No substitute for place in record books

Cricket Diary

IN tumbling to his right and grasping the ball at Trent Bridge last week, Noel Gie joined an exclusive band of cricketers. He added his name to the short list of players who have taken catches for England while fielding as a substitute. Only 17 men have done so in home Test matches in the past 50 years. Most of those, like Gie, were not the team's selected 12th man but were summoned simply because they were made available by their counties. Many were established in the first-class game but a few not only were pulled from obscurity but also returned there.

Gie was slightly perturbed to hear that among the latter category were two of his five predecessors as catching substitutes at Trent Bridge. "It was the best experience of my cricketing life," he said, not surprisingly since he is only 19. "To start off with I was worried about how they would receive me when I walked into the changing-room, but Mike Atherton just treated me like another member of the team. On the field I really wanted something to happen."

His catch off Mark Ealham was the final act of the series against India. Not that Gie is content to leave his international career there. He boldly announced his ambition to be playing for England by the age of 25 - "preferably as captain" - and while he has struggled to break into the Nottinghamshire team this summer, he is again in the under-19 squad this week for the one-day matches against New Zealand. He was prolific in the No 3 batting position on the tour to Zimbabwe last winter and scored a century in the third international.

Gie will surely avoid the unfortunate destiny of Sydney Copley and Alan Bull. In 1930, Copley, 24, a member of the Nottinghamshire groundstaff, was called on at Trent Bridge as substitute for Harold Larwood against Australia. Fielding at mid-on, he "made a lot of ground, took the ball at full length and, although rolling over, retained possession", thus tilting the match England's way. A week later Copley made his only first- class appearance, scoring seven runs in two innings.

That was one more game than Bull played. Replacing Basil D'Oliveira in the field against Pakistan in 1967, he caught Asif Iqbal at long-on off Fred Titmus. Bull, now 52, had two seasons with Notts' second XI but never played for the county. Instead, he took bundles of wickets for his home- town club, Retford, where he is a painter and decorator. "I remember it was a simple catch," Bull said, "but Alan Knott, who was tremendous all day, ran 50 yards to congratulate me. And he asked me to sign his commemorative stamp afterwards."

These are poignant stories but, as Gie pointed out, he has already played three Championship matches for Nottinghamshire. Other members of the substitute catchers' club include Alan Ealham, whose efforts were recorded here last week, his fellow Kent player Neil Taylor, the former Middlesex wicketkeeper Robin Sims (who caught Allan Border at Lord's in 1989 and has so far played just four first-class matches) and one P Hough, who took two catches against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1950 but, like Bull, never played a first-class match. Perhaps it's time there was a club tie.

THERE was much righteous and probably rightful condemnation of the tedious and inevitable draw in the third Test last week. However, on these occasions it is wise to remind ourselves that the draw is both part of the game and England's most common result.

Of their 726 Tests, they have won 247 and drawn 274. As for the impending series against Pakistan, 31 of the 52 matches between the teams have been drawn. And before the blame is piled on dead pitches on the sub-continent, it should be noted that 16 of those have come in 34 matches in England. By the end of August we may be craving a dull draw or two.

AFTER only four years on the umpires' list, George Sharp, who stood in his first Test match last week, yesterday adjudicated in his first one-day final. He brought the number of umpires in 25 Benson & Hedges Cup finals to 17, not as many as might have been expected since two are required.

The job is open only to those on the international panel, which explains why Dickie Bird and David Constant have each stood in eight. Journeyman umpires are seemingly denied the lesser glory of a semi-final as well. Only 31 have stood in the 50 B&H semi-finals. Neither Bob White, appointed in 1983, nor Jack Bond, appointed in 1988, and thus deemed good enough to stand day-in, day-out in the Championship, have had a semi-final match.

AT ARUNDEL, the most delightful of grounds, one spectator at least remained unconvinced last Sunday of the need for pyjama-clad players and black sightscreens. "What this requires," he said, "is for ICI to get planning permission for a pharmaceutical plant so it overlooks the ground next to the castle and the scene will be complete."

One-man stand

David Millns, the Leicestershire fast bowler, entered the realms of all-rounders last week by taking 10 wickets and scoring his maiden century in the victory over Essex. The final wicket almost eluded him. "I'd got four in the first innings and five in the second after bowling badly at first. To get to 10 I had three balls at their No 11, Ashley Cowan, and didn't get him. I thought that was it, but Steve Andrew then somehow dug out some corking yorkers from Gordon Parsons and I had another chance. I took it."