101 NOT OUT

I found it.

One of the proudest moments of my life.

I was checking the Rayleigh Cricket Club website and I clicked on statistics, and from there I hit the season 2000 link. I checked the batting averages and looked at the Sunday side. There I am with my highest ever batting score clearing the ton (see the HS column = highest score).

I was never a natural cricketer. My mathematical ability was inate and I seemed to go through to my degree without putting in much effort but I had to work really hard at my cricket. The end result, after 13 long years with Rayleigh Cricket Club was my maiden, and to date only, ton.

I enjoyed my time at the club and in many ways it helped me to grow up. I had to progress from being an ordinary member of a very ordinary side to become captain of a young and progressing team full of characters and enthusiasts. Those were the happiest times, when few of us had any real ability but we all had boundless enthusiasm.

With experience comes knowledge of tricks of the trade and spotting opponents using those tricks to cheat my teams of an honest result eventually took its toll on me. I retired knowing that umpiring standards had reached the level of Darryl Hare. On one occasion I asked an old umpire about a decision and was told he would have been sacked from his club if he had made the right decision. Such is modern club cricket.

Tomorrow, we head for Germany.