Episode 40: On Sir Garfield Sobers

Welcome back to The Sunday Service!

This week, we hear the latest tales from the Womens' Institute as they took a trip to see The Odyssey, and the Parish XI prepare for their fundraiser game against the Hairdressers of Upper and Lower Bottom.

WG Rumblepants rumblepants dedicates his 'Cricket in 3' to the late Sir Garfield Sobers, and Mr Gompertz reads from 'The Good Book' on the topic of the importance of all-rounders.

And finally, our good friends at Newberry Cricket have another terrific competition, this week giving away their brand new 360 cricket shoes.

Check out all of their top equipment here

To enter, just answer the question correctly and send it in to:

- sundayservicecricket@gmail.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the Sunday service. A quick note up top to say that today's service is Alfresco. We are near Guildford Cathedral, which has provided some inspiration for this week's service. So any chatter or maybe even some drawn bass you hear in the background, adjust the noises of the great British public. It has been another busy cricketing week in the parish, and having spoken to many of the parishioners, we have now erected a large whiteboard on the parish green. Upon that is written the domestic fixtures, which teams are playing, who is playing for those teams, and what those teams are called, when and where those fixtures are being played, and the phone number of Boycott Vicarage, where the old man has been sitting taking calls from confused parishioners.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Haven't you, Churchill? I have indeed, young George, and can I say the helpline has been red hot? Let me give you one example. Now the voice of the caller to keep their identity secret is being played by an actor.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Very wise.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Hello, Boycott Vickerage fixes Helpline. Hello. Hello. This is Boycott Vickerage Helpline. Oh hello. I am a huge Jordan Clark fan. I really want to watch Jordan play but cannot seem to find him. I thought he would be playing for Surrey this week, but there is no sign of him. And then I discover he has gone to Cardiff to play for the Welsh Fire. This has really confused me because last year he was playing for the Oval Invincibles, and they are now my London. Can you help me? I would love to, but I must be honest with you, I am as confused as you. Oh well, thank you for your time. Just one other question. Is he still your first name on the team sheet? Oh yes. And don't worry, you'll be able to find him again once the championship starts on August the 20th. Just to let you know, that is the day after the first test against Pakistan. So I will get all of that written down as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Oh thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sunday service. Oh yes. We are back, and I have had an extremely busy week. Even though I say it myself, my first reading from the good book went very well last week, but I was disappointed with the choir's performance of my reworking of Madonna's Vogue. We have had extra practice sessions in the village hall this week, and all I'll say is I'm quietly confident my reworking of a reworking of an extremely jaunty number will be to your liking this week. I've also been looking into starting brass rubbing sessions in the parish, and the general consensus among the parishioners is this would be an excellent addition to parish activities, as long as it doesn't get in the way of windsurfing.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Anyway, how's your week been, Churchy? Extremely busy young George. The week started with a trip to the sea to meet Archbishop Jeremy Coney, followed by the continuing and some would say stressful saga of the moving of my stopcock. This still hasn't been resolved. I was due to be on Ben Stokes' watch in the One Day Cup, but the motorways of England prevented me from getting out my binoculars and seeing Mr. Stokes score an inevitable hundred on one leg. I myself and you yourself have watched Surreyshire in the One Day Cup this week, and much like our caller to the Fixtures Helpline, I have been trying to work out who is playing for what team and what that team is now called in the 100, and I must admit I have given up. Oh, and I have been following the names that might be the New England Test head coach. Time is ticking, but let's be honest, whoever gets the job will have to spend lots of their time trying to find their players at whichever team they are playing for, and they'll need to know what that team is now called so they can do a little bit of preparation for the opening test match against Pakistan, which incidentally starts the day before the restart of the county championship. Now, before we find out what's on today's service, will you all be upstanding, please, for our first hymn, Amazing Grace? A beautiful start to today's service, I think you'll all agree. And now, young George, what is on today's show, please?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Church has his usual cricketing sermon, in which he talks about the ladies of the Parish Women's Institute taking a minibus to see the Odyssey and the fundraising game against the hairdressers of upper and lower bottom. WG RumblePants is back with Cricket in 3 with WG. And I shall be reading once again from the good book. Today's lesson in honour of Garfield Sobers is about the importance of being an all-rounder in life.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Very true, young George, and I hope in there there is something about that if one part of your game doesn't work out, you can always fall part back on the other part of your game. And if that part doesn't work out, you can also fall back on another part of your game that will work. That's why it's good to be an all-rounder. If none of that works out, there's plenty of discourse about the no rounder, which we'll touch on as a. Oh, the no rounder. And thanks to our friends at Newbury Cricket, we have our competition where you can win another piece of their magnificent cricketing equipment. And don't forget, you can get in touch with us. Just email sundayservice cricket at gmail.com or tweet at Sundayservice22. So lots to get through.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

