Trying to track down a cricket fiction series I once read!

[gregp]

Hi all,

Probably ~30 years ago when I was a kid I read a series of a few fiction books about cricket and I want to get them now for my kids. Trouble is, I can't remember the name of the series, or the main characters, or the title! All I can remember is a few details of the storyline and a few rough quotes which I've searched Google for and Google books but with no success.

The basic storyline was about a couple of boys who wanted to make a cricket field or a team. They found an old field behind a nursing home I think it was and cut down the weeds with sickles, then turned it into an oval. They scratched around for gear, a few others joined them and they got a team together, played against others, and had various adventures along the way.

I can remember the parents of the main character were named Reg and Rita. Here are a few rough quotes I can remember in case they trigger any memories:

• Rita to Reg: when the boy had asked for a couple of hundred dollars for their gear: "You're the one who's always telling him to make something of his life, and you'd see it all go to waste for the sake of a couple of hundred measly quid!"
  Reg: "Listen dear..."
  Boy does a jig of delight. When dad starts calling mum 'dear' (or something) he's starting to weaken...
  
  
• The saints had a spin bowler called Eggy White
  
  
• "As you know folks", he began, "the weather lately has been pretty muggy. Followed by tuggy, weggy, thurgy and frigy." It was an old joke, but it got people laughing.
  

It's not Glory Gardens by the way, I've taken a look at that already and it looks nice but it's not the one.

Does anyone remember these books? If so can you remember the title??

Thanks in anticipation!
Greg

 

[Aislabie]

I was going to say Glory Gardens but they definitely aren't the ones. Although I do highly recommend them; I'm an adult now and still sometimes re-read them for the nostalgia.

I know PG Wodehouse wrote about cricket a lot. There were the Psmith books, The Gold Bat, Mike... These honestly seem like your best bet.

There's a novel series about a fictional cricketer called Toby Jones, but that's much too recent.

 

[gregp]

I was going to say Glory Gardens but they definitely aren't the ones. Although I do highly recommend them; I'm an adult now and still sometimes re-read them for the nostalgia.

I know PG Wodehouse wrote about cricket a lot. There were the Psmith books, The Gold Bat, Mike... These honestly seem like your best bet.

There's a novel series about a fictional cricketer called Toby Jones, but that's much too recent.

Thanks @Aislabie for those suggestions, they sound good books. I think it must be a different series though - I'm guessing from the way Reg and Rita spoke to each other in front of their son that Wodehouse is set too long ago, and you're right Toby Jones is too recent. My feel is that it was probably written in the 70's to late 80's.

 

[blockerdave]

Thanks @Aislabie for those suggestions, they sound good books. I think it must be a different series though - I'm guessing from the way Reg and Rita spoke to each other in front of their son that Wodehouse is set too long ago, and you're right Toby Jones is too recent. My feel is that it was probably written in the 70's to late 80's.

I was going to suggest Hugh de Selincourt as a possible author, but that would be too early. He wrote a lot of cricket novels.

Where was it set? England, Australia?

 

[gregp]

I was going to suggest Hugh de Selincourt as a possible author, but that would be too early. He wrote a lot of cricket novels.

Where was it set? England, Australia?

Thanks for the reply @blockerdave. Looking back I'm assuming England as the currency was 'quid', however from my dim memories of reading it I don't recall the country it was set in featuring strongly in the storyline. As a young Aussie reader at the time, I probably assumed at the time it was set in Australia, or maybe I assumed England as I grew up on Enid Blyton!

I checked Hugh de Selincourt's works - another cricket novelist I was unaware of! Though I agree he is 'probably' a bit too early and the blurbs I read on his novels didn't seem to fit.

I've even gone through the online catalog for the local library I may have borrowed the books from as a kid, nothing jumps out there either!

 

[blockerdave]

Thanks for the reply @blockerdave. Looking back I'm assuming England as the currency was 'quid', however from my dim memories of reading it I don't recall the country it was set in featuring strongly in the storyline. As a young Aussie reader at the time, I probably assumed at the time it was set in Australia, or maybe I assumed England as I grew up on Enid Blyton!

I checked Hugh de Selincourt's works - another cricket novelist I was unaware of! Though I agree he is 'probably' a bit too early and the blurbs I read on his novels didn't seem to fit.

