History of the Kamikaze Cricket Club The Kamikazes had their origin in the misseds of time. Some form ofthis type of cricket had been seen on New Hey Rec near Rochdale throughout the70's but often with small secretive groups of players and then only on such strange occasions as Easter Sunday or Boxing Day. However, earlier myth and legend suggest that the Brigantes, who squatted in the locality during the Iron Age, had a game resembling cricket, but using the severed heads of Roman soldiers as balls and bails. The first formal game of Kamikaze Cricket was played in July of 1981. A team from the Waggon Inn Folk Music Club of Milnrow challenged Bury Folk Club to a game. The first ever delivery hit the Bury keeper, Russell Clegg, on the head and he was taken to hospital. This concussion had a permanent effect on Clegg and he subsequently became captain of the Kamikaze team for an awfully long time. The Waggon Inn team went on to win the match and decided to give up the music and concentrate on cricket. In the return game in 1982, the Waggon team were again successful despite the strange first ball dismissal of their giant opener, Martin Hall, who struck the ball to a colossal height, only to see it held on the boundary by the undeniably attractive Cathy O'Dea. It was the only ever recorded instance of both sides running to kiss the successful taker of the catch. In 1983, the Waggon Inn side took on some other local fixtures and changed its name to the Kamikaze Cricket Club following a holiday involving several of the players during which four or five of the vehicles used were involved in crashes, the most bizarre of which being the suicide of a Welsh lamb in front of Bill Tucker's Vauxhall Cavalier. It was for this ominous event that the team took its name. Throughout the early years of the reign of the Dragon Empress Thatcher, the Kamikazes spread their contacts throughout the Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale areas. The restrictions on batting and bowling were enforced from the beginning and were rarely unpopular with the opposition. In 1985, the first long distance fixture was arranged by ex-player Glyn Raven, then resident in Warwick. On a perfect summer day, Warwick Folk were skittled out, Raven going first ball to a beast of a ball from Kamikaze opener, Bert Lake. The tradition of longer trips was born in a most enjoyable weekend of beer and conviviality. Despite its humble origins and the generally elderly age-profile of its players, the Kamikazes have attracted a small number of ex-league players, notably Bill Tucker (ex Central Lancashire League) and Mick Grundy (ex Yorkshire Council). Some of the locally recruited players also began to get a bit good (well, Steve Gowland...) and the number of easy wins against opposition who only played once a year began to get a little tedious so a concerted effort was made to play against teams who played more regularly but in the same spirit and with similar restrictions, thus preventing proper players from monopolising the game. In 1987 there was an away fixture against Lincoln Agricultural college at Wisbech (Accrington bowled Greene King Bitter, 0) and the following year one in Carlisle. At this time the traditional July tour to Ludlow was inaugurated through the offices of John Anderton from his professional contacts with the local arts festival, and much Shropshire ale has flowed ever since. Clearly the beast was getting out of control. A committee took over from Captain Clegg in 1990 to organise the club. Constantly re-elected on the nod (no voting ever allowed) the committee has for many years consisted of Stanley Accrington (sic), Bob Tankard and Steve Moreton. An estimated number of over a hundred and fifty players have at some time represented the Kamikazes and all have been introduced by existing players. The demise of ancient rivals Wharf Street Wanderers of Sowerby Bridge in 1993 brought an influx of Yorkshire talent that is still represented by Colin Priestley, Andy Mason and John Anderton. Several younger players have brought the average Kamikaze age down to under forty three, and it has been the privilege of the older players to learn from them. The first hat-trick in Kamikaze history was in fact achieved by thirteen year old Andrew Steel in 1987. Only three players remain from the original game; Clegg Accrington, and Roe. Throughout the 1990's the Kamikazes have built up an annual fixture list of approximately fifteen/sixteen matches (played mostly on a Sunday afternoon) and the current list of opposition (1998) involves teams from Cheshire, Shropshire, and Yorkshire as well as the more immediate locality. In 1991, the efforts of Stuart Willis brought about an arrangement with Chadderton St Matthew of the North Manchester League to share their small but picturesque ground located at Chadderton Fold near Oldham. Up to that point home games had been played on a school pitch, the Milnrow Oval, which took over as stadium after Geoff Higginbottom hit a long hop through the greenhouse of a local resident of New Hey, our first home. Incidentally, Geoff also holds the record for worst excuse for not turning out for a match - "I've got to varnish the bedroom floor". > In the 1990's the pattern of the season became established and many fine occasions were enjoyed. An exception was the 1997 season when twelve of the original sixteen fixtures fouled up from a combination of bad weather, opposition blobbing off and pitch hire entanglements. It is to the credit of the club that it has survived these depredations. > The season traditionally begins with the Annual Dinner in April. The first few years witnessed an array of entertainment including a Kamikaze puppet show (F. Roe), a Victorian magic lantern show (G. Mellonie - incidentally the only player ever to have been sent off in a Kamikaze game), a conjuring act (Neville Nudger of Dobcross) and various theme evenings. In the mid 1990's some proper speakers were cajoled into attendance and these included Malcolm Ashton, (the current official England scorer) and John Abrahams (ex-captain of Lancashire County Cricket club and current coach of the England under 19's). Thus is demonstrated the esteem in which Kamikaze Cricket is held in the wider world. (It must be added, in all honesty, that both these luminaries are pals of Kamikaze members.) > The 1998 squad was made up of a few long term addicts including Clegg, Accrington, Tankard, Moreton, Bill "I can fly!" Howard, and Steve "I'll just drive up from London" Turner, the survivors of the Wharf Street Wanderers, Priestly, Mason and Anderton, and a string of contacts introduced by a neighbour of Bob Tankard, Jim Whitehurst. There were now also so many members of the Whitehurst family represented on the playing list that the team may have to consider changing its name to the Whitehurst X1. The current squad members who can "play a bit" were Phil Mather and Neil Rodda. > After the shock of the new Millennium, the Kamikaze squad was depleted by retirements and injuries. A recruitment drive in 2003 led to a new-look team being formed around the old stalwarts Accrington, Turner and Tankard. The core of the team by 2005 were the dynamic trio of McLaughlin, Riddle and Lee (not a firm of solicitors but local league cricketers who supplemented the discipline of Saturday league cricket with Sunday fun cricket.) Results slowly improved. Before the start of the 2006 season, a grand reunion dinner was held at the Broadfield Hotel, Rochdale to celebrate 25 improbable years of Kamikaze Krikkit. Every former and current player was invited and the Guest Speaker was former Test cricketer and Lancashire captain, Warren Hegg. As I write in the millennial year, the Kamikazes were invited to represent England in the International floodlit contest in Fiji; such was the popularity of their subsequent success that they are also invited to host the first intergalactic competition for the Halle-Bopp Trophy in 2011. The club also received a boost when millionaire Steve Turner handed over several millions of his fortune to purchase the spectacular Blackstone Edge Stadium that is the now the Kamikazes' official home. The Kamikaze Cricket Club continues to thrive with Clegg, Accrington and Roe the original players...zzz...zzz... |
