Chesterfield Cricket Lovers' Society

Evening With Peter Parfitt

A full house at the Sandpiper was treated to a wonderfully entertaining evening in the company of Peter Parfitt. The former Middlesex and England player regaled the Chesterfield Cricket Lovers with memories of individuals and incidents from his colourful career that extended from the mid 1950's through to the early 1970's.

A number of the highly amusing anecdotes featured Denis Compton and Fred Trueman and, among a number of players, past and present, singled out for praise was Derbyshire's Les Jackson.

The Ray Buxton Award for Services to Cricket was presented to Tim Kirk after a short mid-evening break. Chesterfield Cricket Club chairman Mike Taylor paid tribute to the Tim's work at the Chesterfield club and around the county both as a player and a coach.

Tim had combined playing consistently well at the highest level of club cricket with an exceptional commitment to coaching juniors. During the past ten years he had also played regularly for the MCC and had the honour of leading the team out at the MCG against a Select XI of Australian cricketers.

Peter Parfitt made the presentation to a worthy recipient of the 2007 award for which Tim expressed his appreciation and took the opportunity to thank his father, Peter for his unstinting support. He slso thanked former players such as Jim Brailsford, Andy Bowers and Harry Cartwright who had been so influential in his early years.

New Zealand test cricketer Iain O'Brien shattered Tim Kirk's middle stump when bowling the Chesterfield 2nd XI captain at Queen's Park.
Kirk later had his revenge when he bowled O'Brien and although he didn't break the stump he did have the satisfaction of seeing Chesterfield gaining a winning draw against O'Brien's South Wingfield side in a County League match.
New Zealand test player Iain O'Brien (left) and Chesterfield's Tim Kirk with the shattered stump.