Hall of Fame Number: 011
Inducted: September 2019 at the BCEW Johnners Trust Development Festival
Inducted as: Player & Official
England Cap Number: 7
Geoff was a member of the original England Blind Cricket Team & continued in the side throughout the teams early years in the late 1990’s & early 2000’s. He was a partially sighted player & was a batsman & wicketkeeper.
For the World Blind Cricket Council Geoff had a lengthy stint as General Secretary & returned for a two year spell as Finance Director in the mid 2010’s.
Domestically he held a number of posts, British Blind Sport Cricket General Secretary, Blind Cricket England & Wales Technical Director & then General Secretary. Geoff along with Tim Guttridge & Miles Northwood drafted BCEW’s founding documents & initial rules.
In the early 1990’s Geoff played a significant role in the agreement for the Primary Club Cup Final to move to the Nursery Ground at Lords, which became it’s home for seventeen seasons.
In the mid 2000’s Geoff worked at New College Worcester for two years & took the opportunity to help their young players develop by sharing his experience & knowledge.
Geoff won the Primary Club Cup & National League titles multiple times for Metro before helping to set up Sussex Sharks who he then played for during the 2000’s. He did return to Metro in the late 2010’s but to play for their second XI the Metro Devils where he helped coach Metro’s new and developing players. During that time he also helped John Garbett with BCEW development work.
Geoff said of his induction:
“I have some of the same great recollections as Miles Northwood about my playing days. It’s right that I was as much involved off the field as on it. As World Blind Cricket General Secretary I wrote the Core Documents (governing rules and playing rules etc) for WBCC with some help from ICC (when they were still based at Lord’s).
“The best working period for me as an official was with Tim Guttridge and Peter Donovan when I was General Sec of WBCC, they were both very good and very easy to work with. My best playing moment for England was helping to get us home for our first victory against Pakistan in 2002. When I went in we needed 26 off 19 balls, amazingly and despite my ever present nerves, I hit my first ball for four! This surprised everyone especially me. We beat them twice that year an they went on to be world champions at the Chennai World Cup.
“I played for thirty years, my favourite colleagues and friends were Heindrich Swanepoel, David Samuels and John Garbett.”