Radley and Heyhoe-Flint honoured

Two stalwarts of the English game have been honoured in the Queen's New Year's Honours list. Clive Radley and Rachael Heyhoe-Flint have been rewarded for their services to cricket both on and off the pitch. Radley earns the MBE while Heyhoe-Flint gets an upgrade to OBE after being awarded the MBE 25 years ago.

Radley, 63, played for Middlesex, Auckland and England during a first-class career spanning three decades from the mid-1960s. He finally made his Test debut in New Zealand in 1977-78 aged almost 34, and played eight Tests. But it is off the pitch where he has excelled as coach and he is now head coach with the MCC.

Heyhoe-Flint's contributions to the game are manifold. As an England captain with a shrewd business brain she raised the profile of the sport massively, quick to spot a media opportunity, and later a commentator.

She even thought of the first World Cup - the women played theirs two years before the men - when, along with Sir Jack Hayward, they cooked up the idea for the women, who played their first tournament two years before the men. She took England to that title in 1973, the crowning glory of her captaincy which, from 1966, saw her unbeaten in six series.

She became an MBE in 1972, and was a shoo-in as one of the first ten female members of the MCC in 1999 and in 2004 she became the first woman elected to the full committee, aged 64. She also represented England at hockey, playing in goal, and was for many years a director of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"I am naturally thrilled to bits," Heyhoe-Flint told Cricinfo, "particularly that it has been awarded for services to cricket.

"My MBE was for services to women's cricket - so it is really pleasing that I have received the recognition for my deep involvement with the MCC and the Lady Taverners charity -one of the fund raising arms of the Lord's Taverners - the official charity for recreational cricket."

Nowadays the Lady Taverners are sponsors of junior women's cricket indoor and outdoor, club and county events for Under-13s and Under-15s, and also cricket events for youngsters with disabilities.