1972-1982
As with many other clubs, the advent of League cricket in 1972 proved something of a watershed for Teddington, since our experience of “competitive” cricket up to then had been confined to various cup competitions in the previous few seasons, notably the Wills Cup for Middlesex clubs.
It has to be admitted that the first season was fairly disastrous for the 1st XI, who only finished ahead of North Middlesex and had but one victory over Winchmore Hill, though we gave the League champions Hornsey a close game, only losing by 2 wickets. Our deficiencies were mostly due to unfamiliarity with a higher class and much “harder” form of cricket, such as the North London clubs had been playing for many years. It was rather similar to the experiences of good county players going into Test cricket. Even those who eventually succeed need time and a little fortune on their sides. We made the acquaintance of David Hays of Finchley, whose formidable hitting powers were to become all too familiar in the years ahead, while Len Stubbs of South Hampstead struck a remarkable 107 out of 113 in an hour. The 2nd XI under Roger Bowen did very much better to finish 5th, which unfortunately remains the highest position that any of our sides attained in the period covered by this History.
Overall, this was a disappointing season with 26 wins against 44 defeats. A reasonable number of runs were scored, though not often enough under pressure, but the outcricket was very weak with no regular 1st XI bowler taking 50 wickets. In his first full season however, Roger Hollinshead reached the excellent total of 1247 runs at 39. He was to be a tower of strength in the next few seasons, with a considerable reputation outside Teddington. Geoff Richardson also just scored 1000 runs and new captain David Holland made 954. Arthur Crisp had another splendid season with the ball, taking 82 wickets at 18, while the averages were topped by the unlikely pair of M P R Welch and D P Dandridge! We also had the services, unfortunately for this one year only, of a genuine “character” in Reginald Cecil Austin Richardson, an opening bowler of impressive physique and prodigious capacity for beer, whose opening spell against the Australian Old Collegians will long be remembered by those who had the misfortune to witness it. It is only fair to add that he did dismiss the prolific Hugh Pearman in the game against Hornsey.
We also gained the services of Bill Richardson as full-time groundsman this year. His efforts over the next four seasons saw our ground recognised as one of the best in Middlesex, with also a highly acceptable 3rd XI ground.
After the somewhat traumatic experiences of 1972, the following year saw a modest improvement. In the first half of the League season we were again at the bottom, but from July onwards we revived with convincing victories over Edmonton, Hornsey and North Middlesex, and favourable draws against Ealing and South Hampstead. The main reason for this success was the left-arm bowling trio of Bob Hurst, Simon Reed and Ted Clark, coupled with consistent batting, which was greatly strengthened in the latter half of the season by Vincent Cushing. Vincent had a rather chequered cricketing career at Oxford, in 1971 managing the difficult feat of topping the averages without getting a Blue, and having illness problems in 1972. However all came right in 1973 when he had a memorable Varsity Match with 44 and a match-saving 77 not out.
The Club’s overall results this season revealed a slight credit balance and the averages showed greater depth of achievement. In batting, David Holland and Peter Bennett both exceeded 1200 runs, Peter having moved up to opening batsman when Roger Hollinshead was injured in mid-season. In bowling, no fewer than 8 people took more than 40 wickets with Roger Bowen topping the list on 75.
Sadly, this proved to be John Pearsall’s last season for Teddington, his retirement being dictated by persistent knee trouble. With 12 years as Saturday 1st XI captain, including 10 consecutively between 1949 and 1958, he had given tremendous service and this was recognised by his election as a Life Member. While John was generally regarded as a fairly cool-headed captain, there was one incident that tested his diplomacy severely, as Basil Armstrong recalls:
“In August 1957 we entertained Weybridge in Bushy Park and, having dismissed them for about 125, thought we would have little difficulty in obtaining the runs required. However, a certain ginger-headed fast bowler thought rather differently and wickets were soon tumbling. At one stage Mike Aron was appealed against three times in one over for LBW by “Ginger”. The umpire, “Jock” Thomas, quite rightly turned down the appeals, all missing the leg stump, at which the bowler turned to the umpire and said ‘What the …. …. do I have to do to get a wicket?’ – to which “Jock” replied ‘find yourself another umpire’ and walked off the field. John, who had been enjoying a leisurely shower, was alerted to the situation, appeared at the pavilion entrance draped only in a towel and eventually persuaded the umpire to return to the field of play. Not surprisingly, a sense of unreality pervaded the subsequent proceedings and, from being at one time 27 for 7 we managed to win by one wicket.”
