The Trent Bridge Battery

 Sometimes a name keeps cropping up and eventually demands attention.

John Lucas first came to my attention when I read his Modern English Poetry - from Hardy to Hughes many many years ago. Then much later I ordered books from the Shoestring Press. Then, wondering if I could cite Modern English Poetry in a (possibly forthcoming) essay, I looked it up and found him to be editor of, and contributor to, Poetry: the Nottingham Collection which was worth its weight for his tribute to Derek Randall alone.

Finding that he was also still publishing novels in his 80's, played in a jazz band and was also a cricketer himself, he has far too belatedly become a writer of some interest, not least on account of my parents having his The Trent Bridge Battery on their shelves because even if I abdicated to being officially a Fulham supporter circa 1966 before we left Nottingham, I hold Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Notts County and Nottingham Forest nearly as dear as they do in my sporting affiliations. We're not as grim as Yorkshire or Lancashire people but we're not southerners either. We are Nottingham and in some small vestigial echo of where I'm from the place names, the streets, the accent and the old-fashioned courtesies have an evocative poetry of their own. 

The Trent Bridge Battery is a family biography of three generations of Gunns who played for Notts from William's debut in 1880, through the days of W.G. Grace, the Golden Age of cricket pre the 1914-18 war and his nephews, George and John, through to one solitary comeback appearance by George Vernon Gunn, in which he scored a duck, in 1950. But, along the way, among the rapturous journalist's reports of flawless batting, useful bowling and playing well into middle age, there are appearances by the great Notts man, Richard Daft, Harold Larwood, Jack Hobbs, Ranjitsinji and an old family acquaintance of ours, a bit before my time, Walter Keeton.

Possibly the most charismatic of them was George who would kid bowlers by defending meticulously against their bad balls and then dismiss their best deliveries for four which brings to kind what happened much later when Randall was jauntily less than respectful to the fearsome Denis Lillee. On one occasion, assuming that lunch was at 1.30 but finding that it was to be at 2.00, he immediately played no shot at a straight ball and departed the crease announcing that he took his lunch at 1.30. That is not the sort of behaviour that recommends one to England selectors and the point is made that a number of players, not only in cricket but the likes of Rodney Marsh under Alf Ramsey's football regime, didn't play as much international sport as their talent deserved. I still don't think Chris Read was unnerved by a beamer from Franklyn Stephenson. I suspect he was honest enough to tell somebody what he thought and thus England sifted through several wicketkeeper-batsmen rather than him while Read, quite possibly the best at it, devoted his talents to Notts for twenty years. There's something England doesn't like about maverick talent.

The joy of books like this, plentiful in statistics but thoroughly researched from contemporary newspapers and Wisden, is how it does so well in bringing back to life those bygone days, the genius, the confidence, the arrogance, the good times as well as the runs of poor form and the demands of surviving in a professional game. It was Dr. Johnson's opinion that 'no man but a blockhead ever wrote if not for money' and, while that might be a dour attitude, it is why professionals need to be any good.

Some of the amateur spirit can be maintained even in the grimmest of professional circumstances. Pragmatic players like Boycott and Illingworth, perhaps, were playing for themselves but sport is ultimately an entertainment paid for by those who want to watch it and charisma trumps method every time. 

You don't need to be a Notts supporter to enjoy The Trent Bridge Battery but it would help if you liked cricket.

I can't help but notice that while England are not badly provided for in the bowling department, with or without the ageing Anderson and Broad, no bowling attack can be expected to win test matches if the batters have only posted 250. Alistair Cook is still scoring 100's for Essex and Brett D'Oliviera is averaging 154 early doors this season. I just thought I'd mention that.