A Cricket Conversation
Ed is a third year Events and Hospitality student and this is his second year as cricket captain. His vice captain, Connor, is a second year law student, who, in his own words, can do anything Ed does!
Pat studied at St John’s College from 1981 to 1985 and played a range of sports, including cricket and rugby union. He was the cricket captain in 1984 after serving as vice captain previously. Cricket must run in his family, as when his son attended YSJ from 2014 to 2017, he also played on the cricket team.
Quick fire questions
Who was the Best England player during your student days?
Pat: Geoffrey Boycott
Ed: Joe Root
Connor: Joe Root
Do you prefer to bat, bowl, or are you an all rounder?
Pat: Bat
Ed: Bowl
Connor: Everything
What’s your Favourite fielding position?
Pat: Cover point
Ed: Fine leg
Connor: First slip
Do you prefer Test, one day or 20/20 matches?
Pat: Test
Ed: Test
Connor: Test
What’s the perfect cricket tea?
Pat: Cheese sandwiches, chocolate cake. Can’t eat much if batting second innings
Ed: Jelly babies, bread rolls. Can’t have the teas if bowling second innings. High sugar
Connor: Pork pies, sausage rolls, ham and cheese sandwiches, slice of cake to finish
Would you prefer to Umpire or score?
Pat: Umpire
Ed: Umpire
Connor: Umpire
The Discussion
Where did you play your home fixtures and what was it like?
Pat: We played all our home fixtures at Hull Road. It was St John’s College sports ground back then. Athletics, hockey, cricket and rugby; almost all sport was played at Hull Road. The cricket square had 8 to 10 wickets. It wasn’t the best track in the world, but we played on worse.
Ed: We don’t have our own ground at the moment, we’re still sorting that out. In my first year we played at Driffield. They’re great grounds, really good to play on.
How many teams did the Cricket club have?
Pat: We had two teams and we played college and university fixtures on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Sundays, we also played in local friendlies against local clubs. The season started straight back after Easter for a 6 to 7 week period. In 1982 we played 16 matches in a short summer and 12 in 1985. A lot of games were called off because of rain, but we still played too many teams.
We weren’t a university so we didn’t play in BUCS. But, we did play in the British Colleges cup, but we got knocked out in the first round. There wasn’t a women’s cricket team, but one girl who played for Yorkshire Ladies was in our second team. We didn’t play indoor cricket, it didn’t exist at all in the early 80s. We used nets, but we had to go to Pocklington for indoor ones, because Foss Sports Hall was a swimming pool and had squash courts. In Winter, we basically just used nets, there weren’t any competitions. Plus, we didn’t play with helmets in 1985!
Ed: This is the first time we only have one team due to Covid. In my first year (2018-19) we had 25 players and 2 teams. Whilst I’ve been here we’ve had 2 women members each year. But, in my first year, we were able to put together a women’s indoor team.
We practise indoor Cricket in Foss Sports Hall where there are 2 lanes with nets. Indoor cricket is more competitive and tougher. It’s a very intense format. We played against Durham first team indoors whereas normally we play against their second or third teams when we play outdoors. We came up short against Durham and Leeds but we hold our own and we often have close games. There’s nowhere to hide inside so runs add up! It’s only been the last 10 or fifteen years that indoor cricket has come in.
Connor: I’m happy to get cricket on this year. We finished mid-table last year, 4th out of 7 teams. The games were very close and much more intense, the opposite of test cricket which we all prefer. It’s more intense than T20 too.
How many fixtures do you play each season?
Pat: We played 10 plus each season.
Connor: We did indoor only last season because of Covid. Typically we play much fewer than 10 outdoor games a year.
What equipment/facilities did you have for practice
Pat: We practised at Hull Road which had a very nice pavilion but no wheel on covers for the wicket. We did have sight screens and good outdoor nets but no bowling machines. The biggest problem was that you had to walk there! On Sundays we played friendly fixtures at Driffield.
When my son played in 2013, they played at Haxby Road, at the old Rowntrees site. I played some Old Johns games there, but it wasn’t a very good square! They don’t have one there anymore.
Ed: We usually practise on flat ground. Its good for the batsman to practise, but terrible for our bowlers. We have a bowling machine that an old captain bought, but we don’t use it. Can’t really use it too much with only two lanes because it removes a lane that can be used for bowling practise.
Talk us through a typical away fixture, how far, transport, post-match traditions.
Pat: We hired our own mini-buses from Polar in York and picked a designated driver who would stay sober. This meant we could leave when we wanted and weren’t tied down to having to get back at a certain time. We wore shirts, ties and blazers, but I know they don’t have blazers anymore. St Johns cricket was very social in the 1980s, I remember we had a good night drinking with the opposition watching an England football match, possibly against Brazil.
If we only had 9 players on a Wednesday morning, we’d just grab someone from the union bar. The furthest we travelled for a fixture was Crewe college and we played them quite a lot. We played more locally too, places like Scarborough or Hull.
