Museum of Welsh Cricket Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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In this episode we talk to ex Glamorgan seam bowler Steve 'Basil' Barwick.

You can read about Steve's first class career here:

https://glamorgancricketarchives.com/steve-barwick/

We begin by talking about his early years playing for Briton Ferry Town and Alan Lewis Jones who introduced him to Glamorgan and the then coach Tom Cartwright.  He talks about Tom and how he built his strength up as a bowler.

He talks about his debut for Glamorgan against Sussex at Hove and his first season in 1981.

We talk about some of the international players who played county cricket at the time and some of the bowlers he remembers playing with.

Steve mentions Garth Le Roux as the most difficult batsman he had to bowl against.  We also talk about his career best figures of 8 for 42 which he took against Worcester at New Road.  You can see the scorecard here:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/schweppes-county-championship-1983-468579/worcestershire-vs-glamorgan-470263/full-scorecard

Steve talks about how proud he was to receive his County Cap.

Basil then tells me how he got the nickname!

Steve then describes his experiences as a sufferer of sarcoidosis.  He describes the symptoms and the impact the illness has had on his life.  You can read more about it here:

https://www.sarcoidosisuk.org/

Steve talks about how he changed his bowling to predominantly off cutters and how he went about his craft.  He then goes on to how Glamorgan planned to win matches in the period in the early 90s.  We talk about the impact Viv Richards' arrival at the club and the Axa Equity and Law victory in 1993.  Steve recalls the final game at Canterbury and what a fantastic day it was.

Steve tells the story of how Ian Botham turned up at this mother and fathers wedding anniversary party.

We finish by talking about Steve's love for the game, how he continued to play cricket after his first class career and what the game has meant to him.

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In this, the second part of our chat with current and ex players and officials we meet Henderson Springer.  You can read a little bit about Hendy and his connections with Haverfordwest and the cricket club here:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/hendy-springer-53004

http://www.pembrokeshiresport.co.uk/home/henderson-says-hello-to-his-pembrokeshire-cricketing-friends

You can hear an interview with him on this Facebook link:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=192877061657624

And an article in Barbados today about Hendy's return to the island and its cricket community:

https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/06/19/springer-returns-as-crickets-coaching-boss/

First, we hear my questions to Hendy.  He talks about his first impressions of the club and the town, his estimation of the team and what made it successful in the period he was with it.  He talks about how he felt coming to the club as a paid professional and a little bit about his approach to coaching.

He tells the story about a lady called Mary Field who's conversation with him is something that has stayed with him throughout his coaching career.

He also gives a message to the club and its members about everyone pitching in to keep the club going for another two hundred years !

The second part of the episode is club members talking about Henderson arriving at the club and their memories of him, both on and off the field!

The final part of the episode is the club members talking about their favourite grounds, both within and outside Pembrokeshire, their connections with the wider game in Wales, including the relationship with Glamorgan and Welsh Fire and the impact of women and girls cricket on the club.

Finally, we hear some favourite stories about the club and its players and memories of a loved ex member of the club, Steve James.

Very sadly, Henderson's mother was taken into hospital on the day of our conversation.  She has, since, passed away.

This episode of the podcast is dedicated to her memory and to the memory of Steve James.

Anyone interested in attending one of the remaining functions celebrating the club's bicentenary can find the details via the club's Facebook Page.

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In this episode we speak to Professor Mike Wilson of Loughborough University about his work in the area of oral history and the two cricketing projects with which he was associated, Tale-Enders and Taking the field.  Mike is currently Professor of Drama and Head of Creative Arts at Loughborough.

Tale-Enders was a project he was involved with alongside Andrew Hignell of the Museum of Welsh Cricket and coincided with plans for the new stadium at Sophia Gardens in the run up to the Ashes series of 2009.  At that time, Mike was  Head of Research at the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Glamorgan which is now the University of South Wales in Pontypridd.  Mike describes the origins of the project, his memories of working on it and some of the stories about welsh cricket clubs it uncovered.

