TOP MAN

I've just been looking through a copy of the Scunthorpe Town Guide from 1978/9, which contains an interesting cricket entry.
For, in the list of helpful contacts for various social and sporting groups, the heading 'Cricket' is followed by 'Mr D S De Silva, c/o Central Centre, Lindum Street, Scunthorpe, tel 62639'.
D S De Silva was an all-round player of first class calibre from Sri Lanka who came to Scunthorpe in the mid-1970s and proved a huge success for Scunthorpe Town, and I seem to recall for Lincolnshire, too.
No other cricket club merits a mention in the Scunthorpe Guide for that year, and we can only wonder whether the above entry helped attact any newcomers to the fold at Heslam Park.
It's strange how these publications appear to survive down the decades and crop up in drawers and cupboards from time to time. Just as this one has. I've also uncovered a stack of old cricket handbooks, Wisdens and cuttings of articles penned on cricket in the 1980s.
Plenty to keep us going during the close season.