Drayton Cricket Clubs Day Out At Lord's

Tuesday the 4th of September 2001 was the date of Norfolk playing Devon in the ECB 38 County Cup Final at Lord's. A 12 man Drayton delegation was selected for duty - Messrs Massingham, Kedge, Ong, Eggett, Smith, Lake, Wright, Simpson, Kay junior, Kay senior, Kay seniors friend Gordon (the driver) and the mysterious Miss Stella Artois (who seemed unusually deflated to begin with. The proposed leaving time of 6.30 proved beyond the abilities of some who overslept, but DCC hit the road by 6.45. The first can of something "fizzy" had been opened in The Bull car park at approximately 6.35 by Eggett, a respectable effort - the tone for the day was set. A relatively incident free first 70 or so miles, bar the need to explain to our esteemed club secretary the fact that he wouldn't be able to pick up the commentary on Radio Norfolk despite the fact they were commentating only a few metres away from where we would be sitting.

A "comfort" break by the side of the main road, was followed by a stop only a few hundred metres later by a stop at the "World Famous Comfort Cafe" (ask your friends if they'd heard of it). Most sensible souls opted to take a set cooked breakfast - Mr Ong opted to devise his own banquet involving every single fatty food presently in existence. Unfortunately he wasn't hungry enough to discover the prank which had been played on his Blueberry Muffin. Hold-ups on the A505, caused by a broken down lorry, led to a long enough traffic jam for young Jimmy Kay to make his break for another "comfort" stop. Our intrepid explorer bounded across two lanes of the road, before leaping across a fence and through bushes before he disappeared from view presumably eaten by hedge demons. Heroically he reappeared to rapturous cheers. Unfortunately for Kay, the cheers were due to the fact that the traffic was now moving at quite a pace. Therefore Kay, who has the most extraordinary bladder anyone has ever witnessed, was left with a quarter of a mile sprint(!) back to the bus. To spoil a good story he did actually make it back to the bus, but there we go, we can't have it all.

Arrival at our parking destination of Stanmore had been delayed somewhat and also the tube was delayed at Neasden. By the time of arrival at St John's Wood, over thirty minutes play had already happened. An advance party comprising Eggett, Massingham & Wright struck out quickly for the ground. Curiously, Lord's had decided on a ticketing system whereby tickets were bought from a little man behind some perspex, who was no mathematician (message to Lord's - if you are going to charge £7 admission, get someone who knows their seven times table selling the tickets), before being allowed to go through the turnstiles. When the Mound Stand was reached Norfolk were batting, and Acle/Halvergate had already allocated a "noisy" area to which Drayton seemed natural to join.

I don't want to give too much detail on the game, because that will be better documented elsewhere, or too much detail on the songs being sung. We would like to think we contributed to Peter Roebuck's downfall - the Ian Botham hater, and a man against whom one or two allegations were made concerning his private life, was given a barrage of stick with songs becoming more and more obscure - as he lasted just two balls with the bat. The singing always remained good humoured and good natured, and it is nice to be appreciated by the players. The scantily clad Miss Stella Artois had inflated herself sufficicently enough to enjoy the afternoons play. Her antics took a turn for worse when she dived headlong onto the pitch to celebrate another wicket, but we'll forgive her over exuberance. She also had her photograph taken with Paul Newman and the trophy on the pavillion steps, an unforgettable moment for the young girl.

After the game, most of the supporters headed to the Lord's Tavern for refreshments and more merriment. There players (especially cult hero Peter Free!!!), supporters, scorers (how neat was that scorebook?), umpires (the guy who looked like Harry Cross refused to kiss Stella!), and Peter Roebuck mixed merrily. Highlights included Paul Newman saying "Here look after this lads" (meaning the trophy). Drinking lager "tops" from the Trophy. Getting James Garner to kiss Stella (with tongues). Telling Chris Brown and Chris Borrett there were my man of the match!!! And of course just generally seeing players and spectators mixing so freely. A fantastic day was had by all. Can I just point out that Paul Newman stated in his column in the Evening News that Stella belonged to Acle, I think the above pictures prove otherwise!!!