In My Mind's Eye - a new series

These are challenging times for a blogger, especially one whose interest lies specifically in the cricket history of the county of his birth. With no cricket to write of, and having covered post-war Derbyshire cricket with my second book (and ten years of blogging) I have given due consideration to something to keep the momentum going.

That will finally see the light in this new series, that I have called In My Mind's Eye.

In it, I will be looking at cricketers who played before the last war - quite apposite, on VE Day - and in some cases before the Great War. It will feature players that I have read about in contemporary accounts, and will utilise the notes that I have taken over a half century of years, painstakingly produced like some of my half centuries were in weekend cricket.

Part of it comes from my frustration that these players are, to my mind, criminally overlooked when it comes to modern polls. Of course, there is no one around to state their case and cynics will say that they couldn't have been in the same league as modern players. You see that whenever a piece of archive film is shown on social media. Only a fortnight ago, the great Ranjitsinjhi was belittled for his 'lack of technique' in a video that showed him in the nets. It rather missed the point that he was wearing no pads, was clearly hamming it up for the cameras and was the biggest single influence on the game's growing popularity before the first war, alongside WG Grace. 25,000 runs at over 50 an innings suggests he could play, these often made on wickets that could often be deemed 'sporting', especially when the rain fell and rendered them 'sticky'. 

There are no players of that calibre in Derbyshire's early history, but the list of players that I will be featuring were standouts on a local scale. In some cases this was for their talent alone, in others it was for their personality and contribution to the development of the county side.

It is appropriate to do it this year, marking the 150th anniversary of the club. It is also important to recognise that in any sport you can only be the best of your era. Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, but would struggle to escape the heats with the times he set today. Does it diminish his importance as an athlete, or his greatness? No, not at all, at least for me.

The players of the early period may have looked rag, tag and bobtail outfits, with sashes, cummerbunds, braces, cravats and flat caps in team photographs. Their apparel may have been off-white, but then cleaning them will have been a challenge, in an era way before washing machines.

They played on grounds where facilities were basic, or non-existent. Sometimes there were only a couple of toilets for players and supporters alike, while there were at times no washing facilities and everyday clothes were hung from a nail, hammered into the wall. A sink, with cold water, was on occasion a luxury, enabling a quick freshen up at the end of the day.

It was still eleven against eleven and the cream still rose to the top. There was a lot of excellent cricket played by some tremendous players, some of them wearing Derbyshire colours.

They are players I would have loved to see, have tried to picture over the years and would like to see recognised for posterity.

I hope that you enjoy it.