Favourite cricketers 13 - Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan

There were two things you could guarantee with Venkat.

One was that no-one ever bought a shirt with his name on the back...

The other was that no-one ever started a chant of "Gimme an S.. gimme an r". Your ice cream would have been well and truly melted by the time you finished that one.

Truth be told, there were a lot of us unhappy when he signed. Derbyshire didn't sign off-spinners, not even world-class ones. We had a young Geoff Miller and Bob Swindell on the staff, both of whom were well rated, and a need for a batsman or fast bowler.

The unkind ones had their own names for him. Rentacaravan or Kitkat were two that were printable. His record for the county was tarnished by the fact that he had few runs to play with. He'd regularly return figures of 6-107 or somesuch, and Dad and I would look at each other and acknowledge the fact that we'd only made 125.

Venkat was, however, a very, very fine bowler. I was the only kid at school who could spell his name correctly, which earned a certain street cred for some reason. His christian name appeared in various forms, from the one at the top of this article, to Srinivasan or Srinivas. The fact was that he took wickets. Experts say that Eripalli Prasanna, his off-spinning rival in that great Indian side that also boasted Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishen Bedi, was a better bowler. Maybe so, but he can point to nearly 1400 wickets at around 24 to illustrate that he was pretty good himself. Maybe he bowled a little too flat and pushed the ball through, but he was hard to get after and took five in an innings on 85 occasions.

He was a useful tailend batsman, and would usually make 15-20 runs, while his close fielding was excellent. With Taylor, Swarbrook and Venkat in the tail, we usually had to be dug out, though our batsmen were so fallible that there was normally plenty of time to do so. Had he played for the Derbyshire side of the 1980's that had little problem in scoring runs he would have been a revelation. With runs to play with he could have had closer fields and been even more successful.

I still smile at the memory of a Sunday League game at Chesterfield against Yorkshire, when they needed around 10 from the last two overs. We were seated by the scoreboard on this occasion and a particularly vociferous fan was behind us. Venkat bowled the penultimate over to Chris Old..

Ball one - no run, played out quietly "Well bowled Venkat" says our neighbour, quietly.

Ball two - swing and miss - "Bowling Venkat", a little louder

Ball three - blocked again, perfect length - "BOWLED Venkat you beauty"

Ball four - swing and miss "Well bowled Venkat" (To everyone) "Great bowler this bloke"

Ball five - swing and miss "GREAT BOWLING VENKAT! Fabulous bowler this guy..."

Ball six - Old hits it a country mile over the scoreboard and the trees, effectively sealing the game

"You bluddy idiot Venkat. I don't know why we play that bloke" (sidles off)

Since his retirement he has been a highly respected administrator and was one of the best umpires in the professional game until his retirement a few years back.

While few Derbyshire fans, if any, would remember him as our greatest ever foreign import, those of a certain age will remember a man of dignity who always gave of his best. When wickets were turnin', Venkat was burnin' - when was the last time we could say that of our spin bowler?