Name: Richard V Isaacs
Nickname: RV, Big ‘un, Southern Softie
Current or past player:
Scorer and statistician. Having looked at my Calmore Sports batting average for the 2010 decade of 4.16 ….definitely past player!
What sparked your interest in cricket:
I grew up with it, through my Dad, who started scoring for Hampshire CCC when I was 2 years old so I was forever on a cricket ground.
Do you prefer the T20, 50-over, county or Test format of the game:
Always enjoy the shorter versions of the game but Test cricket is the pinnacle and forever will be.
Cricketing hero: Robin Smith and Malcolm Marshall
Favourite current (professional) player:
Ben Stokes is everything that you used to see in Ian Botham, he is a phenomenal player as is Postman Jos (once asked him what he would do if he wasn’t a cricketer, he said he would have been a postman!)
Most admired/best player you have played with:
Without any shadow of doubt, “The Boyle”. And Pete Lorenzini, who obviously took his father’s
blocking ability to new levels, Bobby H and Eric Hudson at High View too!
Most formidable opponent:
Any one of the 10 ‘Methodists’ playing for Swinton!
Favourite away ground:
Has to be High View, somewhere high over Bolton! Not there now I am guessing but sensational views over the hills.
Didn’t get any runs there … but that doesn’t really narrow it down.
Have also played at the famous Broad Halfpenny Down at Hambledon – the tingles you get playing there are sensational, knowing the history of the place. And love playing at grounds in the New Forest, surrounded by horse poo and heather!
Favourite/most memorable match you have ever played in:
All of my memorable matches involve my very few games for Prestwich! From travelling up and up to High View in about 1991 to the infamous Swinton Methodists game in 1997 – in Robin Smith’s Hampshire kit after
Dad’s car was stolen in Nottingham with my cricket kit in the boot and being called s**t by the umpire – to the farce of the Rochdale Catholic Club mud bath in 2003, creating the heaviest partnership ever seen in the North Manchester League with Chris Orrell.
Personal highlight/champagne moment:
Winning the Hulme Trophy in 2003 and 2004 with the Second XI, especially the 2004 one at Woodhouses and
winning the LCL Second XI Scorer of the Year!
Best way to relax after a game:
Updating my cricket databases! No, it is definitely sitting outside, overlooking the wonderful Heys ground with a pint of Wainwright’s – and avoiding BL telling you he’d ‘watched it again’ …. zzzzzzzz
Do/did you have any cricketing superstitions:
I am not good enough to have superstitions!
What will you miss most in cricket during this enforced break:
Working! Currently supposed to be in India working on the IPL and hoping for the
2020 domestic summer to start soon.
Is there anything you’d change about the game:
To keep the Chairman happy, I would enforce over rates in Tests and I am really not sure another format of the game is necessary but I wait to be convinced.
If you could invite 3 cricketing celebrities (players, presenters,
commentators) round for dinner, who would they be and why:
Ian Smith, David Lloyd and Robin Smith – better get plenty of wine in!
