Unusual
Styles at Rainham Cricket Club
In the 19th
century there were numerous bowling styles that included both overarm
and underarm. Rainham Cricket Club has seen a number of strange
styles over the years, in batting, bowling and in code of dress.
In the bowling
department Derek Gould, who remains one of the all time great Rainham
bowlers, bowled off the wrong foot after a fluent run up to the
wicket. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why he took so many
wickets. He once took 121 wickets in a season and all ten wickets
in a game against HMS Pembroke in 1963.
Alec Tassell
was the last of the round arm bowlers to play for Rainham. He had
two spells at the club, between 1941-43 and between 1946-72. He
was so round arm as he got older that it was once said that he was
the only bowler capable of opening the bowling for both Rainham
Cricket Club and Rainham Bowls Club with the same action. Alec’s
batting technique was equally unique as he would leave his bat upright
in the crease and allow the ball to hit it. This was very frustrating
for opposing bowlers who usually found him very difficult to dislodge.
Peter Ryecroft,
a bowler of the 1960s, began his run up on the edge of the boundary
and as he reached the non strikers end he would increase his pace,
snorting and grunting furiously until he finally delivered the ball
at fast medium pace. He wasn’t always accurate with wides
and no balls being plentiful. He became famous when two opposing
batsmen took runs while he was in the process of running up to deliver
the ball.
Another player
similar to Peter Ryecroft in style and speed was Kevin Sherhod.
Devastating and accurate in the nets with great speed. When he performed
in the middle he became a man possessed sending down bouncers, beamers
and almost everything else imaginable. Wearing his characteristic
bright red socks he charged to the wicket with great aggression
before delivering the ball. In his last game for the Second XI he
bowled so many wides in one over that Ken Newton asked him to bowl
underarm. When he did this almost equally inaccurately he decided
to retire from the game and stick to a Friday night out at the ‘Pig
Pen’ (King Charles Hotel Over 30s Disco). He is now a talented
fisherman, a much more relaxed way for him to spend the weekend.
Mick Ward also
took a very long run up and delivered the ball at slow medium pace.
This often forced batsmen into errors thinking that he was going
to bowl at a faster pace. He once took 9-27 against Bexleyheath.
Of the batsmen
with an unorthodox style, Ted Whiffen certainly raised a few eyebrows
with his tremendous slogging and he took many sides apart with some
devastating hitting. The only problem was that he frequently let
go of the bat and quite often while the ball was soaring over Holmoaks
or the railway line his bat would fly past or into one of the in
fielders with square leg being in the most vulnerable position.
Ted was a player of sheer aggression.
Another player
with a similar style to Ted Whiffen although less frequently effective
was Peter Heath. With his front foot so far down the wicket that
he almost did the splits, his face looking vertically upwards, he
would unleash such a fearsome swipe that if he connected the ball
would travel a huge distance out of the ground. The main problem
was that if he missed, all three stumps would be lying on the ground.
Resembling a Herculean figure, Peter Heath was a fearsome sight
when taking quick singles, thundering along with an aggressive grimace,
sometimes diving with such force that the ground was known to shake
as he thudded into it at full length.
A succession
of crouchers have occupied the crease for Rainham at different times.
The first of the well known crouchers was Warren Chambers who played
for the club during the 1930s to the 1950s. Mainly a bowler of great
accuracy, he crouched down so low when batting that his head was
almost level with the top of the stumps while his rump pointed over
square leg. However, he became the victim of an unfortunate incident
when a box of matches caught fire in his trouser pocket setting
alight his whites. Talk about setting the game alight!
Another great
croucher was Paul Phipps who played for little more than a season
in 1986/87 as an opening batsman. His stance when batting was a
classic crouch, accompanied with a classic forward defensive shot.
The only problem was that this became his dominant shot, sending
team mates into fits of frustration in some league matches. To be
fair he did score 1,000 runs in 1987 and played a big part in the
championship success of that year with both his batting and bowling.
One of the strangest
styles deemed to be played in a match at Rainham was in 1893 when
Rainham played Rainham Ladies at Berengrove Park. The Rainham ladies
played in the conventional style but the men had to bowl underarm
and bat and field left handed and they won.
In terms of
dress there have been a series of strange dressers over the years.
Present 1st XI captain Glen Cook regularly went to the wicket with
a towel wrapped around his head and dangling down his back during
the 1990s . Wearing his cap on top he resembled a French legionnaire,
without it he was more akin to Lawrence of Arabia at the crease.
Functionally it did protect his shaven head and prevented serious
sunburn and sunstroke, or at least that’s what he said.
Of the best
dressers on the field of play both Terry Glazier and Bob Perkins
were almost always perfectly attired. However, Nick Larkins wore
a dentist’s smock buttoned up at the shoulder while Matt Newton,
in his earlier years, regularly performed with attire covered in
mud from head to foot.
Of those with
something missing were Aussie Steve Day who rarely if ever wore
batting gloves during the time he played for Rainham and I can never
remember him being hit on the hand which is quite remarkable. Ted
Ballard, the founder of E.W.Ballard the builders, on the other hand,
played with one leg, the other was artificial. He regularly batted
and bowled with this handicap during the 1940s.
David Wood 2005
