Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

86 Chapter Fifteen Testimonial year Fifteen years after he made his county debut and 12 years after being awarded his county cap, Edwin finally had his testimonial. A great deal of work went into the winter months, organising events, cricket matches and personal appearances, There was a testimonial brochure to arrange and articles to commission, while advertisers had to be sourced too. Contact had to be made with many people to get an eleven for a proposed match against a ‘Television All-Stars’ side, while the star game was scheduled for Sunday 24 July against the ever-popular Rothman’s Cavaliers. Later to become the International Cavaliers, it was an invitation side consisting of current and recently retired international players, with a selection of county cricketers, league professionals and promising youngsters. The mix varied from season to season and match to match, but the games were always entertaining. Before the John Player League captured the public imagination on Sundays, their fixtures proved a big draw around the country, as well as capturing a sizeable audience on BBC2 television between 1965 and 1968. Sport had previously been seen as an improper use of the medium on the Sabbath, but Huw Wheldon, Controller of Programmes for BBC Television, thought the Cavaliers could fill five hours and gain an audience. He was summoned before the BBC Board of Governors to explain, as he told in his Richard Dimbleby Lecture in 1976. When he trotted out the names of those likely to be involved, including Ted Dexter, Colin Cowdrey, Garry Sobers, Denis Compton and Godfrey Evans, Wheldon said that the Board reacted ‘as if he had named the 12 apostles’. All objections were instantly removed. The game against them would have been a money-spinner for Edwin, but sadly the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled. It was a blow, but thankfully I had the game insured, so still got something out of it. Some of the other games suffered a similar fate, but Leslie Crowther was good enough to bring some of his showbiz friends and there were a few top jockeys involved. There was a lot of hard work and there were a few hiccups along the way, but I was grateful for everyone’s support and it raised a tidy sum for those days. The various events raised £2810 for Edwin (about £46,000 in today’s