I met Brian (Nicko) Nicholson in the early 1980s, shortly before being appointed as Secretary of the SUCC Veterans. Brian was a very handy all-rounder, a much-loved and respected member of the Vets, and a proper gentleman. As the last man in, I would often join him for the final overs and would, more often than not, run him out. Invariably, as I approached him to apologise, he would gallantly apologise to me. For someone who batted and bowled down the order, Brian performed remarkably well. For example, during the 1986-87 season, in 10 innings, he scored 48 runs, a highest score of 17 with 4 not outs and 5 catches. Bowling 24 overs, he took 4 wickets for 145 runs. Unfortunately, during that season, Brian was plagued by dropped, sometimes non-attempted, catches; myself a culprit, unable to catch off my own bowling, let alone that of someone else! Nonetheless, Brian, taking 5 catches, shared the Fielding Award that season with Slips fielder extraordinaire Tom Nevell.
Not only did Brian turn out for the SUCC Vets. He played regularly for the Primary Club of Australia, and indeed attended the 1984 Golden Oldies Cricket Festival in Auckland with the PCA - see photo. Brian is in the front row, third from the right and among other SUCC luminaries, Tom Nevell, Jim Mackie, Greg Scahill and Geoff Schwartzkoff. Finally, I am deeply indebted to Brian, not only for taking the blame for my runouts but also for his introducing me to the Right Reverend Denzil Throckmorton-Jones. Brian was a keen cricket tourist, but while I doubt very much that he ever joined one of Throckers’ cricket tours to unlikely and outlandish venues such as Heard Island, Tristan da Cunha or the Gobi Desert, I have derived much pleasure and infinite amusement from the Right Reverend’s published accounts of his many cricket wanderings, from “ Six and Out in Samarkand” to “Bringing Home the Bacon in Botswana”. Those wishing to remember Nicko, the cricketer, should turn their browsers to the following video link of the Primary Club of Australia vs I Zingari at Camden on April 19th, 1984: https://vimeo.com/869480526?share=copy. Brian appears early in the video as an umpire and at other points. Please remember that this is a digitisation of a forty-year-old video.
Cyril Latimer