Key events
Dane Vilas to retire from county cricket
While the CC was on holiday, Dane Vilas announced his retirement after seven seasons with Lancashire – arriving on a Kolpak deal in 2017 (becoming an overseas player in 2021) and taking over the captaincy for four years in 2019.
The nuts and bolts haven’t looked so smooth this year, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but what a fantastic innings at Old Trafford. Vilas will play in the SA20 league at the start of next year..
“It has been an extremely difficult decision to call time on my County Cricket career and one that I have thought long and hard about,” he said. “However, I feel that the end of this season is the right time for me and for my family.
“I have enjoyed a fantastic career, from making my First-Class debut for Gauteng in 2006, to the honour and pride of playing Test Match Cricket for South Africa, before moving to the UK in 2017 to take on a new challenge and making Emirates Old Trafford my home for the last seven seasons.
“It was one of the greatest honours of my career to be named captain of the Red Rose, to lead a brilliant group of players for four seasons and to represent our Members and supporters – who have all been amazing to me, and my family, throughout my time at the Club.”
And a couple more into the wicket pot – an early breakthrough for Lancashire with the dismissal of Hassan Azad lbw to Tom Bailey after a 17-ball one (Northants 14-1); and Jake Libby a victim of Glamorgan and van der Gugten – Worcs 16-1.
Just one wicket in the first 15 minutes of the day – Fletcha Middleton snaffled by Andy Umeeed at slips off Jack Brooks, Hampshire 16-1 after James Vince won the toss and chose to bat – one of only two captains to plump for a first dig.
RIP Heath Streak and Ravi Nair
Two sad pieces of news this morning. The death of former Zimbabwe international Heath Streak at just 49 from colon cancer:
And the passing of BTL regular Ravi Nair, known here as Palfreyman. A lovely tribute here from Mes:
Some of you will remember Palfreyman (‘Palf’), an inveterate BTLer for many seasons.
Beyond the bounds of this parish he was simply Ravi Nair.
I’m afraid that Ravi very sadly passed away on 28th July.
He was an absolutely lovely human.
A Surrey fan, Harlequins for rugby – I can forgive him for both of those now.
He (dis)graced the airwaves of Guerilla Cricket. He would want me to say “disgraced”. But I need to put the brackets in. I’ve seen Ravi commentating on Guerilla Cricket, posting on Twitter and sending me messages – all seemingly at the same time. He was “multiplatform”.
Many of us have known Ravi for years. Some here will have known Ravi even longer than I have. I can only say that I have seen the photographic evidence of the Mandarin Brandy Night, which was before my time as a BTLer. I will leave it to others to tell the inside story of the night that led to one of the longest running gags we have here.
On a very personal note, he corresponded by post with my two daughters from his home in Mumbai. Though he would always call it Bombay. And he would always want people to know that he was British. His letters were always a joy for my daughters to receive, and we all referred to him – only half-jokingly – as Uncle Ravi.
He had a cat – Fuzzy (short for Farzana). It seems that the neighbours in Ravi’s apartment block have been feeding her. Ravi ran a Twitter account for Fuzzy as well.
We shared a love of music as well, and with others here, exchanged our favourite songs, often around themes (alternative Christmas songs is a perennial favourite). Ravi always came up with some wonderful Bollywood numbers for whichever theme we were riffing on.
He came up with this tune for one of our themes. It’s stuck in my head. So, play it loud. For Ravi.
Ravi was also a lover of heavy metal music – Iron Maiden in particular. He was a proper headbanger. So, here is a little ditty that seems appropriate. Ravi would laugh, I’m sure, to know that I’m posting that song…
The plan is to have a CC Live awayday at The Oval on 19 September, and to raise a glass (or more) to Ravi’s memory. I will try and sneak some Mandarin Brandy past the Mexican border guards (no promises…), and Culinary Arts is trying to sort out for donations to be made to an animal sanctuary run by a Guerilla Cricket listener.
Once you have listened to ‘My Name is Lakhan’ and Iron Maiden, I can think of no better tribute to play for any cricket fan than to listen to this.
You all know why. And Ravi would love it.
We’ll miss you, Ravi.
Reply
With belated haste, summer has arrived, flip flops trailing out of her unbuckled case. The Met Office five day crystal-ball reading: “Mostly dry and settled with some very warm sunshine.”
Division Two table
1 Durham (11) 174
2 Worcestershire (11) 134
3 Glamorgan (11) 120
4 Sussex (11) 113
5 Leicestershire (10) 111
6 Derbyshire (10) 82
7 Gloucestershire (11) 81
8 Yorkshire (10) 50
Division One Table
1 Surrey (11) 183
2 Essex (11) 166
3 Hampshire (11) 135
4 Warwickshire (10) 127
5 Somerset (11) 125
6 Nottinghamshire (11) 114
7 Lancashire (10) 112
8 Middlesex (10) 84
9 Kent (11) 81
10 Northants (10) 59
Fixtures
DIVISION ONE
The Rose Bowl: Hampshire v Somerset
The County Ground: Northants v Lancashire
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire
DIVISION TWO
Chester-le-Street: Durham v Sussex
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Gloucestershire
New Road: Worcestershire v Glamorgan
Scarborough: Yorkshire v Derbyshire
Preamble
Good morning! As the conkers drop around you boots, welcome back to the autumn version of CCLive! Four rounds, 32 games, a pennant and a teeth grind of promotion and relegation are waiting.
I was supposed to be at Scarborough today, but the train strikes and Sunday services drew a line through that – so let’s just sniff the sea fret and aggressive seagulls. Seven games start today – with Essex v Middlesex joining the party tomorrow – and a handful of new names thrown into the Championship pot, like Jayant Yadav at Middlesex and Sai Sudharsan at Surrey . Play starts at 10.30am.