Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

131 was offered to Neil. Don Wilson later told Mike that he had been summoned to the Assistant Secretary’s office to assure John Stephenson (‘The Colonel’) that he wasn’t giving a job to a friend’s son! Neil was fortunate to have an experienced Test spinner as his coach at Lord’s. He shared digs with Mark Waugh, later to play for Essex and in 128 Tests for Australia, and Mike is certain that he benefited from having to make his own way in life, away from Edgbaston and home. Neil’s cricketing skills developed and, with Warwickshire still showing no interest in him, he accepted an invitation to play for Sussex Second Eleven. His first match, against Middlesex Seconds, brought seven wickets and a 16-run victory which owed much to Neil’s second-innings four for 22. His home county now had to show more interest. Picked to play by Warwickshire against Gloucestershire Seconds, Neil immediately made his mark with 63 and four for 24 in the second innings. His five matches that summer brought him a batting average of 41.60 and eleven wickets. It was enough to earn a contract for 1987, and it was during his first season on the staff that the issue over the chairmanship of the Cricket Committee blew up. It was resolved, for a few short weeks, when Bob Willis, now retired as a player, took over the reins. The members’ dissatisfaction with the governance of the county intensified when it became known that the main committee had refused Brown and Gifford the chance to make overtures to Ian Botham after his fiery exodus from Somerset. Mike would have liked to see Botham at Edgbaston, but he was in a minority on the Committee. Playing considerations apart, a side with Botham would have been a huge boost to commercial manager Jim Cumbes, who had seen the iconic all-rounder as hot property in his bid to woo corporate support. Cumbes’ move to his native Lancashire was just one of several departures around this time that reflected widespread discontent. Cumbes had also been one of the applicants for the post of Chief Executive, and the committee’s preference for David Heath’s wider experience of business provoked the ire of Willis. ‘He saw it as jobs for the boys,’ says Mike. At a committee meeting Willis then challenged Chairman Tony Steven’s version of events as to why Dennis Amiss had not felt happy to take over from Cumbes as commercial manager. This altercation led to Willis leaving the meeting and resigning his position as Chairman of Cricket after only a few weeks in post, Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman