The World’s Best Cricket Magazine ICC EUROPE …...World Cup in 2014. Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and hosts the Netherlands all took part in an exciting tournament

EXCLUSIVE

INTERVIEWSTHE

THE INSIDE STORY OF GREAT ENGLISH BATSMANSHIP

GOOCHCOOK

BOYCOTT

BELLISSIMO! ITALY CLAIM EUROPEAN T20 CHAMPIONSHIP

RuNSCORERS

WOMEN’SASHES

SPECIALA LANDMARK SERIES

IN A REVOLUTIONARY NEW FORMAT

SARAH TAYLOREXCLUSIVE

The World’s Best Cricket Magazine

ISSUEICC EUROPE EDITION

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IRELAND HOSTING ENGLAND IN ODIIreland host England in the RSA Challenge next month playing in front of the biggest crowd to ever attend a cricket match in Ireland. Advance ticket sales for the one-day international to be broadcast Live on Sky Sports are already pushing the two-thirds mark, and 10,000 cricket fans are expected to descend on North Dublin on Tuesday 3rd September for the first major match to be played at Ireland’s newest international venue.

With England retaining the Ashes there’s bound to be a carnival atmosphere in Dublin and Irish coach Phil Simmons is confident that the highly charged atmosphere will inspire his team to further glory as they look to recreate the famous result from 2 years ago when Ireland beat England at the Cricket World Cup in 2011.

“It’ll be a cause for double celebration as we’ve confirmed our qualification for the 2015 World Cup and England have held onto The Ashes. There’s always an extra

edge when Ireland play England in any sport and cricket is no exception. I guess our win in the World Cup will always be brought up when the sides clash, but that’s history now.

“It’s time for new memories and new heroic deeds. We’ve a strong settled side packed with county players who are all very experienced. I’ve every faith that the team can once again make the fans and the country proud against England next month.”

Veteran Trent Johnston is looking to give the Irish public one more glory day before time is called on his international career ahead of this landmark fixture for Ireland. The 39 year-old, who last month announced that he’s hanging up his boots at the end of 2013, feels that a major scalp on Irish soil is long overdue.

“It’s been disappointing that we haven’t beaten a Full Member in Dublin yet, but I know just how determined the team

is to rectify that situation. I made my debut in 2004 when we had a great win over Surrey, but despite being in great positions a few times – not least against England, as well as Australia and Pakistan - we haven’t managed to get over the finishing line.

“It’s all set up to be a fantastic occasion at Malahide with 10,000 fans packed in. There’s bound to be a special atmosphere and it’d be special to give the fans a winning start at the new stadium.”

Cricket Ireland are calling on the England supporters to get their tickets now in advance to guarantee their place at what is sure to be a memorable day. For the match Cricket Ireland have put together a great value match ticket and accommodation package for travelling England Supporters which can be purchased through http://www.cricketireland.ie/about/RSA-Challenge - Standard tickets can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.ie

With all tournaments now complete, I would like to congratulate Italy and Denmark on qualifying for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in November. Well done to Scotland who have qualified for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup and Ireland Women who have made it to the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh next year. Outside of these events, there is still lots of development work going on throughout Europe and we are delighted to welcome Romania to our list of members.

Nick PinkICC Regional Development Manager - Europe

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WELCOME TO YOUR MAGAZINE

Welcome to another issue of All Out Cricket magazine, brought to you in partnership with ICC Europe. This month we trace the lineage of English batsmanship and speak exclusively to three men who know a thing or two about run-scoring, in the form of Boycott, Gooch and Cook. Elsewhere we report on Italy’s European Championship T20 win, Dirk Nannes tells us where it’s all gone wrong for the Aussies and Jeff Thomson tears in off his long run in a no holds barred interview. We also take a close look at the Women’s Ashes, which boasts a brand new format this year, and talk to England’s star turn, Sarah Taylor. Enjoy!

Phil WalkerEditor, AOC

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ICC WOMEN’S WORLD TWENTy20 QUALIfIERThe ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier took place in Ireland where the hosts qualified alongside Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With the ICC adding an extra two qualification places just before the start of competition, the Netherlands and Ireland battled it out in a 3rd/4th qualification play off. With a rain affected reserve day, for some time it looked like the match may not even be played, but when it finally did, it was an exciting and enthralling match; which Ireland won by 2 runs. Ireland will now look forward to the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh next year.

ICC EUROPEAN U19 DIvISION 1 WCQThe Pepsi ICC European U19 Division 1 World Cup Qualifier took place in the Netherlands this month as six teams battled it out with Scotland winning a place in the ICC U19 World Cup in 2014.

Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and hosts the Netherlands all took part in an exciting tournament as it went down to the final day’s play, with Ireland and Scotland both aiming for that one qualification spot. Scotland defeated the Irish and will now look forward to the ICC U19 World Cup in the UAE next year. For photos and results click here.

ICC EUROPEAN U15 DIvISION 1 CHAMPIONSHIPIreland were crowned champions of the ICC European U15 Division 1 Championship in Rugby, England this month. Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and the Netherlands all competed, with Ireland topping the table with 8 points.

PEPSI ICC WORLD CRICkET LEAGUE 6Jersey and Nigeria got promoted to Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 scheduled to be held in early 2014 in Malaysia. Vanuatu will stay on in Division six, while the other sides go back to the regional divisions. The hosts Jersey finished top.

ROMANIA THE NEWEST MEMbER Of THE INTERNATIONAL CRICkET COUNCIL

There are now 32 ICC Associate and Affiliate members within Europe, after Romania was confirmed as a new Affiliate member at the 2013 ICC Annual Conference. Cricket took a formal shape in Romania around 2006 when the Transylvania Cricket Club (TCC) was formed in Bucharest by three eager cricket loving expatriates made up of two Englishmen and an Australian. Backed by a successful business man and a cricket enthusiast who has invested heavily into establishing cricket in Romania, cricket began to develop and in June 2009 Cricket Romania was formed. In 2013 there are a total of five grounds being used by Cricket Romania, two in Bucharest, two in Timisoara and one in Cluj. In April of 2013 - Cricket Romania inaugurated the first turf square in Eastern and Central Europe at their location in Moara Vlasiei - just on the outskirts of Bucharest. For more information on Romania, visit their website http://www.cricketromania.com or like on Facebook

CRICkET RECOGNISED AS A SPORT by SPANISH GOvERNMENTAfter several years and numerous directorates the Spanish government have finally recognised cricket as a sport and Cricket Espana as the sole governing body for cricket in the country.Cricket Espana first undertook the quest to get cricket recognised as a sport when Ken Sainsbury was President. Sainsbury and his committee made inroads and for the last four years, David Stirton the Cricket Espana government liaison officer, has worked tirelessly to see this project through to completion.

He has been helped the last few years by Andrew Ward, a top sports lawyer from the law firm Cuatro Casos. Ward, who also happens to be a member of Madrid Cricket Club, received confirmation of a successful application last month.

Numerous positive impacts will come about from this recognition, notably the opportunity to teach cricket as a sport in Spanish schools. The next stage of the process is for Cricket Espana to strive for “agruppacion” status on the path to see the sport receive federation status as part of the long term goal.

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Hello Thommo, welcome to England! Many people have said you were the fastest bowler the world has ever seen, but did you think it yourself?Yeah, I did. That was the one thing I set out to do as a kid and I achieved it. If you set yourself goals and you achieve them, well, then you’re a happy man, aren’t you? You had the West Indies and those sorts of guys, so there was always good company. It wasn’t an easy thing – though I thought it was easy – because there was a lot of competition. It was quite funny – the more you bowl fast, the faster you want to get.

How come it came so easy to you? It was my style. People get taught to bowl fast the wrong way. I’m just a medium-sized guy, with a short run-up, who bowled as fast as ever – what does that tell you?

Richie Benaud famously said you had the purest fast bowler’s action he’d ever known, but why did it work so effectively?Just the economy in my action. It was very efficient – I was bowling with everything, not just my arm or my back. I used

everything I had. I think that’s what made it more injury free; it was quite fluid and it just flowed through the body. From the moment I could bowl as a six-year-old kid, that was me.

Is there anyone you see nowadays that comes close?No, I don’t see too many sharpish bowlers around at the moment. I was watching a bit of the Champions Trophy and the quicker guys are some of the Pakistani guys. They always seem to have somebody who can bowl fast.

Do you think that’s what it is – people are being over-coached? I’m sure it is – don’t tell me ‘do I think’. I know! You’ve still got to be able to do it. It’s something you’ve got to want to do and it’s seriously hard work. But if you can bowl really quick and scare the hell out of everybody, it makes life a little bit easier.

What’s the biggest mistake people make in manufacturing fast bowlers? You’ve got to make sure you tell them the right things. When there’s a lot of money

around players and teams, people invent rubbish, you know? They just feed them full of rubbish and coach the wrong things.

Have you not thought about going in and alleviating the rubbish? Oh, mate, I couldn’t put up with the system. You’ve got to answer to people who wouldn’t know shit from clay, and they’re questioning you. Look at the Australian bowlers now – they all look big and they all look strong but what the hell is going on? They’re injured all the time. They say it’s a business and there’s a group of people running the Cricket Australia fast bowling unit – I’d sack the whole bloody lot of them! That’s my opinion.

Do you think a time will come when they will have to look at what they are doing with their fast bowlers? When there’s money around, you always get people that dodge the bullet. It’s always the ones that are worth the money that get the flick and the ones that aren’t worth two bob that seem to stay in there because they talk a good game.

He’s the mullet-haired, box-breaking ultra-quick

with the slingshot style and the potty mouth. Dare we ask: what are you having,

Jeff Thomson?I NTERVIEW VITHUSHAN EHANTHARAJAH

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Did you come across like that in your playing days? No, because we never had any coaches. We didn’t have to do that – you just went out and did your thing. You might look at somebody else and pick up kinks from them, but you’d work it out yourself. Players have now been mollycoddled since they were kids and they’re used to asking people things. I never asked anybody for their thoughts – I would know I bowled crap or bowled well. It’s like hitting a golf ball; you know what you did wrong as soon as you hit the ball or in the swing. It’s the same with bowling. Generally, the ball I’ve bowled before to the guy would help me make up my mind what I’m bowling next. Unless I’ve just blown him out!

That’s quite a rare trait in a quick – especially now – to be able to put it where you want? Well, my stats probably don’t back that up. Before my injury, I got 100 wickets from 22 Tests. Then I stuffed my shoulder up in that tennis accident. But every bowler, with all the balls they’ve bowled and all the coaching and training they’ve done,

should know how to get any batsman out, especially at Test level. It’s nice to get into a rhythm with it and start getting sides out. When you’re bowling well, you don’t want an over off when the other bloke’s bowling at the other end. The worst part of bowling really well and getting a wicket is that you’ve got to wait for the guy to come out again, or for a drinks break. You just want to keep bowling!

Do you feel lucky that you got it right – the action, the routine and the deliveries? Ah, it wasn’t through my own management – it was just through luck. My dad bowled like that and he obviously passed it on to me. He was a very good cricketer but didn’t get the same opportunities as I did back then. I owe it to him, nothing else. It’s just luck of the draw.

When you’re bowling well, you don’t want an over off when the other bloke’s bowling

left: Bobbelow: Bob

Mr and Mrs Thommo

modelling 1978’s latest threads

Thommo in full flow

With our man Vish at Wormsley


It was a glorious day at Preston Nomads CC, the impossibly picturesque ground in the midst of the South Downs National Park. One of the most jaw-dropping venues anywhere in the country, it had drawn a handful of spectators, enjoying the sun on benches scattered around the boundary.

David Epherton, a septuagenarian from Worthing, took out his foil sandwiches and prepared for the game to commence. He was a veteran of 60 years of cricket in the county but squinted in the sun to make out the unfamiliar badges on the players’ shirts. “Germany, you say?” he said with a mixture of surprise and boyish glee. “That is a bit di� erent.”

“I watch a lot of fi rst-class cricket so I thought I’d see how the minnows play. It’s a much better standard than I expected.

There is no doubt that pyjama cricket has helped the game expand.”

Not only was it a beautiful venue, it was also a fi tting one. For the stunning ground, complete with two pitches and a clubhouse the envy of many a county, was bought with an £8million donation by Spen Cama, a Lithuanian barrister who came to England as a young man, made his fortune and fell in love with the summer game: a European benefactor for a European tournament.

ICC Europe supports the development of cricket in the continent and decided to bring the European division one tournament to England to give the players an opportunity to play at top class grounds, under the media spotlight.

Over the weekend 12 teams landed in a Sussex heat wave to compete for two spots

THE BUMPER

EUROVISIONS Seven out of 10 men are colourblindBeefy, upon being asked why there’s so little competition for snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan

While most cricket lovers in the UK found themselves gripped by the Ashes, sunny Sussex was hosting the European Championship T20 � nals. With teams arriving from across Europe hoping to qualify for a spot at the global T20 quali� ers, competition was high and it was Italy who took the honours in a high-scoring � nal.

in the global T20 qualifi er in Dubai in November. From the British Isles came Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man while Denmark were joined by Scandinavian neighbours Norway and Sweden. France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Austria presented the continental challenge. With the exception of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, who had qualifi ed automatically for Dubai, the cream of European cricket had gathered on the South Coast to show that the Ashes was not the only international cricket in town.

The striking fl int-clad pavilion housed a hive of activity. Scorers, ICC o� cials, presidents, local volunteers, website commentators and a production crew preparing a highlights package for YouTube were all present. To a passer-by it must have seemed a fi xture of little consequence, but cricket at this level, boosted by social media exposure, enjoys surprising international interest.

As I sat by the boundary my Twitter feed reported the events unfolding before me. Success is relative and for many of these teams promotion to the global stages of

BE LLI SSI MO!WORDS TIM BROOKS

German tweet EDIT.indd 32 27/08/2013 14:31


We look forward to seeing him again - fully clothedsainsbury’s deputy store manager Jamie Curtis bears no hard feelings towards an unnamed Hampshire player caught naked in the supermarket

The cream of European cricket had gathered on the South Coast to show that the Ashes was not the only international cricket in town

Despite losing in the final it was quite some tournament for Danish captain Freddie Klokker. The ex-Warwickshire and Derbyshire man scored 464 runs at an average of 77.33. Klokker, who was previously a member of the MCC Young Cricketers, became the fifth Dane to feature in county cricket and the first to score a century when he scored 100* for Derbyshire against Cambridge UCCE in 2007.

World Cup qualifi cation represents a holy grail, a landmark in the development of cricket in their country.

When the tournament was last played in 2011 the semi-fi nalists were Denmark, Italy, Guernsey and Jersey. They have more calibre and experience than their challengers as refl ected in their rankings in the World Cricket League. A victory against them would be the real story of the tournament.

In recent years there has been a sustained campaign to promote cricket in Europe. This has been successful with participation numbers climbing encouragingly and new formats such as Kwik Cricket and Street20 helping to bring the game to new areas and new communities. Slowly but surely it is beginning to branch out from its ex-pat

Tony Greig, Mushtaq Ahmed and Matt Prior. They must have felt every inch the international cricketer.

Jersey took the fi eld against Italy in a kit that looked like a Eurovision costume from the mid-Seventies, with garish splashes of red, white and blue. It was, as their chief executive Chris Minty remarked, ‘”Fun clothes for a fun format.” But the prize was worth taking seriously, their fi rst ever passage to a World Cup qualifi er. Having passed 200 twice in their group the pressure told on Italy and they struggled to a modest total. From the commentary box the tension was if not visible then palpable. But having been set a gettable target Jersey failed to fi nd the boundary regularly enough and fell just short. Former England under 19 player Ryan Driver may have made a diff erence, but he had not shown suffi cient commitment to make the squad and instead the core of the team had progressed together through the colts.

In the second semi-fi nal Klokker played one of the great T20 innings, scoring an undefeated 129. He struck the ball to all corners and led one expert to tweet ‘If he doesn’t secure a county contract after that there is no justice in the world.’ Ably assisted by Aftab Ahmed the Danes posted a colossal 226. Guernsey’s hopes rested on long-time talisman Jeremy Frith who was averaging over 70 for the tournament. It proved too big a challenge, however, and Denmark came through comfortable winners.

The fl oodlit fi nal began with a moving rendition of the anthems and the musical theme continued as a brass band hired for a wedding in the hospitality area provided a soundtrack to the game. Italy had recovered from their semi-fi nal malaise and posted over 200 thanks to the fi reworks of captain Damian Crowley and the fi nesse of Adrian Northcote. Denmark ran them close but pulled up short. Italy were victors and held the trophy aloft. They would have been dancing on the streets of Bologna.

Among the spectators were the presidents of European cricket in tailored suits and emblem emblazoned ties. They had gathered to pay homage to development award winners from across the continent; committed people, many of whom are volunteers, that are the heartbeat of cricket in a football obsessed continent. The Italian squad danced with the trophy. It may not have been a fraction as famous as the urn, but given the constraints and obstacles cricket faces beyond its Test playing heartlands winning it is just as signifi cant.

FiRST SEMi-FiNAL

italy 120 (Marage 42) BEAT Jersey 114 (Gough 41*) by six runs

SECOND SEMi-FiNAL

Denmark 226 (Klokker 129, Aft ab Ahmed 54) BEAT Guernsey 113 (Smit 23) by 113 runs

FiNAL

italy 215 (Northcote 68, Crowley 66) BEAT Denmark 197 (Klokker 58, Kamran Mahmood 58) by 18 runs

reserves. But the process is slow and many of the squads are heavily reliant on players with roots in Test nations, especially the subcontinent. The hope is that headline-grabbing results and a raised profi le will bring a more diverse range of players to the European game.

As the week progressed it was clear it would run to form, though France impressed many and came agonisingly close to replacing Jersey in the fi nal stages. The men in blue did the ancestral homeland of Richie Benaud proud. But though quality was an occasional absentee amongst the challengers it was compensated by a clear and inspiring devotion to putting their nation on the cricketing map. The leading run-scorer was Freddie Klokker, a Dane with two County Championship hundreds to his name. The leading wicket-taker was Italian spinner Carl Sandri, a county trialist himself.

Finals day was played at Hove and as the crowd began to build it was clear that many of the players were humbled by the historic surroundings. They were following in the footsteps of stars such as

KLOKKER SHOWS HiS CLASS

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OpiNiON

The Diggler says that decisions made by Cricket Australia four years ago are coming back to haunt them.

Many are wrITIng of THe TerMInal decline of Australian cricket, evidenced by ‘Australia’s worst team ever’ now touring the UK.

The current team is not as bad as the press make out, but I do think Cricket Australia have a case to answer when it comes to the depth in Australian cricket.

It’s no secret that Australia has a lack of depth in its batting. Where there was once a waiting list of hardened batsmen ready to step into the Test team, there are now none. A player with a few first-class hundreds to their name is now seriously considered for selection on a touring party or an Australia A game, where in the past regular hundreds would be required to simply hold your place in a first-class side.

I certainly don’t blame the current players. They are getting picked as the shining lights in a system that is down on what it once was. But why is it down? And what has changed?

For me, the start of the decline began in 2009, when Cricket Australia changed the structure of their first-class breeding program – the state’s 2nd XI system. Greg Chappell was in charge at the Centre of Excellence (Australia’s version of Loughborough), and he headed a push for youth in all Australian programs.

As a result, the lauded state 2nd XI competition was overhauled to promote youth over experience. Old players had to make way, as the 2nd XI rules now required a team to have only three players over 23 years old. Greg’s belief was: ‘If you hadn’t made it by the age of 27, you were never going to make it… so why have them in the system?’

I guess he is right in one respect, as historically all the great batsmen in world cricket started when they were in their teens. But there are so many more things to consider when developing a complete player.

A great young player is historically born from a dressing room with a wealth of knowledge. They have served an apprenticeship in a strong team, as the baby in a team of experienced players. Older teammates shot him down when he

was out of line, tore shreds off him when he played a rash shot, and handed out limited praise when he did well. He was the smallest fish in a vast bowl of experienced heads.

Since 2009, with the forced dearth of experienced heads in the first-class dressing rooms, the youngsters are the big fish in a small, inexperienced bowl. Where

2nd XI cricket was once an arena where fringe players kept form or proved themselves, injured players gained fitness, and youngsters were thrown to the wolves and asked to prove their worth, it has now changed to being a forum where players wear training wheels in a diluted ‘junior cricket for grown ups’.

But where have these older guys gone?With the change in focus towards youth,

many domestic first-class boards changed their core organisational goals from ‘creating a strong first-class team’, to ‘creating Australian players’. As a result of the shift in focus and changes to the rules, older players on the fringe of first-class teams were finding themselves squeezed off the contract list, or that their yearly retainer was falling to a level that made a comfortable family life unattainable. They no longer had a cricketing forum to prove that they were better than the up-and-coming youth, and hence were shuffled on before their time.

These are the same guys that would sit in a change room after a game with beer in hand, talking everything cricket and nothing else, waiting for their time to find a regular first-class game. They were now moving on to their next job, and their years of experience went with them.

As a result, the current Test players are being picked before their time. What would previously be a 30-year-old Michael Hussey-type selection is now a 23-year-old, with only 30 or so games of experience. Inexperienced players give inconsistent results, as they have not ripened into the mature and hardened cricketer that their potential allows.

We are seeing that in the current series. These Australian cricketers are certainly very talented, and may well have made the national team in previous eras, but their inconsistent results in this and previous series could well be the result of decisions made well before their time in the spotlight.

These small decisions made in a board room may not seem like a massive deal when they are made by an idealistic few, but they have huge ramifications that can affect a whole generation of cricketers.

In essence, Cricket Australia is reaping what they have sown.

DiRK ‘THE DiGGLER’

NANNES

Since 2009, with the forced dearth of experienced heads in the first-class dressing rooms, the youngsters are the big fish in a small, inexperienced bowl

Steve Smith is still learning his game while playing at the highest level

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THE ART OF ENGLISH

BATSMANSHIP

p44-60_Runmakers_AOC107.indd 46 30/07/2013 20:24


GEOFFREY BOYCOTT1964-1982

IN THE NAMES BOycOTT, GOOcH ANd cOOk, IT IS POSSIBLE TO TRAcE THE HEART OF THE LAST 50 yEARS OF ENGLISH BATSMANSHIP. BOycOTT MAdE HIS BEGINNINGS wITH THE NATIONAL SIdE IN 1964, BEFORE cARvING OuT HIS HISTORIc PATH OF SINGLE-MINdEd AcHIEvEMENT. HE HANdEd OvER TO A GREENHORN OPENING PARTNER, THE yOuNG GRAHAM GOOcH, A MAN wHOSE PAIR ON TEST dEBuT TOLd SO LITTLE OF wHAT wAS TO cOME – HE wOuLd MAkE MORE RuNS THAN ANy OTHER ENGLISHMAN IN THE GAME’S HISTORy, AS wELL AS INITIATING THE NEw PROFESSIONALISM AS ENGLANd cAPTAIN. BuT HIS INFLuENcE ENduREd: GOOcH, FOLLOwING THE LINE FROM BOycOTT, HAS GONE ON TO NuRTuRE THE NExT GENERATION OF ENGLISH RuN-HuNTERS, MOST NOTABLy ALASTAIR cOOk – A MOdERN cOLOSSuS OF RAMPANT AccuMuLATION. IN AN ERA wHEN ENGLISH BATTING REcORdS ARE FALLING ALL AROuNd uS, wE SPEAk TO ALL THREE OF THESE GREATS ANd PAy HOMAGE TO THE MEN wHO HAvE dEdIcATEd THEMSELvES MOST cOMPLETELy TO THE ART ANd GRAFT OF RuN-MAkING.

THE BOSSBATSMANSHIPI

’m here to see Geoff Boycott.” Implausibly, there is some confusion. “The great Sir Geoffrey Boycott. You must know him.” Another shrug of the shoulders from the desk clerk. A mildly nervy AOC has been summoned to a central London hotel for an audience

with Boycs, and this is not a good start; such a punctilious man will not wait around any more than he’ll suffer fools. But the clerk makes a few calls, and eventually, and just in time, we’re directed up to a plush tearoom with clusters of businessmen dotted about. There, near the back, next to a window overlooking the heart of the capital, sits the man himself, a cup of tea and two mobile phones in front of him. Behind him, on his right, with its own seat, sits his panama hat. I can’t imagine he’d move it.

The first thing that strikes you about him is his smile. It’s a very welcoming one, with that hint of a snarl from his playing days having long since softened. Even at 72 years of age – he looks good for it – there’s an element of a glint. It’s a surprise; despite his media-darling persona, meeting the man himself puts you on edge, especially if you’re familiar with the bloody-minded manner in which he played the game, which saw him garner plentiful enemies along with a wealth of runs.

To the newer generation of cricket fans, the pre-microphone Boycott is a mythical being; their opinions of him forged from a caricature perpetuated by older generations and commentary box colleagues – each one adding their own creative alterations to anecdotes already drenched in enough colour to paint the picture of a man revered, reviled, and never ignored.

“An occupier of the crease” gives a fairly apt description of his batting style, even if “occupier” gives the impression he was looking after it for someone else, when in fact he would do anything but. Here was a cricketer who could use a practice match on an England tour to bat in the middle for an age, at the expense of allowing his teammates a go, and reason matter-of-factly that he needed the practice more than them because he was the No.1 batsman.

He was a bastion of batting, and another to expose it for the selfish art that it is, while delivering enough team success to refute his innate singularity. Only 20 of his 108 Tests ended in defeat, and more often than not those defeats came when he failed.

