The achievement of Peter Shields in taking six stumpings against Instonians was outstanding and not surprisingly revived memories of Bertie Styles taking seven stumpings for Queens University against Dunmurry back in 1997. Bertie was quite a character and a double cricket and rugby blue, but unfortunately he never took his cricket to the next level. His achievement at the time eclipsed a previous record held by the popular Des Byrne of Railway Union and it will take some beating in the years to come.
Talking about wicketkeepers brings back a host of memories of former stumpers as these guys were a breed apart and in some instances played their own game within the main match. Of course it is easy to see why, because they dressed differently with their pads and heavy gloves, they were involved in every ball bowled, and different things like stumpings and no byes motivated them. Obviously they wanted to take wickets, but most wicketkeepers got as much satisfaction from a stumping as six catches, and they conceded byes frugally. If they batted well that was a bonus, because in the old days most wicketkeepers were genuine rabbits, even if they thought otherwise. Batsmen-cum-wicketkeepers was largely a development of limited-overs cricket, although there were a few notable exceptions down the years.
Wicketkeepers in our era usually had plenty to say about themselves and were cocky and chatty when you got to the wicket. The crafty ones used this to their advantage lulling you into a false sense of security, but all time they were watching where your bat was positioned and if your feet moved out of the crease they had you in a flash. At least the best ones did, because some of the senior league stumpers thirty years ago were nothing more than goalkeepers behind the stumps. That really didn’t matter too much because most of them were characters and they added much to our enjoyment of the game.
I recall the late Conn McCall telling me his Bangor teammate and in later years international umpire Maurice Moore, had the dirtiest pads in Irish club cricket because he threw himself at everything and anything. Maurice was a lovely person and a very popular umpire who retired much to early for the game. Bangor produced some good stumpers, not least the brilliant Brian Millar and Chris Harte, certainly one of the best batting ones. Elsewhere, was there ever a more flamboyant or noisier wicketkeeper than ‘Boyce the Voice’ at Ballymena? Jimmy had the broadest smile you could ever meet at the wicket, but as a serious stumper he wasn’t a major threat. However, he was commander-in-chief at Ballymena so his position was never threatened, even when Indian test wicketkeeper Kieran More played at the club. But Jimmy deserves some credit because he kept on an unpredictable track at Eaton Park to the formidable pace trio of Dessie Kane, Harry Cook and Neville Neil in their heyday.
That was no mean achievement!
Because they were motivators and constantly in the thick of the action, most wicketkeepers had their stints as captains and generally did a good job. Graham ‘Doc’ Crothers was the smooth-talking skipper at Woodvale who was capped by Ireland, but in later years Chris Davis was more of the goalkeeping variety, although an inspirational leader. His standoff with Downpatrick’s Derek McCann over the starting time in an Irish Cup game had everybody stumped at the time! Derek was dubbed the ‘Genius’ at Downpatrick, but he didn’t endear himself to many people. That said, he was the most successful Downpatrick captain ever.
Nice guys don’t always make the best captains or good wicketkeepers, but there were exceptions. Hugh Linehan at Downpatrick, Jimmy Kirkwood at Lisburn, Shaun Bradley at Eglinton, Tom Guy at Lurgan and Carson Rose at Instonians were widely accepted by friend and foe as gentlemen in local cricket. Perhaps not so Carson’s great rival Denis Artt at North Down! Denis was fiery and combative in both batting and wicketkeeping but he made average bowlers look great because he loved to stand up, and his legside stumpings were spectacular. But one occasion not spectacular enough for umpire Murray Power in a tense cup match at Wallace Park a few years ago when Murray ruled a Dermott Monteith stumping ‘not out’ for encroaching at a critical point in the game. The air was blue for a while and Murray sunk lower and lower down his coat collar before North Down eventually squeezed through!
Denis didn’t like to lose.
Denis and Carson were thwarted for top representative honours in their time because of the brilliance of Ossie Colhoun, Eddie Bushe and Paul Jackson. These guys were class acts and prolific talkers, but unscrupulously fair and sporting. They were all superb athletes, sleek and skilful in their noble art. ‘Jacko’ was the best batsman of the trio, but it would be difficult to split them as wicketkeepers.
Alan Rutherford was another fiery little stumper who performed well for club and country, and was never short of a little bit of showmanship if the situation demanded. Great little batsman too, and thankfully still involved in cricket administration. Big Bruce Topping of Lisburn and later Laurelvale, had buckets of talent and little wonder he was so athletic as he was an Irish international badminton player for many years, possibly at a cost to his cricket honours. He was certainly good enough to keep for Ireland.
Thankfully we’ve still got some outstanding ‘keepers in the modern game, but I doubt if there are as many characters that bounded and abounded in days gone by.
Or maybe that’s a sign of getting old?
Clarence Hiles
Editor
