Cricket Diary: Hopes dented by the men of steel (26 July 1997)

Saturday 26 July 1997

Cricket Diary: Hopes dented by the men of steel

By Clive Ellis

THE gentle clatter of stumps mingled with metallic clangs as Penygroes, of the Carmarthenshire League, were bowled out for eight on Trostre`s ground, little more than a cover drive away from the town`s steelworks.

"We didn`t bat all that badly," said shell-shocked Penygroes secretary Wayne Williams. "We were in the title hunt before this, but I suppose you could say this has dented our hopes a bit."

Trostre swing bowlers Gary Rees (5-4) and Dai Jones (4-1) wreaked havoc as Penygroes were scuttled for the lowest total in the 25-year

history of the league. Trostre took just seven balls to win the game by 10 wickets.

Penygroes are in action again tomorrow. Their opponents? Trostre.

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ROBIN DUNN, whose resignation as chairman of the William Younger North Lancashire League was reported in this column a week ago, has indicated that he will reconsider his decision "if clubs are happy to back it".

Dunn stood down after the club of which he is chairman, Furness, fielded a Pakistani, Pervez Shah, in two games as a substitute professional.

It was discovered, when Dunn contacted the overseas labour office, that Pervez did not have a work permit to play for Furness (the club were fined -L200), but Dunn is adamant that he was open and honest about the whole affair throughout.

The league have also stressed, contrary to what was stated here last week, that no disciplinary meeting was held at which Dunn denied he knew Pervez was ineligible. "Things have been blown up out of all proportion," said Dunn.

He believes that clubs all over the country can learn from Furness`s salutary experience. It is common practice for sides to draft in overseas players as substitute professionals, but work permits apply only to named clubs rather than making players generally eligible.

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ONE Kent great, Lord Cowdrey, did the honours as the memory of another was honoured with the official opening of the Les Ames Memori- al Pavilion at Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone on Tuesday.

Ames left the school in 1922, at the age of 16,

to become a grocer`s apprentice before a life in cricket beckoned. He died in 1990.

Alan Hill`s biography of Ames quotes from a not untypical endof-term report: "Ames is little good at anything but sport, which won`t get him far."

AN advertisement featuring Shane Warne bowling chainsaws, which has run successfully in Australia, has been banned in New Zealand.

The country`s advertising watchdog decided the Nike advertisement, in which a ball bowled by the Australian leg spinner turns into a chainsaw and slashes through a bat and wickets, showed violence in a gratuitous and wantonly destructive manner and was likely to encourage violent behaviour in viewers.

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Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)