Having begun with England as a bespectacled youth in 1964, he duly became the leading run-scorer in the Test format in his penultimate match, away to India in 1982. To read through reports from individual matches reiterates the value he placed on each of his 8,114 runs.

wORdS VIthushan ehantharajah



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“Dolly had been batting with Boycott and, between overs, had said to him he thought he had finally worked John Gleeson out, giving the details. Boycott replied, ‘Oh I sorted that out a fortnight ago, but don’t tell the other buggers up there’, indicating the players in the dressing room.” – Peter Laker, cricket correspondent for the Daily Mirror, recounting a story from Basil D’Oliveira during the 1970/71 Ashes series. Off spinner Gleeson was Australia’s leading wicket-taker (14), and Boycott the leading run-scorer with 657. “Bye bye Boycott.”Ian Botham sings from the home balcony at Boycott’s own Headingley after Tim Robinson struck 175 against Australia in 1985 to cement his place as opener.

“Boycs and I have enjoyed many ups and downs over the course of our friendship because at times he could annoy the hell out of you, but at times you could see another side to

hIs axEInG FROm ThE TEsT sIdE In 1967 FOR sCORInG TOO sLOwLY duRInG hIs 246 aGaInsT IndIa:“The stigma of being dropped by England, apparently for selfishness, was to mark the rest of my career.”

BaTTInG FOR an ExTEndEd PERIOd duRInG a PRaCTICE maTCh On EnGLand’s 1977 PakIsTan TOuR: “I know they [the other batsmen] want to get some practice but it’s most important of all that I am in form. I am the number one batsman.”

because we weren’t brought up like that, any of us. I’m not Nostradamus – I couldn’t have told you what it would be like in 50 years.

“When I was 15 and in the nets at Yorkshire you’d play yourself in before trying to hit the spinner over the top. Then the coach would say, ‘Lad – keep it on the floor!’ We played on uncovered pitches which made it more difficult to hit over the top and a solid defence was important when the ball was unpredictable. That’s what you must do in that day and age.”

In an attempt to unearth a suppressed strokemaker from within, the 1965 Gillette Cup final is brought up. Having not scored a hundred all season, Boycott blitzed 146 against Surrey, finding the boundary 18 times, including three sixes, as Yorkshire put on a daunting 317 from their 60 overs. Even The Times’ John Woodcock, one of Boycott’s staunchest critics, had to pay him his dues: “I shall never again make it an excuse for Boycott that he is unfortunately not endowed with strokes. His magnificent innings contained every stroke in the book.” But today there’s no bite.

“That’s the thing about one-day cricket; it’s fun and does take a lot of skill to play well – absolutely. But there are two things you can’t tell playing one-day cricket – character and courage.”

He duly knocks back AOC’s interjection about how hard it must be to forcibly stifle one’s own creativity. “You just do – you do

what you have to,” he says, coyly. “Just look at what fast bowlers have to work with now; whenever the ball gets above a certain height it’s a no ball or a wide ball. Even when it’s at the head, with all the protection for players, even a No.11 fancies himself and tries to hook the quickest bowler in the world.”

This is when Boycott starts to come into his own, sitting up and opening his arms on the table as he considers whether or not he is happy with what cricket has become. It’s one of his great qualities to be continually looking forward. Twenty20 cricket comes up, but there is no lazy typecasting of short-form cricketers as money-grabbing chancers. Offered riches to return to playing after retiring, Boycott himself knows how tempting money can be: “September 12, 1986, I walked off the field at Scarborough Cricket Ground at 5:21pm, against Northants,” he recalls as the last time he plonked a bat down in defiance. Ultimately, he adds, “I didn’t want to play third or fourth best.”

Still, the value of Twenty20 cricket is something that strikes a chord with him. “Cricket’s fighting in a declining marketplace unless you have these iconic series like the Ashes. So Twenty20 has become a nice size for cricket; no need to take the day off work and you can come down at 5:30pm for the game. It’s over in three hours and you can set off home ready for work the next day. w

BOycOTT IN NuMBERS PLAyING SPAN: 1964-1982TESTS: 108RuNS: 8,114cENTuRIES: 22AvERAGE: 47.72AFTER 10 TESTS…656 runs at 50.46AFTER 20 TESTS… 1 , 134 runs at 39.10AFTER 30 TESTS… 1 ,788 runs at 41.58ASHES REcORd: 37 tests, 2,755 runs at 45.16. Won 13, lost 9, draWn 15GOLdEN SERIES: australIa (aWay) 1970/71. 657 runs at 93.85 (tWo hundreds)

On BOYCs…

“He’s very open when he’s with people he knows and trusts, almost the opposite of the public view of him.” – alan kilvington, a well-known figure in Yorkshire league cricket for Morley.

“He was certainly lacking in an equally-important part of captaincy – the ability to get the most out of his people.” – Len hutton on Boycott being constantly overlooked to lead England.

him. To my mind he was the perfect man to have at the top of the batting order. So utterly determined not to give his wicket away, he really protected the rest of the batting line-up.” – Beefy changes his tune, selecting Boycott as one of his sporting heroes in 2009.



Rarely can a man’s innings have been so asterisked by their duration. But for all the runs, his cussedness and single-mindedness irked many of cricket’s closest observers both inside and outside the dressing rooms of Yorkshire and England. “Those of us who established ourselves as strong personalities were condemned as self-seekers and were accused of destroying team spirit,” Boycott once remarked. Even in his absence from 30 Tests in the mid-Seventies, after making himself unavailable for selection because he felt that he, rather than Mike Denness should have succeeded Ray Illingworth as captain, English defeats were nailed to his door.

Boycott would famously return to the side to face Australia in 1977, when at Trent Bridge on his first day back in the job, he ran out the local hero Derek Randall but still recovered to make a century; while a fortnight later, in front of his own people, he struck Greg Chappell to the fence at Headingley to bring up his hundredth first-class hundred. For a resolutely unsentimental cricketer, he always had an eye for the big occasion.

But less than a year back in the side, and tensions would surface once more, this time in New Zealand, during England’s second Test in Christchurch. The first had been disastrous, as England were bowled out for 64 when chasing a miserly 137, giving New Zealand their first win against the tourists in 46 years. Boycott took seven hours and 22 minutes of his first innings to make 77, drawing scorn from the press box and the dressing room – of which he was captain, albeit as a stand-in for the injured Mike Brearley. In the following match England, with a first innings lead of 183 on the fourth afternoon, needed quick runs, but when Boycs would not oblige, a young 22-year-old upstart by the name of Ian Botham proceeded to run his skipper out. The incident has become an anecdote retold with so much glee that you wonder whether Boycott finished the game feeling he deserved more from it.

But if reverence was what he sought, he must be more than satisfied now. Indeed, the opportunity for our chat comes through the promotion of An Evening with Boycott and Aggers – a stage tour featuring the two indomitable stars of BBC Radio’s Test Match Special.

I’m a bit nervous. I’ve never been on stage before.” And then, suddenly and

rather endearingly: “I grew up in a mining community, and my father was a coal miner, and died in a mining accident. I lived in a terrace house until I was 40. My

mother died in 1978 when I was 38 and I left then because my two brothers were already married. I lived among my people – the mining community.” For a moment, the fearsome man of myth seems a little worried, perhaps not in his ability to hold his own but because, for once, Jonathan Agnew, more stage savvy, may have one up on him. Boycott immediately switches the duel to a more comfortable arena – “the middle”.

“I’d fancy my chances against his bowling. He’d never get my mum and I out – no chance! My mum would be taking twos and fours off him. She could play him with my famous stick of rhubarb.” And we’re back. It didn’t take long.

In contrast to his batting, Boycott’s commentary flows freely and has progressed to suit an evolving game with such ease that you wonder how much he was holding back during those elongated vigils at the crease.

“I think I was born with that temperament,” he reflects. “But if I had been brought up in this era we would have played differently. You ask Colin Cowdrey, Peter May, Len Hutton, Denis Compton or myself to play those shots [that are played today] and we’d have no clue

BOYCs On…

FEaR:“The only thing I am frightened of is getting out.”

anGER:“Apparently I throw bats about and tear pads off in a rage… rubbish! Quite apart from anything else I value my kit far too much to start slinging it around.“

YORkshIRE:“Yorkshire would win something next season if they imported two overseas stars. There is nothing to prevent them from doing so, no rule against it apart from an unwritten one which I hope will never be broken.”

TwENTy20 HAS BEcOME A NIcE SIzE FOR cRIckET; NO NEEd TO TAkE THE dAy OFF wORk ANd yOu cAN cOME dOwN AT 5:30PM FOR THE GAME. IT’S OvER IN THREE HOuRS ANd yOu cAN SET OFF HOME REAdy FOR wORk THE NExT dAy

SAy wHAT I LIkE, LIkE wHAT I BLOOdy wELL SAy!

“

Celebrating a century of centuries, Headingley 1977



AD


“My only gripe is that because of the cricket that’s played, you’re seeing stars made out of average Test match players. There are some that can play both, like Kevin Pietersen. Then there are some players you see playing Tests and you think, ‘You’re kidding me – my mum and my brother could play better!’

“But I think if we look at Joe Root in particular, we have a young man who has grown up from a very early age and is a very good example of a modern cricketer. He’s taken to Twenty20, and to 40- and 50-overs as second nature because he has been playing it since he was 13. When he has to reverse sweep or inside-out it, he can, and he has shown he can apply those skills in Test cricket too. All is well if England are still producing quality Test cricketers.”

Certainly all is well with Yorkshire and its new president – the great state of the

north sitting pretty at the top of the County Championship despite being shorn of Root, Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan for most of the summer. No sooner has one fresh-faced opener taken international cricket by storm, than another emerges in Alex Lees [see page 28], who Boycott had tipped for a breakthrough 2013. While it’s not clear

whether he envisaged a clutch of centuries, Boycott certainly has an eye for talent and a tireless desire to nurture it.

It would not be churlish to assume this paternal side developed towards the end of his playing days, when various senior members of dressing rooms had moved on, to be replaced by unencumbered newcomers with fresh dreams and fewer preconceptions. Among the many players who passed through his care, both during his playing days and then after as a hugely respected batting coach, none of his disciples would endear themselves to him more than England’s greatest run machine, Graham Gooch.

“Pay to watch him bat? I’d just pay to be with him,” he says with a grin. “He’s a good player and a good man.” As Boycott’s career rolled along to its autumn years, Gooch’s was just beginning with a splutter, following the ignominy of a pair against the Australians at Edgbaston in 1975 and a littering of unconverted starts.

Still in the pursuit of three figures in the 1979/80 tour of Australia, Gooch partnered Boycott at the top of the order from the second Test onwards. In the third at Melbourne, he worked his way to a stylish 99 before hitting the ball straight to mid off and setting off for a run he never made. Boycott had gone for 44 and was already back in the pavilion.

PEOPLE THAT dON’T kNOw ME THINk I ’M SOME cLOTH-cAPPEd yORkSHIREMAN wHO THINkS EvERyTHING HAS TO STAy THE SAME. THAT ’S BOLLOckS. EvERyTHING’S GOT TO cHANGE AS L IFE cHANGES

“

“When I saw him in the dressing room I saw him and said, ‘You dosy f***er! What the f*** are you doing that for?’ He said he was nervous and all that. ‘What are you nervous about? You played beautifully for 99 runs – you ought to be nervous when you’re on nought! But 99 I’m not nervous – I’m going to get a run whatever happens. Just stay there!’ He ought never be as daft again.”

As the interview draws to a close, Boycott pulls out a face towel and wash bag overflowing with toiletries after being informed he is due for a filmed interview. It’s hard to suppress a smirk when the idea of him freshening up with some Stuart Broad-approved Molton Brown exfoliate creeps into one’s head. But if Boycott has proven anything, it’s that he is a man happy to change with the times, even when it comes to skincare.

“People that don’t know me think I’m some cloth-capped Yorkshireman who thinks everything has to stay the same. That’s bollocks. Everything’s got to change as life changes. I’ve always known that cricket was going to change and it’ll keep doing so even after I’m dead.”

Until then, we should enjoy a cricketing great who played the game uncompromisingly but who continues to give it, and us, so much.

Cutting away in the West Indies, 1980


NightwatchmanTHE WISDEN CRICKET QUARTERLY

THE

The Nightwatchman, the Wisden Cricket Quarterly, is a new publication showcasing the very best writing about cricket from around the world. It gathers together leading cricket journalists and well-known writers from other disciplines – mathematics, poetry, history and literature to name but a few – to offer long-form, original pieces about all aspects of cricket.

The Nightwatchman will providewriters with the rare opportunity of choosing their subject and their style, and writing to a length they feel appropriate, away from the usual constraints of other formats. Produced in association with Wisden as the Almanack celebrates its 150th edition, The Nightwatchman is aiming to ensure that the great tradition of quality cricket writing will be continued. Go to www.thenightwatchman.net to find out how to get The Nightwatchman in print and e-book formats.