Taking the Field was a project inspired by the Tale Enders Project and was organised under the auspices of the MCC.  It expanded on the concepts explored by Tale Enders and, as it happened, assisted members of Blaina Cricket Club tell the story of their club.

In addition to talking about these projects, Mike tells us about his academic journey, his discovery of oral history and one or two of the key figures that have informed his development as someone interested in the power of stories for exploring history.

For those interested in Tale Enders, you can find the Flickr page which was used by the project by clicking on the link below.  Be prepared to see some famous English cricketers as well as members of the Glamorgan CCC Team from days gone by.  In addition, there are many photos taken of club grounds and club and country cricket in Wales from the early 20th century.  Unfortunately, the photos are not labelled but the experience of looking at them is no less enjoyable for that:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tale-enders/

For those interested in the Taking the Field project there will be a follow up episode of the podcast featuring original audio recordings from the project with members of Blaina Cricket Club as well as an interview with Project Worker Emma Peplow and member of Blaina CC, Alan Williams.

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David currently lives in Cheltenham but he tells us the story of how his Dad and wider family introduced him to the game of cricket and how his love of that led him into a lifelong relationship with Glamorgan County Cricket Club.

He was an avid collector and kept scrapbooks full of paper cuttings about his favourite players as well as the England team.  It was one these scrapbooks that encouraged him to write his first book about cricket, 'In the Shadow of Packer'.  Published by Pitch in 2016 the book tells the story of England's Winter Tour to Pakistan and New Zealand in 1977/78.

David talks to us about his upbringing and writing that first book.  He has become a consistently interesting writer about the game, self publishing a number of further books, monographs and pamphlets.   They have covered some of the perhaps less well known teams and individuals and have included works on the Pakistan Eaglets who were regular visitors to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s as well as pieces about Gilbert Jessop, William Woof and a forthcoming publication on ex Glamorgan and Western Province all rounder Peter Swart.

David's enthusiasm for the game remains and his commitment to writing about it has delivered some lovely gems about our cricketing past.  If you want to keep up to speed with David's output you can follow him on Twitter (@BattersbyDave) or email him directly:

dave@talbot.force9.co.uk 

We hope you enjoy spending 30 minutes or so in the company of an avid fan whose writing reflects a deep love of the game of cricket.

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In 1977 Mike llewellyn almost became one of the few players in cricket history to strike a ball over the tall and imposing Pavillion at Lords.

His feat came during the Gillette Cup Final against Middlesex, with the aggressive left hander having started his innings with two fours and a six off Mike Gatting.  Then came his enormous blow, off the bowling of England off spinner John Emburey, as Mike hit a ball into the gutter on the roof of the famous building.

We talk to him about his childhood in Clydach, his experiences on the ground staff at Lords and his playing career with Glamorgan.

We also hear about Mike's transition to being a businessman in the years after finishing in the first class game.

There are lots of laughs (mainly form Mike!) along the way as he gives us a flavour of what it was like being a county cricketer in the 70s and 80s.

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We talk to Criced Cymru / Cricket Wales community coach for Pembrokeshire Rick Walton.  Awarded the ECB community coach of the year award in 2015, Rick is a committed and well loved cricket coach who spends his working life converting as many young people as he can to the joys of the game of cricket.

In our interview he talks about his sporting family, including a grandfather who played for Manchester United, and his early years growing up in Grimsby.  We talk about how he discovered cricket when his own son wanted to get involved at Haverfordwest Cricket Club and how he has never looked back.

Rick is a thinker not only about cricket but sport and wider associated and unassociated issues!  We talk about his writing of blogs, his involvement in watching the England International womens team and his own 'journal' which he hopes will be published as a book soon.

An enjoyable half hour chat with someone at the coalface of cricket conversion.

If you would like to read a little bit of Rick's writing you can find it here:

https://cricketmanwales.com/   for his writing on sport and cricket in particular or

https://bowlingatvincent.com/  for his views on a broader canvus.

Anyone interested in booking Rick to come to their school / cricket club can contact him at:

rick.walton@cricketwales.org.uk 

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We talk to Jack Russell.  The Gloucestershire and England wicketkeeper played in 54 Tests and played in 465 first class games for his county in a 23 year career that saw him make nearly 18,000 runs and take nearly 2,000 catches behind the stumps.

