Author: CCS

Kevin Sharp was born in Leeds on 06 April 1959. He went to Abbey Grange High School in Leeds. He was a left-handed batter and occasional right-arm off break bowler.

He played for Yorkshire from 1976-1990. He was a very gifted cricketer who made his debut aged 17. He made 260*, at New Road, for England Young Cricketers in 1978. He was capped in 1982 aged 23. He played 218 first-class matches during which he scored 9,962 runs at 30.84 with 14 centuries and 47 fifties and a top score of 181.

He also had three seasons at Griqualand West in South Africa between 1981 and 1984. He played 17 first-class matches and averaged just under 40.

Following the end of his Yorkshire career in 1990, aged just 31, he played for Shropshire in the Minor Counties from 1993 to 1997 while also playing club cricket for Bridgnorth and Ossett.

Following retirement from playing, Sharp has worked as a batting coach for Yorkshire and as an umpire. He coached some real batting talent at Yorkshire including Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth, all of whom were to play for England. Root remains a friend of Sharp and occasionally calls him for technical advice.

Having been part of a coaching clearout at Yorkshire in 2011, Sharp was recruited by his old playing colleague, Steve Rhodes, who took Sharp to Worcestershire onto their coaching team. When Rhodes was sacked in 2018, Sharp was upgraded to Head Coach. He held this post for 4 years until he retired in 2022. During his time at New Road, the county was known as one which produced a stream of good quality home-grown talent.

It will be interesting to hear the thoughts of a man who has been involved in county cricket for almost 50 years. His coaching has nurtured much talent for the benefit of English cricket.

Ken Burney

Ian “Gunner” Gould was born on 19 August 1957 at Taplow, Buckinghamshire. He was a left-handed batter and wicket-keeper who played for Middlesex (1975-80 and 1996), Sussex (1981-90, captain in 1987) and at ODI level for England in 1983.

He played football, as a goalkeeper, for both Slough Town and Arsenal thus acquiring his nickname of “Gunner”. He became Chairman of Southern Football League club, Burnham, in 2009.

Gould played 298 first-class matches in which he scored 8,756 runs at 26.05 with 4 centuries and 47 fifties with a top score of 128. He took 536 catches and made 67 stumpings. When at Middlesex, he won the County Championship in 1976 and 1980 and whilst at Sussex he won the NatWest Trophy in 1986 and the Sunday League in 1982.

He toured the West Indies with the England Young Cricketers in 1976. He played 18 ODIs in 1983 including that year’s Cricket World Cup in preference to Bob Taylor, England’s red ball wicket-keeper at the time. In those 18 games, Gould took 15 catches and made 3 stumpings.

He is best known as a high quality umpire. He stood in 74 Tests (2008-19), 140 ODIs (2006-19) and 37 T20Is (2006-16). He stood in 3 matches at the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. He umpired his first Test match in 2008 – South Africa v Bangladesh. He was promoted to the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires in 2009. He stood in the high profile India v Pakistan semi-final at the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was one of twenty umpires to officiate in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. He was one of sixteen umpires to stand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. In July 2019, he retired as an umpire having stood in his 140th ODI game.

In 2020, Pitch Publishing released Gould’s autobiography, “Gunner : My Life in Cricket”.

We look forward to hearing from a man who has both played and umpired at a high level and who is widely known in cricket circles as a chirpy character.

Ken Burney

Derek Pringle was born on September 18, 1958 in Nairobi, Kenya. His father, Don Pringle, played for Kenya and represented  East Africa in 2 games at the first Cricket World Cup in 1975.

Derek went to Felsted School before going on to Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University. He appeared as an extra in “Chariots of Fire”. He was university cricket captain in 1982 at which time he was selected for England against India at Lord’s.

He is very tall at 6ft 4in and was an all-rounder for Cambridge University (1979-82), Essex (1978-93) and England (1982-93). He was a right hand bat and right arm medium pace bowler who used his height to generate swing and bounce.

He was, and is, an unconventional character who likes real ale and vinyl records and who had the distinction of being the first England cricketer to wear an ear ring!

He played for Essex during a golden period for the county. In his career there, Essex won the County Championship six times, the NatWest Trophy once, the Benson and Hedges Cup once and the Sunday League three times.

Derek played 295 first class matches during which he scored almost 10,000 runs at just under 30 with 10 centuries and 48 fifties and a top score of 128. He also took over 750 wickets at around 25. He took 5 wickets in an innings on 25 occasions (with a best of 7/18) and took 10 wickets in a match 3 times.

He played 30 Tests, in and out, for England from 1982-92 during which he hit one half century (63) and took 70 wickets  with a best of 5/95. He played 44 ODIs between 1982 and 1993 during which he took 44 wickets with a best of 4/42.

Following his playing career, he became a cricket correspondent with “The Independent” and “The Daily Telegraph”.  He wrote his entertaining autobiography, “Pushing the Boundaries”, published by Hodder & Stoughton, in 2018.

It will be a pleasure to welcome to our society a man who has both played and watched cricket at a high level and who has a distinctive view of the game.

Ken Burney

David Gower was born on 01 April 1957 at Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He went to King’s School, Canterbury on a scholarship. He briefly studied law at University College, London but he had already played some cricket for Leicestershire so his academic career ended.

His nicknames are stoat, lubo and lu – maybe he will enlighten us as to how he acquired those?!

He played for Leicestershire (1975-89), Hampshire (1990-93), England (1978-92) and MCC in a career which lasted from 1975 to 1993. He was a languid, graceful left-handed bat who caressed the ball rather than belted it. He always looked elegant when he was batting whether in or out of form.

He played 448 first-class matches during which he scored 26,339 runs at 40.08 with 53 centuries and 136 fifties and a top score of 228. He was also a good fielder with a safe pair of hands which took 280 catches. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1979.

He played 117 Tests for England during which he made 8,231 runs at 44.25 with 18 centuries and 39 fifties and a top score of 215. He pulled his first ball in Test cricket for a four against Pakistan at Edgbaston in June 1978 aged just 21. He captained England in 32 Tests, 25 of which were in succession. His highlight was scoring 732 runs at 81.33 in the 1985 series against Australia which was won 3-1. He hit 9 Test centuries against Australia, the same as Wally Hammond, which is only bettered by Jack Hobbs with 12. Although he was a strokemaker, he could play a rearguard innings such as his match-saving 154* against the West Indies at Jamaica in 1981.

He also played 114 ODIs during which he scored 3,170 runs at 30.77 with 7 centuries and 12 fifties and a top score of 158. He had a healthy strike rate, for his era, of 75.15.

Following his playing career, Gower moved effortlessly into broadcasting where he has been an excellent presence on our T.V. screens for many years, principally with Sky Sports.

It will be a pleasure to welcome a man, for our 40th anniversary Special Event, who has graced both cricket fields and our T.Vs with such charm and charisma.

Ken Burney