THENIGHTWATCHMAN.NET

54

THE NIGHTWATCHMANJAMES HOLLAND

The Plain of Catania in Sicily, and a pilgrimage of sorts. It is one of the most fertile parts of the island, largely fl at and low-lying, bisected by rivers and dominated by the towering presence of Mount Etna. Hedley Verity would have seen Etna from the moment he landed at fi rst light on Saturday, 10 July 1943, as part of the biggest seaborne invasion the world has ever known. There’s always a halo of cloud surrounding the summit; there would have been when Verity was here and there is when I visit the place nearly 70 years on. Cloud, or is it smoke? I am not sure but it hangs there, a contrast to the deep and cloudless blue of the sky.

Working out precisely where the 1st Battalion, the Green Howards made their attack on the night of 21 July, 11 days after landing, takes a while. I am armed with a copy of an original hand-drawn map, found in the battalion war diary, but one that is remarkably accurate. At any rate, I have managed to marry it up easily enough with an image from Google

Maps: the tracks running down from the railway line, the curving dykes that were such a feature of this part of the plain, and even the buildings that had once been battalion headquarters.

Getting there, however, is another matter. New roads run to the south and north of the site, there is now a large factory to the east of the map, roughly where D Company began their attack. It is di� cult getting o� the main road and down to the rough lane that leads under the railway embankment, but eventually we manage it, and suddenly we are driving down the very same track marked on the hand-drawn map back in July 1943.

And there are the remains of an old barn or farmhouse, also shown on the map. The roof has gone and inside it is wild and overgrown, but we are now at the point where Captain Verity led his B Company into battle. The start line, to use the parlance of the day. We park up and walk along another rough track, also marked on the map, climb a dyke

James Holland sets o� for Sicily, where he pieces together the last days of one of Yorkshire and England’s greatest spin bowlers

VERITY’S WAR

THENIGHTWATCHMAN.NET

54

JAMES HOLLAND

www.thenightwatchman.net

www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 1952 | AOC | SEPTEMBER 2013



GRaham GOOCh1975-1995

THE dAddyI

f Goochie’s not around, I’m buggered.” These were the words of Alastair Cook in an interview with AOC almost two years ago. It was an off-the-cuff remark, and no doubt overly modest, but it was telling nonetheless and indicative of the influence the old

grandmaster continues to have today. It’s no exaggeration to describe Graham Gooch as the most

influential English cricketer of the post-war era. In a career spanning four decades he scored more runs than anyone in the history of the game and in retirement he’s continued to churn them out vicariously as first Essex and now England’s batting coach. He is an essential link in the chain from the great Ken Barrington (who schooled Gooch in the art of batsmanship in the late Seventies), to Geoffrey Boycott (a profound influence in both his early and late career), right through to the present day as Cook, Pietersen and Bell continue to benefit from his wealth of knowledge while setting about rewriting the English record books.

The techniques have changed, the bats are bigger and the strike-rates have rocketed, but the principles of batsmanship, as taught to Gooch by Barrington, still hold true. “Ken Barrington was a great father figure and mentor,” Gooch tells AOC. “Not only did he give technical advice, he also gave you ‘the knowledge’, and that’s something I try and impart on the players now – ‘the knowledge’ of how to score runs. I don’t coach batting, I coach run-making. It’s about how you think about yourself, how you glean information about different conditions, how you concentrate for long periods.”

The most priceless piece of advice hammered home to Gooch is one that the current crop of England batsmen continually has drummed in to them. “Kenny impressed upon me the importance of not being satisfied with reaching a milestone, to go on and on and get a big hundred. You never know what’s going to happen next innings; you might get a good delivery, you might get a poor decision, you might get a ball that shoots along the deck. If you get a hundred, get a big one. A big hundred for me is over 150 – that’s what we term a ‘daddy hundred’.” It’s a well-worn cliché but it’s one that appears to breed results. In the four years since Gooch returned to the national fold as batting coach, England’s batsmen have converted 34 per cent of their centuries into ‘daddies’, compared to 21 per cent in the four years previous.

So when Gooch was walking back to the pavilion having made, say, 105 in a Test match, he was disappointed in himself for not ‘kicking on’? “Absolutely. Yes. As Kenny used to tell me, the first 50 is the most difficult; you’ve got to get through that vulnerable period, you’ve got to get into your rhythm, you’ve got to get the pace

wORdS jo harMan



GOOcH IN NuMBERS PLAyING SPAN: 1975-1995TESTS: 1 18RuNS: 8,900cENTuRIES: 20AvERAGE: 42.58AFTER 10 TESTS…414 runs at 27.60AFTER 20 TESTS…983 runs at 32.76AFTER 30 TESTS… 1 ,861 runs at 37.22ASHES REcORd: 41 tests, 2,600 runs at 33. Won 13, lost 18, draWn 10GOLdEN SERIES: IndIa (hoMe) 1990. 752 runs at 125.33 (3 hundreds)

of the wicket. The second 50 you should be ‘in your game’: moving well, seeing it nicely, and just keeping your game going. From then on it should just get easier and generally the only one that gets you out at that stage is yourself.”

Gooch lost a friend and tutor when Barrington died suddenly of a heart attack during the 1981 tour of West Indies, but his opening partner at the time offered another great source of inspiration. “I batted with Boycott for pretty much four years from ’78 to ’82. He was a fantastic technician and had brilliant knowledge of concentration and how to go about getting big hundreds. I had one of the best seats in the house 22 yards away from him. A smart player tries to take things from people’s games. Not everything, but you might be able to take one or two things to introduce to your game to make you a better player.

“Ten years later Geoffrey helped me again when I had some technical problems in 1989, highlighted by Terry Alderman but generally over that period of time my game was not as I would have liked it. Geoffrey helped me find slight alterations to my technique to get it back to where it was 10 years earlier and then I had the most profitable part of my Test career, from about 1990 until I retired in 1995.” With his remodelled technique Gooch averaged 51.55 in his last five years of Test cricket, compared to 42.58 overall.

When Gooch’s protégé Cook experienced similar technical difficulties between 2009-10 and needed to re-jig his back-lift and simplify his trigger movements to avoid planting his front foot and nicking off, the words of Boycott were no doubt still ringing in his ears as he gave counsel. Cook underwent three hour-and-a-half sessions each week with Gooch in Chelmsford during the off-season and, just as Boycott’s expertise helped spark an Indian summer for Gooch, armed with a sturdier technique the Essex southpaw took his game to heights which few had thought possible. “He’s almost worked as hard as me at changing my technique,” said Cook at the time. “He saw slightly different trigger moments and a slightly different back-lift and it takes a while to fix.” But fix it he did, and as Cook went on to rack up the most runs by an Englishman in an Ashes series since Wally Hammond in 1928/29, the lineage of English batsmanship was clearly traceable.

Batting is Gooch’s life’s work. He lives and breathes it. While a cult of

personality has developed around his former opening partner that exists outside of his feats with the bat – the

Panama hat, the stick of rhubarb quips, the parody Twitter account – when you think of Graham Gooch, you think of batting, you think of run-scoring, you think of ‘daddy hundreds’. Not much material for a parody to work with.

Gooch’s fanatical work ethic and unflinching drive for self-improvement didn’t always sit too well with his teammates during his playing career and he famously clashed with David Gower, among others, for not sharing his relentless dedication. Gooch would often be seen pounding the streets of Chelmsford after a county match, ‘warming down’ by running home. At times his sergeant major approach became a source of angst and ridicule but in many ways the game has caught up with Gooch. The forensic analysis to batting technique, the role of sport psychology, the advancements in fitness and nutrition; as the majority of his peers took a more laissez-faire attitude, all these factors were essential to Gooch’s understanding of the overall package that makes a top-class cricketer and these are now essential components of modern coaching. Gooch is in his element in his current role as England’s batting coach and his determination to leave no stone unturned is perhaps his greatest quality. His attitude is certainly mirrored in his charges, and in Cook in particular.

Personal coaches are commonplace these days but Gooch was one of the very first players to take one on. Alan Lilley, a teammate at Essex, would travel to England matches with Gooch and when team practice was over Lilley would step in to continue the training as everyone else went home. “He helped me a lot in that period towards the end of my England career,” says Gooch. “It’s not for everyone but I’m telling you now, if I was still playing I’d have one. I’m not saying the help players get isn’t good enough but each individual has to make their own decisions and the one thing that you need to do in professional sport is be absolutely confident that when you walk over that white line you’ve done everything you possibly can to be ready to do your job.”

It’s a mantra that served Gooch well. In a 20-year Test career he racked up 8,900 runs – the highest tally by an Englishman – and scored 20 centuries against some of the finest bowling attacks ever to grace the game, including five centuries against the great West Indian quicks. In 1990, against India, he became the fifth Englishman to score a Test triple century, before scoring a ton in the second innings to break the record for the most runs scored in a Test match.

Talking about personal achievements



and individual innings isn’t really Gooch’s bag though and it’s hard work getting him to open up on his own career highlights. “Look, it’s difficult to say. One thing I would say is it’s nice to be remembered as someone worth watching; I’d like to think I entertained people on the way. You don’t bat particularly for personal milestones – what’s important is your performance and your contribution to winning matches. That’s the thing you should remember as a sportsman, not the personal gratification. So my big scores at Lord’s, the 300, and the 154 at Headingley [against the West Indies] are personally satisfying because they helped us win matches.”

Gooch is much more comfortable talking about the achievements of his charges than his own feats and he springs back into life when discussing the “fantastically talented players” he’s working with. Statistics support his assessment. Alastair Cook has already surpassed the record number of Test centuries scored by an Englishman and is on target to pass Gooch’s run tally within two years. Kevin Pietersen has drawn level with Hammond, Boycott and Cowdrey on 22 Test tons, one ahead of the recently retired Andrew Strauss and three ahead of Ian Bell. Jonathan Trott boasts a Test average superior to every English batsman since Barrington. With seven Test tons and an average in the mid-40s, Matt Prior’s record eclipses that of any English stumper before him. And then you have Joe Root, who, at the age of 22, already

has several hundred Test runs to his name. So are we looking at a golden age of

English batting? “It’s hard to say, we’ve got some wonderful players with different skill sets, different types of players, and they make a very, very formidable challenge for the bowling side. Generally in cricket you want variety, you want contrasting players that present different challenges: if possible you want a left-hand, right-hand combination at the top of the order and you want grafting and grinding players mixed in with some expansive strokemakers. It’s a bit like having a swing bowler, a tall fast bowler who hits the deck, a left-armer and an off spinner in your bowling attack. You don’t always get that, it depends on the personnel, but ideally you do, and I think England possess that at the moment. If you look at Pietersen, Prior, Bell, Bairstow, they’re gifted strokemakers. Then you’ve got Trott and Cook, who are talented players in their own way, but they get their runs slightly differently. That’s not saying that one way is better than the other, because you need both, and that’s what we’ve got at the moment.”

And what of Alastair Cook? Can he take his game to even greater heights? “Well, he can get more runs! Look, every player is evolving until the day he hangs up his gloves and bat. He’s a fantastic talent, he has a very strong mind and he has a very strong will to succeed in terms of how he works on his game. He has a formula for scoring runs in Test cricket. Can he get

NOT ONLy dId kEN BARRINGTON GIvE TEcHNIcAL AdvIcE, HE ALSO GAvE yOu ‘THE kNOwLEdGE’, ANd THAT’S SOMETHING I TRy ANd IMPART ON THE PLAyERS NOw – ‘ THE kNOwLEdGE’ OF HOw TO ScORE RuNS

“better? Yeah, sure he can. He can enhance his game.

“You only have to look at what he did over the winter in India… Did you see the second over of the last Test in Nagpur? The field they set for him? [Pragyan] Ojha had a long on, a deep mid wicket, a deep square leg and two men on the perch of mid wicket, like short mid wicket. Remember this is the seventh ball of a Test match! It was an unbelievable field placing, they had no idea how to get him out. The only thing they could do was to stop him scoring, to bore him basically. You know Alastair’s not a Kevin Pietersen who’s going to take an attack apart but through his sheer weight of runs and skill in his planning, they didn’t have any idea. That’s a testament to his hard work. So yes, he can get better. The best period for most Test batsmen is 25 to 35 and he’s right in the middle of that period.”

Gooch finishes up by voicing his concerns that the art of batsmanship, as taught to

him by Barrington, might be lost over time; that the growth of Twenty20 could impact upon Test cricket to the point that clearing the ropes comes at the cost of technique and the patience required to build ‘daddy hundreds’ deserts modern-day batsmen. “I have no problem with Twenty20 as a format but it does impact on the other cricket,” he says. “Twenty20 will breed multi-purpose cricketers who do a bit of both and that could definitely see skills eroded. Whether it will pan out that way, we don’t know. But it’s a real concern.” It’s a sobering thought and one that clearly plays on his mind. But, for the time being at least, there appears to be no danger of the principles of English batsmanship being lost, with Gooch keeping watch and his protégé only too willing to take up the baton.


