Denis played SS for Victoria and SA.
He was the quickest bowler in Australia at one point in time
Danny always claimed Hickey was the fastest, but Danny was prone to a bit of exaggeration, so l wasn’t sure l could rely on him as a source for the claim of the fastest.
Cracking thread. Following with interest!
David Hookes used to say he was scary at times
@Aceman was flicking through some old saca grade cricket scores last week (don’t ask why, I’m not sure) from about 09/10 - noticed a certain Ben Rutten playing fourths at Glenelg. Was that our Truck do you know?
I believe he played cricket but not sure what level he got to.
Dennis Hickey was seriously fast but wayward - He would definitely be in the top 3 fastest bowlers in Australia at that time.
A little bit of TLC given to the Kashmir SS over the weekend:
Before work started
Stickers removed, sanded back - you can see the hallmarks of the Kashmir - a very pale and dry willow. No evidence of seam marks anywhere on the blade though, so I feel safe to say that the knocking in process has been carried out pretty well so far. Mind you - the test will come once I actually face a brand new ball.
After a couple of coats of oil. I stay away from the splice to prevent the oil weakening the adhesive holding the handle in. Interestingly, the left hand side (or the inner half for a right hander) seemed to darken more than the outside of the bat. Maybe I sanded that side back more?
Finished product - not happy with my stickering effort - Fibretec sheet application was terrible. Fair to say I lack finesse. In all honesty, I probably rushed the job too much - however the main thing is the bat has been sanded and oiled, which will hopefully give the stick a bit more life, and maybe a pit more “ping”.
Plan on having a decent couple of hits this week and then given that I put the fibretec on horribly, I may actually remove it and just give it another coat of oil. The fibretec/extratec does give me an added layer of comfort that the bat will hold, but I honestly don’t know how much protection it actually gives… thoughts Blitz?
Other news:
-
Training tonight - will also get a first look at our playing strip for the season. Carn Oystercatchers! (I actually can’t say that without laughing) Really starting to hope we’re hiding a seamer or two away somewhere. Our recruitment seems to consist of El Kapitan just ringing blokes who used to play and seeing what they’re doing - in the meantime Kelburne have signed former East Kilbride and Scotland player Qasim Sheikh, as well as a couple of players from Renfrew. They could be the team to beat this year. East Renfrewshire have also picked up a couple of players. Seriously - just one quick bowler. Please.
-
Sports Club “Beer Garden” opens on the 26th when restrictions lift - can’t wait for a pint, fresh out the tap - it’s been 6 months. Absolutely pining. BTW - what passes for a beer garden in EK is sometimes hilarious. Usually consists of two chairs, an old whisky barrel, and an ashtray just outside the back entrance to the place. Brilliant.
-
Slight group chat drama happening between the Pakistani boys and the Indians over whether or not Babar Azam is better than Virat Kohli. I decided to jump in with “neither of them are better one day batsmen than Mark Waugh or Dean Jones anyway”. Got the reaction I hoped.
have you thought about doing video blogs for this ?
I somehow think video footage of games and the after game shenanigans is going to be a sight to see, and despite the written word so far describing everything has been pretty decent, wont’ do it justice.
Good idea! Definitely get some video action once season starts. Maybe some training footage too.
Now that is funny.
Years ago, well decades actually, l had a Slazenger Run Maker bat, Kim Hughes model. After a couple of seasons, it was starting to look a bit ragged and cracked. I got a wood plane out and shaved the face and also took about a centimetre off each shoulder. Then l had the bat enclosed in a thick, clear plastic sleeve. The effect was as surprising as it was immediate, my timing improved, as the bat was now more aerodynamic, and being quite a wristy stroke maker, l was able to move the bat through the air quicker.
So my question is this, by making the bat smaller had l broken any rules on the size of bats? While there are rules on how large a bat can be, is there a minimum size that a bat must be?
Nah, I’ve got a bat signed by Dean Jones that’s about 10cm long.
Pre-season training last night in absolutely glorious conditions - a high temperature of 17 degrees yesterday, and on a day which saw the Active Covid cases in the UK drop below 100,000 for the first time since September last year. Coupled with the fact that pubs and gyms open next Monday - there’s a real good vibe around the place at the moment!
Torrance House looks a picture at the moment. Old Bill has been steadfastly getting work done on the centre square, and loves sharing a pic of his work with the Whatsapp chat. In fact - here’s one from yesterday.
Might be the smallest sprinkler I’ve ever seen on a centre wicket, but we are in Scotland after all - extra water is not usually required. Though having said that, I remember back to my time working with Chivas, and visiting some of the distilleries up in the north. They did have a couple of years there not so long ago where there was a water shortage, and they were struggling to fill orders. Scotland without whisky? It’s unthinkable.
