May 1962 certain members of the alumni of that year were pondering what to do during the summer holidays, which would be our last one before we either went to University or joined the palaces of industry after leaving school. I had the bright idea of going on a cricket tour to Cornwall and I thought that I might be able to persuade my father to sponsor most of the cost of the trip! Fearing I should have kept my big mouth shut and with fear and trepidation, I approached my pater, who, surprisingly, readily agreed. As a result, the Incomprehensibles were formed and it was decided that his cricket tour to Cornwall would take place in the first week of August 1962. Some of the participants played for the Platypods, which was then a casual team made up of Masters and Senior School boys (I believe the Platypods still exist but membership is now confined to the Common Room). We had two trial matches, the first against the Athletes and the second against a Cranleigh Village XI. So the IncomprehensiblesCricket Society was formed.
The next trick was to arrange fixtures in Cornwall and ensure the logistical arrangements were properly organised. We hired a bus and we decided that we were going to base ourselves in Mullion Cove, where my family owned three houses (so accommodation was cheap!) and friends could take the overspill. The touring party consisted of Mark Pinks (2 & 3 South), Chris Dowdeswell (West), Douggy Dykes (2 & 3 South), Martin Curwen (E), Peter Wheatley (1 & 4 South), Ian Coult (W), Nick Coulson (1 & 4 South), Nigel Sinclair (2 & 3 South), Ian Cotton (2 & 3 South), Twick-Davies (2 & 3 South), James Larcombe (W), Peter Weller (W), Graham Castle (2 & 3 South), Julian Wiseman (2 & 3 South), Dick Redfern (West) and myself.
My father had very generously chartered a small bus together with a driver called John, who was going to accompany us over the eight days of the trip. We set off at 9 o’clock in the morning from London and, by the time we had picked up several of the company en route and had a sort of supper on Bodmin moor, we managed to arrive at Mullion Cove at 10 o’clock that night. Five fixtures had been organised. The first was the following day against a Mullion XI, which we lost, narrowly. The following day, a Sunday when, in those days, no cricket was played, some of us went off to play golf whilst others decided to take in the local ‘flora and fauna’. The result was that by the time the next game came round on the Monday, against a lovely little village side in Madron, we had a few camp followers joining the party, who remained part of the group until we dispersed. We managed to beat Madron quite convincingly, Martin Curwen taking 4 or 5 wickets. The following day, a Tuesday, we played Penzance, which was a much tougher fixture. Again, we lost, narrowly. The Wednesday, we had off so that we could either go swimming or examine the flora and fauna further; however, the following day we had to get down to serious business as we had to play the Cornish Crusaders at Mullion, which included two or three cricketers of County standard. It was a terrible day to play cricket; cold, misty and damp and I am afraid to say, we were virtually annihilated. Our last fixture was against a Mullion Veteran XI, which took place on a Friday. The game was played in glorious sunshine. We managed to score plenty of runs and get the opposition out. The result was that we won and out of the five games, we managed to win two and lose three. The finale was a barbeque at the Mullion Cricket Pavilion. We had, by this time, collected a significant number of camp followers, as in the evenings we had been going to one or two local “hops”. So the tour ended on a high and the next morning the bus departed Cornwall, leaving behind one or two tearful and broken-hearted lasses!
The Incomprehensibles never really got going again to play cricket. I think that we managed one game in 1963 and one in 1965; a diaspora had taken place and it was difficult to get people together; however, this was not the end of the Incomprehensibles. In 1985, Mullion Golf Club celebrated its centenary and I decided to get a team together to play the Club as part of the celebrations. I am pleased to say that the fixture has taken place virtually every year since. It is not exclusively confined to OCs for membership but those who are invited to participate, who are not OCs, have to be ‘like’ souls. I very much hope that one day a younger OC will seize the mantle and resuscitate the Incomprehensibles Cricket Society. We had such fun on that tour and whenever I mention it to one or two of the matrons of Mullion, they smile wryly……