>Wielding the Willow / Duncan Bell
Back in the olden days around 1990, when I still managed to wield the willow and chuck down 8 overs of military medium pace, I met a very young, small and cheeky Chris Taylor. He was friends with my brother and my other mates and we all played in the only two school 1st teams that mattered….the rugby XV and the Cricket XI.

Typically, Chris being only 4ft 10 the only position he could play in rugby was scrum half. Luckily for him he possessed great pace and agility and managed to stay clear of the big mutes like me that constantly wanted to smash him up in training and in games because of his constant jibing, put downs and kicking of our ankles in rucks. If any of you have been hit by a cricket ball behind the pads on the ankle you must know what its like to be powerless at the bottom of a ruck with the likes of Tales raking his size 9’s all over your legs! The bruises and cuts last for weeks! Tales quickly proved himself to everyone and became 1st choice scrum half at school several years younger than his peers and it was only his huge abilty at cricket that stopped him making it as a professional in rugby.

Even though Tales liked to boss us forwards about on the rugby pitch I could turn the tables on him as captain of the cricket XI. This gave me the absolute right to stick myself in at number 3 because we all knew that with Tales opening the batting if you batted at 5 you would never get the chance at the crease! Even though I should have been in at the fall of the 1st wicket I never got the chance to bat when after 50 overs Tales and Andrew Nichols broke the school record for an opening stand against our arch rivals Clifton College against the feared and future England International fast bowler James Kirtley. Mind you, I got my own back the next week by dropping Alex Nichols to number 3 so I could have a bat, only to run Tales out in the 1st over! Finally we could all have a bat!!! Suffice to say we didn’t get enough runs, my bowling was wayward and we ended up getting smashed!

Tales was not only a very good rugby player and is now an impressive cricketer but he is also a huge family man and a great bloke, and as someone who knows a thing or two about professional athletes, these are rare but admirable qualities.

Good luck mate. Dunc