News from around the circuit, including Ashley Giles’ Commonwealth Games gold touch and which county was absent from the coaches meeting last week
Paul Bolton17-Apr-2018The story of former England allrounder Chris Lewis’s conviction for drugs smuggling is to be told on stage in a new play. has been written by former Kent and Derbyshire cricketer Jim Graham-Brown under his pen name Dougie Blaxland and is based on Lewis’ time in prison while he served half of a 13-year sentence for attempting to smuggle liquid cocaine into the country in 2009.Actor Nick Bailey, well-known for playing the part of Anthony Trueman in , played the part of Lewis in a first reading to the artistic directors of 40 theatres in London last week.”Jim spent a couple of days with Chris and he has done a superb job of telling his story and giving it a different slant to the one he has told in his autobiography,” said Lewis’ agent, the former Warwickshire and Surrey batsman Jason Ratcliffe.”I watched the first reading with Chris this week and it was so moving and emotional that there were times when I was reduced to tears. We have secured Arts Council funding for the play and five Young Offenders Institutes have already agreed to stage it.”The feedback from the reading was very positive and we are hopeful that the play will go straight into London before going around the country as well.” is the second play on cricket written by James-Brown, a retired teacher, following , which chronicles Colin Milburn’s battle with drink and depression and was performed at all 18 county grounds in 2016.
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Cricket played a part in the gold medal success of England’s netball team at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.Colin Povey, the former Warwickshire chief executive, is now chairman of Loughborough-based England Netball and Ashley Giles, the former England slow left-armer, is an independent director.Giles, now Warwickshire’s sports director, was recruited by Povey as and has worked closely with Tracey Neville, coach of the triumphant Red Roses.”I never thought four years ago I would be setting my alarm for a quarter to four on a Sunday to watch netball but there we were. It was brilliant, I absolutely loved it,” Giles said.”I’m delighted for all of them, particularly Tracey because she has worked so hard. When you see people work so hard towards something and Tracey is so committed, as they all are, it gives you real satisfaction.”I’ve watched a few games live and I’ve been invited to a few training sessions by Tracey. I guess through similar things in our roles. I find it helpful to speak to people from other sports, hopefully speaking to me has been helpful for Tracey.”
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Essex were the only county not represented at the meeting of directors of cricket and coaches held at Edgbaston last week to discuss the future of county cricket and the threat posed by the lure of domestic T20 competitions around the world.Anthony McGrath, Essex’s new head coach, missed out because the Edgbaston gathering clashed with his club’s AGM at Chelmsford.Leicestershire’s chief executive Wasim Khan was present at Edgbaston, as he has been asked by the ECB to set up a working party to look at the future of Championship cricket, but the players’ union, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, was not represented.”We thought that, as it was our first meeting, it should be just coaches and an opportunity for people to air their views without anyone from the ECB or PCA being present,” Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon, who convened the meeting, said.”We have now shared information with our county CEOs and the ECB. It was a very positive meeting and there is a great desire for us to meet two or three times a year going forward.”The covers were firmly on at Headingley•Getty Images
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The start to the County Championship season was the wettest in 18 years, with four of the six matches in the opening round suffering first day washouts, but recent Aprils have been kinder to the competition.Between April 26, 2000, when the first day of all six matches at the start of the new two-divisional County Championship was washed out, and last Friday there had been only two opening day washouts anywhere in the country. They were Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire at Trent Bridge on April 19, 2006 and Worcestershire v Kent on April 10, 2016 when the entire match was abandoned because of a waterlogged outfield at New Road.
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Spare a thought for the student cricketers of Leeds/Bradford MCCU, whose three matches against county opposition were all abandoned without a ball being bowled.The match against Yorkshire was called off three days before the scheduled start, with the Headingley outfield a bog. The matches against Worcestershire, the inaugural first-class contest at Worcester Royal Grammar School, and Derbyshire at Weetwood were both abandoned on the second day.”We went to South Africa for a five-match tour to prepare for the season but since we got back we haven’t managed to get onto the field,” Leeds/Bradford coach Andrew Lawson said.”Losing the three games against county sides is disappointing and frustrating for the boys because they are an opportunity for them to seen by county coaches who might follow their progress through the season.”Leeds/Bradford hope for better weather on Thursday when they open their MCCU Championship campaign against Cambridge at Fenner’s.
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Warwickshire have rebranded clothing on sale in the shop at Edgbaston after members of their 1994 treble-winning side.Supporters can purchase Lara T-shirts, Ostler hoodies, Reeve jackets and Din polos. Nothing has been named after Andy Moles, the comfortably built former opening batsman, but those seeking something in XXL can always purchase a Munton jumper.Earlier Warwickshire greats have also had items named after them although it is unlikely that Bob Wyatt ever owned a polo shirt or that a hoodie can be found in Dennis Amiss’ wardrobe.
