Lives in Cricket No 18 - FR Foster

and he drives me to New Street Station. I first pay my respects to The Dell replete as ever with dragonflies and honeysuckles in its haunted glades. I better keep friendly with the spirits that dwell there. 5 Seeing me off onto the train are Colonel Wilkinson and Mr C.S.Riddell, 6 my bosses, and Mr Ryder and Mr Bainbridge from Warwickshire. 7 Most important of course, my lovely players are there. Word has come through that rain has prevented play at Canterbury; if it stays like that Kent are out of contention. Unfortunately at Lord’s Middlesex are steamrollering Hampshire. ‘Don’t worry skipper,’ says good old Frank Field, ‘we’ll beat Northampton and it doesn’t matter.’ ‘And God bless Mr Sewell,’ I say, referring to a London journalist who disapproves of us. 8 Father hugs me: ‘Play hard but fair Frank; you can do it; remember you are a Foster.’ A supporter asked me if we were going to win. ‘We’ll paralyse them’ I replied. A toot and a cloud of steam from our locomotive, a little cheer from the assembled supporters, and off we go. A pity Sep Kinneir is lame and sad and stayed behind. ‘Win it for him,’ I tell my lads. After all Sep had scored lots of runs and supported my craziest notions. Northampton is a small market town, the ground a little way out. We rose early Saturday morning 9 and walked to the ground. I was feeling edgy but seeing the sun shining cheered me up. Probably in the whole history of county cricket there had never been played a match of such great importance. Warwickshire, since the commencement of their cricketing life, had never reached a position so high as the one they held prior to this match and the tremendous effect of winning this match on the Birmingham public was so intense that I was absolutely determined to make the greatest effort ever known in the history of cricket. I knew my men were with me, heart and soul, and that no words of mine could make them try harder than the effort they were now prepared to make for the honour of winning the County Championship for Warwickshire. Ten good men and true are with me inspecting the wicket. The day is hot, the wicket perfect, thunder in the air. Best to bat and get it over with quick as we can, I thought. ‘Toss ‘em for the match, skipper, you’ll win.’ says Jack Parsons, full of youthful optimism. I smiled and went to 12 Warwick, thou art worthy 5 ‘The Dell’ would have been the site of ‘Moseley Bog’. See Chapter Two. 6 Partners in the furnishing firm Wilkinson and Riddell, based in Cherry Street, Birmingham, where Foster worked when not playing cricket. The business remained in existence in Birmingham until the 1950s. 7 Warwickshire County Cricket Club secretary and chairman respectively. 8 E.H.D.Sewell was an amateur batsman for Essex and other mainly southern sides and a cricket author whose trenchant views, often assertions rather than reasoned arguments, demeaned him as a writer. 9 Saturday starts had not yet been generally adopted, but this one favoured Warwicks.