GerryShedd
Super Moderator
ajones1328 wrote:
GerryShedd wrote:
Whilst I don't disagree too much, I wonder if "cleaning up a tail" is less common than it used to be. Gone are the days when an Eric Hollies (or, for that matter, a Mark Robinson) was a walking wicket. Most tail-enders these days have at least some pretensions to batting skill; and if the ball is old and the pitch favourable to batting, wickets are not easy to come by.
We can only hope that applies to us today !
Yes!
Whilst I don't disagree too much, I wonder if "cleaning up a tail" is less common than it used to be. Gone are the days when an Eric Hollies (or, for that matter, a Mark Robinson) was a walking wicket. Most tail-enders these days have at least some pretensions to batting skill; and if the ball is old and the pitch favourable to batting, wickets are not easy to come by.
George Dobell has asked me if I will republish here the tribute to Robert that he has written for The Cricketer. He calls it his Robituary and says Robert would have wanted it published here, which is a nice thought. I envy George's ability to find exactly the right thing to say.
Anyway, here it is:
Robert Brooke: May 5 1940 to May 15, 2025.
Robert Brooke, the co-founder of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS), has died. He was 85.
Brooke, who authored more than 20 books and wrote a column for The Cricketer for 23 years, chaired the ACS from 1973 to 1979 and was librarian at Warwickshire CCC. He was, among many other things, statistician for The Cricketer and Warwickshire CCC.
Born in Solihull in May 1940, his original surname was Higgs. But he changed it by deed poll to Brooke - his mother’s maiden name - after falling out with his somewhat domineering father. He received his first Playfair Cricket Annual when he was eight - the first year of its publication - and his first Wisden at 16. From there he was hooked. Having excelled at maths at school, he was also blessed with a detective’s hunger for information and something close to a photographic memory. It combined to help him develop into one of the very best statisticians and historians the game has seen.
He ruffled feathers at times. He was never one to accept conventionally held ‘truths’, be they historical or statistical, and would be contemptuous of those whose research failed to live up to his exacting standards. He reexamined nearly all established statistics, invariably corrected them and immeasurably improved the accuracy of the craft.
His book reviews were also infamously acerbic. Once, after an admittedly sub-standard piece, I received a withering email from him reading only “I’m so sorry this is what you’ve become”. Another time, I asked for his help with an obituary. “He was the sort of man whose zimmer frame you wanted to kick from under him,” he replied.
But he was also wonderfully generous with his knowledge. And his ability to apply that knowledge, to make it relevant and interesting, really took his work to a different level. Several generations of journalists - including E.W Swanton, John Arlott, Christopher Martin-Jenkins and, at a more modest level, this one more than any - owed him plenty.
There was little money in cricket statistics in Robert’s early years - or later, he would no doubt point out - so he pursued numerous alternative careers. At first, he explored a future in law, working at Lincoln's Inn. When that failed to engage him, he worked as a postal clerk and then a postman. For a while, he enjoyed an existence of something akin to a hippy, living in Glastonbury and enjoying a relationship with a duchess. At around the same time, he slept overnight on the pitch at Hambledon in the hope of evoking the spirits at ‘the cradle of cricket’.
But Warwickshire - and Warwickshire CCC - always called him home. For many years, he sold newspapers at Dorridge Station. He also worked, for a time, as a private detective but admitted the lure of the pub rendered him suboptimal when it came to staking out the subjects of his work. Nobody who knew him will be at all surprised that the idea for the ACS (and it was, originally, an association for statisticians; the ‘historians’ bit was added later) was, in 1972, born in a pub.
His Milestones column, in The Cricketer, was astonishing for the level of research it evidenced in those pre-internet days, while he also edited the ACS quarterly The Cricket Statistician from 1973 to 1985. Most would concede it was not quite as interesting or relevant after he relinquished it. He was proud of his work for Wisden, too.
In 2011, he became the first individual to win the ACS’s Statistician of the Year for a second year (Philip Bailey had won it once as an individual and once as a partnership) having also been awarded it in 1989.
That 2011 award was in recognition of his final and perhaps best book: FR Foster - The Fields Were Sudden Bare. Robert always had something of a penchant for melancholy and the Foster story - of a brilliant young player who helped Warwickshire win the Championship, England win the Ashes and might have been the father of leg-theory but who lost everything to mental illness - appealed to his sense of melancholy. His book on John Shilton, who drank himself to death at the age of 37, was in a similar vein.
Away from cricket, he loved Wagner (Richard, not Neil) and only ventured overseas twice. Both times the destination was Russia - his father was a communist who encouraged an interest in the country - and both times he travelled by bus.
His later years were bedevilled by failing eyesight. It’s a cruel affliction for anyone, but for a writer and researcher like Robert, it felt particularly diminishing. He spent his final years in a pleasant care home in the Warwickshire countryside and, while his sight finally deserted him completely, his memory and humour never did. He admitted in the last few days he was ready to declare and almost immediately did so.
Late in life, he met a psychologist who suggested she may be able to help him get rid of the ferocious stutter that afflicted him throughout his life.
"I won't, if you don't mind," he replied. "I've grown rather fond of it.”
Many of us had.