I've even gone through the online catalog for the local library I may have borrowed the books from as a kid, nothing jumps out there either!

No problem. Do you remember any other character names?

 

[gregp]

No problem. Do you remember any other character names?

I don't think so. The guy who made the joke about Tuggy Weggy Thurgey etc, I am having the name Charlie coming to me for that..., but it's so long ago I couldn't be sure, and even if it was it's a pretty common name. Something happened to this guy in the story... he was their friend, I think he was the umpire in some games, and then in the third book I think it was, something happened with him, he got blackmailed into something or something like that and they had to help him out of it. So there were these mystery elements involved, not just the cricket.

Reg and Rita I'm sure about, likewise Eggy White. But the main characters unfortunately escape me.

 

[gregp]

Anyone else? I appreciate the thoughts so far but am still chasing the elusive series.

 

[Aislabie]

Anyone else? I appreciate the thoughts so far but am still chasing the elusive series.

I've done some Google Books searches:

"eggy white" cricket - One result, this thread.
reg rita cricket - Lots of results but only this one seems even slightly relevant.
"tuggy weggy thurgy" - Two results, neither relevant.
"thurgy and frigy" - Lots of results about the joke.
"thurgy and frigy" cricket - Almost nothing

Although this is by no means an exhaustive search of all books, it does mean that they have not been digitised in any format. This means that unless you can remember a full or partial title, we've got almost no chance. I can find nothing for you

 

[blockerdave]

I've done some Google Books searches:

"eggy white" cricket - One result, this thread.
reg rita cricket - Lots of results but only this one seems even slightly relevant.
"tuggy weggy thurgy" - Two results, neither relevant.
"thurgy and frigy" - Lots of results about the joke.
"thurgy and frigy" cricket - Almost nothing

Although this is by no means an exhaustive search of all books, it does mean that they have not been digitised in any format. This means that unless you can remember a full or partial title, we've got almost no chance. I can find nothing for you

i've done loads of similar searches, with similar results. i agree - unless you know a full or partial title, author, or full character name (i.e. not Reg and Rita but Reg and Rita Smith etc.) we won't find it.

 

[gregp]

Thanks @Aislabie and @blockerdave, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. Yes I have done the same searches and drawn the same blanks. Unfortunately from my dim memorybank of 30+ years, they seem to be all I can dredge up. I appreciate these details are so scant and insignificant they're only likely to be recalled by someone who has read the stories themselves and remembers them.

I may try looking through the relevant section at my old library when I get back home, or phoning my old school library to see if the librarians there can help. Suffice to say if I can track this down, 1) I will share the result, and 2) it had jolly well better be as good as I remember!

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Dutch]

Thanks @Aislabie and @blockerdave, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. Yes I have done the same searches and drawn the same blanks. Unfortunately from my dim memorybank of 30+ years, they seem to be all I can dredge up. I appreciate these details are so scant and insignificant they're only likely to be recalled by someone who has read the stories themselves and remembers them.

I may try looking through the relevant section at my old library when I get back home, or phoning my old school library to see if the librarians there can help. Suffice to say if I can track this down, 1) I will share the result, and 2) it had jolly well better be as good as I remember!

Thanks,
Greg

All the best finding them!

I remember a few years back reading the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time since I was about ten years old. It was such a wonderful experience that took me right back to the days of my childhood! On a different note I also ran into a volume of Biggles: which really disappointed when I read it and I thought to myself how did I ever enjoy reading this!

 

[gregp]

If anyone else is here, I found them. Tom Tully wrote them, there were 3 books - The Magnificent 11, Dangerous Game and Showdown at Seabank. I've bought the first and last ones but can't find anything on the second one.

 

[bddiam]

If anyone else is here, I found them. Tom Tully wrote them, there were 3 books - The Magnificent 11, Dangerous Game and Showdown at Seabank. I've bought the first and last ones but can't find anything on the second one.

I just went down a similar path. After watching flintoffs recent tv show when he works with some kids it brought back some memories of a long forgotten book which turned out to be The Magnifcent 11( this thread helped me find the name!). Just as enjoyable aged 41 as 11! Never considered when I was younger that there was more in the series, is the third book worth trying to track down?