Date-stamped : 23 May96 - 18:16 21 May 1996 Vockins the servant with a calling celebrates 25 years at New Road Man of the cloth suits Worcestershire well in double role of secretary and commercial manager. Peter Deeley reports CHIEF executives and directors of this, that and the other now abound in the top-heavy administration of many county clubs. Homespun Worcestershire have one man, Michael Vockins, alias the Reverend, who this year celebrates his 25th year as secretary, a post he combines with that of commercial manager. Vockins is by some way the longest-serving paid county backroom servant in the game and for a man of the cloth who has had to handle some of the sport`s most controversial personalities - notably Ian Botham - he retains a passion for the job. When you look out from his eyrie at New Road over the chestnuts and rolling acres, the cathedral towering above the Severn, perhaps that is not so surprising. Vockins, 51, came into first-class cricket administration via service with the game in Shropshire and Berkshire. His original hope had been to go into farming but, with a de- gree in applied biology, went instead to work with the Agricul- tural Research Council. There, in the mid-Sixties, Vockins was already familiar with laboratory work on scrapie disease in sheep which has led to today`s BSE epidemic. In 1971, with the research grant coming to an end, Vockins heard on the cricketing grapevine that Joe Lister was giving up the job of Worcestershire secretary. A committee member recalls Vockins` final words at the interview: "Gentlemen, thank you for seeing me. Whether I get this job or not I am determined to make a career in county cricket." Determination had its way and when Vockins arrived, Norman Gifford had taken over as captain from Tom Graveney and Wor- cestershire had just won the Sunday League. In the intervening time they have won seven more titles, in- cluding the County Championship three times (for the last two, Vockins has accompanied the side on the journey to Buckingham Palace to receive the trophy from Prince Philip.) Ordained in 1988, Vockins` honorary clerical duties fall within the Hereford diocese, encompassing the parishes of Cradley with Mathon and Sturridge, and on Sundays the cricketing-curate hurries from pulpit to ground, clad in collar and clerical shirt. He conducted Graeme Hick`s wedding and has baptised his daughter and Tom Moody`s son. Vockins - and the club - would probably welcome another Botham figure with open arms But this amiable man of God is no soft option when it comes to the hard school of cricket administration. Vockins has four times managed England sides on junior overseas tours and sat on innumerable Test and County Cricket Board committees. Of the characters who have passed through the Worcestershire dressing room in the past 25 years, Vockins says there are only two players with whom he has found it difficult to relate. Botham, he asserts, was not one of them. "People like `Beefy` come with something of a difficult reputa- tion but we have ways of helping them fit in and he responded very well," he said. "I was against signing him. At that time we had a very good young side and I felt we didn`t need him. The debate at the committee meeting was one of the best I have heard. It was rational and without emotion and it was decided by a rea- sonable margin of votes to go for him. "I don`t think `Beefy` ever won a match for us in terms of his batting or bowling. But what he did was to give the team and the club immense self-belief and confidence and in a funny way had he never scored a run or taken a wicket his five years with us would still have been worth their weight in gold." Truth to tell, Vockins - and the club - would probably wel- come another Botham figure with open arms. They are bottom of the championship table but Vockins says: "That`s all part of the ex- citement of being at Worcester. We are notoriously slow star- ters but we usually finish like an express train." Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http.//www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)