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Articles by Douglas Heath

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About Douglas Heath

Douglas Heath began his lifelong love affair with cricket as an 8 year-old schoolboy playing OWZAT? Whilst listening to a 160s Ashes series on the radio. He later became half-decent at doing John Arlott impressions and is a member of Middlesex County Cricket Club. He holds no truck at all with the T20 version on the game. More Posts

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To London yesterday for a much anticipated luncheon with my father and brother with one of the former’s oldest surviving friends. Our guest of honour was on remarkable form, given that he’s nearly three years older than my parent and has recently had some health issues. He held court as in his [...]

August 22, 2017 // 0 Comments

Middlesex beat Sussex Sharks (t20)

Yesterday I went to the T20 game at Lords between Middlesex and Sussex Sharks with Ivan Conway. Neither of us are devotees of this format and nothing we experienced yesterday altered our view. Why so? First there is the noise. Ivan said it was as if we went to a classical music concert of say [...]

August 11, 2017 // 0 Comments

Another day at Lords

Rather than describe a day’s play whose stultification was only lifted by a breezy knock from Quentin de Kock I thought I would describe more the Lords’ experience. My son-in-law Dwayne has made a nice few quid as a Forex dealer and kindly for my birthday presented me with a debenture [...]

July 9, 2017 // 0 Comments

The first test at Lords

When it’s cricket at Lords I am definitely in the attendance camp. As I travelled to Lords I wondered about the benefit of a debenture which guarantees your seat but which I do not use fully. This doubt was dispelled by the warmth of the greeting in our area where all the staff try so hard to [...]

July 7, 2017 // 0 Comments

India thrash South Africa in Champions Trophy

Yesterday I went to the Oval in the one and only ICC Trophy natch I will be watching as spectator. I am very much in the tv camp when it comes to big cricket matches and this match experience did not alter my view. Firstly, there is travel. It should be a simple journey from the coast to Clapham [...]

June 12, 2017 // 0 Comments

Weathering the storm

When I was at school in the sixties I had a friend in my class whose father, an early sporting entrepreneur ran the International Cavaliers. They were a group of strolling cricket minstrels a sort of equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters. The sponsors were tobacco company Rothmans who had the [...]

June 7, 2017 // 0 Comments

The Kia Oval

Traditionally the Oval was a poor relation to Lords, an outhouse compared to the Palazzo but that is a Middlesex man speaking. This said there was never the same metro tribal football rivalry of Arsenal and Spurs. Whilst Lords was set in spacious grounds, the Oval was cramped. In recent years the [...]

May 13, 2017 // 0 Comments

Denis Compton, Bill Edrich and the glorious summer of 1947

Last week I successfully bid at the auction of Henry Blofeld’s collection for a signed photo of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich as the two tossed up prior to Compton’s testimonial match at Highbury Stadium in August 1949. I felt an affinity with Denis Compton for various reasons and over [...]

March 6, 2017 // 0 Comments

Keep up, those at the back!

It’s ironic how swiftly long-held views and perceptions – either positive or negative – can be altered if not reversed. From a personal view, if I’m being honest, my lifelong interest in cricket began in the late 1950s, reached its full bloom between about 1963 and 1993 and [...]

February 19, 2017 // 0 Comments

Fourth day

Bob Tickler called it right that India would bat until around lunchtime. After a superb knock of 235 by Vitaj Kohli they had an unassailable lead of 231 runs. They also had 4 sessions to bowl England out and Allan  Lamb thought they only needed one. The game could be defined in one word – [...]

December 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

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