What does Lord's, Australia, New Zealand and St Bede's have in common?...

The Good…four, six, Century 

The Bad…run out, duck, caught 

The Ugly…the underarm bowling incident 01 February 1981 by Australia

As we move into the season that sees blossom on the trees and the bare branches again covered in green leaves, our minds switch to all things summer and being in New Zealand, that of course must include cricket. But before all the cricketers reading this get excited and all the other sports people feel disappointment, let me tell you, this is not a reflection of the game of cricket through the history of St Bede’s, but rather a reflection about a piece of equipment, a piece that connects the grounds of Lord’s, Australia, New Zealand and St Bede’s.

So, what is this piece and how did it get here?

In 1946, the Australian cricket team were in New Zealand on tour and on March 11 1946, Ernie Toshack and Ian Johnson two members of this team paid St Bede’s a visit and spoke at assembly on the “value of the game” and the “fine spirit it promotes.” After the assembly, for those who wanted and for the cricketing boys of the First XI demonstrations and advice were given from Ernie on bowling and Ian on batting. The First XI was then presented with a cricket bat, not just any cricket bat, but one signed by the entire Australian team, who had played at Lancaster park two days before in front of a 20 000 strong crowd.

In March 1955, The M.C.C. (Marylebone Cricket Club), whose home ground is Lord’s were touring New Zealand. With most of the school going to watch the game at Lancaster park on Saturday 05 March. The next day, a rumour started that one of the players would be visiting the school the next day and on Monday March 07, Trevor Bailey (a true all-rounder) came and addressed the school and more signatures, this time from players of the M.C.C. were added to the bat.

The next time and last time the bat had signatures added to it, was again from players of the M.C.C. club and this time it was in 1963. England played New Zealand in the third test at Lancaster Park on Saturday 16 March in what was described as perfect weather. On Monday 18 March, the Duke of Norfolk, who was the manager of the team visited St Bede’s. The following snippets come from his address to the assembly that day “But even when you get to jobs such as this one of mine, which is very pleasant, Manager of the M.C.C., you are given a timetable from London and you have got to keep to it.” He also went on to say “We have got a good team of cricketers. We have not got, possibly, a great team, because no team is ever allowed by the older people to think they are as good as those that came before them.” He then went on to ask the Rector that the boys be given an afternoon off as a sort of thank you to him! This afternoon off was granted on Tuesday 19 and was known as the Duke of Norfolk’s half holiday.

For many years, this bat was on display in the dining room of St Bede’s where hundreds would walk past it, but few noticed it and even fewer knew of its history and connections. It does of course look like any other cricket bat, it has SBC written in white on the top, is stamped with "Slazengers London and Australia" in both top corners and in the middle is engraved "Test De Luxe Selected English Willow". It is only when you turn it over and look closely, that you see the signatures and even then, it is only when you look very closely that the names of many great cricketers start to stand out.

This piece of St Bede’s history no longer sits in the dining room, being passed by many, but has been carefully put away, awaiting the day when it will be displayed again in all its glory.