Bald_Reynard wrote:
What is it about Liam Dawson and us?! We can never get him out cheaply and he always scores a hatful against us!
I agree about Liam Dawson; and let's not forget his ridiculous figures of 7/15 against us two years ago to knock us out of the One Day Cup.
Sad to hear of the passing of Robert Brooke, a Warwickshire man through and through, who wrote (amongst other books) The Fields Were Sudden Bare, the excellent biography of Frank Foster.
He had just reached his 85th birthday.
UrsaMinor wrote:
GerryShedd wrote:
Off topic, but interesting to see Josh Davey opening the batting for Somerset today. Not so much a night watchman as a morning watcher.
Yes, Gregory and Davey taking first knock. One can only assume that there was some SNAFU like half the team being late to arrive. I've heard of that happening in away games but Somerset are at home!
Apparently it's such a green pitch that Somerset decided to protect their top order batters from the new ball against the Sussex bowlers.
Off topic, but interesting to see Josh Davey opening the batting for Somerset today. Not so much a night watchman as a morning watcher.
Bald_Reynard wrote:
ExiledBrummie wrote:
Andy wrote:
If Smith isn't gonna keep he'll be missing out you'd think.
Agreed as last game he was a number 8 batsman that never batted, bowled or kept wicket! I'd say him and Simmons to miss out.
Yes, that would be my take on it.
Good to see Rushworth back, I've forgotten what he looks like!
Bald Reynard - meet bald Rushworth.
The Club seem confident that he will be playing for England at Edgbaston:
https://edgbaston.com/news/bethell-set-to-play-for-england-at-edgbaston/
Regarding the pitch, George Dobell in The Cricketer says:
"Well, it wasn't perfect. It barely deteriorated and clearly favoured batters over bowlers, as many pitches at Edgbaston have in recent times. But it wasn't as bad as some might suggest. There was some carry; there was, at least, movement in the air. There was a little spin, albeit too slow to bother batters.
Maybe the English game has an issue with pitches like this, though. It may well be marked 'good' by the umpires, but good in what sense? It didn't provide an even battle between bat and ball. It didn't provide great entertainment. It was only 'good' in the sense that there was no uneven bounce. Maybe we need to set the bat a bit higher than this.
To be fair, neither side played a specialist spinner. And neither side had an outright fast bowler, with Simmons showing what might have been had there been one on show. It is generally accepted that county cricket conditions have long favoured fast-medium seamers who then experience little joy at Test level. Well, surfaces like this might encourage the aggressive spin and fast bowling that is required in Test cricket. The balance wasn't perfect here, but pitches like this might even help the English game in the long run. "
The Standard says:
"The restarted IPL is due to conclude on June 3, while Harry Brook's first assignment as England captain features games on May 29, June 1 and June 3. The situation has put the England and Wales Cricket Board in a difficult position, torn between supporting its Indian counterparts at a sensitive time, allowing its players to fulfil their contracts and maintaining the integrity of its own international product. For now, at least, they have kicked that decision down the road and will continue to mull the situation over.
Buttler's Gujarat Titans squad top the current IPL table, meaning he is highly likely to be at the centre of the dilemma, while the recalled Will Jacks (Mumbai Indians) and Jacob Bethell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) could also find themselves in the same situation.
The other two IPL players who have been selected to face the Windies, Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton, are with teams who cannot reach the finals."
To quote Sir Geoffrey B:
My grandmother could score a ton with a stick of rhubarb on that track.
Exiled Bear wrote:
Oh boo hoo, how dare teams use their home advantage instead of preparing pitches that are perfectly suited to Surrey! Honestly.
I've no problem with the preparation of a pitch that doesn't suit Surrey. Unfortunately, this is a pitch that isn't producing a decent, watchable game of cricket. I'm not sure how many will go to watch today; but I can imagine someone at the ECB saying: "Look at all those empty seats. That's why we need to play fewer of these four day matches."
UrsaMinor wrote:
GerryShedd wrote:
Here's my report on the day.
If Gary Barwell reads it, he probably won't forgive me for likening his pitch to a dead parrot:
https://deepextracover.com/2025/05/rothesay-cc-match-report-day-two-warwickshire-v-surrey/That photo of Ed Barnard is becoming rather familiar! Doesn't he deserve an up to date one?
We keep on using the Ed Barnard photo:
a) because he keeps on scoring runs and taking wickets and
b) because we have no money so can only afford photos that are free and not copyrighted
BUT - we'll look for another one!
Yes, looks like a great signing:
https://edgbaston.com/news/teen-batter-jani-signs-first-pro-deal-with-bears/
Here's my report on the day.
If Gary Barwell reads it, he probably won't forgive me for likening his pitch to a dead parrot:
https://deepextracover.com/2025/05/rothesay-cc-match-report-day-two-warwickshire-v-surrey/
LeicesterExile wrote:
Be interesting to know if his father has ever been in the same film/play as David Troughton.
Or maybe with Granddad Patrick Troughton - Doctor Who meets Hitler. I'd definitely watch that.
Well here's something I certainly didn't know about Ethan Bamber:
https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/two-remarkable-things-about-ethan-bamber-as-warwickshire-move-up-to-second/2025/05/07/
I thought that Jim Troughton was the only Bear with an acting pedigree.