2GS The Sunday Times June 5, 2022 15‘After we
were
bowled out
for 51 by
West Indies,
I admitted
that I was
not doing
my job
as an
opener’It was the scorecard that launched a
thousand ethical dilemmas. The No 3
for Shrewton’s first XI had compiled a
handy 229 off 109 balls, with 16 fours
and 22 sixes, against South Wilts third
XI. An innings of which most of us
can only dream, or achieved in
misspent days on games consoles.
Why the backlash? Shrewton’s
No 3 was Rikki Clarke, he of 22
England appearances between 2003
and 2006, in his first summer as a
retired first-class cricketer. The
40-year-old eyes and body are not
what they were, but the talent
remains. Was it just not cricket for a
former cricketer to play at this level?
A 20-year first-class veteran swinging
from the hip against a third XI?
When Clarke posted the scorecard
online it turned into a Rorschach test
of fairness. Some questioned why a
former international felt the need to
brag about a double century in
Division Two of the Hampshire
Cricket League — why was he not
playing at a level more attuned to his
ability? And how it was unfair for
teenagers to bowl at a man who hit
Andre Nel for six in an ODI before
they were born. Others defended
Clarke, saying here was someone
who could have never played again
but instead is trying to take his club to
a better place, sharing pictures of
him helping with a deep-clean of
facilities and pointing out that he has
helped score for the second XI.
“Did I know what I was doing?”
Clarke said of posting the scorecard
online. “Yes. Have I since joining the
club tried to promote them the best
way that I can? Yes. Obviously I got
200 and that helped the side win the
game. It’s caused divided opinion.
But I’ve been in the game for a long
time now and I’ve got some prettythick skin. It’s just a case of doing the
best I can for Shrewton. Am I playing
leagues below? Yes. Even if I was in
the Premier Division people would
probably whinge.”
Clarke says he has had offers from
clubs in higher leagues, and from
minor counties, who could pay him
for a Saturday run out, but he wants
to play for Shrewton and insists he
receives nothing for doing so. There
are 17 teams in Division Two; first XIs
plus some second XIs, and South
Wilts’ thirds. Shrewton are fifth.
It was not a chanceless innings
from Clarke on Saturday. He was
dropped at cow corner on 88, and
says he was not far away from being
caught from his first ball, top-edging
it between fine and square leg. He
was dismissed in one of FraserWilson’s two overs and hopes it will
be a wicket that Wilson will fondly
remember. (Playing for South Wilts
under-15s the following day, Wilson
took five for four.)
Clarke is adamant that he would
have shared the scorecard if he had
been out for a duck; anything to
spread the gospel of Shrewton. “How
can any club progress if they’re
constantly losing their best players
potentially to the Premier Division
sides and the bigger clubs around the
area?” he says. “Because of Covid, we
have two Saturday sides. We’ve not
quite got a third XI side because
we’ve lost players. We’re trying to
encourage 13-year-olds, boys and
girls, to come play in the third XI, to
get that experience of adult cricket.”
Clarke bowled in the match too,
sending down six wicketless overs for- “I trot in off a couple of paces, a
half run-up, it’s not like I’m steaming
in off my long run-up and bowling full
pelt like I used to in county cricket,”
he says. “When younger kids come
in, I ease up a little bit. That’s also
difficult because your team-mates are
like, ‘Look, come on, we need
wickets to get our points and get the
wins,’ and I’m easing off because a 14
or 15-year-old has come in.”
Even those who played for a living,
dropping down a standard, do not
always come off. Clarke started the
league season with a pair of 14s
before his double hundred. Carlos
Brathwaite began his Knowle &
Dorridge campaign in April by
smacking his first ball, a long hop, to
deep mid-wicket. Sir Alastair Cook,
still scoring hundreds for Essex, was
bowled by Kyran Shackleton, 15, in a
12-over thrash last week. Tom Pearce,
the South Wilts third XI captain, said
the club had “no issues” with the
Clarke innings.
The cross-pollination of club cricket
is one of the sport’s best qualities.
Here, though, cricket turned into
philosophy 101. What would you do? If
Rikki Clarke were your team-mate,
would you want him to play like Rikki
Clarke? And if you knew you could
score a double hundred at two runs a
ball, rather than hoped you might,
would you do it?
Is it right for an ex-England player to
score 229 against a club’s third XI?
