On Sunday 16 July 2023 there was a memorial cricket match for my Dad. It was a great day and the weather didn’t cause us too many troubles. It rained for about an hour and we had to shorten the game for both teams, but we managed to get thirty overs in per side, which made for a good game. It was held at Harlestone Cricket Club by the team that Dad kept wicket for, umpired for and ended his tenure as Chairman and Assistant Groundsman.
The club had a free weekend where neither the first or second team were playing and so were kind enough to put forward this idea. We invited everyone we could and I agreed to be a captain of one team, whilst Ryan was the captain of the other team. I mean, this was a silly decision really as I haven’t played cricket in twelve years. Spoiler alert, Ryan’s team won. O and he got me out when I batted. It wasn’t really about the winning though and more about the turning up, playing a little bit of cricket, having some BBQ and a beer and raising some money for charity. We raised over £1,000 for Chance to Shine, a cricket charity we raised money for at the time of Dad’s funeral.
We had a great crowd come down to watch and support despite the inclement weather and we had more players than spaces for players so we had to do regular tactical substitutions. It was so awesome to see some faces that I’d not seen in a while, come and play. Friends of mine from school that used to play were on my team and we had ex-players come and join in too. There was a lot of old kit dragged out of lofts and as you can see from the photos some interesting attire. I want to say a huge thank you to the current players who organised, but did not play. The captains and vice captains of both teams slaved away all day, BBQing, making tea and selling raffle tickets. They did a heck of a job whilst the rest of us enjoyed ourselves.
It was a great day and a day in which I did enjoy at some points. Sadly though it was a day that I had been dreading for quite some time. I didn’t know how I would feel and was worried that I might just keel over emotionally half way through the match. It seemed odd to me that my Dad dying was the catalyst to get me back onto the cricket pitch and I hated it. I had to leave a little early. I couldn’t seem to get to the end of the day and I had to go home. It felt like my Dad’s funeral all over again and I found it really tough. It was a day he would have loved to be a part of and knowing that makes it hard to look back on fondly.
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