22 | AOC | AUGUST 2013 www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 2356 | AOC | SEPTEMBER 201356 | AOC | SEPTEMBER 2013



aLasTaIR COOk2006 -

THE PROTÉGÉ w

e’re in Derby and Alastair Cook’s knackered. It’s six days before the Ashes kicks off , the morning after England’s fi nal practice match, and by any reasonable measure he

should be back at the family farm in Bedfordshire, enjoying a nice lie-in and a free-range breakfast in the lull before turning to matters of state.

But instead he is here, yawning through the fawning in a function room at the County Ground. It’s been an early start, Cook kipping in the back of the sponsor’s hired car on the way up here, and now, bang on cue, it’s down to business: people to meet, questions to fi eld, children to wow.

All is abuzz. In the main stand overlooking this facelifted ground the regional TV crews get wired up, while inside a select few kids in pristine whites congregate with fretful parents in wait for Cook’s anticipated coaching session. Soon enough, word comes through that the Mayor of Derby, like all good politicians, is on his way over to sniff the air around a sporting superstar.

Through it all, Cook hangs back on that bashful smile and addresses the various human strands of this event with the same even watchfulness that we see in his day job. He’s neither a natural show-off nor an expansive talker but his achievements stand colossally with him in any conversation, prompting one county teammate to observe to AOC that when it comes to Cook, the bloke doesn’t actually need to say anything.

Having absorbed the central mantra of the David Beckham Finishing School – holding that minimum shocks equal maximum returns – this chiselled billboard of made-for-profi t sporting greatness is in some ways an archetype for our times. Look gorgeous, be gracious, play great: rule world. In this respect Cook’s nailed it.

And today the workaholic is at it again. No matter that we’re less than a week away from Cook becoming the 55th man to captain England in a Test match

versus Australia. It’s fortunate that he’s renowned throughout the game for taking things in his stride, because these days there’s a fair bit of debris cluttering his way. His time is not his own. “There’s nothing you can do to prepare yourself for it,” he says of the added workload, while at the same time appearing broadly unbothered. “I’m living a diff erent kind of dream,” he will add later.

while a batsman can legitimise selfi shness, a captain must be outward looking, and Cook,

that most anal amasser of batting records, is now in the business of observing those around him on the lookout for clues. “You do need to take a closer look at character,” he says of his new responsibilities, “especially when it comes to selection. One of the great strengths of being away with each other as much as we are is that you get to know people very well. You get to know when somebody’s not quite on it. So with people like Trotty and Belly, we’ve played a lot of cricket with each other – we know when something’s not quite right and we can try and help.” Typically, he still prefers the language of the collective to that of the patriarch.

Cook famously inherited this job in messy circumstances, with the Pietersen saga still raging and the mace just displaced to South Africa’s No.1s. The new man’s fi rst act was to lobby for his best team for last winter’s India tour and to use the media to ram home his demands. With the mood bending to the new captain’s will, Cook duly hit three stately centuries of ascending fl ourish to underscore a thrillingly absurd series win in which a ‘reintegrated’ Pietersen was a smiling presence. In a sporting year of improbable feats by homegrown types, this one was right up there. Knighthoods have been given for less.

Since then, Cook’s had a more everyday time of it. A scrappy 0-0 in New Zealand almost undid some of the team’s Indian achievements, and a loss in the fi nal

wORdS PhIl WalKer


www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 2558 | AOC | SEPTEMBER 2013

cOOk IN NuMBERS PLAyING SPAN: 2006-TESTS: 94RuNS: 7607cENTuRIES: 25AvERAGE: 48.45AFTER 10 TESTS…815 runs at 50.93AFTER 20 TESTS… 1 ,554 runs at 44.40AFTER 30 TESTS…2,244 runs at 42.33ASHES REcORd: 17 tests, 1 ,347 runs at 46.44. Won 7, lost 7, draWn 3GOLdEN SERIES: australIa (aWay) 2010/11. 766 runs at 127.66 (3 hundreds)

THE NuMBER OF yEARS wALLy HAMMONd’S REcORd OF MOST TEST cENTuRIES FOR ENGLANd

HAd STOOd BEFORE cOOk, wITH HIS 23Rd, BROkE IT IN dEcEMBER 2012

THE NuMBER OF TEST TONS cOOk HAS ScOREd; SAcHIN TENduLkAR HAd 26 By THE SAME AGE

cOOk BEcAME THE yOuNGEST MAN EvER TO PASS THE LANdMARk,

211 dAyS yOuNGER THAN SAcHIN

HIS AvERAGE AcROSS FIvE ASHES TESTS IN AuSTRALIA

IN 2010/11, ENGLANd’S BEST IN A FIvE-MATcH SERIES SINcE 1922

THE NuMBER OF cENTuRIES HE ScOREd IN HIS FIRST FIvE TESTS AS ENGLANd cAPTAIN – A FEAT NEvER

AcHIEvEd BEFORE

of the Champions Trophy on home soil – in a farcically wet finale – left Cook tasting bitter defeat as full captain for the first time. And all this before Australia.

So, almost a year in to it, are you fully settled in to the second hardest job in England?Yeah, I’m getting there! Look, it’s not quite life and death. You’re not deciding on people’s taxes or foreign policy! I think what that line might refer to [about the job being second only to the prime minister’s] is that you get tested in lots of different ways, and you can’t always predict the ways in which you’re going to get tested. You have to think on your feet and make important decisions quite quickly. It’s why people refer to it as being different to captaining in other sports. Tactically you’ll be in a better place once you get more experience, but in terms of the off-field stuff there’s nothing you can do to prepare yourself for it.

Has it changed you?Hopefully not! You might improve as a character, but as a bloke it shouldn’t change you. I know that you have to be able to split your on- and off-field stuff. You’re on your phone a little bit more and you have different things thrown your way but I don’t think that should really affect you. You’d have to ask my wife! I really hope not, because clearly as a sportsman you have ups and downs. It was a tough couple of days after the Champions Trophy final but you’d have to ask her if I was a bit more grouchy than normal!

Did you get time to reflect on that defeat?We had a few days off and it did hurt. We had a chance to win a global tournament for the first time and we got very close – getting ourselves into a position where we should have won the game. It’s more of a missed opportunity than anything else and I think that hurts as players when you know you had the opportunity to win and you didn’t take it.

Was there much of a post-mortem in the dressing room?Not really, I don’t think there’s much point. The tournament’s over now.

Is there anything you would have done differently?I don’t think as a team there’s much we would have done differently. We prepared the right way and maybe it’s just about learning how to win one of these tournaments. We’ve never won one of these before and we got ourselves into a position where we should have won it. Maybe you have to learn how to win it, and perhaps the experience we’ve had in this tournament will benefit us in a year-and-a-half’s time [at the 2015 World Cup in Australia in New Zealand].

How is everything working with Giles and Flower? Is it markedly different?It was different initially. It’s something which will always need work because you can’t just expect it to happen. I think it has worked really well but there’s a lot of effort that goes in to making sure everyone’s on

73

127.66

25

5

7,000



THE cAPTAINcy cONuNdRuMGRAHAM GOOcH - ENGLANdMIcHAEL ATHERTON - ENGLANdSAcHIN TENduLkAR - INdIABRIAN LARA - wEST INdIESNASSER HuSSAIN - ENGLANdSOuRAv GANGuLy - INdIAMIcHAEL vAuGHAN - ENGLANdRIcky PONTING - AuSTRALIAMAHELA JAyAwARdENE - SRI LANkAMS dHONI - INdIAMIcHAEL cLARkE - AuSTRALIAALASTAIR cOOk - ENGLANd

118 (34)115 (54)198 (25)131 (47)96 (45)113 (49)82 (51)178 (77)138 (38)77 (47)94 (26)*94 (13)*

35.9335.2554.2650.1238.1045.1550.9852.1845.7733.0646.9746.36

58.7240.5851.3557.8336.4037.6636.0251.5159.1144.2362.3260.60

TESTS AvE. AS NON cAPTAIN AvE. AS cAPTAIN

the same page or that all three of us are doing it together. They are different in styles, they’re different characters.

Who’s more fun to work with?[Smiles] Gilo is slightly less intense in terms of his character but one thing that is very clear is that they both expect the same thing, which is the highest standards.

Everybody always says you’re such a nice laid-back bloke. Have you had to lose your temper yet? And have you got it in you?I’ve certainly got it in me. I don’t think you become an England captain or a person who has played however many games for England, like I have, without being a tough character, so I don’t think you can mistake a nice guy for not being tough. I think it’s quite a clear distinction. At the right time you have to be tough on people.

And has that happened so far?There have been tough selection calls in particular. And then you’ve got to go and back it up and tell that person, or you’ve got to say, ‘This is what I want to happen’ and the guy might not like it. So naturally I think you are a tough character.

If you and Andy Flower disagree on selection, who gets the final say?We both do. Then you have to use your powers of persuasion to get your way! It would be very wrong to think that every decision ever made is one that everybody always thought correct. Of course there

are going to be different opinions, that’s the beauty of sport and cricket in particular. If you look at the Lions XV for the final Test [against Australia], you could have gone online and found 15 different ex-players saying 15 different things and that’s the same with cricket, it’s the same inside selection meetings, people have different opinions about different players. If everyone was a ‘yes man’ with each other it wouldn’t work.

Are you enjoying it?It’s a huge challenge in itself, and most importantly it’s a huge honour to do it. I remember when Straussy gave up and he said, ‘I’m actually jealous of Cookie, he’s going into the best job in the world.’ Even though he’d just done it for four years and had had enough of doing it, I can see what he means because there are no jobs which test you as much as this, and in so many different ways. How many decisions you get to make, how many decisions you have to make, how many decisions are thrown on you two minutes before, or you’re out in the middle and suddenly a 50-over game becomes a 24-over game. You have to adapt, you have to stay calm. I think it’s exciting, it’s quite cool. You know you’re only going to do it for a very short period of time in the grand scheme of things. You’re very much a custodian or a guardian of that position and you try and do it while keeping the tradition up.

Did you covet the job?No.

I dON’T THINk yOu cAN MISTAkE A NIcE Guy FOR NOT BEING TOuGH. I’vE cERTAINLy GOT IT IN ME

wE LOOk AT THE FORTuNES OF NOTABLE REcENT TEST cAPTAINS ANd HOw THE JOB HAS IMPAcTEd ON THEIR BATTING REcORd.

“

Honestly?Honestly. If they’d decided to go down another route I don’t think I would have been disappointed because it was never something I set out to do. I set out to become a professional cricketer and anything else was a bonus. And now I’m living a different kind of dream, something that I never thought I would be able to achieve.

What’s the one thing you’ve learned so far above everything else?As soon as you’re inauthentic as a leader you get seen through very, very quickly. It takes however long to gain respect but it takes one moment to lose it straight away.

so Alastair Cook may have pretty much nailed this whole ‘batsmanship’ issue,

but there remains the vexed question of how to keep breaking records while running the show as well. It’s no secret that more often than not when a batsman turns skipper he makes a Faustian pact with cricket’s ever-ready devil, exchanging the chance to spearhead ultimate glory for a few notches shaved off the batting average. But then, this is Cook, with his predilection for overcoming challenges every second Thursday: the normal rules just don’t apply.

It might be arguable that this summer he’s played a few ‘un-Cook-like’ shots away from his body – in the semi-final and final of the Champions Trophy, and on the first morning of the Ashes – that may, just may, speak of an overworking mind. But if beneath the easy manner and all those

*After Lord’s 2013



runs there lurks a kernel of doubt that the ‘demands of the job’ could impinge on his quest to wrench every record from the history books, he only need look to his “teacher” Gooch, the big man having become even more prolific once he’d been given the armband.

Given time, Cook may be remembered as much for his marauding leadership as his astounding run-scoring. But at this moment it’s the willow that defines him, and it’s this that gives him unimpeachable faith in his capacity to see off whatever this game can throw at him. “With my batting, I’ve always managed to handle pretty much any situation I’ve found myself in. Whether it was that hundred I made against Pakistan in 2010, or whether it was me as a 15-year-old making my second team debut for Essex. I’ve always been able to handle it, so I couldn’t see why I wouldn’t be able to handle this.”

It seems implausible now, but that 2010 summer was Cook’s ‘tricky period’. With a highest score of 29 from eight previous innings, he approached the third Test of the Pakistan series with his game in flux.

“The Pakistan knock at The Oval was probably the first time that I really found myself under pressure,” Cook recalls. “The build-up of pressure was a combination of a few things: I’d changed my technique to do something different to what I’d been doing all my life – it stemmed back to 2009,

my second Ashes series. I had scored runs against pretty much everyone else but against the best bowling attacks I hadn’t scored runs so I thought, ‘What can I do, I need something to change if I want to become a better player.’ So then I pretty much remodelled my whole footwork and backlift.

