Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

132 intent on freeing himself to vent his spleen at another Special General Meeting called to pass a vote of no confidence in the Committee. ‘Willis was in favour of sacking the lot of us,’ says Mike. To ease the tension, Tony Steven brought forward the date of his intended retirement, and Bob Evans, a solicitor who had come to prominence at the earlier uprising, was unanimously elected to succeed him. Meanwhile, notwithstanding Neil’s situation, Mike felt obliged to take over Willis’ cricket committee role. The Special General Meeting at the Birmingham Metropole on 11 November 1987 saw two ex-England captains go head to head as Willis proposed the no-confidence motion and Mike defended the committee. Poor playing performances and refusal to engage with the ordinary members were the principal charges. Mike was able to counter most of the criticisms, and added a light touch to proceedings by questioning the link between what went on in committee and what happened out on the pitch. ‘I played for 20 years and the idea that if I missed a straight one, I could blame the committee is a new one on me. I got plenty of ducks, so perhaps I owe some Committee men a few rollickings!’ The committee narrowly survived, with the rebels’ motion defeated by 507 votes to 450. Evans, himself a new broom, had played a big part in saving the day with an impassioned speech, and he now took on board the message that more notice should be taken of members’ views. At the subsequent AGM, two of the rebel group won seats on the 22-man committee, becoming very valuable members in Mike’s view, but one who missed out, by just ten votes, was Willis, whose involvement with Warwickshire cricket thus came to an end. An early outcome of the November meeting had been the dismissal of David Brown, the most loyal of servants but one on whose watch the ship had foundered. Good wishes to Brown abounded and he was offered Honorary Life Membership of the club. Brown’s replacement was the more combative Bob Cottam, a former Hampshire and Northants bowler with four Test caps, who was now employed as cricket manager and senior coach. With Andy Lloyd appointed as captain, a more successful period on the field ensued. Championship positions of sixth, eighth and fifth far surpassed what had been happening and, though one-day results were mostly mediocre, there was a notable triumph in the final of the NatWest Trophy in 1989. This was a proud day for Mike, for it was the match in which Neil made his mark on the national stage. Illustrating the fortuitous nature of sport, Neil, now in his third full season, was playing Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman