Behind the timbers .

[Andy]

I think if  people on here call for players like Mickleburgh, Smith  and Westley, to be dropped, if we zoomed back in time, Essex regulars like Gordon Barker, Micky Bear, and Graham Saville would be in the firing line.

You should remember that when Barker, Bear and Saville played Essex were poor, bordering on very poor.

Whoa Nellie, these weren't bad players that their averages would suggest. Well, maybe not Saville.

I remember KWR Fletcher (another averaging in the 30s!) said that playing on out grounds on uncovered wickets knocked at least 5 runs off the batting averages. We got spoiled in the 80s by having GG, McKewen plus numerous O/S batters averaging in the 40s on covered wickets.

[IlfordEagle]

Brian Hardie blossomed as a player gradually & was a perfect foil to GG, also a superb close fielder & had a tremendous attitude & team ethic, going even further back Barker was a stalwart for years who did fall away badly in his last couple of years, Bear was average & a superb fielder, Savile was so so & a fine slip fielder, our great side of the 70s/80s was a team in all senses never gave up & all pulled for each other under a superb Captain.

[Diatribe]

You should remember that when Barker, Bear and Saville played Essex were poor, bordering on very poor.

Barker and Dodds formed a very good opening partnership. you'd like to see their equivalent today. Saville and Bear were pretty much on the lines of Westley, Mickleburg, Pettini, although the latter was an excellent fielder.

In the 1950's, ECCC's position in the CC averaged between 5th and 8th when the oppositions were far stronger than today. I can remember Freddie Trueman steaming in at Colchester and almost the entire England team playing for Surrey at Clacton.

[Diatribe]

Further to that 1950's Surrey team playing at Clacton, they set us a generous total of around 250 on the last day which we achieved with a good knock from Doug Insole and I think a bit of a contribution from a young Micky Bear and a Braintree lad by the name of Geoff Smith.

The Surrey team consisted of Constable, Stewart, Barrington, May, Alec and Eric Bedser, Lock, Laker, Loader, Surridge, Macintyre. No resting of players in those days despite the aforementioned having already comprehensively won the CC. Little wonder why the crowds flocked to these games back in the golden era of cricket.

[nat]

.... Little wonder why the crowds flocked to these games back in the golden era of cricket.

It might also have had something to do with the fact that there was b****r all else to do!

Let's scroll forward from the misty-eyed days of the 1950s to the 1960s/early 1970s when things *were* at a low ebb.