Apologies for this being highly Brit-centric...
In the summer of 1981 I was fortunate enough to slip past a couple of bouncers and enter, scorecard in hand, the pavilion of my local cricket club. I played for their youth at the time, but on that day the senior team were playing a one-off charity match against our mighty local county team, Somerset. It was like I had entered the secret conclave of Gods. Spellbound, I ignored the likes of Roebuck, Rose and Dredge. I only had eyes for Richards, Garner, and Botham. There they were, sitting together – Botham was sucking a beer and smoking a cigar can you believe. He was very kind and friendly though, patted my shoulder and signed his name on my card. "Not now, boy," said Viv in a deep, gravelly voice when I asked him for his autograph - he was evidently in a very bad mood having been caught at long-off for just 2 (the guy who took that wicket was the Dad of a pal of mine at school – I think he lived on that feat for years!). What a gentle, lovely man Joel Garner was. Not only did he gladly sign my card, he gave me a few bowling tips. I could not get over the size of his feet. He truly was a giant! I finally made my way out after I had collected the names of the whole team. I felt dizzy but elated. I treasure that card to this day, with its 3 names of living legends of the game – all at my local village club! It was as surreal then as it is now. As an aside, this happened one week before that test at Headingley, Botham vs Australia, which has since gone down in history. I watched every minute of that on TV.
My question to you Bill is: what cricket stories do you have for us? Above is just one of my mine, and one of my favourites. I would love to hear some of yours!