Sybil Comes To Town
The last couple of years will not have been happy ones within the more conservative cricketing circles in this country. Across the nation gentlemen will have been choking on their G&Ts, their moustaches bristling with contempt, their club ties knocked askew, because of a series of developments that threaten the very fabric of the game they love. For more than 200 years cricket has changed barely at all, untouched by the finger of Old Father Time who famously stands guard on the roof at Lords. And then, all of a sudden, one minor revolution after another. Day-night matches and pyjama cricket arrive on these shores. Counties are split into separate divisions. Women are admitted into the MCC, amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth from less enlightened members. A space-age media centre appears opposite the pavilion at Lords. The rights to Test cricket go from the BBC to Channel 4, who pledge to "modernise" the way the game is covered. And now the traditionalists have been bowled the ultimate googly, the last bastion has fallen, nothing is sacred any more: Yes, people, you have it. A lady is the guest speaker at The Oswestry CC Annual Dinner and that lady is none other than Shropshire's very own Sybil Ruscoe.
A genuine cricket lover, Sybil originally hails from Wem and as I'm sure you'll know, has been a Five Live presenter as well as co-hosting Channel 4's excellent Cricket Roadshow. She lists as a career highlight 'reverse sweeping Henry Olonga on Southend beach'.....geez, she must be keen.