“Technically I might have become a better player, and actually I scored three Test hundreds with that technique – one against South Africa and two against Bangladesh – so it wasn’t a disaster. But when it became really tough it didn’t get me out of jail. At the beginning of the second innings of that match at The Oval I just thought, ‘f*** it, I’ll go back to my old technique’. And I just took the mentality of ‘I’m going to score runs here’. I had three balls to survive the night before, and it was play-and-miss, play-and-miss, play-and-miss, but I got through it. That was a very important hundred for me.”

Of all Cook’s achievements – 766 and all that, 25 hundreds and counting – this switching of technique halfway through a Test match on the back of barely a score all summer may be his most astounding to date. Scavenging a hundred that week set him up for the second part of his career, which of course began so monumentally at Brisbane in November 2010.

Where was he at technically before that series? “In those couple of months I’d

yOu’RE ONLy GOING TO dO THIS JOB FOR A SHORT PERIOd OF TIME IN THE GRANd ScHEME OF THINGS. yOu’RE A cuSTOdIAN OF THAT POSITION ANd yOu TRy ANd dO IT wHILE kEEPING THE TRAdITION uP

“


COOK’S ASHES!The boy has clearly been boning up…

1. Which Englishman made three centuries on the Ashes Tour 86/87?

Chris Broad CORRECT

2. What was unusual about Graham Gooch’s dismissal at Old Traff ord in 1993?

He handled the ball. (AOC: And for a bonus point, who was bowling? AC: Merv Hughes!)

CORRECT

3. Who was captain in 1970/71 when England won 2-1 down under?

[Huge pause, head in hands, lost in concentration] Ray Illingworth! CORRECT

4. Who has the highest individual score in the Ashes?

Len Hutton! I’m going with…364? CORRECT

5. Which Aussie took 16 wickets on debut in 1972 at Lord’s? Bob Lassie or someone? (AOC: Bob Massie – we’ll give you that) CORRECT (ISH)

6. What was the name of the leg spinner who bowled Bradman second ball in his fi nal Test innings?

You’ve got me there ANSWER: ERIC HOLLIES

7. Which Aussie scored a debut 100 at Lord’s in 1993 and kissed his badge?

Michael Slater CORRECT

8. Bradman had 19 Ashes centuries, Hobbs 12, who is the only other player to have scored 10 or more?

[Aft er much deliberation between Steve Waugh and Allan Border] I’m going with… Waugh

CORRECT

9. Whose box did Jeff Thomson break on the 1974/75 Ashes tour? I don’t know that one ANSWER: Bumble

10. What year did Bodyline take place in? 1932/33 CORRECT

COOK SCORES: 8/10!THE AOC VERDICT: UNSALVAGEABLE CRICKET TRAGIC

reverted to my old technique, working on a lot of good stuff on the front foot, so that would have helped, and I also worked with a psychologist. I was always known as a mentally strong player, but actually what people see isn’t always quite what’s going on, so I did a lot of work with him and it just clicked. I remember doing an interview after the Brisbane Test and saying that it didn’t count for anything unless I backed it up. So to score a hundred the next time I went out to bat was satisfying, very satisfying.”

Backing it up has become Cook’s speciality. There’s a multi-layered remorselessness to his career that English fans still don’t know quite what to do with. One of the greats, possibly of all time, is in our midst. He is in the vanguard of a new golden age of English batsmanship. He’s 28 years of age, with much still to do. The next stage in Cook’s ridiculous story is now upon us. All things considered, we can forgive him the odd yawn.

Cookie is an ambassador for Yorkshire Bank, who are ‘Giving Bat To You’ this summer. The Banks are giving away 150 Gray-Nicolls cricket bats via the Yorkshire Bank Cricket Facebook page. To be in with a chance of winning one of these top-notch blades visit www.facebook.com/YorkshireBankCricket”



COOK’S ASHES!The boy has clearly been boning up…

1. Which Englishman made three centuries on the Ashes Tour 86/87?

Chris Broad CORRECT

2. What was unusual about Graham Gooch’s dismissal at Old Traff ord in 1993?

He handled the ball. (AOC: And for a bonus point, who was bowling? AC: Merv Hughes!)

CORRECT

3. Who was captain in 1970/71 when England won 2-1 down under?

[Huge pause, head in hands, lost in concentration] Ray Illingworth! CORRECT

4. Who has the highest individual score in the Ashes?

Len Hutton! I’m going with…364? CORRECT

5. Which Aussie took 16 wickets on debut in 1972 at Lord’s? Bob Lassie or someone? (AOC: Bob Massie – we’ll give you that) CORRECT (ISH)

6. What was the name of the leg spinner who bowled Bradman second ball in his fi nal Test innings?

You’ve got me there ANSWER: ERIC HOLLIES

7. Which Aussie scored a debut 100 at Lord’s in 1993 and kissed his badge?

Michael Slater CORRECT

8. Bradman had 19 Ashes centuries, Hobbs 12, who is the only other player to have scored 10 or more?

[Aft er much deliberation between Steve Waugh and Allan Border] I’m going with… Waugh

CORRECT

9. Whose box did Jeff Thomson break on the 1974/75 Ashes tour? I don’t know that one ANSWER: Bumble

10. What year did Bodyline take place in? 1932/33 CORRECT

COOK SCORES: 8/10!THE AOC VERDICT: UNSALVAGEABLE CRICKET TRAGIC

reverted to my old technique, working on a lot of good stuff on the front foot, so that would have helped, and I also worked with a psychologist. I was always known as a mentally strong player, but actually what people see isn’t always quite what’s going on, so I did a lot of work with him and it just clicked. I remember doing an interview after the Brisbane Test and saying that it didn’t count for anything unless I backed it up. So to score a hundred the next time I went out to bat was satisfying, very satisfying.”

Backing it up has become Cook’s speciality. There’s a multi-layered remorselessness to his career that English fans still don’t know quite what to do with. One of the greats, possibly of all time, is in our midst. He is in the vanguard of a new golden age of English batsmanship. He’s 28 years of age, with much still to do. The next stage in Cook’s ridiculous story is now upon us. All things considered, we can forgive him the odd yawn.

Cookie is an ambassador for Yorkshire Bank, who are ‘Giving Bat To You’ this summer. The Banks are giving away 150 Gray-Nicolls cricket bats via the Yorkshire Bank Cricket Facebook page. To be in with a chance of winning one of these top-notch blades visit www.facebook.com/YorkshireBankCricket”




ASHES

p72-89_WomenAshes_AOC107.indd 72 30/07/2013 22:57


W

ASHESThe

With three formats amalgamated into one contest spread across August, the Women’s Ashes has

been given a new lease of l i fe. But wi l l

the new format work? And are we looking at

the f irst signs of an a lternative future for

the world game?

ALL NEW

NEW RULES, NEW GROUNDS, NEW TRICKS.Is this the future of Ashes cricket?



FRONTIERA NEW

In our women’s cricket specia l last summer we looked ahead to the game’s big year, taking in the World Twenty20, the World Cup and the Ashes. Now, in the summer of 2013, we’re right in the thick of it , and England – whisper it – are under the pump.

Going in as favourites for both the World Twenty20 last autumn and the World Cup in February Charlotte Edwards’ champions narrowly surrendered both world titles to Australia’s rising Southern Stars. Now for the Women’s Ashes – a chance for redemption – a landmark series in the history of the women’s game.

Date

11-14 August 20 August 23 August 25 August 27 August 29 August 31 August

THE NEW WOMEN’S ASHES FORMAT HOW IT WORKSThis year’s Women’s Ashes series will be played across one Test, three ODIs and three Twenty20s, with the combined results deciding the winner.

Venue

Wormsley

Lord’sHoveHove

Chelmsford Ageas Bowl Emirates Durham

Format

Test

ODIODIODI

T20I*T20I*+T20I*+

Pts for a win

6 points

2 points 2 points 2 points


Pts for a draw

6 points



*Televised live on Sky Sports+ Played directly before England men v Australia men

The format will be replicated when England head down under for a return series in January 2014

INS AND OUTSBoth teams have a wealth of young talent coming through and pushing for recognition in all forms (see page 76 for the start of our squads rundown). But the biggest loss to either team since the World Cup is that of Lisa Sthalekar, the veteran Aussie off spinning allrounder who retired after the World Cup final in Mumbai. Coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick acknowledges the hole left behind. “An allrounder like Lisa is gold. The knowledge and experience that she passes on is a huge thing for any side to lose.” Former England seamer Isa Guha thinks Sthalekar’s absence could be pivotal. “She is a massive loss. She is that go-to player who can repair the damage when they’re in a sticky situation. The go-to player with the ball in hand to pick up that wicket. She will be really missed – you can’t replace that kind of experience.”

CAN ENGLAND PULL IT OFF?Isa reckons they can. “Going into the World Cup tournaments, England were favourites, and they should have won both those competitions if they had played their best cricket. The fact that the Australians have done them over twice now means they’ll be wanting to get revenge. I know for a fact that Charlotte Edwards will not let that happen again. Her will will win through. I think it will be a close series. Much like the men you can never write the Aussies off – and there will be times when England are feeling the pressure. It will be about how they handle that.”



FRONTIER WHITHER WOMEN’S TESTS?The Women’s Ashes has always previously been played out, like the men’s, in the Test arena. But women’s cricket globally has turned its focus towards the more commercially-friendly, audience-attracting shorter forms of the game. So the truth is now that the world’s best women’s players – much as they would like to – don’t play much Test cricket. Even England’s 33-year-old skipper Charlotte Edwards, who has been playing since 1996 and is the most capped ODI player ever, has played in just 19 Tests – and only fi ve in the last six years.

With that in mind, for England and Australia to compete for an iconic trophy in a single-match series in a format they barely play seemed a bit back-to-front. The new Women’s Ashes format allows the signifi cance and heritage of the Test game to be maintained (and with six points for the winner, it’s still very much the focus), whilst showcasing the best of women’s cricket and off ering context to the whole summer. As former England captain and now head of England women’s cricket Clare Connor says: “To have a points system that requires performance across all formats, and requires a winner, is quite exciting. It could be something to look at for other bi-lateral series, in order to sustain women’s Test cricket.”

The players – lovers of the four-day format as well as the limited-overs smash and grab – understand their role within this developing landscape. As England’s Sarah Taylor tells AOC: “As players we fully understand that in terms of the attraction of women’s cricket at the moment, it’s towards the one-day stuff , and we absolutely love playing curtain-raisers for the guys in Twenty20. A lot of people would like to see us play Test cricket and a lot of us would like to play it, but we’re realists, and we’re just happy that the Ashes is still strong.”

The anticipation for that fi rst game – the only Test – at the beautiful Wormsley ground in Buckinghamshire (the women’s team’s unoffi cial home, at which they are yet to play a Test but have a 100 per cent winning record in ODIs) will be all the more intense for the knowledge that this is just the beginning of an all-encompassing series to decide who’s the best in the world. And who knows, women’s cricket might just have found an idea that helps shape the future of the men’s game, too.

WHY THE WORLD GAME SHOULD FOLLOW THE WOMEN’S LEADRob Steen dares to dream that the ICC might consider cross-format series to help preserve the primacy of Test cricket.

The ICC is currently mulling over imposing a minimum of Tests per annum per nation, with the number currently being fl oated apparently being four. This seems at once eminently reasonable, grossly unfair and plain daft. Eminently reasonable to New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies, whose boards appear to hold about as much enthusiasm for staging fi ve-day bouts as Michael Clarke and Shane Watson have for each other; grossly unfair to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe (how they would love to be able to play more) and plain daft to the rest (though Cricket South Africa might be overwhelmed by ambivalence).

Imagine Sky Sports or ESPNStar being content with broadcasting four Tests a year? The necessary compensation in screen hours, in the shape of endless ODIs and T20 internationals, would drag the Future Tours Programme even farther from all those noble pronouncements about the “primacy” of Tests. And we all know that particular p-word needs to be taken with all the pinches of salt in Siberia.

Now consider that spiffi ng new Women’s Ashes schedule: one Test (six points to the winner), three ODIs (two points per) and three Twenty20s (ditto), with the side netting the most points taking possession of that near-legendary wooden ball. So far, so neat.

In an age when economics take precedence over results, a reversal of the tide seems highly unlikely without some sizeable carrots and an exceedingly sharp stick. So why not kill a number of birds with a single stone? Why not a world league incorporating all three formats? Each variant could have its own independent championship, in turn feeding specifi c tournaments and rivalries, but the holiest grail would be the same for all. For the very fi rst time in the history of the planet’s most durable international sport, it would be possible to ask “Who’s the best?” and receive an informed, valid, only mildly contentious answer.

