I first met John Woodcock, the legendary cricket correspondent of The Times who died last week at the age of 94, on the 1982/83 Ashes tour. England had just breezed into Hobart, midway through the trip, and Woodcock was in our hotel foyer as we checked in.
Relations between players and press were more cordial back then, even so I was struck by the warmth with which many of the senior members of the squad greeted him. I was introduced, as one of the new boys in the team, and once the formalities were over he asked if I might join him for lunch, as casually as an uncle treating a favourite nep...