DRAYTON CRICKET CLUB
David Ayres 1969-2006
It is with the deepest regret and a heavy heart that I have to write this following the sad passing of my teammate, captain and friend David Ayres. Those who knew Ayresie will know the reasons for his life being cut so tragically short and I do not wish to dwell on that. However, I can honestly say that no-one I have ever met has made me laugh and smile as consistently as Ayresie did and it is with those thoughts in mind that I pen this tribute.
To start with it is fair to say that Ayresie was no saint, and some people did not get on with him - but those people could not have known him - those who did will remember him as a good friend, honest and loyal, even to the extent of being fiercely protective if the situation demanded it.
Ayresie first came to play cricket for Drayton in the latter half of the 1990 season - I was an impressionable young lad at the time and knew not what to make of this character and his stories of wild nights out in Norwich (with the occasional black eye thrown in for good measure). However it quickly became clear that Dave was a lovable rogue with a heart of gold - always creating new identities for himself. He was Dangerous Dave, one half of the Dangerous Brothers, Tommy The Gun the bare knuckle prize fighter, Captain Invincible - proud captain of Drayton's Sunday and Midweek teams for many years, Dave Duval, not the American golfer, but the debonair gangster on a night out in Norwich. He was also The Sheriff of Hellesdon, during his time working at the Community Centre.
On the pitch, Dave had little in the way of cricketing talent which makes his 249 game Drayton career all the more remarkable - players with far more talent have walked away from the game having given much less. He was never destined to join the pantheon of Drayton's greatest players, but he deserves to be remembered as a club legend in the finest sense of the word.
When batting, Dave possessed few shots - some would say that he had none at all, which would be unfair. Many times his bat would sweep back above his head ready for what seemed to be a crunching cover drive, only for the ball to drop squarely at his feet, time and again. What he did have, for many years, was a solid, obdurate defence and he was more than capable of frustrating opposition bowlers by his remarkable reluctance to get out. I was fortunate enough to be present on the one and only occasion he hit a six - an away game at Hales (of which more later) when a full toss was sent soaring over the midwicket fence and away down the Beccles Road, never to be seen again. This happened, unfortunately, in a beer game after the real match had finished however I often recalled it with Dave as I knew it gave him immense pride.
Dave's batting also featured in a neat twist of fate for my family as he was batting with my dad when he completed his second career hundred in 1994, and I could have picked no better partner than my captain when I scored my maiden hundred in 2001. Another treasured memory of his batting comes from a Sunday friendly at Cantley in the mid 1990's. The pitch we played on was, to say the least, ropey, and a nice big weed was growing on a good length at one end. Dave and myself opened the batting that day and neither of us fancied facing Cantley's fast and nasty opening bowler who was aiming for the weed. Within a couple of overs, Dave had been struck several painful blows on the body, and also took a blow on his arm which drew blood. The blood started to run down his arm (and onto the pitch), but Dave refused to clean up because it was making him look hard. That night in The Bull, with his arm still uncleaned, an embellished story was told to all and sundry about how he had taken on, and conquered, the world's fastest bowlers that day!
When it came to bowling, Dave was something of a secret weapon and had a "golden arm", and the record books show that in 1991 to took as many as 15 wickets. Batsman thinking he was easy to hit continually managed to get out to him - always to knowing laughter from Dave and his teammates. More legendary stories were formed about his bowling, a technique and talent honed in the back garden with his fellow Dangerous Brother, Brandon. Those who saw Dave bowl one Sunday afternoon at, curiously enough, Cantley will suspect that the stories of Brandon hitting near enough every ball onto the runway at nearby Norwich Airport cannot be that far wide of the mark.
Most people know that Murali bowls one "mystery ball", the doosra. Dave bowled two, the "Fireball" and the "Ball From Hell". The mystery about them was exactly that, nobody quite knows how they were different to any of the other balls he bowled other than in name. However I can well remember one terrified young lad turning to me and asking if he needed a helmet if Ayresie was going to unleash the "Ball From Hell"!
Dave's fielding was also the stuff of pure legend. When the ball was hit in the air in his direction you always felt that something special may happen. One bizarre coincidence was that both his first and his last catch for the club were taken not with his hands, but between his legs - the batsman on both occasions not able to believe their misfortune. He also took great catches on the boundary in games at Aylsham and Horsford though he saved his best for a cup game at Coltishall. The batsman, Nigel Young, one of the hardest hitters of a ball in Norfolk cricket launched another certain six towards long off, yet the ball somehow ended up in Dave's hands. To this day, no-one present can quite explain how. He also gave wicketkeeping a go for a couple of years, and he certainly enjoyed that - however he did struggle to smoke his cigarettes whilst he had his gloves on!
What made Dave most proud though was his captaincy. He was Midweek captain for five years and then Sunday captain for eight years. It is fair to say that without Dave taking on those roles, the teams would have folded as no-one else was prepared to do it. All told he captained Drayton in over 100 matches, which only three or four other people have done - no-one has captained a team I have played in more times than Dave. He was well aware that he was tactically not the most astute, but he was blessed with some extremely loyal teammates who helped him with that side of the game.