There is no doubt at all that 1974 was Teddington’s best season overall since the Second World War. 46 matches were won against 31 defeats, while the 1st XI came 6th in the League and reached the semi-finals of the Wills Cup, losing to the currently very powerful South Hampstead. The 2nd XI had less success, but the 3rd XI enjoyed an excellent season with 16 wins against 5 defeats and in the process made 5 centuries, a tribute to the quality of the second square as well as our strength in depth. We also had an abundance of players and on one Sunday managed to field 4 sides.
In batting, Ted Clark had a remarkable season, scoring 715 runs in only 13 innings, for an average of 119.2, and looking every bit as sound as in his Middlesex days. Peter Bennett also excelled himself by breaking Derek Lindsay’s Club record with 1498 runs at 38.4, a deserved reward for the considerable efforts he had made to improve his batting. One particularly good innings was his 76 on a dreadfully bad wicket at Edmonton. He was unfortunately injured against Richmond and so was unable to increase his total during September. Roger Hollinshead was happily fit again this year and formed a most successful opening partnership with Peter Bennett. He and Geoff Richardson also made 1000 runs. In bowling, we had one great acquisition in Chris Kempadoo, a medium pacer of immaculate length and direction, who took 88 wickets at 18.5 and was also no mean performer at the bar! Unfortunately, his stay with the Club was brief, but he contributed greatly to the success of this season. With help at various times from Bob Hurst, Don Oliver, Simon Reed, Duncan Carmichael and Chris Crowhurst we had our most powerful and varied attack for some time. Peter Howes had an excellent season for the 3rd XI with 48 wickets at 9.2 and also struck 145 not out at Leverets, where the short boundaries were much to his liking!
There is one game in 1974 that really does deserve a special mention, namely the one against Thames Valley Gentlemen at the end of Cricket Week. On an immaculate wicket, they were 177 without loss at lunch and declared well before half time at 305 for 4. Teddington were soon 9 for 2 and even after a fine 71 from Geoff Richardson were still deep in trouble at 117 for 4, with not much batting to come. However, Johnny Poole, who was missed twice before reaching double figures, then played the innings of a lifetime with 185 not out from 114 balls, including 8 sixes and 20 fours. With somewhat anonymous support from Martin Pickering and David Crafts we eventually made 306 for 5 to win with 5 overs left. As a postscript it could be mentioned that from 1972 to 1974 this fixture produced no fewer than 1647 runs!
After the success of 1974, we were brought down to earth with a bump at the start of the following season. It was soon clear that our 1st XI bowling strength had been decimated for various reasons, and that for the moment Bob Hurst was our only bowler of authentic League standard. Bob responded nobly with one of his best seasons, well supported by Don Oliver, but it was hardly surprising that we won few games until things suddenly changed in July. Duncan Carmichael started playing again regularly and we were fortunate to acquire two class bowlers in Barry Martin (fast) and Russell Bowes (off-breaks). This gave us a balanced 4-man attack which coupled with great depth in batting gave us quite a formidable side. In fact we took 49 points out of 70 from the last 7 League games, including 4 wins, and finally came 8th. Quite the most memorable win was against Hornsey, when Russell Bowes and Duncan Carmichael added 62 from 14 overs for the last wicket to give us a one wicket victory.
Ted Clark lapsed slightly from 1974, but still averaged 104.6, while Peter Bennett again made most runs with 1227. Roger Hollinshead had another splendid year, highlighted by perhaps his best innings for Teddington – 105 not out in a total of only 154 for 9 against South Hampstead, while new member David Marshall also exceeded 1000 runs. In bowling, there was a really remarkable performance by Arthur Crisp who, at the age of 63, bowled no less than 495 overs and took 101 wickets at 13.4. For good measure he also scored 599 runs and captained the successful Sunday 2nd XI! All things considered, this must be one of the most meritorious performances in the Club’s history. We were also privileged to see some really outstanding wicket-keeping in the first half of the season by Michael York, a Melbourne District player making the “Grand Tour” for the summer.
The quality of the ground was recognised in 1975 when Middlesex played a 2nd XI game in Bushy Park, incidentally with Teddington’s Frank Stubbs as one of the umpires. This was to be repeated several times over the next few years.
Unfortunately it became clear during the 1975 season that the Club was in a very serious financial situation. With one or two unforeseeable financial blows and bar takings down considerably from the very high level of 1974, it seemed that the employment of a full-time groundsman was no longer feasible. Hence, with much regret, we were unable to renew Bill Richardson’s contract for 1976. In this rather precarious though not entirely unfamiliar situation, Arthur Crisp stepped into the breach and agreed to look after the grounds in 1976, with a certain amount of help on the outfield. Once again the Club was greatly indebted to Arthur for his tremendous dedication to our well-being.
As will be recalled, 1976 was believed to be the driest summer since 1727. Since the Club’s bowling resources were apparently the weakest since then, it is hardly surprising that an unsuccessful season ensued. Indeed, some of the bowling averages at the end of the season were hardly suitable for those of a nervous disposition! The Club’s overall fielding standard also plumbed new depths, not exactly helped by the drought-stricken outfields encountered.
We did have some early success in the 1st XI League with one or two appearances by Middlesex (and later Northamptonshire) seamer Tim Lamb, who demolished Winchmore Hill with 8 for 33, but from mid-season onwards slipped steadily down the table to finish 11th. Ted Clark and Roger Hollinshead both averaged 50, but Roger played less this year and only the old firm of Holland and Bennett managed 1000 runs. The indefatigable Arthur Crisp made 620 runs (including a century) and took most wickets with 66. One encouraging feature of this season was the development of a connection with Kingston Grammar School. Of recent school players, Colin McKay, Andrew House and Richard Dodds showed much promise with the bat while Neil Mackintosh took 52 wickets with left-arm spinners.
There was one particularly pleasant game this year. Over the August Bank Holiday weekend there was a special fixture between Teddington and Arthur Crisp’s XI. This keenly contested game was arranged to mark Arthur’s 50th season in club cricket.
At the end of the season a further landmark was reached when Harry Crafts stepped down as Club Captain. Since joining the Club in 1949 he had, in the words of one tribute, “joined the fray with fanatical enthusiasm” and held every significant Club position with the exception of Fixture Secretary and House Secretary. Even when in “exile” in Bermuda, his great interest in Teddington was maintained.
1977 opened on a considerably more hopeful playing note with the acquisition of class players Bobby Lowe, Bob Fleming and David Russell, and most notably the return of Dudley Owen-Thomas. Indeed the side we fielded for the League game against Finchley was the Club’s strongest for a very long time – unfortunately, with David Hays going berserk again, it was comfortably beaten! In fact we came 8th in the League in a slightly frustrating summer. With wet weather prevalent, the “wrong” games tended to be cancelled or abandoned and we could have done substantially better. Owen-Thomas predictably enough topped the batting with 712 runs at 71.2 and Richard Dodds confirmed his promise by averaging 42 in a limited number of games. Unfortunately, in the years ahead we were to see little of him as he has become a regular member of the England hockey squad and hockey, like football, seems now to be virtually a year-round sport at the top level. The only batsman to make 1000 runs this year was a new member in Mike Darling, who had contrived the enviable existence of working in Harrods during the winter and playing cricket at least 4 days a week in the summer! In bowling, nobody could even manage 50 wickets, though the inevitable Arthur Crisp was only one short.
The Club suffered a sad loss at the start of this season with the sudden death of Sidney Bridges. He was a legendary figure as both a cricket and hockey umpire, having been a very useful player and having spent much of the 1930’s holding the Khyber Pass single-handed! He also did his level best to ensure that the bar profits stayed at an acceptable level in any club where he happened to be present!
David Holland stepped down as captain at the end of 1977 after doing the job for all 6 years we had been in the League, and Dudley Owen-Thomas took over from him. However, the 1st XI did worse this year with 14th place in the League, though the 2nd team did much better to come 8th. Apparently this poor 1st XI record was caused “by batting failures, from which the captain must be absolved, and an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”! To be precise, Owen-Thomas averaged 55 in the League and we lost to Finchley by 9 runs and to Brondesbury by 12 runs, while we also wasted excellent chances of beating South Hampstead and Ealing. The best performance was against defending League champions and recent National Cup winners Southgate where we had the upper hand throughout, but were unable to capture the last wicket. Outside the League, we managed a good win over MCC in Cricket Week, dismissing them for 116 and winning by 6 wickets. With David Holland and Geoff Richardson sadly out of form and Roger Hollinshead no longer playing, Peter Bennett made most runs with 985, while a relatively new member in Tony Tickle had a good season with 772. Most impact in bowling was made by Roger Smith, a former member of the Leicestershire staff, who took 60 wickets, while Peter Harmer, who began a long reign as Sunday 2nd XI captain, had an excellent season with 596 runs and 51 wickets.