So let's get cracking with this week's Sunday Service.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

As a wise member of another parish told me in my younger days, less is more, Mark, and if you do have more of basically the same thing, it can get very confusing and turn what is fundamentally a good thing into something that keeps repeating itself, leaving everybody not quite sure what they're watching and who is actually playing for what team, and it doesn't help if some of those teams change their names and a competition that was meant to be simple gets even more complicated. He was a wise man, but I think he needed to do some work on his wise proclamations, but his long-winded words seemed pertinent today. It has been another busy week in the parish. Monday morning was spent by the sea with Archbishop Jeremy Cody. I needed to see the Archbishop to get a number of cricketing issues off my chest, and as always, the Archbishop's advice put me in good shape for the rest of the week. That positive cricketing feeling led me to a movie motion picture house to see the summer blockbuster The Odyssey, starring the well-known off-break bowler Matt Damon. The movie motion picture was the same length as a T20 game, and told the story of Odysseus trying to get home. It did occur to me that after watching young Mr. Damon in Saving Private Ryan and the Martian, he always seemed to be trying to get home. It was an epic visual feast, and the only thing missing was references to cricket. But I feel Odysseus would have made a fine captain of any cricketing eleven. This is not a spoiler, as the youngsters call it, but the only problem would be Odysseus would end up being the only player from his side left at the end of the game. But I still feel his leadership skills were exemplary. Plus, I would also suggest to him he played all his games at home to prevent him trying to get back to it. I returned to the parish and after a good night's sleep in Boycott Vicarage set off early to the parish of Derbyshire for Ben Stokes Watch. The former England Test captain was playing for Durhamshire in the One Day Cup, and I had my binoculars packed for proper watching. Unfortunately, having left the parish at five in the morning, I still hadn't reached the tunnel of Dartford by nine o'clock in the morning, and an executive decision was made to return to the parish and try and watch Mr. Stokes from there. A very wise decision. And upon arrival back at the parish, I was greeted by the sight of the Women's Institute minibus parked outside the Badgers Googly. Young Mr. Gomberts was helping a long line of the ladies of the WI into the minibus, and I made my inquiries. Mrs. Watts informed me they were off to the local movie motion picture house to see, and I quote, Mac Damon's biceps in the Odyssey. I wish them well. And as the minibus drove off with ACDC's thunder blaring from the open windows, I did mention to Mr. Gomberts that the actual Odyssey was this Women's Institute trip to the local movie motion picture house. I am glad to say that the ladies of the WI did make it home later that evening with the talk all about Matt Damon's biceps, and that Tom Holland being such a lovely young man. I took Mr. Gompertz to the Badgers Glue Review where we both raised a pint of the local brew to two of my favourite people who were celebrating their birthday on Tuesday. One was my mother, and the other was Jason Roy. I made mention to young Mr. Gomberts that the similarities between the two of them are uncanny. Young Mr. Roy, of course, has won a World Cup, and my mother has won the best Victoria Sponge competition at her local village fate. And young Mr. Roy has taken some of the best bowling attacks in the world apart, and my mother has taken some of the best bottles of Sauvignon Blanc apart over the years. Ted had the hundred on the television, and we caught Mr. S. Curran and Mr. N. Poran winning the opening game for London of the Mumbai Indians. And even though I cannot claim London to be mine, that is how the franchise is now referred to. As a simple soul, I thought I got to grips with how the hundred worked, but it did seem to be a psychedelic feast on the screens, but everyone was having a lovely time, and young Mr. Curran and young Mr. Poran did play some rather lovely shots. Elsewhere, Mr. Stokes was scoring a hundred for Durhamshire in the One Day Cup, and Surreyshire were winning their opening game against Lancashire. I repeated what that wise member of another parish had told me in my younger days, and Mr Gomberts agreed that that sage advice needed a bit of work on to make it somewhat shorter. But I think he got the general gist. Wednesday was spent doing parish visits and rearranging the parish eleven's game against the greengrocers of Great Gurgling, which had been called off last Sunday due to some errant plums. I then met members of the Parish Eleven to discuss our game in August against the hairdressers of Upper and Lower Bottom. It has been decided to pick this game as a fundraiser for the parish birdbath. And also the announcement is of the amalgamation of the parishes of Upper and Lower Bottom. The reasons behind this are very simple. We only started playing the hairdressers of Lower Bottom last year, and it was not the best of games when it transpired. There were only two hairdressers in Lower Bottom. And the first of those, Mr. Bristles, I'm still not sure that's actually his real name, was out first ball in the chase of our 375 for two, where Mr. Bristles and Mr. Comb, I'm not actually sure that's his real name either, had to bowl all the overs because they were the only two players. Then when Mr Bristles was out first ball, that was the end of the game. Over a pint in the badger's googly, it transpired there are actually 15 hairdressers in Upper Bottom, and a suggestion was made to Mr. Bristles and Mr. Comb that they merged with Upper Bottom, and they have done just that, and hence our game against them in August. It will be a splendid occasion, although we will need some more meetings, as some of the suggestions for fundraising activities weren't good, including Reggie's suggestion he attempted to drink as much of the local brew as he could before opening the bowling. I fear the ladies of the WI may need consultation. Thursday was a blessedly quiet day, the highlight being hearing young Mr Gomberts' reading from the good book, which you will hear shortly. Again, his reading is profound, and I am also looking forward to hearing the choir sing his reworking of Westlife's reworking of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl. I spent a very happy evening at Boycott Vicarage doing my cricketing stats because Friday, young Mr Gomberts and I were in the parish of Guildfordshire for Surreyshire's latest one-day cup game against Leicestershire. Saturday morning I spent trimming my bush in the garden of Boycott Vicarage, trying to get Sir Geoffrey's bat looking a little more lively. The heat wave had caused it to wilt, causing more giggling in the parish, and by the time I finished his bat was looking at a more jaunty angle, and my bush looked much better if a little sunkist. In the afternoon, I visited Mrs. Watts and Mrs. Knowles to tell them about our fundraising game against the hairdressers of Upper and Lower Bottom in August and to ask them for their ideas. After a slice of cake and a cup of tea, all they'd come up with was getting Matt Damon to the game and playing Guess the Size of His Biceps. So I left them to it and retired to Boycott Vicarage. This morning you find me back in the parish of Guildfordshire, as Surryshire play Northamptonshire in their latest One Day Cup game. Mr. Gomperts is leading the service with his reading and reworking of Westlai's reworking of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl. Now, I only have one parish notice. Ted has left a suggestion box on the bar of the Badgers Googly for fundraising ideas for our game against the hairdressers of Upper and Lower Bottom in August. And before you suggest it, Mrs. Knowles and Mrs. Watts, Tom Holland is not going to agree to be auctioned off to a member of the Women's Institute to spend a week with them. So, another busy week in the parish. And may I leave you with the wise words of Bert Lance in 1977 when he was the director of the Office of Management and Budget, because I feel it sums up the current state of our beautiful game. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Until next week, bat well, everyone. Bat very, very well.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

