CRICKETING MEMORIES

Memories of Brigg cricket flooded back at the monthly meeting of the Lincolnshire Cricket Lovers' Society at Cleethorpes' Chichester Road clubhouse.
"Yours truly" was called in as a late substitute speaker to replace Peter Lever, the former England and Lancashire fast bowler, who was unable to make the date.
The talk featured personal memories of Lincolnshire cricket, favourite grounds and characters of the past 35 years, but opened with an explanation of how my interest in the sport developed.
As a boy, prior to joining Brigg Town Cricket Club, all available summer spare time was spent playing on the small area of grass between the fenced-off recreation ground and South View Avenue.
Due to the close proximity of the council houses, we tried desperately not the employ too many big-hit straight drives. However, as the Cricket Lovers heard the other night, sometimes a juicy full toss was just too tempting to ignore. And so it was, one infamous day, Dean Nutbrown, of Poplar Drive (later to play club cricket for Brigg and Broughton) smashed a big six and deposited the ball through the sitting room window of one of the houses. Unfortunately, not just any old house - but the house belonging to Coun Herbert "Sooty" Welbourne.
Later, at Brigg Grammar, we were encouraged by schoolmaster Gerry Longden, who played high-standard club cricket for Scunthorpe Town, and by coach Salim Uddin, who was a renowned Lincolnshire Minor Counties player, then playing for Appleby-Frodingham CC.
Fortunately, the year I left the grammar school, Brigg Town Cricket Club was reformed, playing home games at the recreation ground (pictured) in the Grimsby Saturday League.
Having got the "Brigg roots" bit out of the way, I thought that was quite enough on our town and moved the talk on, widening the net over the next hour to include memories of charming village grounds, like East Halton and Elsham, and funny incidents encountered while covering Lincolnshire Minor Counties games for the Scunthorpe and Grimsby Telegraphs.
Following the conclusion of the talk, there was a brief "beer break" after which the chairman invited questions from the audience. And one retired cricketer said he was surprised there had been no mention made of Brigg Town CC legend Garry "Gig" Smith.
The questioner wondered whether "Gig" was still seen on sportsgrounds in the area.
I replied we could have had a whole session on stories just about "Gig" but recalled attending his last match (aged 60) which was away to Lincoln side Hartsholme.
"These days, if I'm umpiring at Marsh Lane, Barton, he might turn up to watch and give me a bit of gentle stick from the boundary," I added.
"Gig" was a magnificent all-rounder who should have played a lot higher standard of cricket than he did with Brigg Sugar Factory and Brigg Town.
Although from a well-known Brigg family, many members of whom still live in the town, "Gig" has resided in South Ferriby for many years.
Also mentioned during the evening was Fred Marris, the former Elsham and Brigg Sugar Factory batsman, who was remembered by many players in the audience.