Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

118 for Slazenger – after first telling the company that he could make a better pair than those they provided for him under a sponsorship deal. This was in the days when keepers’ gloves were moving towards the design of a baseball mitt, with substantial webbing between thumb and first finger, and Bob’s designs took full advantage of the rather looser regulations that applied at that time. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and Bob’s gloves were very highly regarded. But when a new man took over at Slazenger, Bob’s services were dispensed with and, as far as he is concerned, their gloves have never been so good since. Not just cricket For over 60 years, Bob Richards has been an outstanding wicketkeeper at all levels of the game, right up, briefly, to first-class level. It can fairly be said that cricket is his life, though not all of it. He is married and has a daughter who he describes as ‘a badminton queen’, who has taken a coaching qualification in the sport – like father, like daughter. He says it took his wife Margaret about 30 years to appreciate cricket, though nowadays she analyses the game with the best of them; but she still hasn’t got round to liking football. Bob himself remained a footballer for many years, moving out of goal when his lack of height counted against him – ‘an eight-foot crossbar was too much’ – and becoming first a winger and then an inside-forward, before finally moving back to play as sweeper. He commented: ‘For the first time in my life I’m facing the ball. And once I was facing the ball, it was like reading a map. You could see the play in front of you, you could follow the play, you could move into position, cut the passes off and start your own. It was wonderful, and I thought, “Why haven’t I done this years ago?”’ He played football regularly until his mid-40s, turning out for Marconi in the Business Houses League, at a good standard with several ex-pros A Life in Cricket Bob Richards at home in Harleston, Norfolk, in 2010.