We held six events in 2024/25 and were joined by some brilliant guest speakers: here’s how it went.

Mark Ramprakash, Thursday 26^th September 2024

Former England batter and batting coach Mark Ramprakash, who starred for both Middlesex and Surrey, was an inspired choice of speaker as he opened the innings for the Society’s 2024-25 programme in September.

Ramprakash, who played 52 Tests and scored 114 first-class centuries, provided great entertainment and humour for an appreciative audience at Manor Park, and his recollections were not confined to cricket.

He recalled his early days in a Middlesex dressing room brimming with world-class players, and his introduction to the England side under Graham Gooch against the West Indies in 1991.

He described encounters with Australian legends Merv Hughes and Shane Warne in the 1990s, and the catch that dismissed Justin Langer to turn the tide of the Ashes Test in Melbourne in 1998.

It was after moving to Surrey in 2001 that he became most prolific with the bat. But he also became a household name with non-cricket followers for his brilliance on the dance floor as the winner with Karen Hardy of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, and he recalled inviting three of his Surrey team-mates into the audience for one of his shows.

Now president and batting coach for Middlesex and director of cricket at Harrow School, Ramprakash also discussed his long friendship and years as team-mate for Surrey and England with the late Graham Thorpe.

Ben Bloom, Thursday 24^th October 2024

October saw Ben Bloom visit the society and give a talk about his book, ‘Batting for Time – The Fight to keep English cricket alive’.  As befitting someone who has been a sports journalist since 2010 and has written for The Telegraph, the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, Daily Mail, and numerous other outlets, Ben demonstrated an ability to compartmentalise information, opinions and topics in ways that brought clarity to a complicated subject.   

With the rise of franchise cricket and the amounts of money that The Hundred has generated, there’s no doubt that these are turbulent, disorientating times for the game, and Ben adopted the same role when talking at our Society as he fulfils in the book: sharing the outputs from more than 100 interviews and hours of research in a precise, impartial manner.  He values the joys of the County Championship but also recognises the importance of evolution.   Ben would make a good surgeon: not unduly influenced by emotion, a clear thinker, and able to make steady-handed, surgical incisions when required.   Despite his diligent work, it’s clear that cricket in England (and beyond) is currently a riddle without obvious solutions.  Different market forces are in conflict and the questions around what we expect from our domestic game, who it primarily exists for and where things might go in the future will continue to be asked for the foreseeable future. 

For valid reasons, Ben’s excellent talk – and his answers to numerous questions thereafter – could not entirely have reassured the audience’s diehard traditionalists but they, like all of us, were left better informed with new perspectives and insights.    

Simon Lister, Thursday 28^th November 2024

Award-winning author Simon Lister was the guest speaker for November, when he discussed the life and career of West Indies captain Sir Frank Worrell, the subject of his highly-acclaimed biography, “Worrell: The Brief but Brilliant Life of a Caribbean Cricket Pioneer”, subsequently announced as the winner of the MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year 2025.

The author, a senior BBC News producer in addition to being one of today’s foremost cricket writers, is an authority on Caribbean cricket, and became an avid follower of the West Indies after being taken to The Oval in the scorching summer of 1976.

He described how Worrell, born in Barbados, overcame the prejudice, elitism, injustice and island rivalries that dogged cricket in the Caribbean to become the first permanent black captain of the West Indies in 1960 and gain worldwide admiration for transforming a hugely talented but inconsistent group of players into the most exciting team in the world. He led his side to a 3-1 series win in England in 1963, after which he retired.

Worrell was knighted for services to cricket in 1964, but three years later, he died from leukaemia at the age of 42, not before making his mark in the world of education and politics.

The author, whose other works include another Book of the Year winner, Fire In Babylon, and the authorised biography of Clive Lloyd, answered questions on the decline of the West Indies as a force in world cricket, the dwindling support for Test cricket in the islands and the reduced following for the team during their appearances in England, a downward trend he feels will not be reversed.

