ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER AGE..

Among my eclectic collection of cricket books, this one perhaps more than any other illustrates my penchant for the underdog.  Why else would I be interested in the fortunes of Glamorgan county cricket club; or the ups and downs of Forest Green Rovers or Truro City football clubs?

About four years ago I posted a `piece` about the death of a Glamorgan cricketing hero - Bernard Hedges. What made that post particularly poignant for me was not just the reminiscences of those bygone cricketing days when Bernard and his chums were in their pomp but also the fact that Bernard Hedges` son got in touch with me to let me know about the heroic walk around the boundary of Wales that he was undertaking in his father`s memory and to raise funds for grass roots cricket in Wales.   

And so, given that background, it was not surprising that along with my own eldest son, I made the journey to Canterbury yesterday to see the first day`s play of Kent`s last home game of the season against ...... Glamorgan.

And it was another of those quiet, balmy late summer/early autumn days when once again the joy of cricket provided the perfect counter to the rest of the world we seem to have to contend with.  It got me thinking back to those other Glamorgan stalwarts of the past who I recalled from my early days of underdog watching.  

But of course, in those far off days, those players were anything but underdogs, more heroes of my boyhood dreams - their names came back so easily after all those years -  those such as Wilfred Wooller, Gilbert Parkhouse, Alan Watkins and, of course, the departed Bernard Hedges.  I spared a thought for his son as well yesterday when, with yet another cricket season drawing to a close,  another day in the sheltered enclave of the St. Lawrence ground at Canterbury rekindled memories of another age now long gone but never forgotten.