The club has just released its program for the juniors - an All Stars program for 5-8 year olds and a Dynamos program for 8-11 year olds. Milo cricket it is not - but it’s really encouraging to see the club making an investment in its future. Here’s a few of the kids from last years groups standing in front of the John Davies Scorebox at the ground for a promo shot.
We really are at that exciting point of the year now - just over 4 weeks to the first game, numbers are starting to pick up at training (we had 24 last night, including a couple of newbies and apparently there are still a few youngsters doing exams, so that number should rise soon), and the playing kit for the year has just been released.
Again - cricket is not a cheap sport to play. And I’m kinda bummed that club colours are yellow and black. Maybe I get a team song going and create an Oystercatcher Army?
Oh we’re from East Kilbride,
the Oystercatchers, we’re from East Kilbride.
If it’s good weather, then you’ll see us with a grin,
Midge bites on our shins…
Anyway. Nobody would get the concept of a team song over here. Except maybe JJ - who did that stint in Adelaide 10 years ago. Was telling me a story last night about getting out on the town one night with Shaun Tait. Reckons he’s just a class fella, bought them drinks all night, and got absolutely sparkled. Also reckons they didn’t get a look in with the fairer sex until big Taity showed up. JJ was quite content with his evening after that point, it’s fair to say. See, even a bloke who looks a bit tipratty can pick up in Australia with that Scottish accent.
Oh right - the midges. So before I upped sticks and left Australia, Miss (soon to be Mrs) Brem V2.0 visited down under, and we hired a camper and drove from Melbourne up to Newcastle and back. Along the way - just south of Sydney, we stopped in a caravan park (where we met some lovely drunken German youngsters) for the night. The van got quite warm during the night, so I cracked the window open a little. No dramas. Or so I thought.
The mozzies basically devoured Mrs Brem V2.0 (new and improved - now with personality) and she woke up in the morning absolutely covered in bites. (I was fine bite wise - though I did get told how much of a twat I was - fair enough really).
Well last night - Scotland took it’s revenge via “midges”. Small little black flying bastards that apparently bite. My legs are absolutely covered. And do you think I got any sympathy when I got home from training? No - I got “that’s Scottish karma”. And here was me thinking Scottish karma was “What’s for ye will no go by ye”. Bloody midges didnae go by me, I’ll say that much.
In terms of cricketing action last night, well…it’s fair to say the tempo lifted last night. Bowlers were really putting in, the batting was positive, and the fielding drills were on point, mostly. Poor old Stuart the Elder copped a falcon as he settled to catch a high ball (it literally hit him smack on the top of the head). Young Sam wore a quick one in the gap between pad and thigh pad and struggled to continue, and El Kapitan hit JJ on the foot and me in the side. Gavin smoked three cigarettes and told me the same story he’s told me every week about the bouncer some bloke bowled a few years back that bounced once and then crossed the boundary. God that boy can talk some amount of ■■■■.
Player Profiles
Tauseef (and Tauseef’s mate) - during the day on Wednesday, I put out a call on a facebook page “Aussies in Glasgow” to see if anyone wanted a hit of cricket. This guy Tauseef slid into my DM’s, and said he was keen so I passed his details on to El Kapitan. Showed up (late), and unfortunately I didn’t really get the chance to speak to him, as I had taken it upon myself to run some catching drills.
Now there’s two things that annoy me at training.
- Batters not throwing the ball back on the full to the bowlers. Bowlers are bending their backs enough without having to worry about picking up a ball that’s just been casually returned with no care back to the bowling end.
- Bowlers who bowl the ball, then turn and walk back to the group without meeting the batsman who is throwing the ball back to them. Again - shows a lack of respect.
Tauseef (and his mate) did both of these. Then they both left early without saying goodbye. Somewhat tellingly, his number has not been added to the group chat today. Bye Tosseef.
Ethan - English. Watched this lad walking towards us across the pitch thinking “geez, he’s early for rugby training”. About 5’9" tall, and probably the same wide. Quite possibly the anti-Blicavs. He is not TALL, nor ATHLETIC. Looks like a front row forward (I think. I don’t really know rugby union that well). But nope, he was here for cricket training. He struggled through the fielding drills, and all hope was lost.
But then… he took some gloves and a bat, and did a good 10-15 minutes on the feed buddy, and his timing and technique was actually really good. Then he bowled some decent left arm medium pacers which jagged around a bit. We may have found another first grader. His number was added to the group chat.
Til next week Blitz!
Love it.
elite
Bless 'im.
Wonderful. Augurs well for the season ahead.
Salt of the earth. Takes a certain type to be a cricket ground curator I reckon.
Pre-season training number 9 last night in wet, windy and downright horrendous conditions for cricket. The mercury topped out at around 7 degrees, and the southerly wind that was evident throughout the session decided to bring the rain with it towards the end of our session. Nothing quite like the sideways rain in Scotland.
