Groundsman honoured at Lords !!

India trounced Bangladesh at Chepauk – Ravichandran Ashwin bagged player of the match.  This is more of a post on groundsmen in Cricket and an Octogenarian receiving award at Lords Cricket ground

 

Do you know that Tamil Nadu last won Ranji trophy on 30^th Mar 1988 – it was the second time in Ranji history.  Do you know the opponents and some details of the match – and who captained the side ?  

On that day Tamil Nadu led by S Vasudevan trounced Railways by an innings and 144 runs.  UR Radhakrishnan (30) & VB Chandrasekhar (89) opened; followed by PC Prakash (50); M Senthilnathan (21); V Sivaramakrishnan (94); Robin Singh (131); L Sivaramakrishnan (101); Barat Arun (39); D Girish (wk) 55; S Vasudevan 30 & M Venkataramana 45 – all out for 709 !!!   

 

Two groundsmen at a Derbyshire cricket club were felicitated  lifetime awards for their decades of service.Mickleover Cricket Club's Mike Kettle, 80 and Alan Hancock, 81, received  the Cricket World Magazine's Groundcare Lifetime Achievement award on 9 September, at Lord's Cricket Ground. 

Michael Keith Kettle (born 1944) is a former English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Northamptonshire from 1963 to 1970. Kettle was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, but moved with his father to Southern Rhodesia in 1953. He was spotted by Northamptonshire at the age of 16, while playing a trial match for them whilst on holiday in England. In 1962 he returned from Africa to join the county side at the age of 18. He remained with Northamptonshire until 1970, playing 88 first-class matches.

 

Kettle appeared in 88 first-class matches for Northamptonshire as a left-arm medium-pace bowler and useful tail-end batsman between 1963 and 1970.  He took 2 for 30 and 5 for 58 when Northamptonshire beat the touring West Indians in 1966.  In that match  he took the wicket of Garfield Sobers in both innings (for 45 runs in the first innings and 4 in the second) !!! 

After retiring from playing, Kettle became a cricket coach at Repton School in Derbyshire and also became an umpire. In later life he became a groundskeeper at Mickleover Cricket Club and on 9 September 2024 received Cricket World Magazine's Groundcare Lifetime Achievement award at Lord's Cricket Ground.  He and fellow winner Alan Hancock worked over two seasons to improve the club's square, which had been left in a very poor condition. 

Back home at the famous MA Chidambaram stadium at Chepauk, the all important nets is named after ‘Muthu’.  Mr Muthu was a well known groundsman at BS nets and his son M Santhosh Kumar, studied in Hindu High School and played Ranji Trophy as an off spinner.   He worked in Indian Overseas Bank and had represented Railways earlier and Tamil Nadu later in Ranji.

 

He was a member of the  South Zone Squad against Kim Hughes Australia in 1979 but Shivlal Yadav was picked in the playing X1 and went on to make his debut in the 2^nd test.  The presence of legendary Off spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivasan Venkatraghavan and others like V Ramnarayan, later Shivlal Yadav denied him the opportunities to make it big.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
25.9.2024