Pictured above, classic John Warner batting, who writes below:

It is a great pleasure to write the first item under the title Warner’s Corner. There are probably only a few of you who know where that name came from. I had a penchant for fielding in the same position every week, one that allowed me to perhaps only touch the ball twice in 20 overs. I did however take it very seriously and from memory not many boundaries were scored on my patch. Mind you depending upon which pitch we were using on a particular night, it could be about a quarter of a mile to me, and I had time to walk into position, being guided by team mates who could actually see the ball. We took a sign with Warner’s Corner printed on it on a tour and the name seems to have stuck. Who fields there now or out of respect is it left vacant!

The Bedouins will always be a special part of my life, as I “played” for them over 26 years before succumbing to the damage caused by heavy flak over Nene Sollars.

As many of you know, I was never really a cricketer but someone who always wanted to bowl, but couldn’t, and who used to be terrified of batting, not because of bodyline bowling but the fear of yet another duck. Brian used to indulge me and let me play for both his teams, indeed in my last but one season at the age of 58, I played at Trent Bridge and was caught and bowled by Derek Randall, for a duck of course. That is something that can never be taken away from me.

I hope than when I hung up my bat, I left a few people who enjoyed our times together, and it was great to see so many old chums at the Duck Supper last year.

The history of the Bedouins is quite simple at least the reason it was started is. It began as a team for the Partners and staff of Barry Cottles an Insurance Broker in Halesowen. In 1980 they were challenged to a game by the Royal Insurance Wolverhampton Branch and we played the one game in a park at Wolverhampton. From memory we lost and a good friend of mine, who popped up in later life as a Royal player in the Celeb days, was berated in the pub afterwards for taking too many wickets and scoring too many runs, not the way to treat a Broker.

Barry Cottle ably supported by fellow partners Mike Passman and Geoff Hodgson, were the backbone of the team, and the rest of the players were either Company Inspectors, employees or husbands and boyfriends. I qualified in two ways but not the vital way of being a cricketer. I was 33 and hadn’t played cricket for 15 years, not that it showed!

We played more the following season on a pitch in Mary Steven’s Park, against clients and insurance companies but more of that in part 2 of the History of the Bedouins.