Eddie has always had a love of cricket – so much so that when he ventured down south from Nottingham in February 2017 to Greenway Lane, Bath, one of the first things he did was to try and find a team to play for. He casually mentioned this to Nicki Marsh at the Devi, who put him in touch with Chris Bence. Eddie got into touch and the rest, as they say, is history.
Eddie played a couple of games for the Sunday XI in the 2017 season. Trained as a league umpire some years ago, and he is training to get to the next level of umpiring, though his underlying passion remains playing, rather than umpiring.
Eddie has played for the Sunday Midweek and Dad’s XIs. He honestly admits he is strictly a batsman he has bowled occasionally, but says his bowling can only be described as at “best comedy value”.
His highest score for The Bears has been 54 not out against Bristol New XI. His personal champagne moment, given his modest bowling abilities, was taking a wicket in the Hinton Charterhouse midweek game.
His cricketing aspiration to get another couple of 50s by the end of the season.
In Eddie’s professional life, he is a professor of criminology and forensic mental health and a Director of Health and Justice at the University of Nottingham. When asked how he would use his experience to analyse the strengths of The Bears as a club, his response was “This is a club where everyone is friendly and welcoming”. He enjoys playing for the Sunday XI, and endorses the team’s ethos of ensuring everyone gets a regular game, gets involved, and optimizes the opportunity to bring younger players on with the mentoring and support of older, more experienced players. “Mens cricket is different from boys’ cricket, we are giving them the chance to progress further. That way it is not too big a step up to play in the senior league. It is the role of the Sunday XI Captain and team members to develop younger players in a relaxed atmosphere, where everyone’s temperament is on an even keel”.
The Sunday league varies from good to average, so you never know what you can expect on the day. This gives the Sunday XI Captain lots of opportunities to test the older and younger players alike.
In 2018 Eddie went on tour for the first time with The Bears to Barnstaple, the weather was wonderful, the game very enjoyable, even if it was narrowly lost, but was very bonding for the Saturday and Sunday Xl squads.
