WHY I LOVE CRICKET: ANGELA EAGLE

IT IS LIKE BRIAN CLOSE, ISN'T IT? YOU JUST HAVE TO STAND THERE AND TAKE IT, AND BOAST ABOUT YOUR BRUISES"

 Angela Eagle, the MP for Wallasey on Boycott, Sobers, Howe and Archer...

I grew up as a Yorkshire girl interested in cricket, which meant Brian Close and Geoff Boycott, and latterly Michael Vaughan. I remember Ray Illingworth winning the Ashes in Australia in 1970/71.

Boycott was my hero. If we were shopping on Saturday we’d stand outside TV shops to check he was still in. I met him at the all-party cricket group. People think he is grumpy, but he’s not, he’s a really open-minded observer. I asked him about reverse sweeps, expecting him to think it was appalling, and he said: “If you’re clever enough to do that, it’s up to bowlers to respond.”

We moved to Merseyside when I was five, so I didn’t go to Headingley much, mainly Old Trafford. That spectacular West Indies side – Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards – were a joy to watch.

My dad taught my sister Maria (MP for Garston and Halewood) and me. We were unusual in that we threw overarm, not girly underarm! I bowl left-handed and bat right. My primary school would let my sister and I practise, but never play in matches, so we scored – I was really annoyed.

Oddly and disgracefully I was a traitor because I played for Lancashire girls. It got in the way of chess in the end, and, as I was a junior international, that took precedence.

I was a dabbler, I wouldn’t say allrounder. I remember seven-a-side trials. There were three England players in one team. Maria was bowling, and the England captain skied one – all I remember was being under it. My life passed before it came down … but I caught it. Caught Eagle, bowled Eagle!

I watched Garry Sobers hit his six sixes at St Helen's (that and the moon landings were my TV memories from the 1960s!). It was the gathering sort of ‘oh my goodness, could he do this?’ I reckon even the bowler (Malcolm Nash) wanted him to get the final six! 

People compare cricket to chess. I love seeing how a captain gets his resources sorted out and how the bowlers deal with changes in conditions and the ball.

I’m far too old to play now, I can’t see the ball any more. It is like Brian Close, isn’t it? You just have to stand there and take it, and boast about your bruises. I’d have to walk out looking like a Star Wars stormtrooper.

Me and Cheryl Gillan (MP for Chesham and Amersham) were the first women to appear for the Lords and Commons. It was fun but there was never anywhere to change! And unless you have your own kit, nothing fits. The Tories in general are better cricketers. John Redwood is good although Jeffrey Archer used to run everybody out! The best on the Labour side is Graham Allen, a very good batsman.

I played for Tribune against the New Statesmen and was sent down three beamers. I said: “I thought this was meant to be a friendly!”

Cricket language is often used by the civil service: “Can you let us know by COP.”

I was in the house for Geoffrey Howe’s speech, when he accused Margaret Thatcher of breaking the bats. You could see the haunted look across the front bench.

Cricket has had its conservative – with a small ‘c’ – element: I’d like to see cricket reach out into the diaspora of people who live here now.

I’d love to see it back on terrestrial TV, but I also understand that might mean less money. We had the Benson and Hedges Cup, and everyone had to smoke fags – that wasn’t brilliant either, was it?  

Interview: Huw Turbervill