Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

135 speculation. On the eve of the crucial committee meeting of 6 September 1990 The Times headline was clear: ‘Moody’s form likely to put Donald in the cold.’ Donald’s feelings were laid bare: ‘Warwickshire desperately need a batsman and they don’t come much better than Moody. I’ve heard a lot of rumours over the past few weeks and all of them represent bad news for me.’ Despite claiming that it was ‘one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make,’ Cottam had already been indicating to Donald that he would help him find another county. Evans had no doubts: his wish was to retain Moody and install him as captain. Mike remembers a second-team match at Mitchell’s and Butler’s three weeks earlier in which a forlorn Donald was on the boundary expecting his time with Warwickshire to be coming to an end. ‘You’re not on your own,’ Mike had told him. If there was to be a fight, one of Warwickshire’s most respected committeemen would be on Donald’s side. Crucial to the debate was that Donald’s contract still had a year to run, whereas Moody’s agreement was for one season. Had Evans been able to tear up Donald’s contract as he wished, it might have cost the club £25,000. But to Mike the contract entailed moral obligations: ‘You don’t go tearing players’ contracts up if you want to retain a confident relationship between players and the committee.’ But his view was also clear on the wider merits of the argument: ‘Ask any captain what he wants to have a good side and he’ll say he wants a good attack. And the first person who gets hold of the ball is your fast bowler.’ The Committee supported the honouring of Donald’s contract. Cottam had now been frustrated twice. Describing his position as ‘trying to do a job with handcuffs on’, he resigned at the end of October. Exempting Evans from criticism, he directed his guns at Mike, who he claimed had promised him a free hand when he had first taken up his position. ‘That’s rubbish,’ says Mike, stressing that it wasn’t in his remit to promise anything of that nature to Cottam. Evans, meanwhile, irritated with democratic processes that thwarted his will, set about planning changes to the county’s constitution. Supported by Finance Committee chairman and fellow solicitor Peter Bromage, he sprang his ideas on an unsuspecting executive. At the noon deadline of Friday 30 November 1990, the cut-off date for submitting motions for the AGM, Evans’ proposals for streamlining the general and cricket committees were lodged. The timing clearly precluded any prior discussion of his motions in committee. A committee meeting was Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman