Category: Pen Portrait

Matthew Peter Maynard was born 21 March 1966 in Oldham Lancashire and brought up on the island of Anglesey in North Wales where he first joined Glamorgan. 

Maynard enjoyed a glittering career with Glamorgan scoring 35,466 runs in 754 1st XI appearances across all formats with a club record 69 centuries. He was involved in four trophy winning sides in the 1990s and early 2000s and memorably captained the club to the County Championship in 1997 and in so doing became only the third Glamorgan captain behind Wilf Wooller and Tony Lewis to win the County Championship.

These displays of skill did not go unnoticed by the England selectors and he earned a call-up against the West Indies at the Oval in 1988. He was picked again in 1989 but then ran foul of the cricketing authorities by agreeing to go with Mike Gatting on the controversial rebel tour of South Africa, when that country had been banned from international sport because of its policy of apartheid. His conduct led to a three-year Test ban, but he was eventually granted a recall for the Ashes series in 1993 after he had hit a century for Glamorgan against the Australians.

He was capped 18 times by England, with 4 Test and 14 One Day International appearances and named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1998.

In September 2004, he was appointed as assistant coach to the England cricket team under Duncan Fletcher and was part of the famous 2005 Ashes triumph.

Maynard retired in 2005 to take up an Assistant Coaching role with England.  Then between his two spells at Glamorgan as Cricket Manager (2007-2010) and Head Coach (2019-2023) he coached the Titans in South Africa, St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League and was Director of Cricket at Somerset (2014-2016).

In 2019 Maynard was awarded the MBE for services to sport and charity. 

Sushil Sidhu – June 2024

Mark is the most successful captain in Gloucestershire’s history; leading the County to seven limited over trophies in six seasons in the Golden One Day era around the millennium. In 2024 he made a welcome return to the Club as Head Coach.

Mark was born in Tottenham in 1968. After moving back to Barbados as a child and enjoying considerable success at Harrison College, he then followed his elder brother Stephen back to the UK where they both won places at Haringey Cricket College, a council funded enterprise in East London.

Gloucestershire invited big brother Stephen for a trial. Mark went along as support and when several trialists failed to show, Mark found himself playing and it was he who impressed the coaches.  David Lawrence became Yogi Bear – a nickname he soon lost; Mark was Boo Boo – a name that has stuck!

He made his 1st Class debut in 1986 and in 1990, in only his eight 1st Class match, he became the youngest Gloucestershire player to score a double century, aged 22.

Appointed captain in 1997, he and coach John Bracewell set about building a side which would dominate one-day cricket for the next few years.  Mark was an inspirational skipper and great tactician, not to mention his contribution with both bat and ball, including a wonderful century in the Super Cup Final at Lords against Yorkshire in 1999.

Mark retired having scored a remarkable 22,198 runs and taken 810 wickets for the club. He became first team coach before moving to Lords as MCC head coach.

Mark was capped 10 times for England in One Day Internationals and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2000.  He was appointed MBE in the 2004 New Years Honours List.

A true legend it has been wonderful to welcome him back to Gloucestershire in 2024 to lead the development of this exciting young side.

John Gordon  – June 2024

Mickey Arthur was born in Johannesburg and played domestic cricket in South Africa between 1986 and 2001 scoring more than 6,600 first-class runs. But it is as a coach that he came to the attention of the wider cricketing world, beginning with roles in first class teams before becoming National Coach of South Africa in 2005. This proved a tough baptism against Australia, but, in March 2006, his team pulled off a sensational ODI run chase reaching 438/9 with one wicket and one ball to spare, in one of the greatest ever ODIs. In 2008, the team achieved world number one ranking in ODIs. Following differences with the ruling body, he resigned his position in 2010 and coaching the Australian National team followed for three years. 

A period in domestic cricket coaching there followed, with Mickey becoming an Australian citizen in 2016. National Coaching roles followed with both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and then  closer to home Derbyshire, his current position. After an initial spell with Pakistan, ending in 2019, he left to join the county, only for Pakistan to seek to re-recruit him as Head coach in 2023. He was reluctant to leave his role with Derbyshire so a role of Director of Cricket in Pakistan was created that enabled him to work with both teams. But this came to an abrupt end in early 2024 when the country decided to choose a wholly different leadership team. It would seem that politics is never too far from the surface in that country’s cricket management.

We look forward to a fascinating evening with a man who has coached three national teams and has chosen to continue his career working in county cricket. Perhaps he shares the affection for it that so many of us do?

Chris J Coleman – June 2024

Simon Hughes was born on 20 December 1959 in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. He went to Durham University where he obtained a degree in geography.

He was a right-arm, fast-medium bowler who represented Middlesex, Durham and Northern Transvaal over a 14 year career which lasted from 1980 to 1993.

He played 205 first-class matches and 202 List A ones. He took 466 first-class wickets and claimed 5 wickets in an innings ten times with a best of 7/35. He also took 272 List A wickets, claiming 4 wickets six times with a best of 5/23. He made one first class fifty – 53.

