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Although he has record of 209 hundreds and 110,000-plus runs, Stuck knows he has scored more, but can nd no evidence of them.
“I have 209 on record, but I know there are more out there that I don’t have proof of – a couple of midweek hundreds I scored for Chelmsford for starters. And you can’t count ones you don’t have proof of...”
No.200 came for East Herts Cavaliers in 2008, and No.209 at the Sudbury Festival in 2019. The way old scorecards are being dug out and uploaded onto Play-Cricket, there’s still a chance he could nd that number boosted a bit.
Just one of his centuries was scored in the Minor Counties Championship, he says because of the breakneck pace of the games, in which four-innings matches were played over two days with plenty of declarations and contrived run-chases. He often ran out of time.
“It was almost two separate games. You would try to get a lead on rst innings, which gave you three points. But then you had to sort of win the game all over again by trying to set a target or arrange one.
“Funnily enough, the teams that made opposition follow on almost never won, because there just wasn’t the time to take 20 wickets without the carrot being there for the other side.
“You had to gamble to lose in order to win. Bedfordshire had a captain called Jack Smith [who died last year] and he won them the Championship twice in three years, and in between they nished
virtually bottom. That summed up the gambles he took.”
Stuck says he was picked by Su olk because of the way he put a price
on his wicket, and his usefulness on the sticky uncovered wickets which prevailed when the weather was i y. But he could attack and innovate when needed.
“I was a big hooker of the ball as a kid and I used to love facing quick bowling. But then when I was at Woodbridge School [on a scholar- ship] an Australian who played
for Northamptonshire called Jock Livingston came down to coach us, and within an hour’s session he turned me into an o side player, cover driving properly.
“I became a good cutter and had a fairly solid all-round game. When I got in I could hit the fast bowlers over the
top too.
“In order to get away in Minor Counties cricket I used to sweep the quick bowlers, though I didn’t realise I was actually playing a sweep until Ken Suttle, the former Sussex player who came to play for Su olk, said ‘never in my whole career have I seen a batsman sweep as much as you do’.
And bear in mind Ken Suttle played more consecutive County Championship matches, 423, than anyone.
Stuck adds: “I became known for that shot.
But I have never attempted a reverse-sweep or lap or anything like the stu they do now...”
Of all the bowlers he ever faced, among the toughest must have been Sonny Ramadhin, the legendary West Indies mystery spinner who played ve seasons for Lincolnshire during Stuck’s era.
“In one match he bowled two deliveries that I thought were rank long-hops outside o stump. They zzed back, hardly got o the ground and bowled me. So I had to tell myself ‘OK, he doesn’t bowl a long-hop’...”
Stuck has toured all over the world: “Austra-
lia, India, Sri Lanka, UAE, Barbados about eight times, South Africa, Holland about 50 times, and been to New Zealand to watch. I’ve even played in Estonia!”
His most satisfying hundred was for England Over-70s against Australia Over-70s at the
The Forty Club 2021 Yearbook
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