KNOCKED FOR SIX . . . BUT I’M SO LUCKY ‘Going deaf floored me but I played the cards I was dealt’
WHEN Mel Smith woke one morning 23 years ago, he was to find his life drastically and permanently altered.
Overnight, the former military man had gone profoundly deaf.
Coming without warning – “I had a slight cold in the week preceding, but nothing drastic” – it was a huge blow.
Yet within a day or so, cricket-mad Mel had vowed he would not allow his disability to stop him pursuing his passion.
And now, celebrating a decade as a county cricket club scorer, he says: “Every day is like Christmas.”
Mel, 75, recalls: “I was on the 2nd XI umpiring panel for 25 years, umpiring county 2nd XI and club games and player pathway games and youth Tests.
“Then, out of the blue one morning early in January 2000, I woke up and couldn’t hear a word. I’d gone profoundly deaf overnight.” Doctors told Mel it was the result of contracting a virus, but there was worse news to come.
Mel said: “Once it had been made clear to me that my hearing loss was irrevocable, I was completely floored for 24 hours.
“I was probably not a very nice person for that time. I then just picked myself up, realising that there were and are many people far worse off than me.”
Losing his hearing crushed Mel’s dream of becoming a first-class umpire but he refused to accept it was the end of his association with a game he had been involved with since the age of eight.
“I had always taken it upon myself, as an umpire, to learn exactly what scorers do and I was also a qualified scorer.
“When I saw that Warwickshire were looking for a scorer, I applied and the rest, as they say, is history.”
“So, it was off with one hat and on with another,” added Mel, with an astonishing matter-of-factness. “With hearing aids in place, I can score perfectly well – even in the hubbub of a Twenty20.
“Now I have scored Ashes Tests and Champions Trophy finals and Lord’s finals…I would never have been involved in those as an umpire! I am a firm believer that when one door shuts, another one opens.”
High up in his scorebox on Level Three at the Hollies Stand end of the South Stand, every dot, every boundary, every wicket and every leg-bye in every game is recorded by Mel – twice.
“We use the ECB’s preferred scoring programme, PCS Pro,” he said. “But computers sometimes fail, so I score on paper at the same time and keep those records in the scorebox, so that if in five, 10, 50 years’ time, people want to research games, the information is there.
“My computer runs both scoreboards at the ground and also the livestream, so if somebody in Australia wants to know how the Bears (Warwickshire’s nickname) are doing, they just have to log on. It’s all pumping out from me.
“During championship and 50-over matches the spectators also have the pleasure – or not! – of hearing my dulcet tones on the public address.”
This season is Mel’s 11th in a role that the lifelong cricket enthusiast loves. He well remembers his debut, on a freezing morning at the ground of Oxford University.
“It was bitterly cold,” Mel said. So cold that at one point it was suggested the game should be called off. “I was sitting there shivering in the scorebox thinking, ‘what the bloody hell have I let myself in for?’
“But it was the best thing I’ve ever done. I am so fortunate to do what I do. I work at an amazing stadium with some great people and I know and appreciate that. From the middle of March to the end of September, every day is like Christmas for me!”
“I love my job. I look back to a rainy day in 2012 when I was on the internet and saw that Warwickshire were looking for a firstteam scorer. I phoned my good lady wife and said, ‘what do you reckon?’ and Jean said ‘go for it’. “How glad am I that I did!” And of the loss of hearing that stopped him in his tracks 23 years ago, he adds: “You just have to play the cards you’re dealt and get on with living life to the full.”
Watch the video about Mel at: /www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5RsVaDDIL