Ah, but what ingredients will ensure that Test cricket remains the ultimate test of cricketkind? Consider the following rough recipe:

test WIn - 10ptstest draW - 5pts (tie 8pts)test serIes WIn - 50pts (3 Tests), 75pts (4 Tests), 100pts (5 Tests)odI WIn - 5pts (tie 3pts)odI serIes WIn - 25pts; draw - 15ptst20 WIn - 3pts (tie 2pts)t20 serIes WIn - 15pts; draw - 10pts

Beneath the meat and potatoes lurk those sticks and carrots: a maximum of three ODIs or T20s per series and, while one-off Tests would be permissible, there must be at least three to comprise a series: the more Tests you play, the more points you stand to win. Oh, and just to sex it all up and lend it that Premier League sheen – while keeping workloads at manageable levels, thus enhancing the prospects for year-round quality – let’s insist on 38 matches per nation per year, with variety left strictly to bilateral negotiation. Who knows what grand ideas this might give the Irish and the Dutch and the Afghans?

Better yet, a Test Championship could spin off the back of this with no impact on the schedule whatsoever. Let’s think big. Let’s dream. How about a quadrennial two-month series of playoff s involving the top four nations in the Test classifi cation (outside IPL hours, natch)? Simultaneous Champions League-y home-and-away semi-fi nals followed, if required, by an eliminator on neutral turf, and thence by a best-of-fi ve fi nal – two home, two away, one neutral. And if only three games are needed to resolve the spoils, cancel the remainder. For decades, the NBA, the NHL and Major League Baseball have been terminating dead rubbers with extreme prejudice; riots have yet to ensue.

Oh, and any deciding match, semi-fi nal or fi nal, must be played to a fi nish. It’s my dream and I’ll be as Pixarfi ed as I want.

Rob Steen’s latest project, The Cambridge Companion to Football, has just been published by Cambridge University Press. Next year will bring a double dose: an update of Sports Journalism: A Multimedia Primer (Routledge) and Touchlines and Floodlights: A Personal History of Spectator Sport (A&C Black), both of which, by way of a grovelling apology for venturing to the dark side, will contain more than their rightful or even necessary share of f lannelled tomfoolery.



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C ricket’s weird. One minute you can be a world-beater, about to blaze an historic trail in the name of half of

humankind. Three knocks later people are asking what all the fuss is about.

England Women’s wicketkeeper-batsman has often been touted as the most naturally gifted player the women’s game has ever known. But in January, on the eve of the World Cup in India, the hype was cranked up a few notches when Sarah Taylor happened to mention in a newspaper interview that she’d discussed with Sussex the possibility of playing for their men’s Second XI. Taylor was suddenly in the eye of a frenzied media storm, leading to speculation that she could become the first woman to play in men’s first-class cricket.

Off England went, to defend the World Cup title, with the buzz over these new revelations still raging. With Taylor now the wide-eyed face of progress in women’s cricket – even women’s sport – the focus on her performances would be stronger than ever. Taylor – a friendly, funny, generally laid back 24-year-old – was news, and she would be news whether she liked it or not. So what happened next?

On the biggest stage, the game’s most exciting talent made three ducks in a row and England lost the world title to Australia. Was it, as some suggested, a bottle job? Did the pressure get too much? Or was it just a coincidental blip?

Three innings, after all, is a small sample from an already long career. And it was only three. With England still holding a chance of qualification for the final in India Taylor walked out to bat against New Zealand and hit 88 from 79 balls to help her team to victory. She had her luck this time – only a drop at deep mid wicket stopped her notching a fourth successive blob – but though other results conspired to keep England from the final, it was a welcome score for their No.3. Form, it turned out, was temporary. Who’d have thought it.

So how do you explain the run of blongers? And where do you go from there? On the eve of a new Ashes battle and with a golden chance to gain ground back on Australia’s rising Southern Stars, Taylor is still smiling – and hoping, this time, to thrive on the hype. But the shock of what happened at the World Cup will not be forgotten.

Let’s talk about the World Cup. How do you look back on what happened there?Well, I was obviously disappointed. I mean, three ducks in a row! Unbelievable… It was just one of those things – I didn’t do anything differently in the fourth game but somehow managed to get dropped on nought, and then I was off and going. So it was just one of those things where I knew that I had to ride it, and I came out at the end quite happy. Of course I was bitterly disappointed because in a World Cup you’ve got to contribute, and although I contributed with the gloves, I didn’t with the bat. And it’s tough when a top-order batter isn’t firing. Everyone else has got to pick up the pieces, there’s more pressure. But I learnt from it.

What did you learn?I took it in the sense that ‘these things happen’. I’ve had a long and successful career so far, and you are going to have those blips, and that was one of those. There was nothing I could do about it at the time – I wasn’t doing anything differently, and I’m still not doing anything differently now than I was then, it’s just one of those things in a career that happens – you move on from it, and it’s often better to think that way rather than, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ and then you over-think things and you try to change something that doesn’t need changing. It was one of those. At the time, once I got the second duck I was then searching for runs in the third one, and that’s not how it should be. Charlotte [Edwards] came up to me and said, ‘Look, mate, just keep going’ because it is one of those things that just happens.

Did the hype around the men’s cricket story affect you?I’m going to say no, I didn’t really think about it while I was out there. I’d like to say it didn’t. But I don’t know, if I’d walked away having just been mediocre then I could say I don’t think it did, but I got three ducks! And I’m still saying I don’t think it did! I wasn’t thinking about it while I was out there at all so I’d like to say no, and just say it was one of those things that happens in a career.

And how did you cope at the time?I was actually okay. The girls were really good to me – we had a laugh, and I’d rather people are like that than tip-toe around me and the girls were brilliant in that respect, they just laughed about it, because I was laughing about it. I got an lbw against West Indies, which I can look at it and think, ‘Ooh, was that out?’ and then you think there’s no point in thinking about it, and the second one… I don’t know, any other day I probably would have creamed it through the covers but I didn’t, I nicked off against Australia. And then the third one we were trying to get

I started doing crosswords to

calm me down, and once I’d got three ducks I thought,

‘Well I’m not doing this again’ . So I scrapped that. Now I sit there

tapping away, just crying inside!



runs in so many overs and I just searched for a ball I shouldn’t have. They just happen, and then you get to the fourth one and you think, ‘Right, just bat. I need a bit of luck here… a bit of luck’s going to come my way…’ and then you get dropped on nought and then you go on and score runs. I’ve been around long enough to know that stuff like this happens.

How had you dealt with the pressure in that tournament?I remember exactly what I did, I remember exactly what I was thinking. I tried different techniques of trying to relax myself before I went out to bat – because I get quite nervous. I’ll be honest with you, I actually did a crossword. It just made me more relaxed – when we played a warm-up game I was really relaxed and I just jokingly did a puzzler before I batted and it calmed me down. So then I tried it, and once I’d got three ducks I thought, ‘Well I’m not doing this again’. So I scrapped that. Now I just sit there tapping away, just crying inside…

Have you always got nervous?It was easier when I was younger! It’s not like I’m really old now, but it was a lot easier when I was 17, 18. You’re really naïve, and you’re nervous, but you’re nervously excited, whereas now I’m just nervous. I’m happy to be there, but I’m just nervous! But I love it, and I suppose if I wasn’t nervous then I’d be worried. I love the responsibility of batting No.3 and my expectations of myself are quite high, so that’s probably what’s changed. I understand that I’m a senior player now and I think that’s possibly why I get more nervous. I could probably get away with a lot more a few years ago – even about a year ago. It was bizarre looking around the changing room in the Pakistan series [earlier this summer, when some senior players were out injured]. It was a massive change of squad with some new players and I just sat there and I was like, ‘I feel really old!’ But the people who are coming in are 20, 21, 22. They’re only two years younger than me and they still make me feel quite old; I feel quite boring! I think I’ve hit ‘boring’, now. It’s ridiculous…

But you haven’t changed what’s made you successful so far…I don’t think there’s too much to do technically; I’m still flamingo-ing over extra cover and stuff like that, still playing my game: see ball, hit ball sort of game. It’s more the scenario work, the mental side of things that’s got to keep ticking along – especially now I’m a veteran…

Good to hear. Never stop flamingo-ing over extra cover – AOC has always said that… So tell us how the Sussex twos story came about in the first place…I was doing an interview for the Guardian – I’d signed a contract to play with Walmley men and I was talking about how much I love playing men’s cricket. I said that Mark Lane [then England Women coach] had been asked by the Sussex twos coach Carl Hopkinson if he knew any keepers – because they had a shortage early on, and Laney had suggested me. That was literally the conversation. It was a case of, ‘If we really need you, you’re an option’. It was nice just to be asked, but that was pretty much it! As far as some people are concerned though I’m now playing international men’s cricket!

Were you surprised by how big the story got?It was a massive surprise. I remember just scrolling through channels on TV and it being on The Wright Stuff on Channel 5! It was flattering, a lot of what people were saying, but it was one of those things that – like I do with everything – I had to just sort of laugh off. I’m not searching for it. I’m quite happy playing men’s club cricket at Walmley as and when I can. But if the opportunity ever arose then I think I’d be stupid to turn it down.

In the end you did a good job of drawing attention to the women’s game just before the World Cup!It was good publicity – if I’d have had a better tournament, that would have been nice – and shown a few people why! But essentially a lot of what I want to do is promote women’s cricket as much as possible. I played a charity game recently, and you do get some men that don’t rate women’s cricket as highly as I think they should. I batted with a guy like that – I ran him out actually, which was good, I felt pretty good about it, I thought that’d teach him to mess with me – and he turned round to his friend at the end of the day and said, ‘I didn’t realise they played proper cricket shots’. For me that’s what it’s about – proving to people how good it is and trying to get it on the map. So although it was a

‘Smile and get on with things’: Taylor in action against Pakistan this summer



little bit of a bizarre situation, the fact that it homed in on women’s cricket just before a massive World Cup tournament, I think that was brilliant.

You often hear yourself described as “the most talented player in the world’ or the “the best female player ever”. How do you deal with that? To be honest, I ignore most of it, because sometimes it’s people just flattering for the sake of flattering – and it is all men, actually! It’s quite nice to hear, don’t get me wrong – I think anyone would be silly to say they don’t like hearing it. I’m happy to hear it, but it’s like any compliment, you just say thank you, smile and get on with things.

S mile and get on with things – seems like a decent rule for us all. After a spell of ref lection then preparation between the World

Cup and the Ashes, a few months that “felt like about eight years”, she’s nearly there. And Sarah Taylor is happiest when the waiting is over, the puzzles have been put away and she can focus those eyes on the ball coming towards her. By the time the summer’s out, no one who’s been watching should be in any doubt what all the fuss was about.

You get some men that don’t rate

women’s cricket as highly as I think

they should. I batted with a guy like that – I ran

him out actually, I thought that’d

teach him to mess with me’



AD

FLYING DUTCHMEN � TOP CLUBBING � LMS � CHUCKING � GREAT UNKNOWNS

THECLUBBERTHE HEART OF THE GAME

in Belgium, long enough to recall a dream of Hercule Poirot umpiring in a Test match at the Gabba. Be warned: containment in a coach can hasten delirium. When I awoke dawn had broken and we were pulling up in Amsterdam. I transferred to a tram and weaved across canals and past landmarks until I saw a sign for Amstelveen and rang the bell. It is an affl uent suburb that lines the Amsterdam Bos, a vast and verdant expanse of recreational land created in a public works scheme after the great depression. I picked up a paper lying on a seat but there was no mention of cricket. Nor did a local resident believe there was a ground in the vicinity until he checked his smartphone.

The VRA ground, now the ABN AMRO International Cricket Centre, is approached by a tree-lined avenue, buttressed on all sides by hockey fi elds. Though the Netherlands are ranked in the top 12 teams in the world, cricket is not in the top 30 most-played sports in the country. It is a pretty ground, the imposing

though it may cost more than the £44 return. Having scoured the fi xture list from Cornwall to Cumberland for a curio in the county season I’d come to the conclusion that for real excitement you had to pack a passport along with your Playfair.

Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since the 19th century and today the Dutch play cricket from Deventer to Den Haag. Yet only an intrepid few have crossed the channel to enjoy cricket continental-style. With this being the last season of Dutch participation in the county season, many may rue their lack of adventure.

All the more reason to make this pilgrimage myself. Their opponents would be South Africa, eager to acclimatise to English-type conditions in preparation for the Champions Trophy. They had enjoyed a training camp and even gone boating on the canals. You could do that in Birmingham, I suppose, but you may have to slalom through the shopping trolleys.

I slept through France but briefl y stirred

With South Africa in town and a capacity crowd packed in to the newly spruced ABN AMRO International Cricket Centre, could The Netherlands grasp the moment and put on a grand show? Tim Brooks boarded the Megabus to fi nd out.

I t was a rum old crowd who gathered outside the sandwich shop in Victoria

coach station as the last embers of dusk glowed through the skylights above. There were bedraggled musicians perched on upturned guitar cases, slouched among wide-eyed tourists growing restless in the untranslatable bedlam of bus departures, and me, drawing perhaps the most curious glances, in a bright orange Dutch cricket jersey.