Simon played for Middlesex during a golden era. In 1980, his first season, his county won both the County Championship and the Gillette Cup. Simon was the top wicket taker in that Gillette cup final at Lord’s on the 06 September 1980 – taking 3/60 of 11 overs. His scalps were Graham Roope, Monte Lynch and David Thomas. Middlesex beat their old rivals, Surrey, by 7 wickets. Middlesex also won the County Championship in 1982, 1985 and 1990. Additionally, the NatWest Trophy was won in 1984 and 1988. The Benson & Hedges Cup was won in 1983 and 1986.

Simon became a successful cricket author writing several well-received books. He wrote two excellent books about his own cricketing experiences – one was about his life, the ups and the downs, as a professional cricketer (“A Lot of Hard Yakka”) and the other was about his experiences, told in a most amusing manner, as an overseas professional cricketer in several Test playing countries (“Yakking Around the World”). Please note that yakka and yakking are the Aboriginal words for work and working. The former title was the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1997.

Post his playing career, Simon has worked in the media. He is well-known to cricket fans as the Analyst for Chanel 4’s Test match coverage from 1999 to 2005. He later worked on Cricket on 5 (2006 to 2010). He gave the viewer an insight into some of the more technical aspects of the play. He often uses Hawkeye to illustrate his observations. He has also written for the “Daily Telegraph”, “The Independent” and “The Times”. He edited “The Cricketer” from 2014 to 2021.

Simon runs a podcast, with Simon Mann, called “The Analyst Inside Cricket”.

Ken Burney – June 2024

In the third season of hosting guest speakers by the Society, our founding president, Peter West excelled himself in capturing Messrs; D’Oliveira, Wooller, and “Bomber” Wells, followed by a superb evening with Phil Neale. One can easily imagine that Basil would have had a word with Peter West at some point, with a recommendation for Phil Neale, knowing the man, and the impact that he had been making at New Road. Phil was proving to be a very successful leader of Worcestershire, in due course nailing six trophies for the county, so on the crest of a wave of success when he came to Cheltenham.

Born in Lincolnshire in 1954, Phil had proven his pedigree as an all round sportsman, playing football for Scunthorpe (with Botham! ), Worcester City, Gloucester City and Lincoln City, making over 300 appearances for the latter. While doing so he undertook a degree in Russian, demonstrating academic talent too. Incidentally, the home county may not have boasted front-line status, but even in those days ran more than 200 cricket clubs.

In his first full season for Worcestershire Phil scored more than 900 runs, and was a fixture in the side for the next 15 seasons, taking on the captaincy in 1982, enjoying successes in Sunday League and County Championship in the years to follow. He retired in 1992,having notably become the last man to play football and cricket professionally in the same era. As a batsman he accumulated over 17,000 runs in his long career. His successes and experience led to him becoming a coach and manager at Northants and Warwickshire, before taking on the role of Operations Manager for England in 1999, serving in post for 21 years, covering over 200 tests, with coaching also part of his remit.

 After such an illustrious career, it was fitting that the club legend and former  captain would be invited to take over the Presidency of Worcestershire CCC  in March 2024.

So, while few now will recall the pleasure of meeting Phil in 1987, he will be very welcome as a returning guest to the Society, with so much more to add to the content of yesteryear.

 Paddy Murphy – June 2024 

Kim was born in 1960, in Leek Staffordshire. In his domestic career he played for Derbyshire for 19 years from 1979. When he was 22 years old, his cricketing capability was recognised by Derbyshire and he was made Captain, the youngest ever and he held this role until 1995. He moved to Gloucestershire for 3 years because of disagreements with the County’s committee.

Kim was primarily a batsman, but also was a proficient leg spin bowler,
and was named in 1989 as one of the five Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year.

Kim played in 4 Tests for England, but after accepting a place on the Gatting rebel tour of South Africa in 1989/90 he was banned from Test cricket for 3 years. However, in his debut at Lord’s, he scored 68 against Sri Lanka. In his one day career, he scored 84 and was man of the match, against Sri Lanka.

In total, he scored 28593 first class runs, with a batting average of 40.38. His top score was 239 not out against Leicestershire, and he made 61 centuries.

In a single season, he passed 1000 runs, a total of 16 times and achieved this milestone in 11 consecutive seasons, between 1983 and 1993.

As a bowler, he took 188 wickets in first class cricket. His best figures were 6-28 against Glamorgan.

His time as captain of Derbyshire led to Sunday League title in 1990, and in 1993 winning the Benson & Hedges cup.

Kim Barnett was a well recognised figure on the cricket field. He took guard usually several inches outside leg stump. On delivery of the ball, he possessed a pronounced shuffle of his feet. In appearance he had a bald head and moustache, so he stood out on the field.

Eventually in 2002, despite wishing to continue, Gloucestershire did not offer a contract, so he returned to league cricket.

Kim Barnett was a very successful first class cricketer, both as batsman and bowler, evident from his statistics. He was a determined captain of his county, and when he retired, left an enduring legacy to the game.

Robin Andrews – June 2024