The player of the season

In which a mischievous rumour is shown to have considerable unforeseen consequences

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It was the end of the 2024 cricket season. The time for the making of the annual awards at the cricket club of which I have long been a member. We are a small local club and the awards ceremony is our major event. I was accompanied by my grandson. He is a member of our youth team and is keen to follow the family tradition in the club team.

After the awards dinner, we repaired to the hall where the honours boards are on display. They contain the awards which have been made since the club started, straight after World War II. We stood in front of the two for the Player of the Season.

Each board has room for 40 names. The first year on the second board is 1986, that being our 41st season. My grandson studied the first board. He was surprised at what he saw at the foot of the second column. There was no entry there, or, rather, the entries finished with 1984.

"Look, Grandad," he said. "There's nothing for 1985. They've missed off the name."

I was prepared for this.

"No, they didn't," I said. "There aren't many of us left who know the truth of what happened - or want to remember it."

He was old enough to understand that adults have their own, sometimes fallible, ways of thinking and behaving, just as children do, so I imparted the story to him.

1985 had seen several worthy performances. The club committee decided that the Player of the Season was Mark Bennett. He had been the leading scorer and was strong in the field. There were a couple of others in contention but the decision was acceptable to all. It was communicated to Mark, who said that he would be at the annual dinner to receive the award.