Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2026

at the crease 20 February 2025 David Lloyd England player & Coach, Umpire, Sky Sports The function room at Lees Hall GC was packed for the Pie and Pea evening, followed by David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, interviewed by Broadcast Journalist, Jonathan Doidge. The anticipation of having the well loved, entertaining cricket celebrity in our midst had gathered for weeks, and we were rewarded with an evening that was everything we could have wished for. After a lifetime in cricket, latterly as an idiosyncratic and amusing television commentator, the fund of stories to draw on was immense. Any doubt about the validity of the old adage ‘it’s the way you tell ‘em’ is firmly put to bed when ‘Bumble’ picks up the microphone. Despite the painful effects of a recent DIY injury - and a protracted drive down from his home north of York - he soldiered on and delivered as only he can; the Lancashire accent, the nostalgia, the breadth of his cricket experience and the sheer joy of sharing the stories shone through. Later, additional questions from the floor produced colourful anecdotes ‘off script’ and inevitably there were ones many of us were familiar with. But we really wanted to hear them again, purely because David’s real strength is as a raconteur. Anyone is capable of telling a story that is funny, but few can do so over and over again in a way that provokes such an instinctive, warm response when it’s been heard before. What a national treasure. Bumble …. LIVE! Thomo’s welcome.. In the 2nd Test at Perth, I opened on a pretty quick pitch. We didn’t know much about this Geoff Thompson quickie and neither did Australia really. He didn’t have a proper approach, more of a casual walk into the distance, turning round when he thought he’d gone about far enough - no measurement, just that trotting kind of run-up and hitting the line. Fred Trueman always used to say, “It’s a sideways game, cricket, play sideways, bowl sideways, bat sideways” . When I faced Thomo I lost my sideways shape to that particular delivery! I got myself square on and in a single moment I thought, Christ, I’m in the wrong place! Then came the optimism - it might hit the bat. But it didn’t, it hit me straight in the privates, absolutely bullseye. Not one of those when you are sideways and it glances to somewhere like 3rd man and you shuffle off to the other end. No, it doubled me up. Thigh pads hadn’t been invented. I had a copy of The Reader’s Digest in my pocket just to absorb a bit of impact, and jock straps hadn’t been invented either. My mother had packed my bags and put my woollen swimming trunks in there .. it was 42 degrees! The ball hit me in the nuts and these woollen trunks I had on, well, I was sweating. The Litesome support was a small cup shaped piece of pink plastic with little breathe holes in it, and you shoved it down between your underpants and swimming trunks. It hit me full on, with everything that should be inside it in there, but the force inverted the thing. The breathe holes, they’ve snapped shut, but there’s still some of me hanging on the outside of the thing! I was carried off. These days a touring party has probably sixteen players and seventeen backroom staff because that’s how it is. In 1974/75 we had manager, Alec Bedser, assistant manager, AC Smith, and a little bloke called Bernard who was, like, doctor, medic, physio, tickets, drinks, a ‘do everything Bernard’. Back in the dressing-room he said, SPEAKERS 2024-25 by Andy Pack A great night! 32