It's a sobering thought that this photo was taken on my 16th birthday - Sir Vivian Richards and Alvin Kallicharran take a breather while putting on 169 on the first day of the 1st Test in 1976, which they extended to 303 the next day - Viv made 232 and Kalli 97

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Still just 17 and playing in only his second First Class match The Greatest is not, for once, the centre of attention here - taking centre stage is the square leg umpire, Harold Walcott, no balling Tony Lock for throwing in the Barbados v MCC match in January 1954

Dickie Bird and Chris Smith look on as a Sir Paddles delivery hits David Gower on the head in 1983, certainly the only time I recall our hero getting into such difficulty - didn't make much difference though as he went on to score 72 and 33, and England won by 165 runs

Few will be familiar with cricket in the Ukraine, which is just one of several reasons why this book should be widely read CricketWeb Pitch Publishing 📚 Sports Books Jonathan Campion cricketweb.net/books/getting-…

In 1984 England lost each of the five Tests in a home series against West Indies and now, forty years on, we have a book on the series CricketWeb Pitch Publishing 📚 Sports Books Richard Sydenham cricketweb.net/books/almost-i…

'Death Row' in 1984, but it looks like the trap door didn't open this time for Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Roger Harper Sir Vivian Richards and Big Hubert

Reassuring to see David 'Bumble' Lloyd telling it how it is 🙂

India beat Pakistan by ten wickets in the Bombay Test in the Pakistanis' first series in 52/53, but Hanif and Waqar Hasan did hold them up with a 5.5 hour partnership - this is a crowded out Little Master turning Vinoo Mankad to leg during that stand

Probably the second most famous Lancashire/Yorkshire cricketing combination this is Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook, reunited for the silver screen two years after they had last opened the batting for England

Much to my irritation this one broke no records in terms of the time it took to get here from Australia, but at least it's arrived in time for the Bank Holiday weekend - according to my good friend and supplier, the not easily impressed Roger Page, it's an absolute cracker

Mickey Stewart is currently the oldest living English Test cricketer- here he is coaching a young Andrew Flintoff back in the last century - I wonder if either or both of Flintoff's sons might get a run out for Lancashire Cricket's firsts this summer?

Two reviews on CricketWeb this weekend, of two excellent new books from Pitch Publishing 📚 Sports Books Richard Sydenham Jonathan Campion, one on the 1984 West Indies tour of England, and the other a particularly thought provoking book about cricket in Ukraine

November 1977 and a very young BeefyBotham looks on as Kenny Barrington receives a cake to celebrate his 47th birthday - the cake was provided by the national airline of the country that Sir Beefy wouldn't send his mother in law to

Built for comfort rather than speed by then this pair are Fiery Fred and Johnny Wardle pictured in Bermuda where they were on tour with a Yorkshire side in the early 1970s - I'm struggling to date it, but it can't be too long after Fred's retirement

Will make a welcome break from the election campaign, and who knows, there may well be parallels to be drawn

One for the wet bits of the Bank Holiday weekend arrived today, thanks to Rupa Publications and Gulu Ezekiel 🙂

This is a moment from the 1972 Ashes and Rod Marsh, Chappelli and Keith Stackpole between themselves failing to hang on to this chance, allowing a fortunate Tony Greig to continue at the crease

The Don meets the Master - discussing their shared tailor perhaps?

Here are two top class England openers, on the left the unmistakeable Sir Geoffrey Boycott, of whom I have many fond memories, and with him the less well remembered Bob Barber, who scored one of the great Ashes centuries, but whose prime was sadly just before my time