This week I'm going to turn my whole cricketing free over to Sir Gary Sobers. I'll give you three minutes, more or less, about the great man. I think he probably deserves it. If ever there was a cricketer who could do absolutely everything, it was Sir Gary Sobers. He wasn't just a magnificent batsman. He could bowl left arm fast, left arm orthodox spin, left arm wrist spin, feel brilliantly in any position, and captain the West Indies. Even today, more than half a century after his peak, many still regard him as the greatest all-rounder the game has ever seen. His greatest admirer may have been Sir Don Bradman, who described one of Sobers' innings in Australia as the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia. Coming from the man widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, there is hardly higher praise. Sobers burst into cricket history in 1958, when aged just 21, he scored 365 not out against Pakistan. Remarkably, it was his first test entry. Most players are simply delighted to read three figures for the first time. Sobers decided to make his main hundred the highest test score anyone had ever seen. The record stood for 36 years. His confidence was matched by an improvised sense of humour. Jeffrey Boycott once asked Sobers why he kept getting him out leg before wicked. Sobers explained that Boycott's front foot came too far across, leaving him vulnerable to the inswinger. The very next day, Sobers bowled boycott with an outswinger that took the edge to slip. As Boycott trudged off, Sobers called after him. Jeffrey, you didn't ask me about the other one. Then there was the famous day in 1968, when playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan, Sobers became the first man to hit six sixes in a single over in first-class cricket. The unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. One of the blows was actually caught on the boundary, but the fielder lost his balance and fell backwards over the rope six runs. It was simply one of those days when everything Sobers touched turned to gold. Off the field, he enjoyed life just as much. He once admitted, going to bed early was no good for me. It affected my form. Stories abounded from staying out until the early hours before strolling out the next morning to score a glorious century. Apparently none the worse for wear. Perhaps the finest tribute came from Richie Beno, who simply said, Sobers can do everything. It's difficult to improve on that. Cricket has produced many great batsmen, many great bowlers, and many outstanding fielders. But only one player has ever been genuinely world class at every single aspect of the game. That player was Sagari Sobers.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Thank you to WG, and he will be back next week. And now young Mr. Gomberts will read from the good book, and may I just say his opening reading last week was not only profound but also lyrical. So this week's better be good.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

