Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

He made the game simple, and his culture was that it was a game to be to be enjoyed, and a team game. And he always taught us to play positively.” Around this time first-class cricket was starting to see time-honoured standards of sportsmanship slipping. This was anathema to Allan and it strengthened his resolve in coaching his teams. “He had no time for gamesmanship,” Peter Mills says. “Allan was a true sportsman. He would not encounter disrespect to the opposition.” Allan’s enthusiasm – all his chat on a Friday evening before a match, his stories of touring with the likes of Denis Compton – rubbed off on the players. Peter Mills feels sure that this was why those who had played together in the 1970s were so keen to return each year to play for the Rovers. And when they came back to Oundle, they would find Molly and Peter’s own mother doing the catering for their matches. “They were a unit, Allan and Molly,” Peter says, remembering how Molly ran the school sports shop. As in the dairy at Usk, she was the business brains, but Allan loved being in the shop for the chance of a natter. The privileged world of a public school contrasted sharply with the struggles of Allan’s own childhood. His family and those around them at Usk had always been solid Labour supporters. “It went through family after family. Wilf and I used to have bloody good arguments about Conservatives and Labour. His father was only a garage owner in North Wales, but he was lucky enough to get a good education. I used to pull his leg about the bus going up another penny and all this sort of thing.” In his playing days, Allan had resented the good fortune of those born to an easier, more leisurely life. He had questioned the credentials of some of those perhaps too hastily recognised for their deeds on the cricket fields of Oxford or Cambridge, but he has mellowed with the passage of time. “When I came into the system I realised that they were lads the same as anybody else. They were decent chaps, but it’s a different world.” Now Allan can look back on pleasures shared with the boys, and he particularly relishes an occasion when he was the privileged one. The Oundle cricket team had gone on tour to Guernsey and made a trip to visit Alderney. Their minibus paused. “This is John Arlott’s house,” said their guide. This was Allan’s cue. “I said, ‘I know John Arlott very well. I wonder how he is.’ And one of the smart arses said, ‘Well go in and find out.’ So I said, ‘All right, I will go in and ‘Go Back to What You Love’ 101