6 Twenty20 cricket seems tailor made for you. Does it excite you and what’s your take on its future looking forward.
I think it is a fantastic addition to the cricket calendar and it seems to be generating a lot of interest from kids and from those that are not traditional cricket lovers and that can only be good for the game. I think Twenty20 may diminish the value of 50-overs cricket in the future, but ironically, it may make test cricket more popular for true cricket fans.
7 You have a reputation as straight talker. Do you think the NCU administration has got its act together in light of the stick it gets these days?
Administration is a bit like umpiring. It is a thankless task and you are always criticised for making the wrong decisions and rarely get commended for all the good work that you do. Administrators put in a tremendous amount of work and the likes of Bryan Milford, Wylie McKinty, Richard Johnson, and Roger Bell have put in a huge effort and no doubt made many personal sacrifices for the benefit of the game so I am not going to criticise any volunteer. The major problem in the NCU is the two/thirds majority rule needed for change at the AGM and the necessity to stick rigidly to the rules in place. There is a big problem is in the lower divisions as cricket matches need to be shorter to make it easier to get teams out. I think we need more player input into what is actually wanted in the game.
8 Can you see yourself getting involved in the NCU administration?
It would not be high on my ‘to-do list’ while I am still playing. However, I have got a lot out of cricket over the years and I would be prepared to give something back in the future. That said, I sent an email about three weeks to a very senior administrator volunteering to try and get involved in some capacity (steering group or something like that) but I have received no response so I am not going to be chasing it up.
9 Do you feel saddened that there is no Queen’s University team any more after your deep involvement in the club?
Immensely sad. I played for five years at Queen’s and I had my most enjoyable days in cricket during this period and I also had the pleasure of making many lifelong friends that I still see regularly or keep in touch with. I think the NCU is weaker without Queens, both in playing terms, and perhaps more significantly, in building ‘club men.’ At Queensat 19 or 20 years old you had the responsibility of being club secretary, treasury, captain or whatever, and you got to appreciate early in life what is involved in running a club. It was sad in the mid nineties that other clubs actively discouraged students to play for Queensdue to the perception it may harm their own cricket. Looking back, I do not feel I have lost out and many players who boycotted Queen’s whilst I was there don’t appear to have achieved more than the players who committed to university cricket. In 1998 Queens were 4th in Section 2 with the opportunity to progress. Sadly it was not to be, and the club folded a couple of years later. I do not see it resurrecting itself now unfortunately.
10 If you could change one thing in local cricket at the flick of a switch what would you like to see?
More supporters at games (well ours anyway!).
