Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

80 Chapter Ten Triumphant in South Africa For all the press speculation, it was Dexter, free from immediate political commitment, who resumed the England captaincy. With middle-order places taken by the captain, Barrington and Cowdrey, and with Sharpe, Parfitt and Ken Taylor making fleeting appearances, the only call for Mike was at Old Trafford, where he was omitted from the twelve. It was not, in any case, one of his vintage years. Thirty first-class matches brought only 1,691 runs at an average that dipped below 40 for the first time since he had joined Warwickshire. Even so, no other batsman in the county team came close to matching his aggregate or average, though Stewart was starting to recover his best form after the loss of a big toe the previous year had unsettled his balance, and John Jameson was securing his place in an order where the careers of Horner and Ray Hitchcock were coming to an end. For second place in the Championship, Warwickshire had their bowlers to thank. A young David Brown announced his arrival with 76 wickets and good support came from Bannister, Webster and Barber, but the mainstay was Cartwright, with 128 wickets at 13.78, his most successful season. ‘There hasn’t been a more accurate bowler post-war,’ Mike asserts. ‘You could crowd the batsman and he was usually happy to have four close catchers.’ Though Worcestershire could be counted lucky to have won two of their matches by just one wicket, they ended the season with a convincing lead of 41 points over Warwickshire. For Mike’s team there was the chance of compensation as they awaited the final of the 60-over Gillette Cup, where they were to play Sussex, winners of the limited-overs competition in its first year. The Bears had won their way through in a disputatious semi-final at Old Trafford. With 58 from Mike, including 20 in four balls at one point, they made an imposing 294 for seven. For Lancashire David Green hit out boldly as their opening stand passed 60 in ten overs, but the batsmen were then reined in by tight bowling from Cartwright and Ibadulla, aided by Mike’s field placings. With no restrictions on how he could deploy his men, he had as many as six or seven on the boundary. Once Mike had taken ‘a glorious