boundary and stopped running. I was the captain and it hurt. It was humiliating but it wasn’t tragic. Tragic is what happened at Grenfell Tower and to little Charlie Gard and my thoughts are with the bereaved families. When I started writing this column more than a decade ago it was done on the proviso that it wouldn’t be a moan. There’s enough depressing news in the world without me adding to it. It’s…
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