My eyes scanned the destinations on the line of buses in the terminal: Oxford, Norwich, Preston, Amsterdam. I checked my boarding pass. I was due to arrive in nine hours and 20 minutes. I could catch the Caribbean Super League in the comfort of a fi rst-class lounge in that time,

HIGH FLYING DUTCHMEN

p97-114_TheBackflap_AOC107.indd 99 30/07/2013 22:49


AD

FLYING DUTCHMEN � TOP CLUBBING � LMS � CHUCKING � GREAT UNKNOWNS

THECLUBBERTHE HEART OF THE GAME

in Belgium, long enough to recall a dream of Hercule Poirot umpiring in a Test match at the Gabba. Be warned: containment in a coach can hasten delirium. When I awoke dawn had broken and we were pulling up in Amsterdam. I transferred to a tram and weaved across canals and past landmarks until I saw a sign for Amstelveen and rang the bell. It is an affl uent suburb that lines the Amsterdam Bos, a vast and verdant expanse of recreational land created in a public works scheme after the great depression. I picked up a paper lying on a seat but there was no mention of cricket. Nor did a local resident believe there was a ground in the vicinity until he checked his smartphone.

The VRA ground, now the ABN AMRO International Cricket Centre, is approached by a tree-lined avenue, buttressed on all sides by hockey fi elds. Though the Netherlands are ranked in the top 12 teams in the world, cricket is not in the top 30 most-played sports in the country. It is a pretty ground, the imposing

though it may cost more than the £44 return. Having scoured the fi xture list from Cornwall to Cumberland for a curio in the county season I’d come to the conclusion that for real excitement you had to pack a passport along with your Playfair.

Cricket has been played in the Netherlands since the 19th century and today the Dutch play cricket from Deventer to Den Haag. Yet only an intrepid few have crossed the channel to enjoy cricket continental-style. With this being the last season of Dutch participation in the county season, many may rue their lack of adventure.

All the more reason to make this pilgrimage myself. Their opponents would be South Africa, eager to acclimatise to English-type conditions in preparation for the Champions Trophy. They had enjoyed a training camp and even gone boating on the canals. You could do that in Birmingham, I suppose, but you may have to slalom through the shopping trolleys.

I slept through France but briefl y stirred

With South Africa in town and a capacity crowd packed in to the newly spruced ABN AMRO International Cricket Centre, could The Netherlands grasp the moment and put on a grand show? Tim Brooks boarded the Megabus to fi nd out.

I t was a rum old crowd who gathered outside the sandwich shop in Victoria

coach station as the last embers of dusk glowed through the skylights above. There were bedraggled musicians perched on upturned guitar cases, slouched among wide-eyed tourists growing restless in the untranslatable bedlam of bus departures, and me, drawing perhaps the most curious glances, in a bright orange Dutch cricket jersey.

My eyes scanned the destinations on the line of buses in the terminal: Oxford, Norwich, Preston, Amsterdam. I checked my boarding pass. I was due to arrive in nine hours and 20 minutes. I could catch the Caribbean Super League in the comfort of a fi rst-class lounge in that time,

HIGH FLYING DUTCHMEN



AOC’S CLUB MATCHBringing clubs and cricketers together in perfect harmony! Think of us as matchmakers, cricketing cupids, just without the ads or the small talk.

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pavilion complemented by a large temporary stand and shimmering white marquees.

Two days before, a Dutch player had posted a picture of the square under two inches of water so I was relieved to see the sun bathing the ground and fi elding drills on the outfi eld. In the spirit of continental camaraderie Mark Moodley, the president of French Cricket, had travelled up to help his Dutch counterpart clear the water and enable the glamour fi xture of the European cricket calendar to be played.

The ground was bustling with a capacity 2,500 spectators, impressive for a week day, milling about, catching up with friends, unfurling fl ags and buying a beer and Frikandellen (sausage to you and I). This not only made for a carnival atmosphere but was also a welcome boost to the KNCB (Royal Dutch Cricket Board) coff ers. Feet away from the fans unguarded by security, Allan Donald put his bowlers through their paces.

Sausage safely consumed, I took a walk around the ground,

Having scoured the fi xture list from Cornwall to Cumberland for a curio in the county season I’d come to the conclusion that for real excitement you had to pack a passport along with your Playfair

pleased I’d braved the madness of a Megabus. In the grandstand were excitable classes of schoolchildren, part of an award-winning development initiative by the KNCB to boost youth participation. South African expats and Dutch fans splashed the stand with green and orange. There was also a large contingent of English, Pakistani and Indians delighted to have the opportunity to watch cricket in their home from home. Behind the stand I paused to greet former international allrounder Tim De Leede, who was selling cricket gear from a small stall. I couldn’t imagine Botham, Hadlee or Imran manning the till.

The last time the Dutch team had played a Test nation at the ground, in 2006, Sri Lanka had posted a world record 443. With short boundaries and the sun out there was every chance of another run fest. The press tent numbered four, all except me eager young locals providing ball-by-ball commentary for internet sites. I was the lone Englisher, my epic journey deemed eccentric enough to get me an interview on Dutch television.

T here was no Steyn or Morkel for South Africa, good news for those wearing orange pads but a little disappointing for the

crowd. But spirits were lifted when the Proteas batted first, even Dutch fans acknowledging that this would likely make for the most entertaining day’s cricket. It was a sign that though they were playing to win, hoping to claim a further full member scalp after a Twenty20 victory against Bangladesh last year, the result was less important than the boost to profile and participation the fixture could bring.

Bukhari bowled tightly and Van Meekeren had Amla well caught at slip, surely a fi reside tale for the grandchildren. But Ingram and Duminy adjusted to the pace of the wicket and began systematically taking the attack apart. Together with Du Plessis, a former professional in the Dutch league, Duminy put on 152 in a mayhem-making fi nal 13 overs. It was a savage exposure of the lack of bowling threat but the crowd enjoyed a shower of sixes to freshen up the sunny afternoon.

I spent the early stages of the hosts’ reply in the company of enigmatic Dutch legend Nolan Clarke [see left and central picture above]. He barely paused for breath while talking me through some of his best knocks and demonstrated how deliveries out in the middle should have been played.

50NOLAN CLARKE

NON-TEST PLAYERSTOP

NUMBER 43

With the top 20 of the best 50 players from countries who don’t play Test cricket about to be

revealed online, here’s one Tim Brooks prepared earlier

Nolan Clarke was the best of a number of Caribbean players who have represented the Netherlands. After a modest career in his native Barbados he emigrated to Holland in 1984 as a player/coach. After fulfi lling his residency qualifi cation he made his international debut in 1989, scoring 77 in a victory over an England XI featuring Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain.

This suggested he may put weaker, associate attacks to the sword and that’s exactly what he did on home soil at the ICC Trophy the following year, scoring almost twice as many runs as any other player as he blasted two hundreds and averaged 65. Four years later, at the age of 45, he topped the run-scorers’ list again, this time with an astonishing average of 86.

His record in the premium associate tournament is extraordinary: he’s the second-highest scorer ever and the only man to hit fi ve centuries. He played ODIs at 48 and made his last international appearance, against India A, in his fi fties. And on he went for Dutch league side Quick Haag, fi nally bowing out in 2007 at the age of 59.

He came to Holland as a veteran and played for a further 23 years. His 256* against Bloomendal in 1990 is the highest score recorded in the Dutch league, and that puts him above names like Flower, Astle and Goodwin.

Go to alloutcricket.com for the fi nal countdown



“UNQUOTE UNQUOTE...In the beginning was cricket, and cricket was with God, and cricket was God.John 1:1

TOP CLUBBING

300300300RECORDS TUM BLE I N CORNI SH CARNAGELuckett CC batsman Andrew Brenton has broken the record for the highest individual score in Cornish cricket history, hitting 311 in his team’s 313-run victory over Tideford in the Cornwall Cricket League Division Two East.

The 39-year-old self-employed builder smashed 53 fours and 11 sixes as he helped Luckett post 513-5 off 48 overs – a score which broke another Cornish record for the highest team total.

Having come in at No.3, Brenton was eventually dismissed in the 44th over after putting on 468 with opener Jack Sleep, also breaking the league record for the highest second-wicket partnership in the process.

Luckett teammate Dave Brown described the record-breaking knock as “totally unbelievable”. “It didn’t really sink in at fi rst what he had actually done,” said Brown. “Everyone was just shell-shocked. It was just incredible to watch. Everything went to the boundary and it was relentless. I’ve been playing for a long time and I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“He is a naturally aggressive player. His fi rst scoring shot was a six, and he does that in most games. He’s a big, well-built guy so when he hits the ball, it stays hit.”

The scorecard made painful reading for the opposition bowlers, with seamer David Lockett and fi rst-change bowler Elliot Goss conceding over 100 runs from their 12 overs, and Brown had some sympathy for Tideford for being on the receiving end of Brenton’s blitzkrieg. “It was just his day – he had a bit of luck, he was dropped a couple of times – and he’s such a dangerous player that if he gives you a chance, you just have to take it.

“The opposition were understandably drained by the end of it – they couldn’t do any more to prevent it.”

Words: Jamie Hopkins, The League Cricketers’ Association

Brentwood CC batsman Daniel Hammond joined the likes of Sir Garry Sobers and Herschelle Gibbs when he smashed six sixes in one over during a Dukes Essex League Twenty20 match. Hammond, who is the club’s resident coach and has played for Kent and Essex 2nd XIs in the past, went on to score 170 in just 59 deliveries, including 17 sixes and

eight fours. The ‘perfect over’ helped Brentwood post 278-2 and sealed their progress to the last eight of the competition.

Veteran seamer Neal Furmenger has become the second player in Northwood Town CC’s history to take 1,000 wickets for the club. He brought up the milestone as part of a six-fer against Offl ey & Stopsley CC in the Hertfordshire Cricket League. Furmenger says his next goal is retirement, but we reckon there are a few wickets in the old dog yet. For more club cricket stories, go to www.thelca.co.uk

The cricket community in Holland is small, tight-knit and passionate, and former internationals were everywhere. Van Troost and Esmeijer reminisced over a glass of bubbly, while gifted gloveman Jeroen Smit, now in the KNCB top brass, surveyed the view from the balcony. And this was not just a Dutch day but a European event. Joining the French president were his counterparts from Germany and Belgium. They were learning what it takes to host a major cricket event and how this could play a key role in ambitious plans to spread the cricketing gospel throughout Europe. With a number of turf pitches – an all too rare commodity in continental Europe – western European associates and affiliates often play tournaments in the Netherlands, with the KNCB proud to help assist their development.

It was always going to prove too much for the Dutch but one man was determined to make his mark. Eric Szwarczynski defended judiciously and drove beautifully to hold the innings together, progressing serenely until being cruelly dismissed for 98 while backing up at the non-striker’s. It would have been his maiden ODI century on his home ground against the country of his birth with his father in the crowd. The Dutch passed 250 to keep the margin of defeat under 100 runs.

In the post-match interviews AB de Villiers spoke generously of Dutch hospitality and the standard of the facilities, confidently predicting they would join the top nations in the near future. Peter Borren said how humbling it was for his team to share the field with global superstars. Many stayed to get an autograph and a photo from their heroes. Amla was particularly in demand and despite being jostled and pestered stayed for 20 minutes to give his fans something to remember.

After the game the Dutch players enjoyed Bitterballen, a spicy local snack, and a beer on the balcony. A few are professionals but most juggle the demands of cricket and a career. They are acutely aware of the personal possibilities that team success can bring. Many are former teammates of Ryan Ten Doeschate who used his Dutch career as a springboard to become a global star. While their opponents f ly off to the Champions Trophy they return to their clubs and the day-to-day of the Dutch league. Their next big games are the World Cricket League Championship fixtures against Ireland in July, when they can take another step closer to the 2015 World Cup.

Next year the Dutch will have to do without English opposition and English fans who have not crossed the channel may have missed their chance. The Dutch know how significant this day could prove to be. They have proved that they can host a Test team and provide world-class training facilities. They also showcased a high profile fixture to sponsors ABN-AMRO and are quietly confident that this will lead to an extension of support to youth development and domestic structures, such as the recently launched Europa League.

With a supportive sponsor and top teams eager to tour, the Dutch may have found the blueprint for taking their cricket to the next level.

Tim Brooks is an expert on non-Test playing nations and can be found @cricketatlas

300300513-5 off 48 overs – a score which broke

300300another Cornish record for the highest team total.

300Brentwood CC batsman Daniel Hammondjoined the likes of Sir Garry Sobers and

eight fours. The ‘perfect over’ helped Brentwood post 278-2 and



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The World’s Best Cricket Magazine ICC EUROPE …...World Cup in 2014. Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and hosts the Netherlands all took part in an exciting tournament