Decade

1990 Season

Results

Appearances, runs, wickets and catches totals

First win v. West XI

The scorebook is fading but memories are bright of a win which so stunned The Gents that they failed to repeat it until 1992 against this oppo. In no way did Masher throw his wicket away giving it a bit of a dart against Milton. The Beggars retreated to the hills and were awesome that August.

1990 - early momentum not sustained in Golden Summer

 his was The Gents’ best season to date, one of real progress. It was topped and tailed with two splendid games at Victoria Recreation Ground, Surbiton, the best venue The Gents had yet played at. It was another losing season after results tailed off but was enjoyable nonetheless with several memorable performances and a good, hard series for the inaugural Bob Ashton Memorial Trophy, won by a strong Beggars side 2-1 after being 0-1 down. That was as close as it was going to get for a while. The early part of the season, dominated by the bat of Ian Maughan (three 50s) and the deceptive outswing of Simon Alderman (13 wickets) saw three victories. The second saw five losses out of six games.

                1990 began with a sun-kissed win against Enterprise at Victoria Rec on a blistering April Sunday. Both innings featured a massive partnership (Tait/Radmall 117, Maughan/Ashton 115), The Gents triumphant with a few balls to spare. Four weeks later it was off to North Acton to meet West XI. Openers Bignell and Arthur, C were given out lbw within a few minutes of each other and The Gents’ attack, Ashton, Hubbocks, Dolan, Boddington and Alderman, bowled very well to out the visitors for 107. A 65-run stand for the second wicket between Boddington and Maughan then set up the first win against West XI, despite three late wickets falling to Mr Jolin’s slow off-spin. The Gents would have to make this win last for they would not get another one in this series until July 1992! It was a useful experience for the club to see how even experienced oppo could fall apart when things went against them and the display was The Gents’ best to date.

                On a damp day a week later, on the barren moonscape of Cranford Park, a sensational 5 for 21 haul by a very hungover Simon Alderman helped by two stumpings on début from Richard Sambrook Smith set up another win against Enterprise, despite The Commander reversing the batting order. It should, social cricket completist Victor Richmond maintains to this day, have been three stumpings by Richard had the umpire been paying attention. Dear Simon, who had broken curfew and got pissed out of his head the night before, was so stunned by his physical exertions that he refused all offers of beer afterwards and went home for a nice lie down in a darkened room. More seriously, Nick Hubbocks had earlier injured himself in a bizarre gardening accident involving a fork and his foot. After consistent bowling in the opening two games (the club did not then know they had a notable batsman on the books), he would be badly missed.

                When the strong Cheetahs came to town, The Gents’ lack of support bowling became apparent, when the final few oppo wickets doubled the score, helped by a plethora of extras. Ian Maughan was interestingly tried as a bowler for the first time and got his four-wicket haul with his idiosyncratic round-arm style, but was savaged for 47 runs in seven overs. A steady reply petered out in the final overs. Sadly, Ian’s six overs against the same oppo four weeks later cost 49 runs, eleven of them wides in one unforgettable over. Another loss was followed by a good win in Fulham against new oppo, the Civil Servants Old Cubbonians. This last game was marred by the terrifying local üntermenschen, complete with Rottweilers, whose game of football frequently overlapped with the cricket. Polite requests to them to move were met with a storm of abuse and threats. They were probably related to the scumbags who burned down the Victoria Rec pavilion in 1995. A savage Maughan 56, well-supported by Bodders (39 not out), saw a good away win against a side who would never beat The Gents (chiefly because the absurdly-named but quite capable Woodhead never played again), although they came close once or twice.

                West XI played some good cricket to win at Boston Manor, John Waddell being almost as hot to handle as the weather, at 99.8° the warmest in London this century! His 90 was a supreme effort, one of the best ever played against the club. It was the year that batting records tumbled all over England, Lancashire’s 863 v. Surrey being the silliest score, but there were others not far behind. Graham Gooch managed 333 against India. Had he not moved to Portugal, even dear Mick Stratford might have managed a run. The Beggar score of 212 was way in excess of the visitors’ capabilities. It had been a hot, dry summer but all good things come to an end, or so we are told. It rained and rained a week later in Southall in the hours leading up to the West XI decider. Several Gents didn’t want to play, but the tea (the first Gala Tea!) had been prepared, conditions were the same for both sides, went the argument, so let’s do it. For a reprise of the day, turn to the Games of Shame later but West XI did play well and deserved their win. A merited victory a week later for Enterprise, in a tense game of much good cricket, against a Gents side fielding several West XI ringers, and the season was over, the final tally being Won 4 Lost 5. All of these doings and more (first and only winter social event in October, season’s averages, lots of West XI and Republic of Ireland football-bashing!) were being reported in Editions 1 to 3 of The Gent while Yes..No..Sorry! appeared twice during the season. Reaction from the circuit was generally positive which was kind, especially given the rather scruffy pre-Windows appearance of both mags. The Gent surfaced for the first time in the euphoria of those three early season wins and the general Feelgood Factor surrounding England’s football displays in Italia ’90 but let it be acknowledged here that the Beggars’ mouthpiece was the first fanzine out of the traps.

                Although a losing season, 1990 is still cherished. The club had not only kept going but even expanded its playing base. Five players who would greatly improve the club’s fortunes played their first game; Mark Ashton’s friend from school Nick Boddington, his friend, the enigmatic John Black, the boyfriend-of-Simon Alderman’s-missus’s-ex-flatmate (!) and wicketkeeper extraordinairy Richard Sambrook Smith, Steve Bignell from West XI in his first tart’s appearance and, finally, Andy Burman’s work colleague Rich Wilman. These players would go on to make a great contribution in their Gents careers. Four players scored more than a hundred runs, a sure sign of progress. Both Gents and oppo scored 13 runs per innings more than in 1989, so everyone had better value from the games. The Gents were still itinerant and badly needed a good home venue, as well as a strike bowler and a couple of batsmen. What they did have was oodles of team spirit and a good captain. In those early days, playing cricket was still a novelty and the inevitable politics of amateur sports clubs (Old v. New, Own Performance v. Club Performance) had not yet surfaced. A good year all told.

©The Gentlemen of West London Cricket Club 2006