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In the midst of a second lockdown, HUW TURBERVILL picks out some hidden gems to get you through including a farcical game at Lord's

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These are words I hoped I’d never have to write.

During the last lockdown, a long tortuous affair that stopped us playing or watching cricket, The Cricketer published ‘11 crickety things to do’ to try to fill the void.

One of them was looking at old clips on YouTube.

Now the dreaded second lockdown has arrived… but it’s winter and we are less inclined to go outside – except to get takeaway coffee from Costa – it’s time to fire up the interweb again for ‘six (more) of the best’.

A devoted reader, Paul Spencer, from Burnley (yes he used to play alongside Jimmy Anderson’s father and uncle) regularly furnishes me with links. I have to be quick, though, as the copyright police work swiftly – for further reading see the world of Rob Moody, aka ‘Robelinda2’.

He reminds me that it is 41 years ago that England were in Australia, for a second successive winter. The Aussies’ civil war was over. Kerry Packer had got what he wanted – the TV rights to cricket. He no longer needed to run a rival franchise, World Series Cricket. Instead, his Channel 9 showed the official stuff.

A slightly reluctant England toured again, just 12 months after Mike Brearley’s men whipped the hosts’ second string. They refused to put the Ashes up for grabs, to the annoyance of the hosts. They played alternate Tests, with West Indies also down under. This time with Dennis Lillee firing thunderbolts at batsmen’s heads into the gloves of Rodney Marsh, England lost 3-0.

England did better in the one-dayers, reaching the final, losing to West Indies. This fantastic news report shows fashion ace Mel Clifford’s designs for the ‘pyjamas’. He explains that they were better than the pastel efforts that the WSC lot were made to wear.

As it happened, however, England refused to play ball again – they wouldn’t wear them! All they agreed to was a black stripe down the trousers. See a bearded Mike Brearley try to justify this on a news report. Aussie fans were unimpressed by him on the trip generally, calling him ‘the Ayatollah’, especially when he put 10 men on the boundary to help England win an ODI against West Indies at the SCG. Anyhow’s here’s the report and it’s a belter.

Later that winter West Indies were in New Zealand and were not happy. They were struggling to persuade the home umpires to give them much beyond the drippings off the end of their noses, it’s fair to say. Here’s an example of why/how… and the unfortunate event once their frustrations finally boiled over.

This is great: Essex hosting Glamorgan at Colchester in 1981.

It includes Javed Miandad’s first wicket (out of a career haul of two) in the John Player League; commentary from the late Peter Walker; a bit of smoothie Des Lynam; highlights of a sizzling cameo from Graham Gooch described the by then-editor of The Cricketer, Christopher Martin-Jenkins; and a jolly interview with Keith Fletcher by CMJ at the end (check out his pronunciation of Ian Bough-am) before he led England in India:

Ten-over matches are a new thing, right? Wrong. Somerset hosted Middlesex in the semi-finals of the Gillette Cup in 1977. “It was an absolute farce,” says Spencer, “a complete washout. It ended up as a 10-over match... at Lord’s, bizarrely. Brian Close desperately wanted to take Somerset to HQ before he retired. I think it was rained off five times.” Middlesex faced Glamorgan in the final. “It was another poor match here but it was the last cricket you saw on TV until May 1978. I savoured every ball. What a contrast to nowadays”.

“This was one of the oddest ODIs: the second, England v Australia at Edgbaston, 1977.” Also on this day, England played Scotland at Wembley, when the visitors’ fans swung on the goalposts after drinking too much Tenants Extras

Finally here’s Frank Bough, who died the other week, presenting highlights of England v Pakistan at the 1979 World Cup at Headingley (the ESPN caption incorrectly says it’s the 1983 tournament). Vintage stuff.