Will be dearly missed by all

Tony Gregory - An Appreciation

If the names of Hunter, Tubby, Breame and Parke were synonymous with Drayton Cricket Club for the first 40 years of its existence, there can be no question that the name of Tony Gregory has been at the fore for the last 25 years.

From being persuaded by David Emerson to join the club in 1983, Tony took on all manner of roles off the pitch - First team captain, Midweek captain, Chairman, President, Groundsman, Administrator - as well as being one of the club's greatest ever batsmen on the pitch. When he felt it was required he almost became a surrogate dad to his teammates, and whisper it quietly maybe surrogate granddad.

For one week in 2003 when Tony and six teammates headed to Butlins at Skegness, Tony became Mr Drayton accompanied by his six sons - the Drayton family. On another occasion when Tony was in hospital prior to the start of the 2001 season, four teammates went to visit him - on being told by the nurse that only two visitors were allowed, Tony told the nurse: "That's OK, these are my sons".

He was a popular figure in the dressing room as comfortable with those of his own generation as with those born decades later. He was known variously as Gregors, El Greco, El Presidente and for a short time The Strawman.

On the pitch, it was as an unorthodox opening batsman that he made his name. Using his bat like a scythe he scored his runs almost entirely off the front foot - and as a result he was regularly struck on the hands by short pitched bowling. However his technique was effective - in his Drayton career lasting almost 700 games, he scored over 12,000 runs - bettered only by Billy Hunter. He scored two centuries and over 50 half centuries - in a strange twist of fate his final resting place at the Beaconsfield was also the sight of his second Drayton hundred as well as his final Drayton fifty.

In latter years he dropped down the batting order away from the demands of facing the new ball. If the opposition looked like they had a fast, nasty bowler he may seek to bat as low as 5 - but always somewhere he could make his mark.

Tony was not renowned for his fielding - for a short time he kept wicket, before moving to safer pastures at first slip. Some blinding catches were taken, but many dollies dropped also - including one at East Harling which broke his thumb. In 1983, he took two wickets in an innings on two occasions, however this was an isolated success for his bowling. The only exception being a 20 over cup game at Frettenham - Tony was called upon to bowl the last over of the innings and surprised everyone, including himself by taking three wickets.

As a captain he inspired more by his actions and strong organisational skills than any great tactical nous or rousing leadership. His stock phrases were "Come on Drayton", "Drayton, come on", "Let's get back into this game Drayton", "Let's stay on top of this game, Drayton" and the time honoured classic "Come on Drayton let's keep these singles down to one".

Personally, I first met Tony when he joined the club in 1983, and I will admit that as a seven year old I was scared of him. There were two reasons for this, firstly Tony was a batsman who could potentially score more runs than my dad which I didn't like and secondly he had a beard - I think for any seven year old boy this is enough reason to be scared of anyone. Over the years I got to know Tony increasingly well and I was able to understand his deep seated passion for the game of cricket, for Drayton Cricket Club and for scoring runs. I also came to appreciate his, at times, child like sense of fun and adventure.

Tony was always prepared to speak his mind. In the mid 1990's Drayton regularly played against Topcroft, who brought their own umpire, Eric Todd with them. During one match, Tony took umbrage with an umpiring decision which led to some words being exchanged with Eric Todd. Eric told Tony that whilst Drayton Cricket Club always conducted themselves admirably there was one bad apple in every barrel and Tony was the bad boy of the club. A couple of weeks later the teams met again and Tony took great delight in scrawling the words "Bad Boy of Drayton Cricket" across the front of a white T-shirt before the start of play.

On another occasion many years ago, Tony became infuriated with an opposition fast bowler bowling a beamer at a young Drayton batsman in fading light. He stormed off and got into his BMW, before proceeding to drive across the outfield towards the square. He swerved to avoid the square at the last minute and drove off. He later told me, he had gone that way because it was the quickest way out of the ground. In truth he was demonstrating how fiercely he cared about the safety and protection of all of his colleagues.

Tony loved seeing Drayton's name in the local papers (as well as his own name if he felt he merited it) and was always keen to let the press know when something newsworthy had happened. I'm sure the thought of his passing making the front page news of the EDP would have brought a smile to his face - though he would probably have liked to have been further forward in The Sun than he was. In light of the EDP article describing Tony as a "stalwart", I received the following story from James Pepper:

"Saul (Simpson) had been up to his usual tricks and winding everyone up at the game a few weeks ago at Martham. Tony, umpiring in the game, gave him out plumb LBW and as you can imagine, during tea, the air was blue as Saul tried to get his point across to Tony that "It just wasn't right for a 'stalwart of the club' to be giving Senior players out LBW".

As a Chairman and later as President, Tony saw himself as a figurehead looking to provide wise leadership and sound counsel. He was without doubt a shrewd judge of character and felt he could usually tell, almost instantly, whether a new player would fit into the club or not. Chris Coupland told me the following which sort of sums this side of Tony up: "I remember, very shortly after I joined the Club, Tony and I were walking round the boundary and he said to me "I don't know you very well yet but you play cricket in the right way so I take it we are friends" - it seemed a pretty good way to assess someone and I was flattered and pleased to have that conversation"

Tony played the game for the right reasons - because he enjoyed it and he wanted others to enjoy it too. If enjoyable cricket also brought about winning cricket it was a great help but not the end of the world. He took great pride in the 'A' team winning the Norfolk League Spirit of Cricket Award two years running - as was told in a recent Evening News. Tony reinstated the club dinner dance and organised a popular President's Day in 2008 to help the club maintain its close family feel.

Tony's passing is a chance to reflect on his single minded dedication, loyalty and commitment to the sport and club he loved, and should serve as an example to us all.

From all of your cricket club family, for one final time we say: "Well batted Gregors. Thanks for the memories".

Philip Wright, August 2009

If anyone has any further memories of Tony they wish to share, or wish to get in touch - please e-mail [email protected].

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