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David Fursdon, Lord Lieutenant of Devon & Patron of Devon CCC
I have to say how delighted I am to be Patron of Devon CCC.
I was fi rst approached to join the Devon squad when I was teaching at Blundells in 1980 where I also ran the First
XI cricket which then included, inter alia, Hugh Morris. Hugh was later to play for Glamorgan and England and
became Managing Director of English Cricket. It was nothing I taught him, I can assure you - he has a natural talent.
Blundells, as a school, had long had a good relati onship with Devon CCC and I was regaled with tales of the feats
of Ronny Seldon, a former Captain of the county, whose star shone brightly in his day.
Barry Matt hews was captain of the Devon side when I played, and Doug Yearsley was at the end of his spell
opening the bowling for Devon. If you look up his stati sti cs they are phenomenal, and he was always recognisable
with his long loping stride and left arm delivery.
Like all good fast bowlers, Doug did not like being taken off , so I usually got thrown the ball when the shine was gone! I remember
one occasion at Bovey Tracey when I took one look at the ball, and walked back a couple of paces only and bowled off spin, the
embarrassment of the batsman, two of them, that got out was a picture!
Devon wanted me to play in the top league in the county, so once the summer term was ended at Blundells, I went to play at Sidmouth
where the sea must encourage the sort of grass that I enjoyed bowling on. Later, once established in the side, I persuaded the powers that
be - it was Geoff Evans even then I suspect - that I could return to play for Thorverton which was enjoying some good cricket at the ti me.
Our Devon batti ng, in additi on to Barry, included Gary Wallon and Roger Tolchard and the fl edgling pair of Nicky Gaywood and Nick
Folland, but they were a litt le bit errati c in those days being so young and some of the older players were getti ng a bit long in the tooth,
so that it wasn’t a golden period for the club. I tried to talk my way up the order and managed a few respectable knocks on some true fl at
pitches that favoured the batsmen more than the bowlers. I had the frustrati on of holing out on the boundary at Exmouth, I remember,
when we looked like stealing a match from Dorset watched by Derek Bridge who had run the Dorset side for many years and had taught
me when I had been a school myself.
Sadly, I was only available to play for a few years and then only when term ended, but, despite the rather average results, we had fun and
it built into me a respect for minor county cricket which conti nues to this day.
DAVID FURSDON