Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2026

Friendly amateur cricket tours are definitely not dead. Cricket journalist & broadcaster, ANNIE CHAVE, reminds us of the sheer joy and life affirming benefits of being part of the tradition. My ‘good old days’ belong to the innocence and freedom of my childhood. There are many precious moments that we retain from our childhood, and during the past week I witnessed the making of new and priceless memories as I visited Cornwall on a cricket tour. My brother began this annual event in 1992. I think it was his way of getting his family and friends together without having to get married or die. It has been a constant joy since then, from when, as careless youths in our twenties we began the week-long endless and exhausting cycle of playing cricket, social drinking and travelling. As we have grown alongside this tour, there is no doubt that it has come to mean far, far more than just that. Without the centrepiece of cricket, we wouldn’t get to see these great friends who come from Germany, from Norfolk, Cambridge, London, Sheffield, none from Cornwall. Inevitably, such is the way of our footloose world, we would eventually lose touch with some of them. Messages and interactions over social media would slowly dwindle as the pressures of everyday life took over. This week of cricket – eight games in eight days – unites us all in a weird cornucopia whose ingredients include board games, competitive poker, drinking single-malt whisky into the small hours, pasta dinners for huge numbers, take-away curries, walks on the coastal footpath, sea-swimming, dormitory-sleeping, but most of all, cricket. As the years have passed, we are now the older generation, and the role that was first my parents’ has become ours. Our children have grown, some have children of their own. My son, whose mistimed birth forced my husband and me to miss – for the only time – the 1998 tour, has been on every subsequent tour. His fellow-tourists are as much part of his life as those constantly around him at home. It is, without doubt, the most important week of his year. A TOUR DE FORCE 26