Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

147 Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman One whose performances were to be rewarded by England’s selectors was Neil. It was becoming the vogue in limited-overs to send in a good striker of the ball at the start of the innings, and Neil’s fondness for putting bat to ball had led to his opening the one-day batting, often with Paul Smith. With six one-day fifties and 32 wickets in 1995, he won the first of his seven ODI caps against South Africa at Cape Town in January 1996, going on to take part in England’s forlorn World Cup campaign in Pakistan. There was a Man of the Match award against the United Arab Emirates, but Neil was picked only twice more, against India the following summer, before becoming one of the many allrounders to grace the international stage for a cruelly short time – too short, in fact, for Mike to have seen his son in action for England. In 1998 Lara returned to Edgbaston for one more season, this time as captain, replacing Munton, whose fitness was suspect. Lara could not come close to repeating his earlier brilliance, nor did he manage to inspire a team that had lost one or two of its best players. The newly signed Ed Giddins bowled well, but general poor form meant that the county was back in mid table once more. One who could reflect on his season with some pride was Neil, who headed Lara in the batting averages. Though his bowling had disappointed, Neil had played in every championship match with a highlight of 147 against Somerset at Taunton, the highest innings by a number nine for Warwickshire. His good form helped commend him for the captaincy in 1999, which was to be Phil Neale’s last year as Director of Coaching. Neil’s first season as skipper ended with relegation from the first division of the one-day League, while tenth place in the Championship meant the new two-division format would start with Warwickshire in the lower tier. There was, however, a much- heralded return for Bob Woolmer in 2000 after a successful time with South Africa. He had just published a book that spoke well of the administrators at Edgbaston, Mike being included among those who ‘allowed the captain, coach and cricket committee to run their operation without interference.’ Woolmer’s second term at Edgbaston would be less trouble-free. In his earlier stint, he had been coach to a good side with a strong captain in Reeve. Now returning to a less-talented Second Division team, he made clear to the captain that everything would be done his way. ‘I naïvely allowed him to run the show,’ Neil admits. Before long issues arose where Neil was not given the coach’s backing: ‘He was undoubtedly lining up to get me out of the side, certainly out of