Syrett elected President of CCC
Congratulations are due to Lashings World XI Vice-Chairman Robin Syrett, as a press release landed in the lashings.com inbox this morning informing us that he has just been elected as President of the Club Cricket Conference for 2008.
The press release reads as follows:
"Robin was elected President at the recent AGM of the CCC at the Cricketers Club of London - an appropriate venue as he used to be one of the Club's owners until a year or so back.
Although the record lists him as representing Maidenhead & Bray CC, he spent most of his cricketing career at the home of Heathrow Airport, Hounslow CC in West London. Unfortunately Hounslow joined that depressingly long list of defunct cricket clubs six years ago.
A middle-order batsman and slow medium pace bowler, Robin started playing for the club in 1953 when the only other Hounslow man to reach the presidency, A.J (John) Spong was in the middle of his 10-year term as Chairman of the conference. The CCC/Hounslow connection was also maintained by Robin having attended Isleworth Grammar School (also, sadly, now defunct), the same school as pre-war Conference legend H.T.C Smith of Hounslow, Midland Bank and Essex fame.
Vice-captain to Phil Pilley, Robin assumed the mantle when Phil's business commitments severely limited his availability and, whilst the club's fortunes were suffering a downturn, his own star was very much on the rise. 1973 saw him very much leading a poor side from the front in scoring 1,500 runs and taking 75 wickets whilst the following year, marriage having taken its inevitable toll of his availability, he scored over a thousand runs averaging well in excess of 50 on Saturdays and midweek cup matches only.
In 1971 he accompanied the CCC on its inaugural tour to Australia under the captaincy of David Evans and he was subsequently invited to play President's XI matches in the early '70's Successes at this level inevitably led to invitations to play representative cricket culminating in selection as Vice-captain to Evans on the 1975 Australian tour. A severe injury to the captain in the summer prior to the trip saw him elevated to the tour captaincy and a position he would hold for the next four years.
The tours of 1975 and 1979 were statistically our most successful with a total of 34 wins against only 6 defeats and games played in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand. In between we also toured the Caribbean where the record of three wins and seven defeats has to be set against the quality of the opposition - half the Barbados state side in one of the matches!
After stepping down as captain following the match at Hong Kong in 1979 Robin accepted the offer of an Hon. Vice Presidency and retired to the back benches. However, 1979 also saw the apex of his club career when he was an integral part of the Hounslow side which won the Thames Valley League Championship: in those days the TVL was at the same level as the Middlesex County Cricket League, the Surrey Championship and the Home Counties Premier League (formed in part from the leading sides in the Thames Valley League).
In 1973, in a match against a Spencer side which included several Surrey 2nd XI players, Robin was involved in one unusual cricketing incident. Hounslow were 110-9 when Robin (7 not out) was joined at the crease by Roy Dawson, the original "ferret" regardless of anything he may say to the contrary! 45 minutes later Robin declared having reached his own century and not realising the partnership - already a 10th wicket record for Hounslow - stood on 99. What was unusual was that Roy's contribution was precisely 0; indeed he was dropped at cover off his only attempted scoring shot!
In addition to cricket, Robin also played for Hounslow Hockey Club at a time when they were the best club side in England and was a Welsh final triallist.
At the age of 70 his cricket playing days are behind him (although he is threatening a one-off comeback in his President's match at Brentham) but he remains a keen three-times a week tennis player and his fitness belies his years and he looks forward to contributing to the CCC's reviving fortunes in 2008.
Whilst remaining positive about the future of club cricket and the CCC, Robin is understandably concerned about recent years. "At the risk of sounding even older than I am, I worry about the state of cricket over the past few seasons. The talk today is about covered pitches in first class cricket but it's the same at club level. When I played nobody had covers and you quite literally took your life in your hands if it had rained the night before, especially after a long dry spell."
"Where are the David Laitt's of tomorrow going to come from? Seam bowlers like Mike Dunn and Brian Reid are not being produced any more and the same applies to genuine spinners. In the past every major club had them; today it is the exception rather than the rule."
"In recent years Mike Brearley, Bob Willis, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch, John Emburey and Alec Stewart (all former England captains) came through and played for CCC clubs. We need to work together to ensure that continues."
"Something also has to be done to arrest the loss of cricket grounds. In 1991 there were some 2,200 member clubs, today that number is down to just over 1,100. Much of that can be traced back to local government cuts in the sports budget and that hardy old perennial, the drink driving laws but, whatever the reason, the Government and the ECB have got to get to grips with it."
"The Club Cricket Conference has a significant role to play in all this and I want to play my part in my Presidential Year and the years following."
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