Devon Malcolm bowls Rochdale Rotary Club over at annual cricket dinner

Date published: 25 September 2019

The annual cricket dinner held by Rochdale Rotary Club on 3 September was another great evening at the Masonic buildings on Richard Street.

Originally Graeme Swann had agreed to be guest speaker but just two weeks before the date, the club discovered he was going to be in the Caribbean. At this late stage, club member former test umpire and Rotarian John Holder asked the ex-England fast bowler, Devon Malcolm, who gave a sparkling talk about his cricket career from his early Jamaican days and England fast bowler.

He talked of his encounters with the all-conquering West Indies cricket team led by Viv Richards, who he managed to get out on several occasions.

His career best was to take nine wickets in an innings against South Africa. As a result of that performance, he met Nelson Mandela who invited him to South Africa where he helped young South Africans improve their cricket skills.

The evening was also enhanced by the MC John Gwynne, a well-known commentator in cricket, darts and rugby league. His deep rich voice and dry humour kept the evening flowing.

There was a raffle with a first prize of local artist Geoff Butterworth’s limited-edition print of a watercolour of Yorkshire Street, Rochdale in the 1960’s.

Other prizes included Devon Malcolm’s autobiography and John Holder’s latest book on the laws of cricket, ‘You are the Umpire’, illustrated in attractive cartoon fashion by Paul Trevillion.

Over 150 guests enjoyed a delicious three course meal produced by the Masonic buildings’ chef. All serving and kitchen staff were given warm applause at the end of the evening.

Auctioneer Adam Partridge of ‘Flog It’ fame is an avid cricket fan and a regular attender at these dinners. He auctioned off some Ashes tickets for the test match at Old Trafford and also an old painting of Lords cricket ground with autographs of many famous cricketers of the past underneath.

Local hospital BMI Highfield were again generous sponsors for the evening.

A staggering £4,000 was raised for coaching young amateur Rochdale cricketers and will be administered through the Lancashire Cricket Foundation, a charity arm of the Lancashire County Cricket board.

President of Rotary, Ravi Sharma thanked everyone for coming and said: “With these dinners, our club has raised over £20,000 in the last nine years to help promote cricket amongst our Rochdale youth. It is a great sport which breaks down social barriers, promotes a team ethic and the pursuit of pride in individual performance.

“It also helps with physical fitness in these days when sedentary lifestyles can be damaging to long term health.”