Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

145 Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman Manoj Prabhakar. When Prabhakar withdrew through injury, Lara had been signed. ‘When he hit his 375, they were queuing round the block for membership,’ Mike recalls, going on to admit that his only contribution had been to mislay Lara’s work permit in the chaos of his Caribbean hotel room. Lara did not disappoint. He began with six hundreds in seven innings, climaxed with 501 not out against Durham, to add the record first-class score to his earlier Test achievement. Among Lara’s many breathtaking feats Mike remembers him taking on John Emburey and hitting the flagpole above the Middlesex dressing-room at Lord’s. Though Dermot Reeve, now captain, was later to write of ‘coming close to drifting out of the game because of Lara’, the season rolled on with the Trinidadian genius given a loose rein at Edgbaston. ‘Quite what Dermot’s problems were with Brian Lara, I don’t know,’ says Mike. ‘Certainly nothing reached the Committee.’ Mike points out that Reeve had fitness problems and his cricket that season was concentrated on limited- overs matches, where it was felt he would be most valuable. So, in nine of the 17 championship matches, Tim Munton captained the side. ‘Brian was getting tremendous attention and I think the players’ attitude was that he was welcome to it. He was doing a terrific job and they were lucky to have him in the side. If a bit of slack needed letting out for it, he’d earned it and they could handle it, no problem.’ Neil agrees: ‘I got on fine with him,’ he says, ‘and I can quite understand him wanting a rest from time to time.’ Winners of the Championship, Sunday League and Benson and Hedges Cup, Warwickshire were only denied a clean sweep, Mike feels, through losing the toss in the final of the NatWest Trophy, when the weather played a crucial part in the defeat by Worcestershire. For Mike the successes of the summer rekindle less happy memories of his dealings with a bookmaker. Prior to the 1994 season Mike was in Dennis Amiss’ office when he was handed a letter from a bookmaker suggesting the club should ‘insure’ against the team’s success to cover paying out players’ bonuses. Mike saw this as a bit of fun, while fancying the team’s success after an average season in 1993. ‘I told Dennis to put on a £5 yankee for the county to win the Championship and the Sunday League and to get to the two one-day finals. I then went up to the committee room and took a fiver off everyone in sight. Some were non-committee, so it was never a committee bet – just a bit of fun.’ If the Yankee were to pay out in full, the punters stood to win