Evening Telegraph from Derby, Derbyshire, England • 31

DKRBY EVENING TELEGRAPH Wednesday July 19 1978 HI SUCCESS A HABIT FOR KENT By Gerald Mortimer Kent stars Chris Tavare John Shepherd and Derek Underwood early to bed! approach is more rhythmical than it used to be and he is the nearest they have to genuine pace Derek Undenvood is by any standards a great bowler He was always being told by the pundits that his left-arm spin should be given more air if he was to be successful Underwood kept firing them in at medium-pace and pointed to his haul of wickets 1000th WICKET He took his 1000th wicket in first-class cricket at the age of 25 and only Lance Gibbs the West Indian off-spinner and Freddie Trueman better his total of 265 Test wickets That record sooner or later would have been his had he not signed for World Series When conditions favour him Underwood is as near to unplayable as makes no difference Chris Cowdrey son of the great Colin is a candidate for a regular place as is medium-paced bowler Richard Hills It is a formidable array but they can be beaten as Derbyshire showed in the John Player League match at Maidstone this month SUCCESS has become a habit to Kent in the last 11 years They had won nothing since their championship in 1913 when they lifted the Gillette Cup for the first time in 1967 That was the start of a glorious era Champions in 1970 and joint champions with Middlesex last summer Gillette Cup finalists in 1971 and winners for the second time in 1974 John Player League champions in 1972 1973 and 1976 Benson and Hedges Cup winners in 1973 and 1976 finalists in 1977 and 1978 There can only be one reason for such consistency players of high quality Even though they constantly supplied Test cricketers they have always had the depth to cope and the team is now hardened under pressure There are comparitive newcomers to the side like Chris Tavare surely an England batsman of the future Charles Rowe and wicketkeeper Paul Downton Bob a very small lunch particularly if they are in the very it i fieldt so this will be a big English fry-up At 915 the party will make the short hop across to Lord's change into flannels and go through the warm-up pattern that has served them so well during the past couple of years After that there is just time for a cup of coffee and possibly an inspection of the famous Long Room (home of so many cricketing treasures) before Eddie Barlow goes cut to spin a coin It may seem uncivilly early to start a cricket match at 11 o'clock in the morning but you can bet your life that Derbyshire will be right on the ball late for him to play for England Worse players have appeared in Test cricket even if he does not have that extra quality which marks out the genuine international player If England ever needed him though Kent would be able to guarantee one thing They would be given 100 per cent effort by Alan Ealham one of cricket's genuine professionals for 1 1 o'clock the next morning" Derbyshire's pre-final build-up actually begins at 9 am on Friday when they leave in individual cars for cricket's headquarters in North West London When they arrive it will be "on with the flannels and a two or three-hour session around lunchtime in the famous Nursery nets Then its time for relaxation The players will go back to their hotel take an early meal and rest before getting their heads down Saturday starts early Breakfast will be served at eight and it will be a big one As Harrison explains: "The players normally have He has not been a prolific scorer partly because the talent at Kent has meant that he has gone in too late to build big scores and more because he has always been an unselfish cricketer If Kent need quick runs Ealham will try to score them even if that means sacrificing his wicket He is 33 and it is probably too understudy in Pakistan and New Zealand last winter Kent have made good use of overseas signings There has probably never been a better import than Barbadian John Shepherd who has been scoring runs and taking wickets since 1966 EXPLOSIVE Shepherd is an explosive batsman as is Pakistani Test all-rounder Asif Iqbal So polite and charming off the field Asif can be a killer on it with his devastating stroke play Bob VVoolmer out of the England reckoning since he signed for Kerry Packer is an opening batsman with good technique and a more than useful medium-paced bowler Graham Johnson has never quite lived up to his potential Many expected him to play for England but he has remained a useful rather than a consistently outstanding batsman withoff-breaks as his second string Opening bowler Kevin Jarvis is 6ft 3in in height strongly built and capable of a lively pace It was a ball from him which fractured Tony wrist at Maidstone POPE PAH 13 STOCKBROOK RD DERBY Tmlophono 42634-5 SPARE a thought for Derbyshire's Benson and Hedges Cup finalists as you put down your last pint pot and leave the pub at closing time on Friday evening They will all be safely tucked ud in bed in a Central London hotel getting the maximum Possible rest before the iggest day in the club's recent history Says secretary David Harrison: "Obviously we don't impose such a thing as a rigid curfew "The players are sufficiently disciplined to do that for themselves But they will all be early to bed at the latest by 1030 "Everything is geared to the players in the est possible frame of mind A few months earlier Asif had captained Kent to a halfshare of the Schweppes championship They turned instead to Alan Ealham and he is making a thoroughly good job of the captaincy Kent are making a strong bid for the championship and are of course Benson and Hedges Cup finalists "I was very proud to accept the offer" said Ealham "I do not think that the extra responsibility has affected my game "I have always been an uncomplicated cricketer and I believe that spectators pay to be entertained Loyal "Now it is my job to lead an entertaining and successful side which will keep up the traditions of Kent cricket" There have been times in the past when Ealham wondered if he would be better off with another county but he was born in Kent and has remained loval to them IN the great years of Kent cricket Alan Ealham has been one of the less publicised players He is the local boy who has worked his way up from the second team a useful middle-order batsman more famed for his brilliant fielding in the deep Yet Kent have always needed an Ealham or two When Test calls used to cut their side in half Ealham would always be there and always doing something useful He was never likely to catch the eye of the England selectors but as Derbyshire have found to their cost this season you need the players to hold the side together when the Tests are on Now Ealham is even more vital to the club In the wake of the Kerry Packer affair Kent decided that Asif Iqbal a World Series player was not the man to lead them in 1978 ALAN EALHAM making a good job of the Kent captaincy CAR MSWAtta why pay more than you need? 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