The objects of the CWC are to further the interests of those involved with the media coverage of cricket and of cricket as a whole.
The CWC will in no way endeavour to dictate policy or influence opinion in the cricket media nor have any concern with the policy of newspapers and other outlets: and at no time have any concern with the relations between employers and their staff as to who is employed.
Full Membership shall be open to all those employed full-time for not less than four months in any one calendar year in the media coverage of cricket in the United Kingdom. Honorary Life Members may be elected at the Annual General Meeting from those who have given distinguished service both to the profession of cricket writing and to the Club.
Associate Members may be elected by the Committee at any time from those engaged in writing, reporting, photographing, commentating, broadcasting and recording cricket on a part-time basis in the UK. Honorary Associate Members may be elected by the Committee at any time from distinguished former Full Members, senior touring writers, scorers of first-class counties, who may be invited, and such cricketing persons as the Committee may wish to invite.
Only Full Members and Honorary Life Members will have voting rights. Full Members and Associate Members will pay a subscription. Honorary Associate Members will be entitled to attend all meetings and functions and, if based in the United Kingdom, will receive Club mailings. Overseas Members may be elected by the Committee at any time from those engaged in writing, reporting, commentating, broadcasting and photographing cricket outside the United Kingdom and British Isles. They shall be entitled to attend all meetings and functions and may apply, by electronic mail, for all the Club's mailings.
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Smile Group Travel Offers
Smile Group Travel - the Official Tour Partners of The Cricket Writers' Club - are offering a fantastic selection of tour packages for England's overseas tours in 2017. They offer the highest quality of tours, at the best price - every time.
Current offers include:
England's "Ashes" Tour of Australia with tour hosts Don Topley and Devon Malcolm
November 2017 to January 2018
http://www.smile-group-travel.com/offers/offer_details.aspx?id=127
More details can be obtained by emailinginfo@smilegrouptravel.com.
"Lots of tour operators say they'll go the extra mile. But Smile will run barefoot marathons to ensure you get what you want from your trip. Their combination of knowledge - and love - of the local culture, their professionalism and their sense of fun make them ideal for anyone organising a trip. Would I use them again? I wouldn't use anyone else!" George Dobell, Senior Correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
Smile are delighted to announce that a contribution will be made to The Cricket Writers Club for every tour sold.
Contact Graeme or Simon on 08443-320440 or at Graeme@smilegrouptravel.com and Simon@smilegrouptravel.com
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Above: Ted Corbett and Ralph Dellor
RALPH DELLOR
AN APPRECIATION BY HIS BUSINESS PARTNER STEPHEN LAMB
"We commentators avoid clichés like the plague!" One of the earliest quips I heard from Ralph, which helped me to like him and get to know him better. He has been an integral part of my life for the past 17 years. We were both approached in 2000 by CricInfo, then a fledgling Internet company inflated by the dotcom bubble. At the outset our respective roles were so unclear that neither of us was certain who was boss. Although Ralph's seniority was eventually confirmed, he was never - as all who knew him would attest - particularly boss-like. I had met him fleetingly in the early 1980s, while he was doing work for BFBS and I was making a tentative foray towards a broadcasting career. His name was already well-known to me, primarily on account of my interest in cricket, and his presentation of the Sunday League on BBC2, but also through his contributions to Grandstand, Test Match Special and Match Of The Day. His knowledge of sport was broadly ranged, but cricket was always the jewel in the crown. In addition to broadcasting - his voice and style were amongst the very best in the business - he wrote for the Telegraph, authored, ghosted and with me co-authored several books, and coached, amongst others, the Norwegian national team.
Our CricInfo careers were largely concurrent, and the company Style Guide includes sage advice on commentary from Ralph that would help to launch anyone in practicing the art. As with many dotcom companies of the time, shoal waters were soon hit and the Wisden takeover in 2003 prompted Ralph to suggest to me, rather to my surprise, that we might form our own company. Sportsline Media Limited's accounts since record work for the BBC, ECB, MCC and others far too numerous to list. Recently and entirely appropriately, Ralph was the "Voice of Lord's" on the public address at cricket's home. He commentated on several matches in this summer's Women's World Cup, and members may well have seen pictures of him at the toss in a couple of games. Of course they show a seasoned media performer, but his essential good character outshines all else.
Never was that more apparent than in his stage show, successively entitled "Sticky Wicket", "Rain Stops Play" and "In the Box", performed at theatres the length and breadth of the country. In the good company of former England players, Ralph would expertly chair a discourse on the game and its current ups, downs and eccentricities, teasing out anecdotes which his guests somehow managed to make seem original, even if they'd been trotted out many times before. Ask Aggers about John the Baptist! I attended several of these gigs, and found Ralph in his element. Valiant enough to tread the boards, scrupulously well-informed about current cricket affairs, and always alert to humorous potential, he performed quite brilliantly. I invariably sensed the audience's appreciation, periodically manifest in the form of cakes!
Ralph was a fine bowler, to whom I am proud to have kept wicket in one game. His medium pace was waspish, and heaven only knows how many deliveries he sent down, for Essex teams in the county of his birth, to England players on overseas tours, or in many games for The Cricket Writers' Club. A recent letter of engagement gives a flavour: "I remember your nibbly medium pacers causing havoc in CWC matches. Are you still trundling in?" Ralph's reply: "Let me pick you up on one point, vis the reference to my 'nibbly medium pacers'. I think you are mixing me up with someone else, because I bowled with naked pace that terrified the batsmen. No, now I come to think of it you're right ...the only batsmen terrified were at the non-striker's end. Terrified that they might not get the chance to cash in on the buffet at the other! Unfortunately I have had a succession of knee and back problems that have resulted in being out of action for a year or so - the result of bowling 20,000 overs too many!"