Jeremy Lonsdale, Thursday 27^th February 2025

The Society’s winter programme resumed in February with the visit of another acclaimed writer, Jeremy Lonsdale, an authority on Yorkshire cricket.

He discussed his latest work, “An Unusual Celebrity: The Many Cricketing Lives of Bill Bowes”. 

The author met the Yorkshire and England fast bowler just once, when he was pushed forward to secure his autograph at Scarborough years after he retired, but he painted a vivid picture of one of the most popular figures in Yorkshire history, whose renown extended in later years as a coach, journalist and broadcaster.

Bowes played 15 Tests and was a major player in Yorkshire’s successes between the wars as a devastating opening bowler, forever remembered for bowling Don Bradman first ball at Melbourne in 1932 during the famous “Bodyline” Ashes series, his only appearance during the series and the first of five occasions when he dismissed Bradman. He took 1,639 first-class wickets, 68 in Tests.

An unlikely sporting hero, Bowes was tall, bespectacled and ungainly. His comparatively short run-up was described as economical and he relied more on lift and movement than raw speed, though he became a controversial figure, accused of over-using the “bumper”.

After being captured in North Africa in 1942, he spent three years as a prisoner of war but returned to play two more seasons of cricket after the war and bowled the first ball of England’s postwar Test era.

The young Fred Trueman and Brian Close were among those to benefit from Bowes’s coaching expertise, while his other accomplishments included public speaking, magic and film-making.

Graham Gooch, Thursday 27^th March 2025

Over the years the Society has welcomed some outstanding Test cricketers.   In recent years this has included Mike Brearley, Angus Fraser, Devon Malcolm, Dennis Amiss and Mark Ramprakash.  But in March, we arguably reached new heights in welcoming one of England’s greatest ever: Graham Gooch, run-machine and captain of Essex and England.

Gooch was typically in good form, starting with some memories and humorous stories from his long career.  Botham, Tufnell, Boycott, Gatting, Emburey and a few umpires all got a mention.  Perhaps, though, he was at his best when he talked about the art of batting and the mindset to achieve excellence.   Graham picked out the two Richards as his batting role models – Barry for his technical ability, Viv for that assertive body language.  He learned from both, recognising that cricket is a ‘one-ball game’.  Her explained that what’s gone before is not relevant, and nor is whatever the future holds – all a batter can do is focus on dealing with the next ball as well as they can.  He argued that’s a decent metaphor for life as well.   With that in mind, he also explained the difference between batting and run-making. Lots can bat, but few have the nous to consistently make runs.     

In the second half of the evening, Graham answered questions from the audience on topics such as BazBall and the future of Test cricket and the English domestic game.  Few know and have played the game as successfully as Graham so it was no surprise that his views were illuminating and thought-provoking.    

Dean Wilson, Thursday 24^th April 2025

One of the many benefits of attending talks at the society is learning more about professional cricket behind the scenes.  For April talk, we welcomed someone with the perfect CV to meet the brief. Dean Wilson spent 18 years as cricket correspondent at the Daily Mirror and has ghostwritten numerous articles and books with two of English cricket’s most significant modern figures, Ian Botham and Ben Stokes.   

Sure enough, whilst talking us through his career and life as a journalist, he provided new information and fresh perspectives on many of the key events and characters he’s observed at close quarters.  He was particularly insightful on Kevin Pietersen’s rollercoaster career with England.  

A naturally chatty, friendly type, Dean seems to have the ability to build a network of strong relationships, becoming a friend and trusted confidant of players, coaches and administrators alike.  This is a task that he admitted has become more difficult to achieve in modern times for all journalists, as media relations become more structured and controlled. 

He also outlined the joys and challenges of working with Beefy and Ben and how ghost-writing works in practice.   

What became clear is that Dean is an absolute cricket badger, still loving and promoting the game with an undimmed enthusiasm and vast knowledge.  These are traits that will hold him in good stead in his new role as a Media Consultant.