Cricket column by former Gloucestershire chairman John Light (From Gazette Series)

Cricket column by former Gloucestershire chairman John Light

4:33pm Wednesday 28th July 2010

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THE first time I went to Cheltenham I saw Laker and Lock; the second it was Ramadhin and Valentine.

Tom Graveney, Zaheer Abbas, Courtney Walsh and the best I have seen, Mike Proctor, were to follow.

A fine list but one great name is missing - Wally Hammond. At the One-Day International in Bristol recently, Hammond was belatedly inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. The only pre-war player in anyway to match Bradman, Hammond has strong Cirencester connections.

Attending Cirencester Grammar School for two years, Hammond stayed in the school boarding house in The Avenue. He left at 17 to play cricket for Gloucestershire and football for Bristol Rovers.

His tally of goals matched the number of centuries scored in Tests by W G Grace.

Wally loved a sunny day at Cheltenham and in a crucial festival we hope his successors do him proud.

The Yorkshire visit on Thursday brings back memories of three others. In 1959 Gloucestershire won a very low-scoring match by one wicket.

The scoreboard was incorrect and the Gloucestershire last-wicket pair dashed off in triumph, believing the match to be won. Not so! The scorers sent them back out - another run was needed.

Sam Cook, one of the not-out batsmen, had already downed most of a waiting pint.

"After that I knew we could not fail," said Sam. A leg bye was scrambled and the match won. I will settle for that. If we head our section, a Lord’s final beckons. Yorkshire are in the way!

In another Yorkshire visit, Proctor was in full flight, taking a hat-trick (Attey, Hampshire and Sharpe). During Proctor’s spell, Geoff Boycott gave a master class in how to play fast bowling - from the other end, where Brian Brain was easier to deal with.

He ran several almost suicidal singles to avoid facing Mike.

In his next Yorkshire visit, against a pop-gun Gloucestershire attack, Boycott scored a slow and seemingly selfish century when he batted against specific captain’s orders. He was subsequently dropped and disciplined. For me, those innings defined Boycott the cricketer. Boycott the commentator is a different customer altogether.

For readers of a weak disposition look away now... Gloucestershire have won only one championship match at the Festival since 2001.

The players love playing there and are determined to put this right. Two bowlers (Richardson of Worcester and especially Croft of Glamorgan) have been bowling themselves into form. They have given our batsmen considerable problems in recent years, but are they losing out to Anno Domini? This week will tell.

One who isn’t is Chris Dent. Looking round at Cheltenham this week he was savouring the short boundaries. Do not expect too much of him in his first Cheltenham. Look back in ten years’ time and he will have truly made his mark.

There are, of course, many other aspects of Cheltenham apart from the cricket. Beating the Retreat takes place on August 4. The Festival Quiz is on August 6 - just turn up with a team. August 8 at noon is the Festival Service in the College Chapel.

Best of all, however, is the companionship of Cotswold cricketers, in the tents and around the ground. The Slad Exiles’ tent is a centre of liquid nostalgia; Churchdown Working Men’s Club offers the best food.

The players, fielding on the boundary, chat to spectators and we know we are watching the greatest of games in the best of venues.

Some enthusiastic fans are planning to go to Rotterdam to recover. We have a forthcoming fixture there in the Clydesdale Bank Pro 40. An adventure indeed.

I, however, am looking no further forward than Yorkshire, Glamorgan, Worcester and Middlesex. See you there.

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