However, as this week has seen the REOPENING OF PUBS AND OTHER HOSPITALITY VENUES - it was going to take more than a bit of weather to stop Mrs Brem getting a pint in with the dug up at the Sports Club.
Mrs Brem and Jura Wan-Pugnobi - the Pug Jedi named after a whisky.
As the weather was decidedly rank - the call came out during the day that yes, training was still on - but it would maybe just consist of throwdowns and fielding. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that had the effect of keeping quite a few folk away - but we still had a turnout of about 12-14, which, if you consider the weather and the fact that the first game is still 3 weeks out, the fact that guys are studying, and the fact that it’s Ramadan and quite a few guys are fasting - we probably take that turn out as a win.
In fact - we did not do throwdowns. We did probably an hour and a half of fielding. Now - given that my preferred option when having to do the whole fielding bollocks is with a pair of pads and gloves, and not chasing a ball round the field, you can imagine my delight. You can imagine it even further when young Tommy got told to don the gloves for the drills. FARK. I’m so unfit right now.
In my preferred environment!
But - these sessions are the ones that build character, and give us an advantage over other teams in the competition. Or so I told everyone at every opportunity. I’m not the captain, nor am I the vice-captain, but I’ve taken it upon myself to be the Lead Encouragement Officer of the team. Plenty of healthy banter and sledging of my team-mates to go along with it. Our resident South African Irish (I still don’t understand why he’s nicknamed Irish…) and his son Cammie love it and join in. Neck Tats JJ loves it and joins in. El Kapitan seems amused by it. The rest really don’t know what to make of it.
About halfway through the session, young Tommy decides to withdraw from keeping due to sore hands (yeah Tommy, that’s what happens mate…). It transpires that he’s not wearing inners, and doesn’t in fact… have any. So I thought I’d get the call up to replace him. Beauty, I could use a bit of a breather. But no - another keeper has joined training tonight. Liam Lawell (aka Double L, Lemo) quickly volunteered to go and get his gloves, and it looks like I’m going to have to finish off training the hard way.
Lemo looked alright with the gloves to be honest. I’d put him above Puffing Gavin and Two T’s Tommy, but I reckon I’ve still got him covered. Plus - the guy looks fit, so if I’m captain, I’m having Lemo in the field before me. Remains to be seen if he can bowl…
What I have noticed with the keepers in our team is an alarming trend to back off an incoming throw and let the ball bounce, rather than take it on the full. What I’ve also noticed is that a lot of our fellas have diabolical throwing arms. (Where are the big burly highlanders FFS? Oh yeah, right - they’re up playing rugby) This does not make for a tidy fielding team. And in a competition like this which is all short form cricket - fielding is absolutely key.
One of the interesting things I’ve noticed here is the way cricket is viewed by the Scots - a lot of my mates see it as somewhat of a “posh” or elitist sport. If I’m honest, I think it’s more a case of it being of English origin, and therefore gets about as much love in Scotland as Boris Johnson. The guys that play it love it, but those who don’t play it really don’t understand the fascination with it. When I tell them about backyard cricket, beach cricket, and grassroots cricket in small country towns across Australia they seem to get more interested (Scots, like Aussies, love a battler) - but most of them just see cricket as being enjoyed by the old Egg & Bacon tie wearing MCC members, which turns them off.
I think Scotland is at least a generation or two away from really embracing the game, and most of that will probably come from the sons and daughters of Indian and Pakistani migrants. Speaking of:
Player Profiles
Moussa - the son of the Magoffin look alike Kamran. Only about 11 or 12, but a great afro. He stuck around the other week after the young 'uns trained and did some work with the big boys. His fielding was decent, even if he was a little hesitant, and his bowling was quite good. Really friendly kid, came up and said hello to me and started chatting. I asked him who his favourite cricketer was - expecting an IPL star to be named, and he responds with Imran Khan. I love this kid.
Liam - Debut at training tonight from Lemo. Tall, wiry, fit, jaw carved out of granite, but also looks a bit like Novak Djokovic. Good fella, introduced himself straight away. My main rival for the keeping position, and on last nights evidence, I’ll be gutted if he gets the gig ahead of me. His last season with the club appears to be 2018 - but he didn’t exactly set the world on fire with the bat:
Season kicks off in 20 days time as our 2nd XI takes on Langside at home in the T20 cup. Interestingly the 2nds teams over here have different names to the 1sts. Our seconds are called Torrance House (named after the ground obviously) not East Kilbride. I’m very confused.
Anyway - here’s cheers to an outstanding Bombers win on ANZAC day, active Covid cases in the UK dropping below 80,000, the reopening of pubs, and the fact that as I write, the sun appears to be shining once again.