I remember the semi-final in the British College cup at Chester College, you wouldn’t know there was a wicket! They didn’t have site screens and one of the opening batsmen cut their face open, no-one wore helmets back then! I came in to bat third. The next day I went to see our principal, Gordon McGregor, to ask him to write a letter of complaint to the British College Cricket about the poor standard of the away venue.
Ed: All our fixtures are technically away since we play at Driffield. We meet at the campus café to have breakfast before we get on the bus. We usually talk about the game or have a sleep during the journey to wherever we’re playing. The furthest we’ve travelled was Bradford, we got annihilated! But the first team won, so there were some mixed emotions on the shared bus back. We always wear shirts and ties for these things.
If we finish early we usually have a drink with the opposition at the bar afterwards. But we don’t usually get a lot of time because they’re pretty strict about the time we need to get the bus back to York.
Who was the best YSJ player in your time at uni?
Pat: It was a bowler, Andrew Greasley. He was a right arm spinner and went on the British Colleges tour to the West Indies twice! He didn’t end up playing for St John’s in his last year because he was playing for York. I’d also mention James Carlton, a wicket keeper and batsman. He went on the West Indies tour too.
Ed: Francis Kinsella. He hit one out of the ground, put it right over the Driffield changing rooms. That’s over 98.6m as measured by Tom, the groundsman.
Connor: Not Francis Kinsella!
Best memory of playing cricket at YSJ
Pat: I have a few! Definitely my first game when I was on the second team, when we played against the university of York. Also, when I had to organise Old Johns as vice-captain. I spent weeks organising and inviting Old Johns.
My first ever century in senior cricket when I scored 100 not out against Sessay is worth a mention too, as is when I got caught out by the first ball by a good friend of mine bowling against me!
Ed: Definitely winning my first game for YSJ. Didn’t do so well in first year because I was coming back from an injury. I had to wait four games to get our first win! We had a few beers afterwards to celebrate surviving relegation. I took the winning wicket!
Connor: Been a bit unlucky because we didn’t get a proper season last year. I’ve only played is indoors, but it was still a very good season for me. I averaged 120 runs indoors, which isn’t an easy feat! Didn’t get the highest score though, that was Ed.
What were your socials like, what did they consist of?
Pat: Our socials weren’t focused on cricket all year round. In winter I played football, hockey and Rugby because it was a small college. So, we would take part in their socials for those clubs over winter too. The cricket socials only took part in term 3 when we’d invite the opposition back to the union bar.
Our socials were mostly singing songs and getting drunk. We didn’t have a formal end of season dinner, we just had a presentation of the club award and club colours at the union bar. The club colours were an engraved goblet paid for by the club itself. We also had a club shirt, a ‘shocker shirt’ bought back from the West Indies British Colleges tour. Once we drove the minibus out to Hull Road and dumped one of our players their for refusing to wear the shirt. They had to walk back naked since we’d taken their clothes too. Another time, the entire rugby union team marched from the De Gray rooms, which used to be a bar, back to campus with no clothes on!
Ed: We start at Keystones at 9pm for a few beers then we head back to the SU for pound a pint or head to Lowther or Revolution. We change the social theme each social but we have some that we do every year, like the one where the first years go out in full cricket whites and seniors go out in shirts and ties. There’s also an ashes social where some of us dress as medieval knights, or the sandpaper fancy dress social.
We only play in term 3 so during the first two terms we just train and do socials. At the end of the year we have an end of season dinner which always has a good turn out since we can take plus ones.
Connor: We have sponsorships with a few bars so we have some good deals with them, with some strong drinks! We get a good rebate from some bars too by spending time in them.
We enjoy our socials as much as we can and they’re a big part of the club, if not the biggest. We’re at university to enjoy ourselves; we’re not professional cricketers! Basically, we’re a group of friends who are also a cricket club and like to play and have a little drink.
What do you spend money on?
Pat: We didn’t have any sponsors in the 1980s. There wasn’t really any sponsorships on football shirts or anything else in professional sports. I even wrote an essay about Geoffrey Boycott being sponsored by Schweppes at the time! Instead, we got a grant for the season from the SU and that was it, no other income. Two brothers set up a small business for St Johns polo shirts and bags, things like that. We got some cricket pullovers from them in the college colours of green, yellow and black.
Ed: We managed to buy new training balls this year which was a big help. There’s sponsorship on every bit of IPL kit these days compared to the 80s.
Connor: We have a few sponsors: Fancy Hanks, a property management business sponsors us thanks to one of our member’s dad. Revolution sponsors us too.
When did you last play in an old johns match?
Pat: I last played in 2016. We resurrected the team in 2012 with then club captain Tom Gallagher. I played from 2012 to 2016. I remember the sports lecturer Stanley Barnes used to umpire and there was a shield, including a player of the match award.
Ed: I tried a testimonial last year, but 2016 was probably the last time we played at Old Johns.
Connor: We couldn’t organise one last year because of Covid, but we wanted one.
