Love Me Do

A proper appreciation of tea
may suggest that
they are cricketers

Fifty years of The Beatles. Who would have thought? For cricketers of Fantasy Bob's generation, they have always been there. It looks like they always will be too. 

The first single record that FB bought with his own money was the Beatles' Paperback Writer. The first LP he bought was Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Lennon hits out while filming in Spain 1966

Evidence of the Fab Four as cricketers is hard to come by. It is unlikely in their formative years in Hamburg that there were too many opportunities for net practice. But John Lennon at least seems to have been a cricketer. Some photographs of him playing while on the set of the film How I Won the War show him both batting and bowling. Maybe his later predilection to wear white was an expression of his frustrated cricketing needs. There is little evidence that Yoko Ono encouraged him to take up bat or ball. so that may explain a lot about his later career.

The Beatles have been part of the soundtrack to FB's life. So omnipresent have they been that FB is sure all their songs must be about cricket, but he just hasn't worked out how yet so deep are the lyrics.

Here is FB's Beatles XI - his favourite songs from the catalogue.  All of them seem to have some kind of clue in the lyric to their cricketing significance. Perhaps this is why they are FB's favourites.  Or is he just making it up? (Not in batting order).

A Day in the Life  - nobody was really sure if he hadn't ever played at Lords
And Your Bird Can Sing - you tell me that you've faced every ball there is, and you bowl with swing
Come Together - Got to be a quickie 'cos he's so hard to see
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - Here I stand, Bat in Hand, turn my face to the ball
Dr Robert - Ring my friend, I said No Ball, Dr Robert
Get Back - Get Back, Get Back, Get back to the crease where you belong
Norwegian Wood - I once had a Scoop
Strawberry Fields Forever - Batting is easy with eyes closed
I Should Have Known Better - I should have known better with a ball like that
If I Fell - If I trust in you, Oh Please, don't run me out
Here Comes the Sun - Little Darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter, Here come the Nets

Cricketing songs or not - John George Paul and Ringo - Test Match Quality.