Lives in Cricket No 15 - Michael Falcon

continuing as a director of both the Life Insurance Society and the Fire Society until he became vice-president of the Life Insurance Society in 1948 and of the Fire Society in 1958. He retired from both boards in July 1963, upon reaching the age limit. Falcon also remained active in the management of the Yarmouth-based brewery E.Lacon and Co Ltd. He continued as chairman until 1963 and, after he had stepped down from that office, continued as a non-executive director for some time afterwards. Unsurprisingly, Michael Falcon’s retirement from county cricket merely opened the way for him to play more social cricket. He played into his seventies, enjoying his successes at a lower level every bit as much as he enjoyed first-class cricket in his salad days. His son remembers him particularly enjoying a friendly match against Gresham’s School at Holt. Falcon was fielding contentedly in the deep as a talented batsman who had got his eye in was looking to push on to a notable score. At this point his captain offered Falcon a bowl: the batsman, seeing what appeared to be a harmless old man coming on to bowl, couldn’t believe his luck and decided to cash in by hitting as many runs as possible before the old boy was taken off. The first ball was of impeccable line and length but no more than slow-medium in pace and the young batsman unscientifically carted it over the boundary for a six. Michael Falcon considered his options. His days of sheer pace were forty years before; even outswing and inswing were but distant memories. His only weapon was the use of subtle variation in his delivery; so, from an identical run-up, he delivered a ball slightly different from the first. The batsman, who by now was so completely sure of himself that he didn’t notice the subtle change, played exactly the same shot which had been so successful against Falcon’s first ball. This time, however, the variation did the trick: the bat missed the ball completely and the ball went on to hit the wicket. The boy slouched off in high disgust, completely unaware of the calibre of his victorious foe, who enjoyed himself immensely. At one point, which is now impossible to date, Michael Falcon’s cricketing days were threatened by a medical condition which resulted in his hands becoming involuntarily contracted into fists, making normal day-to-day functioning tricky and cricket impossible. Luckily surgery proved successful, with one hand being corrected one year and the other in the following year. Cricket was then resumed as soon as possible. Life After Big-Time Cricket 109