Cricket: Merseysiders learning a trick or two Down Under

Mar 7 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

SCARCELY a decade ago the chance to spend a few months in Australia represented the trip of a lifetime for a young recreational cricketer. In the 21st century it is fast becoming an essential part of his sporting education.

Many clubs in the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition currently have at least one of their most promising players wintering down under and some have nearly half their first team trying to broaden their education in grade cricket.

Nor is it only those who have caught the eye of the Old Trafford coaches who have invested in a plane ticket. Ormskirk’s Lancashire and England Under-19 wicket-keeper batsman John Simpson is in Australia and he has been joined by Nicky Caunce, Matthew Glayzer, James Illingworth and Ian Robinson.

But Brook Lane skipper Adam Waterhouse has mixed feelings about his players’ plans.

He said: “I’m very envious and wish I’d done it when I was their age but I do think they have to make the most of their opportunity.

“In particular they need to make sure that they don’t spend too much time in off-field social activities.

“We’ve had a few players go over there in the past who weren’t as useful the next summer because they were effectively playing their third season in succession.”

Northern’s contingent of cricketers who had the chance to spend Christmas Day on the beach included Nick Woods, Jack Woosey and both James and Stephen Cole, and the Moor Park captain Phil Cooper is optimistic that he will have better players on his hands when they return in the spring.

I’ve never seen anyone come back a worse player,” he commented.

“As much as anything the exposure to the Australian way of playing the game, regular practice and the different philosophy gives them a new perspective on their cricket. It can be a good thing to get away from the confines of the Liverpool Competition.”

Few people are better qualified to assess the potential benefits and possible drawbacks of a winter overseas than the Lancashire’s Academy director John Stanworth, who has seen players both prosper and decline as a result of an Australian summer.

“I see it as a very positive experience,” he said. “The value to me as a coach is that it challenges young players technically and in a lot of other ways too.

“They have to get used to the Kookaburra ball which swings for the first 10 overs but they also have to cope with the verbals and slumps in form when they are a long way from home.”

And Stanworth cited the example of a Merseyside cricketer whose development was assisted by a season overseas. “Young Ian Cockbain spent the winter of 2005-6 in Australia and came back a much more assured cricketer and with a noticeably better technique against spin bowling,” he said.

“I don’t believe he would have achieved all that without the challenging experiences he had faced over the winter.

“On the negative side I’ve also seen players come back overweight having enjoyed the lifestyle over there and they’ve needed to get back in shape before they could play cricket.”

Stanworth’s experiences have led him to offer advice in three areas.

“Firstly it’s clearly important that they play the right quality of cricket,” he stressed. “But I also think that their accommodation needs to be close to their club and I believe that they should get a job. If the whole project is funded by well-meaning parents, the comfort-blanket’s been extended by 10,000 miles.”

Nowadays Lancashire’s young players are not allowed to go to an environment which the county has not approved. But if all goes well, Stanworth is able to welcome back a better player in the spring.

“I’m looking for independent-thinking cricketers, players who can judge situations and pitches,” he said. “Australian grade cricket challenges them technically, tactically and mentally and all of it in great heat at times.

“Talented players find out about themselves and how good they are. That’s why I like the experience.”