Page 66 - The Light Dragoon 2024

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
The lure of a tour in 2022 brought record numbers to Light Dragoon cricket training. 2023 was a different story where the purists and some young naïve troopers were left to don the whites. The FOE did not allow for many games but rest assured, there was still time to face some old rivals on the green North Yorkshire wickets.
Early season tussles almost turned into scuffles when a private from the Royal Yorkshire Regiment refused Major Freeman access to the pitch after arriving ten minutes late due to the Command Group. “League rules state...” I couldn’t have agreed more with the private, read the standing orders Henry. Tpr Ling, fresh into The Legion, vowed to protect his new OC. However, he didn’t look threatening taking his guard left-handed, having a practice swing, and realising that he was in fact right-handed. The Yorkshire private giggled only to be hit into the field first ball for six as Ling’s Army hockey prowess transferred to the damp Middleham wicket.
League games were as hard to come by as a Captain Addison maiden, meaning the season was reduced to some highly anticipated invitational games against The Scots’ Guards and The Royal
Cricket
Newts and Gordon
Lancers. This was well supported by Cpl Patterson, a corporal at The Infantry Training Centre, who never seemed to be busy on Wednesday afternoons. His season highlight was at Crakehall where
you could watch from the beer garden. The Bay Horse provided a constant flow of ale and sausage rolls which Patto snapped up!
The energy from the boundary trans- ferred to the pitch as the “Pressure Cooker” was turned on full blast. The Jock Guards put up a good fight but crumbled into the proverbial stew while The Lancers hardly made it into the cooker at all. Results wise, another very successful season of Light Dragoon cricket and we hope to have a better tilt in the cup competitions next year if the Regiment/ just The Legion are around. Please don’t nibble A Sqn!
Captain Montgomery-Stuart’s testi- monial season reflected his regimental sporting career: short, scratchy, and full of failure. It is sad to be saying goodbye to our past captain, a man who has given years of service. He chatted a big game from the slips and offered free catching practice to the opposition extra covers. Another great to have left our ranks was Major Freeman, last seen leading a team of soldiers into a Soho Karaoke Bar after a successful C Squadron trip to the Armed Forces Day at Lords. No-one has ever said a word about what happened that night...
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