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Chris Jameson: The biggest names of 1976 v. anyone who happened to call round

The summer of 1976 saw a remarkable series of test matches and one dayers involving England, Australia and West Indies. The likes of Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Clive Lloyd & Greg Chappell battling it out with 'Hedge' Hemsley, James & Tom Riordan, Stuart Bradley, Chris & Tony Jameson and whoever happened to call round.

The batting strip was the driveway which was conducive to fast bowling as you were only able to bowl from one end which happened to be downhill with the wickets (an upturned sledge) situated at the 'garage' end. Runs tended to be scored in boundaries,back past the bowlers head being a favourite and a narrow gap between the garage and house which required either a very thick edge or excellent placement.To this day I only seem to be able to hit the ball towards gully, edge or not.

There were several ways to be dismissed, along with the usual you could be caught one handed off the roof of the house which wasn't as easy as it sounds, four runs and out in Mrs Blamires garden next door (it was a high fence and there was some debate about whether it should be a 6 but the first time we broke her greenhouse window the decision was made to make it a dismissal & 4 runs as it was a stroke that deserved rewarding) and it was 6 and out if you managed to get it some distance past the bowler and into the Toft's garden, a favourite dismissal of any batsman looking for a declaration.

A rule was introduced meaning that with Tom being the youngest he was allowed to bowl underarm and the likes of Holding, Roberts, Lillee & Thomson had to be removed from the bowling attack when he was batting which generally saw the likes of Greig, Underwood & Clive Lloyd getting their only opportunity to bowl. Where possible the bowling action had to be replicated which was one reason Tony Greig & Derek Underwood didn't bowl too often, although the batsmen were quite often reduced to fits of laughter & lost their wickets. It also explained the bumps on the back of the heads fielders received when Jeff Thomson was steaming in from the Ash Ridge end.

We all had our favourites and I like to think during that long hot summer I turned CM Old into a genuine world class all rounder. 35 years later four of the participants attempted to recreate the glory days with their children. They failed.

Memory added on May 31, 2012

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