Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

133 Geoff Boycott came into our dressing-room and came up to me, ignoring everyone else and shook my hand. “Well played, lad” he said and walked off. It was a simple gesture, something he did not have to do, and it meant a lot to me.” 3 If Swansea was the scene of Maynard’s scintillating start as a county cricketer, it was, three years later, the place he would rather forget as he was dismissed in bizarre fashion in Glamorgan’s Benson and Hedges semi-final against Derbyshire, just when it looked like the young tyro was leading Glamorgan to a place in the final of the competition at Lord’s. To the delight of all concerned, Glamorgan were marking their Centenary Year in 1988 with a decent run in the Benson and Hedges Cup, with Maynard making a fine century in the quarter-final against Nottinghamshire at Sophia Gardens with his 108 seeing Glamorgan home by six wickets and earnt him the Man of the Match Award. His efforts saw the Welsh county reached the last four of the 55-overs competition and a home tie against Derbyshire at Swansea, leading many – especially those with a romantic persuasion – to speculate whether the Club would mark their anniversary year with another visit to a showpiece one-day final. But during the semi-final Maynard went from hero to zero, just as he appeared to be guiding his team to their first Lord’s final since 1977 as the Welsh county were chasing a target of 218. After the loss of early wickets, Maynard stabilised the innings but just as the Swansea supporters were clearing their throats for renditions of the Welsh National Anthem, a short ball from Welsh Indian fast bowler Matthew Maynard is congratulated by Rodney Ontong in the changing rooms after his remarkable debut hundred at Swansea in 1985. Rapid hundreds, remarkable debuts and great run outs