Rikki Clarke does not
understand backlash to
his innings and says he
simply wants to boost
the grass-roots gameRikki Clarke
@RikkiClarke81
Love playing with these lads. @ShrewtonCC
TWEET EARNS
MIXED REACTIONRikki Clarke, now 40, spent most of
his career at Surrey and played in
two Tests and 20 ODIs for EnglandElgan AldermanIt’s not often I shed a
tear reading an article
in the sports paper but
I just did after reading
Jonathan Northcroft’s
article on Matthew
Wilkes. Matthew was
my PE teacher at
Ridgewood High for
four years, a strict but
good teacher who I
respected. He
dedicated many an
evening driving the
old school minibus to
football, cricket and
rugby matches which
me and my friends
would play a part in —
I learnt an awful lot. I
would like to wishMatthew and his
family all the very best
for the future.
Sam Blackmore
StourbridgeRuthlessness and
commercial logic
guided Alex
Ferguson’s
stewardship at
Manchester United. At
the first sign of trouble
with Paul Pogba, he
would have
transferred him and
cut his losses. You
either accede to the
team collective or go.
David Chubb
CheshireLETTERS
TO THE
EDITOR
Send your letters to:
The Sports Editor,
The Sunday Times,
1 London Bridge St
London, SE1 9GF
email: sportletters
@sunday-times.co.ukevent, with Greg Norman, the LIV
chief executive, vowing to “defend,
reimburse and represent” any
players sanctioned if they play
regardless.
The scale of any
sanctions has not been
revealed, but Na, 38,
says he faced
“disciplinary
proceedings and legal
action” if he had
remained a PGA Tour
member. In a Twitter post,
Na, inset, wrote: “For 19 years I’ve
played on the PGA Tour and I have
loved every minute of it. I appreciate
the platform the Tour has provided
me to play the game that I love andGOLF
Na quits PGA Tour for Saudi LIV series
Kevin Na, the world No 33, says he
has resigned from the PGA Tour to
compete in the upcoming LIV Golf
Invitational Series.
Na was among the 42 players
named in the field for the inaugural
event of the controversial Saudi-
backed series at Centurion Club, St
Albans, with six more places to be
filled before the 54-hole event gets
under way on Thursday.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour
(formerly the European Tour) have
refused to grant players the required
releases to contest the £20 million
for the opportunities that have come
with it. Recent developments in the
professional golf world have given me
a chance to reconsider my
options. I would like the
freedom to play wherever
I want and exercising my
right as a free agent gives
me that opportunity.
“However, to remain
a PGA Tour player, I
must give up my right to
make these choices about
my career.
“I am sad to share that I have
chosen to resign from the PGA Tour.
This has not been an easy decision
and not one I take lightly.”
Opinion: David Walsh, page 24minutes to go when the first of those
five wickets fell. There comes a point
when you just say, “We’re not playing
a shot now”.
In that great hundred he made at
Headingley in 2019, Ben Stokes made
two off 50 balls on the Saturday
evening. He basically said to himself,
“For us to win this game, for us to
have any chance, I’ve got to be there
tomorrow morning”. And that should
have been the thought of any of those
England batters here.
It was a horrible time to bat. To put
it in boxing terms, New Zealand had
three or four free shots. As batsmen,
you just have to take them on the
chin and not go down. You’ve got to
bite on your gumshield, get through
it and come back the next morning.
Instead, England took the three or
four shots and they went down.
It was game management. These
are experienced players. It can only
be the pressure of playing for
England. At some point people have
to man up and say to themselves,
“I’m the man who is not going to get
out”. There’s no other way of doing
it. There’s no magic answer.
Of course, I went through my
share of batting collapses. At Sabina
Park in 2009, after we were bowled
out for 51 by West Indies, I admitted
in one of our meetings that I was not
doing my job as an opener. I felt it
was good for me to own up.
Once you have said something like
that in public, or in front of your
team-mates at any rate, you have got
to live up to it. We don’t know what is
being said among this group of
players but ownership of the
problem is a good starting point.10 for 54 v West Indies Bridgetown
2019 (23-0 to 77 all out)
10 for 56 v Australia
Hobart 2022 (68-0 to 124 all out)
10 for 57 v Australia
Headingley 2019 (10-0 to 67 all out)
10 for 61 v Australia
Melbourne 2021 (7-0 to 68 all out)
10 for 77 v Ireland
Lord’s 2019 (8-0 to 85 all out)
10 for 81 v India
Ahmedabad 2021 (0-0 to 81 all out)
10 for 82 New Zealand
Lord’s 2022 (59-0 to 141 all out)ENGLAND’S WORST
BATTING COLLAPSES
SINCE JANUARY 2019MARC ASPLAND