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A YOUNG PLAYER - 14 YEARS LATER

South of England 1988 

Keith Dutch - front row 2nd from right.

Back row includes Ashley Giles - Warwickshire CCC -England
Darren Robinson -Essex CCC;
Matthew Walker - Kent CC

• Cornwall Schools' Presentation Evening October 5th 2002. Guestspeaker KEITH DUTCH -SOMERSET CCC
• It is always interesting to follow a young cricketers career through amateur and/ or professional ranks.
• However for the first time I had the pleasure of sitting in an attentive audience of 300 - including Lord Falmouth and the Cheif Education Officer of Cornwall as Keith waited his turn - nervously- to address us
• Firstly he had to present the annual awards and then draw the raffle - a signed cricket bat by Northants CCC.
• There were whispers of fixed as I walked to the top table to collect the prize. Why Northants? Tony Penberthy ex-Cornwall Schools - has been given a benefit year by his Club -Northants.
• Keith began his speech with a brief resume of his progress as a young cricketer and how he had joined Middlesex CCC
• He told in an honest way how he related to the senior pros and how he struggled to establish a place in the County side.
• His was a tale of clash of personalities and he was relieved to find recent success with his second Club, Somerset.
• It all went down well as he continually compared his progress to the potential progress of the young players in the audience.
• After the dinner I joined him in the bar and - as he was now old enough - I bought him his chosen elixir- Coca Cola
• I wanted to talk about cricket and he wanted to tell me about the antics he and other members of the 1988 squad got up to after lights out.
• I simply told him that if I had known that he had an eloquent side I would have made him Captain but after his out pourings of his nightly activities I am not certain that we should have picked him in the first place.
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