Cricket speakers seems to be the theme this week with Paul Nixon of Leicestershire at the Northern Cricket Society lunch last week. Then three in a row with Yorkshire county cricket club's Supporters Association AGM at Headingley on Sunday, followed by an excellent talk from Guy Williams, a sporting journalist who contributes regularly to the Cricket Paper.
On Monday evening we had Moeen Ali, freshly returned from Sri Lanka, talking at an Ilkley Literature Festival event, held at the Grammar School at Leeds and on Tuesday evening back to Headingley for a Northern Cricket Society meeting. This was addressed by John Sadler, assistant coach at Leicestershire, standing in for Alan Fordham of the ECB who was apparently double booked.
So a varied collection one might say, but all full of interest nevertheless, with a good turnout of cricket enthusiasts on each occasion, the biggest attendance quite naturally for current Test star Moeen Ali.
Paul Nixon is still as enthusiastic as ever in his newish role of Chief Coach at Leicestershire. He took us through his up and down career from being a young lad from the Lake District, being born in Langwathby, Cumbria and first playing cricket at Edenhall cricket club, not far from Penrith. He joined Leicestershire in 1989 and shared in considerable success with two county championship wins under the captaincy of James Whittaker, who he was going to see after the lunch.
He left Leicester briefly for two seasons with Kent from 2000 enjoying his time there playing together with people like Rahul Dravid, the Indian Test player, who he rates as probably the best batsman he has ever seen, who even used to practice in the nets on his days off. However following his return to Leicester in 2003 his career really took off with the advent of T20 which the county won twice and then very much the highlight when he was eventually selected for England at the rather advanced age of 36 to play in one day internationals in Australia.
Sunday afternoon with Guy Williams, someone new to me, proved very interesting with his thoughts on Yorkshire cricket, pulling no punches on the loss of Jack Brooks and wondering how Yorkshire were going to replace him. He shared the view of many in the audience about the signing of unproven players from other counties on three year contracts. However the most interesting parts of his speech were about his time as a journalist with Yorkshire TV.
He had tried to get Don Bradman to come to England many years ago to help with a programme on the history of Headingley Test cricket in which the 'Don' had played a major part during the 1930s and 1940s. Sadly he was unable to attend but wrote Guy Williams a wonderful letter which he has framed and passed around the audience. However he did manage to put together a programme with Bill Bowes and Harold Larwood, together with Dickie Bird which went down well, even after an over enthusiastic doorman at YTV told Harold Larwood on arrival that he thought he was dead!
Mr Williams also did an article for the sadly missed retro cricket magazine, Backspin, picking the best ever Yorkshire XI with Brian Close and Raymond Illingworth. There was some controversy at the omission of Geoff Boycott, but how could he get in with Hutton and Sutcliffe to open. Close of course picked himself, but the greatest omission seemed to be that of Wilfred Rhodes, surely the greatest Yorkshireman of them all. However the two Yorkshire veterans thought Hedley Verity the better choice. Some comment from the audience on the selection of Philip Sharpe at number three, but apparently his slip catching ability was the deciding factor.
Monday night was cold and frosty and it must have been a shock for Moeen Ali, just back from the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka. He was promoting the sale of his new book, which appears rather more interesting than most cricketing autobiographies, charting as it does his rise from playing street cricket in the Birmingham suburbs, to county and Test cricket.
Moeen has obviously come a long way in recent seasons both as a player and as a person, who explained how he questioned the Muslim faith in his teenage years but became reconciled after asking many questions of people he met. He spoke very frankly of the England team set up and feels that in the recent series Joe Root has finally established himself as a captain and leader. Obviously he was very pleased with the success of the spinning trio of himself, Adil Rashid and Jack Leech and explained how he was the 'captain' of this team within a team.
Interestingly he spoke very highly of Stokes as a person who has been greatly misunderstood and, despite his misdemeanours, is probably Moeen's best friend in the squad, along with Adil Rashid.
He also thought highly of Johnny Bairstow as a sympathetic individual who should continue as number three and feels that the squad are on the verge of great things if they can solve the opening batsmen problem.
Finally on Tuesday evening we had John Sadler at the Northern Cricket Society. A Yorkshireman born and bred, he worked his way through the Yorkshire schools set up to Yorkshire second eleven level, but shortly after winning his second XI cap he was sacked, with no apparent explanation. However he bounced back to find a first class career with Leicestershire and Derbyshire as a batsman.
He then entered the rather complex world of cricket coaching and spoke very openly and honestly about the ups and down of his journey so far. He outlined his philosophy of man management which is basically looking people in the eye and telling them the truth. Obviously the hardest part of any coach's job is having to tell players they are surplus to requirements and his own experiences have helped him in this.
He is currently studying for a Master's degree in Sports Management, something Mark Chilton of Lancashire has already achieved. He put us in the picture of the politics of county cricket and explained how coaches are often put under pressure by boards of directors or senior management who are often not true cricket people.
Now he is part of the coaching team at Leicester working together with Paul Nixon, our first speaker of the week. One feels that they will do well with Nixon's enthusiasm being complemented by Sadler's common sense and straightforward approach. Good luck to them both.
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