We were very pleased to welcome Bob Haig as Bar Steward. The presence of someone as cheerful and capable as Bob made a tremendous difference to this aspect of the Club’s activities.
1979 was a rather patchy season. It started with an appallingly wet May and wickets were mainly on the slow side. Unfortunately, David Holland also started the season in an undesirable manner by crashing his car on the way home from the Ealing dinner and the resulting broken ankle kept him out until the end of July. Rather unusually this year, we had quite a battery of pace with new skipper Roger Smith being supported by Bobby Lowe, who bowled really well, Duncan Carmichael and New Zealander Bob Collier. However, the batting in support was inconsistent and we again could only finish 14th in the League. We did manage a very good win over Brondesbury, as usual one of the strongest clubs. One other game deserves a special mention this year. For many years Terry Woram of Richmond has brought a team to play us in Cricket Week. This time they were apparently cruising to victory with 4 runs needed and 6 wickets in hand. However, Simon Reed, making his debut as captain, got to work and we won remarkably by 1 run, with Simon taking 6 for 31!
Dudley Owen-Thomas again topped the batting with 561 runs at 40.1 and was followed by new member Jerry Bashar, but significantly these were the only batsmen to average 30. Mike Darling made most runs with 946 and Roger Smith had a splendid all-round season, scoring 673 runs and taking 80 wickets. Simon Reed took 50 wickets and Bobby Lowe’s performance of 41 wickets at 12.8 speaks for itself in 1st XI cricket.
Sadly, Arthur Crisp had more than his fair share of illness and injury this summer and retired as groundsman at the end of the season. Anyone closely involved with Teddington will realise the tremendous debt that the Club owes to Arthur’s experience and extreme dedication. Happily, this was not the end of Arthur’s playing career, since he re-appeared for a few games at the end of the season and finished top of the bowling averages!
Unfortunately, 1980 proved to be the unhappiest season for a long time. After an excellent May, the weather was atrocious and things gradually deteriorated, with a noticeable lack of spirit during the second half of the season. We eventually finished 15th in the League and, more ominously, had to cancel a lot of 3rd XI fixtures through lack of support. Perhaps the brightest feature of the season was Cricket Week in which the weather was remarkably good and over 2000 runs were scored from Monday to Friday, including an excellent game with MCC when we finished 2 runs short chasing 257. New member Gordon Morgan had a splendid run in the Week – counting the weekends before and after he made over 500 runs with two centuries. He produced the innings of the year against Honor Oak, with 111 out of 118 in 88 minutes. Another new member in Devon player Clive Cole added class to the batting with 660 runs at 36.7 and Gordon Morgan made 930 at 33.2. David Holland totalled 1282 runs, the highest aggregate for some years, while Mike Darling made 930. Roger Smith was again leading wicket-taker with 68, while Bob Fleming profited from the many turning wickets to take 52. With his 605 runs and brilliant fielding, Fleming looked a very good all-rounder by the end of this season. A notable landmark was reached this year when Don Oliver followed John Chilcott as the second Teddington bowler to capture 1000 wickets. But for back trouble he would have achieved this some years earlier.
Happily 1981 was a better year all round. The 1st XI improved considerably to finish 9th in the League (including a long-awaited victory over Richmond), though the lowly position of both the 2nd and 3rd XIs showed little room for complacency as to playing resources. At 1st XI level we had better batting than for a long time. New member Ian Simpkin, who was only regularly available in August and September, averaged 80 for 720 runs, while another new member in Len Sanderson averaged 33 with the bat and bowled an enormous number of overs in the League, to finish overall with 43 wickets at 17.7. Gordon Morgan topped the batting averages with 664 runs at 39.1, while valuable contributions also came from Richard Merson, Bob Fleming, David Holland (who made 1152 runs), Clive Cole and another new member in Adrian Daniel. For the 2nd XI Mike Darling had another prolific season, making 1 run less than Holland! In bowling Neil Mackintosh took most wickets with 48 at 16.1, but with considerably improved wickets we were generally a bit lacking in penetration.
David Belchamber took over as President this year and happily played much more than of late – in particular his 78 against North Middlesex was a vintage innings, and his infectious enthusiasm contributed greatly to the overall success of the season.
