I've been re-reading one of my favourite cricket books, Stephen Chalke's wonderful Runs in the Memory which is about County Cricket in the 1950's. If you have read it I am sure you will agree with me, if you haven't, it is well worth a look in second-hand book shops as it is a quite memorable read and is chock-full of lovely stories.
One that made me chuckle concerned Eric Hollies, the Warwickshire spinner whose greatest claim to fame, despite a long and successful career, was of having bowled Bradman in his last Test innings to prevent him finishing with a Test match average of 100.
He was a great servant to Warwickshire but was the archetypal rabbit as a batsman and the regular number eleven. He was also a great joker and much loved on the circuit.
One day at Derby, Cliff Gladwin was running through the Warwickshire batting and each in turn went back to the dressing room bemoaning their luck.
He listened to the accounts of the many and varied deliveries that Cliff had bowled and got a team mate to write them down for him. When it was his turn to bat, he walked briskly out to the middle and straght up to Cliff.
"Here you are" he said, handing him the piece of paper, "bowl them in this order and I should be OK"...
Great stuff!
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