Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

146 Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman £225,000. However, halfway through the season, the bookmaker, no doubt seeing Warwickshire doing exceptionally well, contacted the club. Mike seethes as he explains what happened next: ‘He informed us that it was classed as a speciality bet on which he had a maximum pay-out of £100,000.’ It transpired that the ‘speciality’ classification stemmed from the bookmaker’s willingness to accept a wager that embraced reaching a final, as opposed to winning it. Neither the speciality classification nor the limit on the pay-out had been made clear in the bookmaker’s original letter soliciting the bet. ‘By law you cannot go to court on a gambling debt,’ Mike explains, so in this instance you have to go to arbitration from the Sporting Life . Any bookie with any integrity would have informed us of this limitation when accepting our stake, but he didn’t do so. Yet the Sporting Life adjudicators, despite severely censuring the bookmaker, found in his favour without even instructing him to pay back that percentage of the stake he never had any intention of paying out on – odds against, it would appear! In 1995, Bob Woolmer having left with the county’s blessing to take a position coaching South Africa, Phil Neale became Director of Coaching. Warwickshire retained the Championship, won the NatWest and were just one point away from repeating their Sunday success. This time it was Donald, with 89 first-class wickets at 16.07, who was the decisive factor. ‘I can only thank those on the cricket committee who saw the sense of keeping Allan Donald,’ wrote Dermot Reeve. ‘For me,’ says Mike, ‘the catalyst for Warwickshire’s success through the nineties was Allan Donald. Not only was he a great fast bowler but a man wholeheartedly committed to the county’s cause.’ But Mike also stresses the quality of the rest of the team. There was always a wide range of bowling options. Though Small’s best days were past, splendid support for Donald came from Tim Munton, there were allround contributions from Reeve, Dougie Brown and Paul Smith, and a pair of spinners in Neil and Ashley Giles who could also bat. With runs well down the order, there was also strength at the top: Nick Knight, who joined in 1995, Andy Moles, Dominic Ostler, Roger Twose and Trevor Penney. Keith Piper, in Mike’s view, was as good as any county keeper. And he adds: ‘Without a shadow of a doubt we had the two finest fielders in the country. One was Trevor Penney, to be classed alongside Jonty Rhodes, one never to take on for that quick single. The other was Dominic Ostler, who was as good an all-round fielder as I’ve seen in my life.’