After the sad news of the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers last week, today's reading is all about the importance of being an all-rounder. Of course, every local cricket team around the country also has a designated space for the no-rounder, the player who can't bat, can't bowl, and can't field. They bat at nine, have a couple of swishes before returning to the terrace, and field with enthusiasm, yet little skill. I'm sure most of you will recognise this character, and for the few that don't, I'm afraid you may be closer to this person than you dare imagine. Sir Garfield, renowned as one of the game's greatest ever all-rounders, was described in The Good Book, 1990, page 42, as a stylish, prolific batsman, two bowlers in one, a swift, accurate slipfieldsman, and generally an astute captain. Today's reading from The Good Book is one of our earliest pieces of scripture. If you'd like to follow along, you can find your copy of The Good Book in the pocket on the back of the pew in front of you. It's from the old format, the first innings, 25 for none. As Mother Cricket comes down to speak to a young, slightly erratic fast bowler. And Mother Cricket said unto him, Which discipline is of greatest importance? And he replied, saying, Surely it is bowling, for no side shall prevail unless it first taketh all ten wickets. Thou speakest wisely. Mother Cricket replied, But consider this: without the batter, the bowler hath no runs to defend. Without the fielder, the catch falleth unto the ground. And without the captain, there is no one to order the field, nor to plot and scheme against the opposition. Therefore, I ask thee again, which discipline is of greatest importance. The young bowler had much to ponder and remained silent for a time, unsure of quite what to say. Eventually, he spoke again. I suppose that no one discipline is greater than another. Each dependent upon the rest. Mother Cricket smiled proudly. Thou hast spoken most truly, young bowler. And thou hast learnt an important lesson. For each discipline is fundamental unto the game, and victory cannot be secured through one discipline alone. Yet, blessed be the player who bowleth with skill, who batteth with courage, and who fieldeth with diligence. For such a player shall be revered above all others, and thy name shall be spoken of in every pavilion. Here ended in the reading. So I urge you, good people of the parish, not to get stuck with one discipline, but to branch out, to give things a go. So next weekend, when the captain unexpectedly turns to you and asks, Will you kindly open the batting today? You will not reply by saying, But I cannot, for I am a bowler. You will simply say, Of course. I'll give it a go. I invite you now to join me as we bow our heads in prayer. Dearest Mother Cricket, thank you for providing us with a cricketing competition in which an innings lasts 100 bulls, at the same time as providing us with a competition where a match lasts 100 overs. I naively thought this would be simple to understand, yet I am more confused than ever. Perhaps everything would be simpler if 100 overs were also to be bowled in a day of test match cricket, although I fear we ask too much. In Swingers and Googlies, how's that? I ask you now to please stand for our next hymn. So, thanks to our friends at Newbury Cricket, it's competition time. They are giving away a brand new pair of their 360 cricket shoes.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

And you're a fan, Jeff. I certainly am, especially when the Prodigy is playing in the background, because I can see myself after a game with a pair of 360s, I would go with the pimples obviously, uh, rather than the spikes, making my way to a club of the night variety, wearing my 360s, which can I say, in just a fashion sense, are very, very cool. And with the prodigy playing in the background, burning it up on the dance floor. So to get yourself a pair of 360s, all you have to do is answer this week's cricketing question. But first, last week's cricketing question, young George. Tammy Beaumont retired from international cricket at the end of the Lord's Test. But what was her highest test score? The answer was 208. So anybody who emailed in to us with the answer 208, your name has gone in the hat for the pair of 360s. So here is this week's question. Our one day cup competition in this country is now underway, but it's a very simple question, very simple question. Who are the current holders of the One Day Cup? If you think you know the answer, just email SundayserviceCricket at gmail.com or tweet at Sundayservice22. And our friends at Newbury have released an official Sunday service discount code. You can now use the discount code Sundayservice15 and get 15% off goods at www.newbury.co.uk, excluding, of course, bespoke bats. So why not treat yourself to some premium gear and quality willow?

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Well, the last ball has been bold and the bales have been dislodged. It is stumps for this episode of the Sunday service. We will be back again next Sunday, 2nd of August. So get that date in your download diary. And don't forget, you can still get all your cricketing woes off your chest by emailing SundayserviceCricket at gmail.com or tweeting at Sundayservice22.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

So thank you for listening. If you like what you've heard, please rate and review us as it really helps others find the podcast because, as we always say, we want us to join together and be one big happy cricketing family. Thank you to WG Rumblepants, of course, and young Mr. Gomperts for his beautiful reading on the All Rounder and the No Rounder. And of course, thank you to our friends at Newbury Cricket for all their support and their magnificent competition prize.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Until next Sunday, this has been a George Gomperts and Mark Church production. Have a magnificent cricketing week, everybody. And remember, whoever you play for, and whatever your team is now called, the ball is still round, and if it's in the slot, free your arms. Wice words, young George, why would words?

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Goodbye, everybody,