However, Jack has now had a longer career as a professional painter than he had as a cricketer.  His paintings hang in public and private collections worldwide, from the Tower of London to The Bradman Museum in Bowral Australia. Sittings for his portrait paintings have included HRH Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Duke of Kent, ten Field Marshals of the British Army, Sir Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes, and Eric Clapton.  Sporting icons include Sir Bobby Charlton, Dickie Bird and Phil Taylor.

He talks to us about how he began painting, who were his inspirations as a painter, the process of painting and what still motivates him to paint.  If you want to take a look at his many paintings and sketches, go to:

www.jackrussell.co.uk

Malcolm Murphy has been a native of South Wales for many years and currently lives in Splott, Cardiff.   He talks to us about his long journey from the Hip Hop movement of his childood, his addiction to spray painting which eventually brought him into trouble with the police, his career as a professional signwriter and Fairground Artist and the development of his fine art.

Malcolm has painted Sophia Gardens twice in recent years and one of these still hangs in one of the rooms at Sophia Gardens.

To see some of Malcolm's wonderful paintings of Cardiff street scenes and his other work, head to:

www.malcolmmurphyartist.com

We hope you enjoy listening to two painters and how they approach their painting.

Don't forget, we are always on the look out for stories about the great game of cricket in the great county of Wales.  You can contact us via our Twitter feed (@welshcricketpod), our Facebook page (CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket) and by emailing us on:

mwcpod1921@gmail.com

Thank you for listening.  Diolch am wrando. 

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Brothers Steve and Jeff Watkin talk about the recent history of the club and their involvement in it, stopping off to mention the long history of the club along the way.

Steve who, of course, went on to play first class cricket with Glamorgan and appear in three Test matches and four One Day Internationals for England talks about his early career with the club and those that influenced his early career.  

Jeff tells us about the successes of the club in recent times and their plans, Coronavirus restrictions willing, for celebrating their incredible 175 year history.

Along the way we hear about the first switch hitter that Steve Watkin ever saw and the best sporting star in the Watkin family (which is neither Jeff or Steve)

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Andrew was born in 1984.   At the age of four, in April 1989, he was diagnosed with autism. 

“Go home and watch Rain Man,” the specialist told his mother. “In all probability your son will be institutionalised.” 

Determined to prove the specialist wrong, his mother, Hazel Davies, set out to give her son the best life possible. 

Raised in a single parent household and encountering bureaucracy, bullying and a lack of understanding from many he came across,  Andrew emerged from a turbulent childhood to win a Welsh National Young Volunteer Award and secure his dream job as a Broadcast Statistician at Manchester United Television.

After leaving MUTV after eleven and a half years in April 2014, he secured a book deal with Bennion Kearny Publishing to write his memoir entitled “I’ve Got a Stat for You - My Life with Autism”. This was following an interview on his life with Welsh broadcaster John Humphrys on BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today Programme.

Andrew talks about his experiences including his time watching, following and playing cricket at Chirk Cricket Club.

Sadly, Andrew's mother passed away shortly before Christmas 2020.  This episode is dedicated to her memory.

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In 1995 the first all black South African cricket side came on a history making tour of the UK.  With the assistance of local MP and anti apartheid campaigner Peter Hain, the Soweto Cricket Club came to Ynysygerwn early in July of that year.

We talk to Peter about growing up in South Africa, his campaign to stop the South African rugby and cricket teams from touring in Britain and his latest book, co written with historian Andre Odendaal.  He reflects on how symbolically important the Tour and game at Ynys were.

We talk to Gordon Templeton, one of the black cricketers on that Tour and his memories of the day as well as Khaya Majola the black South African cricketer who did so much for multi-racial cricket in his country.

We also talk to four of the Ynysygerwn team who played against Soweto.  Steve Williams, Huw Jenkins, Neil Davies and Mike Haswell reflect on their careers and the importance of cricket in their lives.