With grateful thanks to Dan Steed for the pictures
There could be a fierce debate among the Heavy Rollers as to whether this match qualifies as a Heavy Rollers event at all.
The match was scheduled to start on a Friday and half of Edgbaston was a building site for this match, so most of the rollers chose to absent themselves this year. Also, Anita was in hospital recovering from an op, so I think David & Dan were unable to join us the evening before the match.
Anyway, the Edgbaston party comprised four diehards: me, Charles “Charley The Gent Malloy” Bartlett, David and Dan Steed.
Chas’s e-mail to me, cc: Dan & David after the event provides some evidence:
Just a quick note to all and thanks for a great day – so lucky with the weather.
Ian, special thanks for your generosity, so much appreciated, I will look for an Essex match within the next few weeks and also let you know about the face off at lords when I have that date!
David, Thanks fro taking us to the Hospital to see Anita, so pleased she is recovering well – keep me posted
Dan, don’t forget the link for the photos.
I will research the matches for next year. To include Edgbaston, Lords and the Oval, so far it looks to be India and Sri Lanka.
Regards
Charles.
PS – just thought I would mention it that I did say England needed 400 in the first innings, so not to bat again, its gets boring being so right so often!!
We stayed at Harborne Hall and my records show that my generosity extended to a meal at Henry Wong‘s on the night before the match – I think just me and Chas.
I recall that, before dinner, Chas and I visited Anita in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which was brand new that summer. She was in good spirits while recuperating and was in superb spirits when we saw her again, in more convivial circumstances, the following year.
As for the cricket, I recall Edgbaston looking quite sad in its building-site-fulness and the Day One crowd was quite sparse.
We were in exile in the RES Wyatt Stand, some distance from our normal seats in the Priory Stand (subsequently a few blocks round in the Raglan Stand).
I also recall many locals (including Dan) griping about the prices that year – they felt that Warwickshire CCC had failed to notice the unattractiveness of this match in the circumstances and still tried to charge “Ashes prices”.
I’m not quite sure how Chas’s point about England scoring 400+ is vindicated by the ultimate scorecard, click here, but he must have known what he was talking about at the time.
Here’s the note from Dan in response to Charley’s note:
Few photos from the building site – didn’t take too many! The score board ones say it all really. Great day, apologies its taken me a few weeks to send.
Ian/Charles, Take care all and see you again next year at the Oval…….hopefully?!!
P.S. Ian, forgot to give you your Z/Yen cap back – if you need it let me know your address and I will post it?
I never got round to asking for my cap back. I wonder (in April 2020, nearly 10 years later) if it is too late to ask?