No mention for Mike Garnham, so I'll try and fill you all in.
So, Mikey baby only took to the bowling crease once in his illustrious first class career. The opposition were Hampshire at the wonderful County Ground, Chelmsford and the year was 1991.
The dim sunlight glinted off the rows of Ford ******s in the nearby car park as captain Neil Foster had a chat with his team. The match was sure to be snuffed out in a draw unless they thought radically. Don Topley wasn't best pleased as he thought that declaration bowling besmirched the game he loved. Foster was having none of it - Essex needed a chance to win, however slim. So, he pondered who best to offer up a hastily cobbled together smorgasbord of pies. His eyes focused on Paul Pritchard and the staunch figure of Mike Garnham. Adam Seymour stuck his hand up for a go, but he was considered too parsimonious for this sort of event.
In those more sedate days of the early 90s, the bowling was treated with all due respect. Mike Garnham's bowling style is described by Cricinfo as " ", and personally I think it is best left at that. However, he fulfilled his role brilliantly. Whilst Paul Pritchard was dismissing the unfortunate Kevan James (Saleem Malik holding on to the catch - and presumably not paid to drop one?) and going for a miserly 8 runs an over. Garny took to his role like a duck to water, being ploughed for 39 off his 4 overs. When David Gower retired hurt (I like to think this is due to a poorly directed medium pace beamer from Pritchard thumping him in the knackers), the Hampshire innings was closed, leaving Essex needing 299 to win.
Thanks in no small part to Garnham's well compiled 14, the match was drawn with Steve Andrew and Don Topley seeing off Rajesh Maru and Kevin Shine. Only 10 runs short of the winning mark.
What a thriller! Thanks, Garny!
