Why does this cricket team select itself? In batting order: George Emmett (capt.), Peter Bowler, Ian Ward, Roger Twose, David Shepherd, Roger Tolchard, Jeff Tolchard, Chris Read (w.k.), John Childs, Jack Davey, Len Coldwell. Seven of them played Test cricket. A serious clue to the county they represent is that guest 12th man is recent tearaway English fast bowler whom the then chairman of selectors Ted Dexter once addressed as Malcolm Devon.
In celebration of young Monty Panesar’s resplendent bowling for England this summer, I had thought of ruminating on an all-time team of Sikh cricketers, but I found I didn’t have too many research engines after I’d come up with Bishan Bedi and Douglas Jardine’s pal, the Yuvraj of Patiala. To be sure, the success of two newcomers to the England side this summer, Panesar and the Bolton-born, second generation Pakistani Sajid Mahmood, might have done wonders for British multiculturism — just as the triumphant return to the colours of wicket-keeper Chris Read has been warming to club cricketers in the county of Devon, designated by Lord’s as a ‘minor county’ for well over a century and never remotely likely to be considered ‘senior’.
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