Abey ‘chipped in’ to one of the greatest seasons
AS DAVID Wright said: ‘‘Pro’s a handful,” not being much given to hyperbole. But it didn’t take anyone long to see his point. Spectators arriving late at Brook Lane nearly 24 years ago needed only to glance at the scoreboard to see the devastation Southport and Birkdale’s Abey Kuruvilla had wrought.
Ormskirk may not have been quite the power in the land they were to become a few years later, but then as now they were a club by which others gauged their own progress. And here they were, nine down with less than a hundred runs on the board and eventually needing a last-wicket stand of 51 to see them reach three figures. So two handfuls, maybe?
In truth Mike Taylor’s team were the first of many to suffer similar travails that summer. By the time Kurvilla signed off with nine for 22 against Liverpool in mid-September he had taken 111 wickets at an average of 8.47. His haul included 13 hauls of five wickets or more in 22 games and he had taken S&B to their first title since 1979.
That last achievement mattered more to Kuruvilla than all his personal feats. He realised that his engagement as S&B’s professional represented a major commitment for a club unused to hiring players and he was determined to repay the members’ trust.
So spectators at Trafalgar Road that extraordinary summer saw a bowler of international calibre near the height of his powers but they also enjoyed the company of a cricketer who never once kept his distance from the people whose hard work had enabled him to spend a season amongst them.
Kuruvilla graced the Liverpool Competition in every respect; even his opponents, albeit through gritted teeth at times, had to admit that S&B’s pro was both a destroyer on the field and a lovely bloke off it.
One person, of course, had a clearer idea as to the impression Kuruvilla would make.
The previous winter Simon Sutcliffe, the first-team captain, had convinced the cricket committee to move forward with the engagement of the Mumbai opening bowler. Sutcliffe had played in the same Darlington team as Kuruvilla in the North Yorkshire and South Durham League but even the skipper was a little taken aback by how the season unfolded.
“I didn’t expect Abey to take over a hundred wickets,” he admitted. “He was averaging about three a game for
Darlington and I thought that would give us the cutting edge we had clearly lacked. He had an extra yard of pace when compared to most other bowlers in the Competition that year and that made him quite scary to a lot of batsmen.
“But he didn’t use speed to intimidate batsmen; rather he was very accurate, he bowled at the stumps and he had a yorker which was pretty much unplayable when he was firing.”
Yet Kuruvilla’s influence on S&B stretched beyond cricket. Professionals can divide a cricket club between those who support the signing and those who oppose it, sometimes very militantly. S&B’s professional in 1996 united folk behind what was clearly a worthwhile project.
“Even the traditionalists on the cricket committee were really supportive and then lots of people got behind the effort to raise the money we needed,” said Sutcliffe. “When Abey arrived and people realised what sort of person he was, they understood even more clearly why we’d signed him.”
Snellgrove ................................ c Parker b Kuruvilla Burns .................................................................. not out Taylor ...................................................... c&b Kuruvilla Whittaker .............................................. lbw Kuruvilla Malley .......................................................... b Kuruvilla P Armstrong ............................................. b Kuruvilla Waterhouse ......................................... lbw Kuruvilla Birks .............................................................. b Kuruvilla Smith .................................................................. run out Taylor ........................................................... b Kuruvilla Cooper ................................................................ b Swift Extras ..................................................................................
The result was one of the best seasons in S&B’s recent history. Crowds were good and the group of homely bon viveurs who camped in front of the Indoor School were christened the Hovis and Chianti Set. In the winter following his first season at Trafalgar Road Kuruvilla made the first of his ten Test appearances for India. S&B sent him a telegram – remember those? – and followed his performances closely.
And Kuruvilla’s contribution to the team effort – he bowled flat out S&B’s batsmen in the weekly net session – made it even clearer that the summer of 1996 was not just about him.
“People said we would never have won the Competition without Abey, and of course that’s correct,” said Sutcliffe. “But it’s also true to say he would never have won the Competition without us.”
●●To be continued