I can think of only two, maybe three people who have put more of their own time into Drayton CC over the last ten years, and for that reason the memory of David Ayres will linger long into the future and deservedly so.
And now for a few more stories:
In 1999 we played a Sunday friendly at Mundford - it had been a high scoring game which came down to Drayton requiring a six to be hit off the last ball to win the match. It was, however, the first ball that Dave had faced and he had not played himself in and as a result he played a forward defensive. Seven years later he was still heard to be saying "it was not a forward defensive". The Mundford captain confirmed to Dave that he had indeed played a forward defensive, to which Dave threw a headbutt (which didn't connect) at him! We've not been back to Mundford since!
During a Sunday cup game at Winterton in which Dave was keeping wicket a throw was returned hard and flat from the outfield - nothing unusual in that other than the fact that Ayresie was looking in completely the wrong direction. The ball sped past his head, missing by mere inches. The look on Dave's face when he realised the fate which nearly befell him was priceless!
Returning to the aforementioned game at Hales, those who have played or been there will be well aware that the pitch is circled by an electric fence. Upon arrival Ayresie was "dared" to see if the electric fence was on - following the electrocution that followed he was able to confirm that indeed the electric fence was quite effective.
I have already mentioned how Dave liked to create new identities for himself. One Sunday game last season, he came wandering down towards the pavilion sporting a Wayne Rooney face mask - indeed for a while it was difficult to tell whether it was the real Wayne Rooney or not. Another England footballer played a part in a recent Drayton victory - a rain affected cup game against Costessey had to be settled by the toss of a coin. Ayresie dug deep into his pocket and pulled out a Euro 2004 Phil Neville souvenir coin - sure enough the opposition captain called incorrectly and Phil Neville had written himself into Drayton folklore.
Two items of kit which caused amusement were his box (his abdominal protector for the more politically correct), and his bat. His box was no ordinary box, but one which was a remnant of his days boxing and kick-boxing. Sometimes he even wore it on the outside of his trousers! I remember one afternoon he turned up at our house having taken part in a Norwich v Ipswich kick boxing contest at Norwich Sports Village. He proudly told of how he had single-handedly fought and beat Ipswich (which made him a true hero in my eyes). His bat was always proudly carried, sticking out of the top of his kit bag wherever he went - he did this so people knew he was a cricketer. What a lot of people didn't realise was that the bat had broken several years earlier and little more than the handle and a bit of the splice remained!
One of Ayresie's most amusing traits was his diving whilst in the field. It would entail noticing the ball coming towards him, before slowly spreadeagling himself in the general direction of the ball before allowing it to hit him - it usually worked. Very occasionally he was unable to keep his feet in the field - one afternoon at Swaffham, Dave set off in pursuit of the ball down to fine leg, normally just one run would have scored. However, the gently undulating outfield kept taking his legs away from him and every time he tried to get to his feet he fell over again - the upshot was that the batsman scored a comfortable three runs!
When Dave was working at Sinclair International he was able to send and receive e-mails. He shared the access with others, but he always said he was the only person important enough to be able to send them. He would say that whenever he received an e-mail an announcement would go out over the tannoy saying: "E-mail for David Ayres". Apparently his fellow workers would gasp and wonder what this important message could be about (it would invariably be from me saying I was OK to play cricket on Sunday!).
A never to be forgotten afternoon was a League Cup match away Brisley on a scorching hot afternoon. Dave lost the toss and we were asked to field - less than an hour later, and despite a below average fielding performance, we were back in the pavilion having bowled out our hosts for 25. Dave was persuaded to open the batting - however, true to form, he was removed for a duck, which led to jubilant celebrations from the hosts saying things like: "We've got the captain", "We've got the best player, we're through them now". As it turned out we won comfortably and Dave was phoning through the result to the competition secretary within an hour and a half of the start of the game!
When the Sunday team reached the final of the Norfolk League KO Plate in 1999, Radio Norfolk interviewed Dave on their Friday Sport programme. Unfortunately the game was lost, and we had to settle for runners up medals - however this was still a fine achievement. As was finishing runners up in the Mid Norfolk League Peter Parfitt Division in 2004, when all of the last four games were won to sweep us from mid table to promotion. I am sure the results secretary for the league dreaded Dave's fortnightly call - however if they are reading this I can assure them that it was great entertainment for those sitting around him!
Thanks for the memories Ayresie - gonna miss you. Philip Wright, Hellesdon - December 2006
James Kay writes: "However the one I always come back to is the time sitting outside the Bridge Public House in Lenwade, I believe it was Mr Simpsons birthday and we stopped off for a quick one before going on to play Gt Wichingham. Needless to say the time was fast approaching 2.00pm (the scheduled start time, but has more significance as its was also the time of last orders). Well anyway back to the story which once again had Dave centre stage relaying another story when he started doing his Stavros impression from Doctor Who. David had his plastic garden chair moving nicely around the stony car park until he tried to put it in reverse, the back leg hitting a larger stone and refusing to move it soon buckled under the weight and even the legend could not remain upright on a three legged chair. Spookily enough we were at the cricket ground in Wichingham moments later! ;-) THANK YOU DAVID"
To view the full Drayton playing record for David Ayres click here
If anyone would like to add any memories of their own, please: