Bringing together the memories of those who knew him so well, today we take a look back at some stories, anecdotes, and reflections of the late, great Norman Gifford.
Admired as a cricketer, but also a captain, a friend and an influential Worcestershire County Cricket Club board member, these warming tales from yesteryear help capture the legacy of one of New Road’s finest.
Touching tributes from former teammates and friends Phillip Neale OBE, Richard Brown and Paul Pridgeon all share their fond memories on someone who embodied the Club.
Phillip Neale OBE – Former Teammate
I would not only consider Giff a friend, but he was also a mentor. He was captain when I first joined the club, and I would spend my early days as a young cricketer with Norman and Basil (D’Oliveira) learning about ebbs and flows of the game. I would often be sat on the balcony or in the changing room listening to their ideas and views on the game, which I think helped me in the long run because I showed willing to learn and listen.
I think in some ways Giff had picked me out as a captain before it was my time, just because I asked questions and listened, which he respected. Often, we would walk out on the pitch together to assess the conditions and chat about the match situation before a day’s play.
He was of course a wonderful spin bowler in addition to being such a good captain. He would bowl spin at me for as long as I needed before matches and then go out and toil for long spells in the middle, so there was never a time to complain or moan about being tired or feeling sore! In many ways, he turned into a coach when he was still a senior player, if you showed willing and a want, it was a two-way street with Norman where he would help and go out of his way for you.
When he went to Warwickshire, playing against him was slightly odd, given I had leant on him for so many years. I was just desperate not to get out to him! He was such a great leader and great person throughout, he played a crucial part in the dressing room, alongside the likes of Glenn Turner, Alan Ormrod, Basil, Vanburn Holder and Imran Khan.
Not many people will know this, but even as a quality spinner, later on in his career he actually got the yips and couldn’t remember which foot he would take off from, which seems mad when it was later on in his career and he was still captain, it just made things even funnier.
Back in the day when it was split dressing room, he would make the youngsters run out from the top changing room to help get the covers on if it started raining, there were some days where it wouldn’t matter if you were playing or not – you would be called out to help anyway!
He was very level-headed most of the time, but every now and again he would lose it if he caught us up on the roof, catching some sunshine! There was one spot where we used to climb onto and think we were out of sight, but inevitably he would catch us and that was it!
Whenever we met later in life, it was like we had never left, we always caught up over the cricket and chatted at New Road.
Richard Brown – Friend
Once he returned to live in Worcester, Norman liked nothing better than to talk cricket in the Pavilion, over a cup of coffee. Amongst his most regular reflections was losing in six Lord’s finals – four as a player for Worcester, one with Warwickshire and then as a coach for Sussex. For good measure, his brother also lost when playing in a minor final at Lord’s!
In 1963 Norman was named Man of the Match in the first Gillette Final by Frank Woolley, having taken 4-33. ‘They would never give it to me now’ he would mutter ‘but because it was the first final nobody realised it was meant to be given to the winning team’. Years later, at a PCA event, John Snow (3-13 in eight overs) said that he should have been named Man of the Match in that final and both men laughed!
Norman captained Worcestershire’s 1974 Championship Winning team and always talked about what a good side they were. ‘We would have won lots more Championships if Tony Greig hadn’t convinced Imran Khan to join Sussex’ was another regularly stated view.
Alongside Shane Warne, Norman believed Roly Jenkins was the biggest spinner of a ball he ever saw. ‘You could hear it fizz’ he would say almost licking his lips with pleasure. At Trent Bridge on a dull, dank and cold day we were watching the opening game of the Championship season from the shelter of the Pavilion. At about 3 O’clock, Norman shouted, ‘time for a bit of spin’ and rubbed his hands together with glee. He was such an enthusiast and will be fondly remembered by everyone who met him.
Paul Pridgeon – Former Teammate
Giff was very special to me, I started off when he was captain, playing all the way through his captaincy. Everything I learnt about cricket was through him. He always made time for you, even when things didn’t go your way, but make no mistake, he was more than happy to fire a rocket when needed.
I think my funniest memory of Giff was probably on the pitch at Northants, on a day where he found a way to wind-up Dickie Bird.
Giff used to terrify Dickie Bird when he played, because he had a partiality to get quite stroppy, and to set the scene a bit on this particular day, we had set Northants a pretty big total to chase in the fourth innings and they had got off to an absolute flyer.
Ned Larkins, their opening batter kept charging down the wicket at Norman and whacking him back over his head, which unsurprisingly wound-up Norm. He turned to Dickie and said “Dickie, make him stop doing that please”, to which Dickie replied, “You know the way it works, Norman. There is nothing I can do; the batter can do what he likes.”
Tired of things not going his way, and with the game slipping out of our grasp, Norman decided to take matters into his own hands, in the hopes of killing some time as the game neared its conclusion.
Norman had been bowling around the wicket, but in a witty attempt to claim back some time, he decided to bowl from over the wicket with his next ball, knowing full well that Dickie would signal ‘no-ball’ and make him bowl it again. Acting totally shocked by the decision, Giff questioned Dickie on his call, pretending to be totally confused by the whole debacle, when in reality, he knew exactly what he was doing! I think Dickie was so sick of his time wasting that he stopped arguing in the end.
Anyway, Giff’s antics managed to buy us enough time to salvage a draw, helping us save the game from a pretty poor position. That sums up what he was like!
He was a wonderful cricketer in his own right, but his international career never really took off, largely due to Derek Underwood’s success, but that never dampened his attitude and love for the game.
Even after retiring and well into his 70s he would come back and work with the Worcestershire Academy, standing in nets, throwing balls and offering knowledge.
More recently we would sit up on View 2 and watch games at New Road, with his rigid views as strong as ever on fielding positions and line-ups etc. Sometimes I wondered if he cared a bit too much, but that never stopped him.
