Rashid wins top award
Just got home from the annual Cricket Writers Club dinner at which Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire leg spinner, was named "young player of the year". Some pretty good players have won the award in the events 50-year history with the likes of Alastair Cook, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson winning in the past decade. Let's hope that Adil, who is tipped to make his first senior tour this winter, lives up to their standard rather than emulating the odd duff tip like Paul Franks and Rikki Clarke.
Bit disappointing that Yorkshire, who were playing Sussex at Hove, didn't release Rashid to come up to London to receive the award in person. Even when Sussex wrapped up an easy win early in the afternoon, Yorkshire still wouldn't give their lad permisson to have an evening off.
Ronnie Irani was the guest speaker and gave a good speech that barely managed to stay on the right side of good taste. Beginning with jokes about Dermot Reeve's alleged drugs habit received healthy laughs ("it all started at school when he was made to do 50 lines"), while there were embarrassed sniggers when he referred to the elderly luminaries on the chairman's table as "the cast of Last of the Summer Wine". By the time he got to a line about Phil Tufnell being called "the cat" because "he can lick his own bollocks" he had probably strayed across the line.
Still, Ronnie is never shy about giving his views so check back here on Monday for the first extracts from his reminiscences for the Essex Cricket magazine.
You've got to hand it to Tufnell.
He must really love his cricket.
Most people who could lick their own balls would be hard pressed to find time to leave the house.
How on earth do you manage it Patrick?
Posted by: Peter McGuinness | 11 Sep 2007 04:03:11