The 1982 season, which brings Teddington’s History up to date, was unfortunately the worst playing one for a long time. The only thing that can really be said in mitigation is that things did improve in the second half of the season. The first half was disastrous, with most of our teams at all levels being quite simply outclassed. At 1st XI level we had lost Gordon Morgan, Len Sanderson and after a few games Adrian Daniel, while David Holland and Ian Simpkin were available very little, thus giving new skipper Simon Reed the most thankless of tasks. However from mid-July onwards the League season revived considerably with good wins over Hampstead, Hornsey and Richmond. We gained a number of players of the requisite class, including Blues in Richard Luddington, Tony Murley and David Holliday, while Mike Heal did very well with the bat. We were also fortunate to have the assistance on occasions of Neil Mackintosh’s brother Kevin, who had a successful season on the Surrey staff.
One positive feature of the season was the way in which players suddenly perforce dropped into a higher level of cricket responded to the challenge. In batting, where most of our early problems lay, Simon Gonet, Mike Scanlon, Neil Mackintosh and new member Phil Eastland all showed much improvement over the season. In bowling Simon Reed set a splendid example in the League, his 31 wickets at 19.5 being an excellent performance in a struggling side. He also achieved the outstanding individual performance by taking all 9 wickets for 62 against Richmond.
Our Week this year was for the most part rather disappointing but was redeemed by a remarkable game against MCC, when in addition to a very tight finish our lunchtime and post-match hospitality was particularly noteworthy! Teddington responded well to a target of 225 and reached the last over needing 8 with 3 wickets remaining. Unfortunately the opposing captain and opening bowler Chris Brown then showed the cardinal virtues of length and direction in such circumstances and clean bowled the last 3 batsmen to give MCC a win by 7 runs. On the other side of the coin we gained a similar win over Old Emanuel who only needed 2 from the last over with 3 wickets left, but lost by 1 run!
Over the whole season Mike Darling produced another prolific batting performance. He exceeded 1000 runs for the 2nd XI alone and overall made 1418 at 34. This was the second highest aggregate in Teddington’s history. Simon Reed was comfortably the leading wicket-taker with 55.
Now that this narrative has rambled its way to a conclusion, it seems reasonable to try to review the Club’s present position (at the close of the 1982 season).
On the playing side it must be conceded that we have had very little real success in the Middlesex County League. As mentioned above the 1st XI has never finished higher than 6th, with an average position of 11th, while the 2nd XI, after some initial success, has generally struggled in recent seasons. In mitigation it can be said that we knew at the start that we were entering a very powerful League and if anything the standard has risen over the years – it is probably true to say that a player needs to be close to Minor Counties standard to really make a decisive impact, and apart from isolated instances we have not had the strength in depth to compete successfully. A major handicap is the lack of a consistent source of good players, such as we enjoyed from KCS Wimbledon in the 1960s and early 1970s. Relying purely on personal introduction makes the job of recruitment very much more difficult.
In the broader sense the Club achieved a very great deal in the decade to 1971, with a large increase in the number of playing members and fixtures, the extensive refurbishment of the pavilion and the establishment of a second ground in Bushy Park. However since then progress has been less noticeable, with finance being a constant inhibiting factor. The Club suffers from two unavoidable handicaps in this respect, firstly that unlike many others our activities purely revolve around cricket without financially useful “back-up” facilities, and secondly that our position deep in the heart of Bushy Park, delightful though it undoubtedly is, means that we are very much “off the beaten track” – for example it is probable that a high proportion of the residents of Teddington are in fact unaware of the Club’s very existence!
If the reader has got this far he will have noted the name of Michael Welch occurring at regular intervals. This is no coincidence, since Michael’s record of service to Teddington bears comparison with that of anyone in the past. He has held just about every administrative office in the Club, even at one time being simultaneously House Secretary and Team Secretary, probably the two most wearing jobs of all. He has also undertaken any number of “special assignments” on the Club’s behalf and in addition has brought Teddington recognition in the wider cricket world by helping to administer both the Wills Cup and also, in company with David Holland, the Middlesex County League. Michael could be said to be very fond of the products of the grape and grain! Indeed on one of the Colts’ tours to Cambridge in the early 1960’s David Belchamber actually struck a bet with Michael that he would not live to see his 40th birthday, the stake being a barrel of beer! Happily this landmark was reached on October 6th 1982 and a game of cricket was duly played in Bushy Park to mark the occasion.