Issue 23 of The Nightwatchman is out now and available to buy here.
Matt Thacker introduces the latest issue of The Nightwatchman…
It’s not often the Nightwatchman has a theme running through an entire issue. Over almost six years we have succumbed just a handful of times. Lord’s, the Oval, county cricket and Test Match Special have all hogged the limelight all on their own, while overseas cricketers took up a large chunk of the running order last time out.
But we’ve had this, our Roses issue, in mind for a long time. Yorkshire and Lancashire have provided England with almost 170 of their 690 or so players, some 25 per cent. Both counties, wherever their protean borders have been drawn, have incredibly rich and proud cricketing histories, and matches between them are the stuff of legend. No quarter asked, none given.
It is quite possible that the Roses match is the most drawn fixture in sport (almost half of the nigh on 300 fixtures have ended in stalemate), neither side wanting to give the other a sniff of the victory that could ensure bragging rights for months to come. And neither set of supporters has ever shied away from a spot of gentle bragging.
Without wishing to replicate Yorkshire’s native-only policy, we looked to feature as many writers as possible with links to one county or t’other, or indeed both, and we were delighted that so many were happy to go into bat for their team. We also spoke to players who have worn the rose with distinction: the two Lloyds, Clive and David, for team red, and Richard Hutton and Katherine Brunt for team white. And even one, David Byas, who did what only six other Englishmen had done since 1900 and risked the wrath of the Broad Acres by moving across from Yorkshire to Lancashire. They all offer fascinating insight into the make-up of Roses clashes.
And we’ve gratefully borrowed from the two great writers of Roses cricket: Jim Kilburn of the Yorkshire Post – precise, prolific and polished – and Neville Cardus of the Manchester Guardian – descriptive and debonair. Thanks to the Guardian, the Wisden Almanack and to Bob Hilton at the fantastic Cardus Archive at Old Trafford for giving us access to these pieces.
Elsewhere Colin Shindler, David Hopps, Kamran Abbasi and Daniel Norcross recall their very different Roses upbringings, Colin Evans shares a very personal appreciation of Brian Statham, Harry Pearson looks at Yorkshire’s overseas players – or the lack of them – and Paul Edwards reminds us of the great games of the 1930s. Graham Hardcastle looks at some electric clashes of more recent vintage while David Warner and Alex Bowden both use Twenty20 as the springboard for discussing the age-old rivalry.
Finally, Andy Wilson discusses what it means to be Lancastrian, Ian McMillan runs the rule over the language used by the different sets of fans, Scott Oliver visits Todmorden CC to find out if it is red or white, and Alan Tyers imagines a nuclear war wiping out everything except the odd cricket-loving cockroach and, of course, Geoffrey Boycott.
If you would like to write for us or just let us know what you think about the Nightwatchman, good or bad, please get in touch with us at editor@thenightwatchman. net. We read every submission (but promise nothing) that fulfils our criteria: that articles should touch on cricket (however tangentially) and are original, well written and thought-provoking.
Matt Thacker, September 2018