JOHN ROTH CELEBRATES HIS 75TH YEAR AS A MEMBER
We finish our final At Home With Cricket of 2021 by celebrating another of our Club’s most senior Members. Our latest MCC Centenarians interview is with John Roth, who has been a Member since 1946, and his son Richard (both pictured above).
John has been coming to Lord’s for 84 years and has witnessed some of the sport’s greatest players, from Bradman to Smith and Sutcliffe to Root. Born into a cricketing family, John’s father regularly arranged charity matches with the game’s greats before the Second World War and John took over from him as President of Easton and Martyr Worthy Cricket Club in 1959. John has passed his love of cricket to his own son, Richard, who has himself been an MCC Member since 1990.
What is your earliest memory of visiting Lord’s?
John: I was very lucky to be at the Ground in 1937 when Jim “Sixer” Smith, more normally referred to as “Big Jim”, played a shot that cleared the old Grand Stand (a profile on Jim Smith can be read here). The stands (apart from the Pavilion) may have changed completely since those days, but the joy and privilege to watch cricket at the ground has not.
Richard: Watching John Player league cricket on a Sunday afternoon, sitting in either the Tavern or Warner stands on cushions that had been hired from MCC. I also delight in recalling watching 120 overs in a day at the Gillette Cup finals in September in the early 70s: if only it were still possible to watch that much cricket in a single day. I also recall very vividly the first time I came to the Ground on my own – the 1980 Test Match against West Indies, and being able to watch the game sitting on the grass in front of the old Grand Stand.
If you could watch one player from your childhood again, who would it be?
John: Don Bradman – he was an incredible batsman, such a prolific scorer and really stood out from any other player of his generation.
Richard: Derek Randall brought an enthusiasm to fielding I had never seen before. Fielding standards have improved so much since then, especially with much of the new athleticism seen in the shorter forms of the game, but back then, Randall was in a league of his own.
Where were you when England’s Men’s team won that famous Super Over in 2019?
John and Richard: We were sitting next to each other in the lower tier of the Warner Stand. We had the most perfect view of one of the most critical moments of the game: Trent Boult’s boundary catch. We watched it all the way down, and as his foot touched the rope giving Ben Stokes six critical runs with eight balls to go. Without doubt the most amazing and memorable day’s cricket either of us have ever seen.
What would you say was your biggest personal achievement when playing cricket?
John: Not getting out!
Richard: Getting a chance to play! I loved cricket but was never good enough to play in any of the school teams. Therefore my highlight was getting to play at all, rather than being forced to go cross country running when there were limited cricket facilities available.
Outside of Lord’s, where has been your favourite place to watch or play cricket?
John: I have very fond memories of playing at Datchet before the war. Perhaps that was more as a result of being in the very same XI as heroes of my time such as Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe and Jack Durston. My father arranged an annual charity cricket match which tended to be when the Yorkshire team were in London and players from Middlesex and Surrey joined in the fun.
Richard: My grandfather bought some land in a village in Hampshire to avoid it being built on and mandated that it could only ever be used for cricket – it became the home of the Easton and Martyr Worthy Cricket Club. Dad assumed the Club’s Presidency 60 years ago and it is a lovely relaxing and friendly place to watch the game and where they used to serve amazing cricket teas! We used to go there fairly regularly, but now it is more of an annual pilgrimage.
Finally, especially for John, across your 75 years as a Member, what has been your favourite day at the Ground so far?
John: It is hard to pin down a single day, but almost any time when I could watch a full day’s cricket without breaks for bad light and rain, especially when Middlesex or England were on top. My best individual memories have been bringing family and friends to watch cricket at our great Ground, perhaps picnicking in the Coronation Gardens and introducing some of them into the Pavilion – seeing their beaming grins as they walk round the Long Room in awe, is a joy to behold.