FIRST the good news: our old friend Tom Stafford, the wicket keeper with the WD40 knees, has yet to be dismissed this season.

The bad? He hasn’t scored a run, either.

In five outings at No 11 – four for Yarm in the NYSD, one for Yorkshire Over 60s – the 71-year-old retired newsagent has, as he puts it, run out of partners every time.

Unlike the Demon Donkey Dropper of Eryholme – last week’s column – he’s not in line for a rapid acceleration up the order. “I’ve suggested it to the skipper, the best he can offer is 10A,” says Tom.

It may also be good news that Yorkshire have won eight of their ten matches this season, Tom bagging 14 victims. The further bad news is that both defeats were against Lancashire.

One was on July 10, the 558th anniversary of the Battle of Northampton, in which white rose won a famous victory over red.

Sadly, says Tom, history failed to repeat itself.

THE column a couple of weeks back revealed former Darlington FC chairman George Reynolds’s unsuspected prowess at draughts – taught him by a young cellmate, he insists.

It chimed with Peter Ellis, a Quakers director at the time of the crowning glory move from Feethams. “The chairman had a room in the Arena with four or five tables with inlaid black and white squares,” Peter recalls.

“I always wondered what they were for, but now I know. Typical George, he wanted to take on everyone at once.”

A BEER in Spennymoor with Clive Maddison, the town mayor, and with a couple of the boxing academy lads. The club’s the mayor’s chosen charity.

“They’ve been going for 27 years, done a world of good in the town and never had that kind of recognition,” says Clive.

“We never thought about asking for it. It’s a wonderful gesture,” says Robert Ellis, the chief coach.

Never a boxer, the mayor’s a sportsman, nonetheless. Coxhoe lad originally, he played football until he was 50, has run more than 100 half marathons and been an athletics coach.

“He’s keep hissel’ right,” they say in the pub.

Among his fund raising efforts, the 63-year-old first citizen plans to run a six-minute mile. “When you’re mayor that means anything up to 6mins 59 seconds,” he insists. “I did eight minutes last week, now I’m going to get into serious training.”

The club is separately trying to raise the £1,500 needed to take five girl boxers – Amy Aspinall, Carmel Carey, Macey Gallone, Aislinn Paley and Olivia Turnbull – to a tournament in Ireland in October.

FORMER boxing academy secretary Paul Hodgson, besotted by his voice-controlled smart phone, is also ineluctably in attendance. The conversation drifts. “Who used to bring the old boxing booths to Spennymoor?” he demands of it. “Boxing boots, £34.98 a pair,” it replies.

A REAL sadness to learn of the passing of Dave Beach, Marske Cricket Club’s scorer for more than 50 years and an irregular but ever-entertaining contributor to the Backtrack column. He was 70.

Back in 1994, he’s wondered if the 219 opening stand between Stewart and Adam Pattison against Richmondshire was a record between father and son.

For 15-year-old Adam, 102 was a maiden century. For his dad, 47, the 96 was as close as he’d got to a ton in 37 years cricket.

More recently, Dave got in touch after Marske’s match at Barnard Castle on August bank holiday Monday in 2012. The previous day he’d taken a call advising that the start was being brought forward from 1 30pm to noon because of road closures to accommodate the world rubber chicken chucking championship.

Suspecting that someone might be pulling his chicken leg, Dave went on-line and found it to be true. It’s how Barney Meets. “It made a change recording chickens instead of ducks,” he said.

LAST week’s recollection of a Church Times Cricket Cup match between Durham and Bradford 20 years ago should have mentioned the role of Philip North, devout Arsenal fan and vicar at the time of Holy Trinity, Hartlepool. Even in the Church Times cup, we noted, he’d once been warned by the umpire for “youthful over-exuberance.” He’s now 51 and after many ecclesiastical adventures is Bishop of Burnley, if not quite as youthful then reportedly as enthusiastic as ever.

….and finally, the last man to play cricket for England without ever having appeared in the county championship (Backtrack, August 2) was Norton-on-Tees solicitor David Townsend, known usually by the initials DCH.

Townsend’s only first class experience was with Oxford University when chosen for the West Indies tour in 1934-35. Opening in three tests, he averaged just 12.83 and went back to playing for Durham. He died, aged 84, in 1997.

Ollie Pope has this week become the tenth youngest man to play cricket for England Readers are invited to name the youngest.

Catching them all ways, the column returns next week.