Having A Ball

He’s one of cricket’s most charismatic individuals and now Tadworth resident Phil Tufnell has set about curating his own encyclopaedia of the  sport’s most unusual and intriguing characters.

- Jake Taylor

WITH its long-established history as the most British of sports, cricket has always turned up some eccentric individuals. One of the more recent examples of this side of the gentleman’s game is Phil Tufnell, former England international and one of sport’s biggest personalities. With that in mind, it seems only right that Tufnell’s latest project saw him set about collating the weirdest stories from cricketing history to form Tuffers’ Cricket Hall of Fame.

“It’s a bit of frivolity really,” the 51-year-old explains with his trademark chuckle. “We’ve looked at people who have been innovators of the game; innovators of shots, of deliveries, cricketers who have been to war, all these types of things. It was very interesting finding out about some of the stories that started to come up through it, so it was great fun to do.

"Cricket does seem to have a hell of a lot of colourful characters, especially in the old days. The reason the umpires originated is because the players all used to have a punch-up on the field. They were an early form of doormen! They’d all have a few quid on it and if it didn’t go their way, people were getting killed and what have you, so they had umpires there to try and sort of ‘marshal’ it all. Things like that are quintessentially British – it’s brilliant!”

The enduring image of Tuffers taking to the wicket in top hat and tails aside, it seems some of the stories he uncovered were even a little far-fetched for him.