Anthony Roberts, or Uncle Sonny as he is so fondly referred to in the Somerset community, is one of the last surviving relics of a glorious era in the history of local cricket when the game was truly a gentlemen?s sport.

During a life-long love affair with the sport, Roberts ? father of former Youth and Sport Director Brenton and former Somerset Eagles and Somerset Trojans footballer Mel ? has received blessings and privileges few cricketers ever get to experience in their careers.

Yet Roberts, believed to be the oldest surviving Somerset Cup Match cricketer at age 88, has also had his share of challenges and obstacles, among them winning over the approval of members and club officials at Somerset Cricket Club ? and also proving that he was worthy of a place in the club?s cricket team

?Amon Hunt used to come out and coach our team (Somerset Bridge) and one day he asked me to join (Somerset Cricket Club) because they wanted a spin bowler and I was a spin bowler,? Roberts recalled.

?He (Hunt) told me to apply for membership, but only after October when all of the cricket critics were no longer around because they didn?t want any players from across the bridge playing in their team in those days.?

Then there were other obstacles to overcome.

?In those days when you applied for membership (at Somerset Cricket Club) you had to attend an open meeting,? Roberts explained. ?There would be three fellows holding a black ball and if your name came up and they put the ball into a hat, you were out. My good friend Elbridge (Gospel) Simmons was one of those they kicked out at the time.

?But fortunately I was accepted and joined in 1941 and played in Cup Match the following year. I remember I was working down in Southampton and a girl told me she had read my name in the paper to play, and I didn?t know it. The war (the Second World War) was on at the time and so the Cup Match was put off until the following week that year because there was a ship in town that had to be unloaded.

?So the Governor asked to put Cup Match off for a whole week and ended up granting us another holiday ? that?s how we got two days holiday for the match.

?I didn?t get to bat too many times in those days because Somerset were pretty much ruling then. But in my first year (1942) in Cup Match we gave them a two to one defeat at the Royal Naval Field in Somerset.?

Like any other colt, Roberts admitted he had butterflies in his stomach before the match.

?I couldn?t sleep and there was a rule that you had to be in bed by 10 p.m.,? he recalled.

In those days Somerset held trial matches against St.David?s on May 24, Flatts and Social Club.

Roberts recalled sailing to Wellington Oval for the big match onboard the

?We went by boat on the which used to make a piercing whistle as she approached the bridge (Watford) and then everyone would march from the bridge to the club with the players,? he said.

In 1943, however, Roberts was dropped from Somerset?s Cup Match team after originally being chosen to play.

?People still talk about that one even up to today because I was selected to play and then the week of Cup match a certain group of 25 (club members) got together and put me out of the team,? he said.

?They put Earnest Brown in the team in my place and poor Toddy went to Cup Match and made a King?s Pair (two ducks).

?But it?s a horrible thing to do ? to pick someone and then put them out of the team ? and I have been told that it has happened before to someone else on the night before Cup Match.?

Roberts was recalled to the Somerset Cup Match team in 1944, and in 1952 appointed captain.

His tenure, though, would be shortlived.

?I think many people were disappointed when I was appointed captain, although I was still playing good cricket at the time,? Roberts said. ?But unfortunately we lost the match and I was replaced by Woodgate Simmons the very next year.

?I really blamed that loss on some of our top players that didn?t put out at all. But after I stopped playing Cup Match I sat on Somerset?s selection committee for 12 years and was also chairman of various sub-committees.?

In 1952 Roberts captained Somerset against a touring West Indies team containing several Test players. He also captained Somers Isle Cricket League Selects against visiting West Indies teams led by Sir Gary Sobers and Everton Weekes.

? I never thought I would captain a team against Gary Sobers,? Roberts said.

Roberts? love-affair with the sport began in the humble settings at Southampton Glebe School.

?I started playing the sport when I was a young man right along up to my fifties,? said Roberts, who began playing competitive cricket at nearby Sandys United, forerunner of today?s Somerset Bridge Recreation Club.

?We were called the ?Bridge Boys? then before we finally changed the name to Sandys United. We were a top team in cricket and football in those days, but we later changed the name to Somerset Bridge.?

It was during his time at Southampton Glebe, Roberts learned how to turn the ball both ways, reading from a bowler?s manual.

?It was a book called tricking the batsmen,? he smiled. ?I used to bowl the leg break and also the googlie. It is almost the same bowling action, but you have to drop your shoulder a bit in order to make the ball turn the other way. Not too many bowlers can bowl it and I could also bowl you around your legs pretty much like Shane Warne (Australian Test spinner) does today.

?I also had the privilege of practising with Lance Gibbs before and was also a pretty good slip fielder. I used to wash my eyes with fennel that had been soaked in water and then practice throwing a rubber ball against the wall and catching it.

?Cricket is a game that I really love, so much so that I have been all around the world to watch it in places such as Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan, India and England. I?ve had a glorious time touring all over the world to watch cricket and I used to take nine weeks vacation just to play cricket in Staten Island, New York.?

In England, Roberts forged close ties with legendary West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd ? appointed match referee for this year?s Cup Match classic ? during his playing stint with Lancashire in the English County Leagues.

He is also a close friend of former Windies pace bowler Andy Roberts. In 1984 Roberts had the honour of officiating a tour match locally between Sir Viv Richards? Antigua and a Bermuda Cricket Board of Control (BCBC) XI at White Hill Field also featuring fast bowler Andy Roberts.

?I have been a personal friend of Andy Roberts and Clive Lloyd for many years,? Roberts added. ?I used to visit Clive?s house on many occasions when he was captain of Lancashire?s county team, and got to know him quite well.?

Roberts also recalled an incident that occurred during Antigua?s match against a BCBC XI at White Hill Field in ?84.

?The ball slipped out of the bowler?s hand but didn?t pass the wicketkeeper. And so according to the rules of the game the batsman is allowed to go out and hit it,? he explained. ?But they (Antigua) didn?t know that rule and when I explained to them the rules they thought they all could field around the ball.

?But I had to explain to them that the rule states you must return to your normal fielding position and I can even recall another similar incident at Devonshire Rec. involving Donald Norford in which the ball slipped out of the bowler?s hand.

?The batsman (Norford) knew the rule and ordered all of the fielders away. He then went up to the ball and took this wild swing but the ball only trickled from here to there and so the fielder ran him out ? he didn?t hit the ball hard enough.?

After retiring from playing active cricket in the 1970s, Roberts joined forces with Alma (Champ) Hunt, Carl Simmons, Andy Smith and Sinclair (Bunkers) Bean and formed the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association (BCUA) at Young Men?s Social Club in 1961 where he later served as secretary for many years.

?I was in England at the time and Champ (Hunt) was stationed in Aberdeen. One day I was going through the train station and I met this fellow who happened to be a member of the British Umpires Association. We talked about a lot of things and he suggested we form our own umpires? association here in Bermuda. And so we arranged to have a meeting to organise a local umpires? association and eventually became affiliated with the one in England.?

Looking back at his long involvement in the sport locally, Roberts reckons he has been very privileged.

?I have been blessed to have seen all of those years and experienced some of the things I did.?

As for Bermuda?s qualification to next year?s World Cup, Roberts admitted: ?I never thought that would happen in my lifetime, although we did come very close before.?