Jim Netherwood

We attended Jim Netherwood’s funeral this year (1929-2010). I met him a month before his death, when he just about managed to raise a brief impish grin at a half-remembered story. He became a Casual around 1956. His last game was in 2004 or thereabouts, when he turned out for us one Saturday morning at Paddock CC against touring side, Wealdstone Corinthians. It was an annual tribute to his son, Stephen, a Wealdstone player and presumeably the original point of contact for the tour, who died in 1992. Ken Jagger captained and, in his ruthless pursuit of a decent performance and a result, he recruited two ringers from Thongsbridge CC, Simon Kelly and Dominic Ford. They batted 10 and 11, both got 50s and would have still been batting had it not been a limited over game. Jim pottered at the crease and at slip with dignity.

He worked in the printing business which his grandfather set up at Bradley Mills and went to school at Worksop college. Apparently, Gladys, his mother would have preferred a school in Canterbury. Jim told me she was the Quaker equivalent of a vicar up in High Flatts, where the family lived for many years.

He was an enthusiastic player for the Old Boys. He later became President, a post held previously by his father.

Between 1956 and 2004, Jim was a Casuals skipper, Chairman from 1969 to 1976, a regular at committee meetings well into the 1990s and editor of Cricket in Perspective 1. For nearly 40 years he was the architype Casual. An enthusiastic if limited cricketer.

Written in Autumn 2010