It was three years ago - in December 2007 - when I had a brief encounter with the then Saints midfielder Jermaine Wright. It was at Bluewater Shopping Centre and his eyes and mine met in a fleeting moment across the crowded sports section of Waterstones Book Shop. In those few passing seconds, however, a mutual acknowledgement was marked by a small but knowing nod of heads as one box to box midfielder with a good engine and an eye for a pass recognised those same qualities in the other. The mutual understanding needed no words and we just moved on and left each other with unspoken respect.
A similar experience yesterday. This time the venue was Waitrose store in Paddock Wood. Mrs. Snopper and I were waiting in the queue with our loaded trolley when once again I exchanged brief glances with a gentleman in the adjoining queue. Once again the same mysterious, knowing look of mutual recognition was there, the only difference from three years ago was that this was an entirely different sporting acknowledgement. Yesterday`s brief encounter was with none other than `Deadly` Derek Underwood, one of the greatest bowlers ever to grace the cricket field.
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| Deadly |
Derek Underwood’s contribution to cricket is impressive. He was the leading spin bowler in England for around 20 years and since retirement from the professional game has worked in cricket administration. He became an Honorary Life Member of MCC in 1993 and served as President of Kent County Cricket Club in 2006 and President of the MCC in 2009.
Underwood began his career in sensational fashion when he became the youngest player to take 100 wickets in a debut season. He would go on to repeat this feat on nine further occasions in his county career. Playing in 86 Test matches, Underwood took 297 wickets at an average of 25, conceding runs at the rate of just 2.1 per over. He also played in 26 One Day Internationals. In a 24-year County career, he took 1,951 wickets for Kent, making him the third most successful bowler in their history.
As for me, my own cricketing career was played out on the village greens of deepest Kent where, bowling my right arm unpredictables and batting with a stylish elegance that should have produced more runs than it did, I regularly managed to achieve the Basted Double of 10 wickets and 100 runs in a season. So small wonder that those fleeting seconds of yesterday`s brief encounter in Waitrose checkout queue saw yet another mutual acknowledgment of sporting prowess from one to the other.
I wonder if Deadly went home to tell his wife about it.
2 comments:
His contribution to cricket is indeed impressive. Perhaps his biggest contribution was to coach a young up and coming 12 year old in the early seventies (1974 to be precise) for the spring term after school club. That young 12 year old (by then a year older) went on to face the might of Lillee and Thomson when the Aussies played Kent, and a small but select band of ne'er do wells lined-up in the nets to face the deadly due and Deadly, before play began. After that glorious summer's morning, nothing could quite live up to a lifetime's memory, and not too soon after, that young man hung up his pads and box and drifted from the game. With hindsight, perhaps that young man Slightly regretted his decision, but the memory of Deadly and others lives on. Thanks for re-kindling the memory Snopper
Thanks, Slightly - I`m impressed. I hadn`t realised I was living so close to another sporting leg end (sic.)
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