Ralph's passing was way, way too soon. Although he had been told that his prostate cancer was incurable, he was positive in his approach to the treatment required to give him as much time as possible. The sepsis that he contracted in the early stages of chemotherapy was unspeakably cruel, and shockingly curtailed his life. For me, professionally, it seems like the amputation of a limb. But I can still treasure the unexpected quips, not all of which I latched on to quickly enough. One of my own before signing off. We never had a crossword, cryptic or otherwise.
Grief, over the ages, can be measured by affection. I have not felt such sadness since my dear father died, and there are reasons. My relationship with Ralph developed, from distant admiration, to professional esteem, to joyous communication when I had the chance to commentate with him, to an entirely fulfilling business partnership. Over the past 14 years, we have spoken pretty well every working day. We clicked. Ralph gave me the best of my professional life, and I was extraordinarily fortunate to know him. I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family.
Stephen Lamb has kindly passed on details of Ralph's funeral, which will be held next week. The service will take place at St. Paul’s Church, Ashford Hill, RG19 8AZ on Wednesday, 13th September at 11.30. Please feel free to contact Stephen for further information or to pass on condolences.
TED CORBETT 1935-2017
BY COLIN EVANS
Ted Corbett was a resourceful and highly skilled journalist. The merest whiff of a story quickened his step and he could write lucidly in any style whether for tabloid, 'quality' or magazine. He had a light, almost elegant way of keying, his fingertips hovering over the board as he leaned back slightly to appraise what he had just written.
Ted worked for several national newspapers in the UK while his reports for The Hindu and Sportstar made him one of the most respected and widely read cricket writers in India. Writing a considered piece for an Indian audience required subtlety and a knowledge of how the English language was used on the sub-continent. Ted constructed his material with great care.
He was passionate about journalism, sport - cricket particularly of course - and life in general. In 2016 doctors told him he had little time left but he turned up at the Cricket Writers Club 70th anniversary lunch, wheeled in by Jo, and gave me his usual greeting: "So, what do you know?" - the traditional Corbett prelude to a round of gossipy stories and anecdotes, often conducted on the back row of the Lord's Media Centre or maybe over dinner in an Italian or Thai restaurant on Finchley Road, bottles of good beer or wine at hand. On this last bitter-sweet occasion in the Merchant Taylors' Hall, he was as phlegmatic and as good humoured as ever, joking about life expectancy and sell-by dates etc.
A loyal and long-serving member of the CWC he earned a warm round of applause at a well-attended AGM in 2004 when, as the outgoing chairman, I suggested the Club might have to become more political. There was a moment's stone-cold silence. I realised immediately I was on very thin ice. Ted rose to his feet. Aha, I thought, Corbett will rescue me. But to increasingly loud murmurs of 'Hear, hear' and 'That's telling him' Ted proceeded to dismantle my proposition, reminding us all of the Cricket Writers Club foundations and its raison d'etre. Unrehearsed, articulate, spirited but never aggressive, it was a superb little speech and one which I appreciated as much as anyone else. When he had finished and the handclapping had subsided, Christopher Martin-Jenkins stood up to congratulate him. "I could not have worded it better," said CMJ and you could not wish for higher praise.
Ted, who was 82, worked for the Daily Herald, the Sun and the Daily Mirror before becoming cricket correspondent for the Daily Star. After leaving the Star in 1989, Ted, in conjunction with his partner Jo King, set-up a sports agency, Cricket Direct and continued to write a column for The Hindu and Sportstar into his eighties.
Ted began his career as tea boy at the Yorkshire Evening Press and not only wrote about cricket, but also rugby, football, athletics, golf and snooker. He also took many an aspiring sports journalist under his wing, opening doors and giving them encouragement.
After his retirement, last year, Ted told the SJA website: "Now it is time to slip on the fireside slippers and watch the cricket on the telly. I followed England for 300 Tests and 500 one-day internationals and, like Fred Trueman, I am bloody tired after all the effort."
More obituaries can be found on the Hindu, Rediff and SJA websites.
CWC ANNUAL LUNCHEON 2017
Tuesday, 3rd October, 2017 at 12:00 for 13:15
Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Cadogan Place, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 9PY
TICKETS
Media table of 10 = £895.00
Individual Member = £65.00
First guest (ie non-Member) = £65.00
Subsequent guests = £75.00
Teetotal ticket = £50.00
Please note that for this year you should send the order form to Shipla Patel at 8 Frinton Court, Hardwick Green, Ealing, London W13 8DW or email shilpa.patel69@live.co.uk
a) remember to fill in any alternative food requirements
b) do not send money at this stage, please wait for Marcus Hook to invoice you and pay promptly
c) please adhere to CWC policy that tickets must be paid for prior to the Lunch and not on the day.
MENU
Starter: Four styles of crab.
Main course: Slow-cooked belly pork with spinach, carrot puree and tortellini of wild boar, apple and cider jus.
Dessert: Banana souffle and rum/raisin ice cream.
Fish main course alternative: South coast monkfish braised in lemon grass, coconut milk and coriander, with bok choy and sweet potato.
Vegetarian meal: Goat’s cheesecake, wild mushroom and celeriac wellington, followed by fruit salad.
MORE CRICKET WRITERS' CLUB NEWS
The Lord’s Taverners is the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity whose objective is to give disadvantaged and disabled young people a sporting chance.
Our mission is to enhance the lives if disadvantaged and disabled young people through sport and recreation.
Our programmes support some of the most marginalised and at risk young people in the UK. We create a range of opportunities for young people from deprived areas and those with disabilities to engage in sport and recreational activities in their local communities.
For more information about the Lord’s Taverners, please visit www.lordstaverners.org
THE CRICKET WRITERS' CLUB
ESTABLISHED 1946