Ian Cockbain hoping successful Blast can open franchise doors after summer without cricket

NICK FRIEND: In the history of England’s domestic T20 competition, only 24 men have scored more runs than Cockbain – the vast majority of whom have seen their own successes supplemented with deals abroad or international recognition

It is coming up to a year since Ian Cockbain’s last first team appearance for Gloucestershire. Unsurprisingly, it has been the longest wait of his career – the effect of a global pandemic, of course, and the fact that he was not included in his county’s plans for their Bob Willis Trophy fixtures.

It places him in an unusual position coming into this year’s T20 Blast; there are no warm-up matches to fall back on nor opportunities for meaningful middle practice. Due to factors to do with coronavirus, organising training sessions has been more complex than one might assume.

For Cockbain, the upcoming month represents a significant period: the 33-year-old is in the final year of his current contract, while he missed out on being picked up in last October’s draft for The Hundred and he still has ambitions of finding his way onto the T20 franchise circuit.

Liverpool-born and a Gloucestershire player for the last decade, he is an interesting case. In his own eyes, he has flown under the radar in the shortest format, where he has done much of his best work.

In the history of England’s domestic T20 competition, only 24 men have scored more runs – the vast majority of whom have seen their own successes supplemented with deals abroad or international recognition.

“It’s a bit of a tough pill to swallow, to be honest,” he tells The Cricketer. “I look at the guys above me and even some of the guys who haven’t scored as many runs as me. They get higher honours or in the franchises. It does feel frustrating sometimes.”

He describes his role in T20 cricket at Bristol as “doing the dirty jobs”. Among his teammates last season, only Michael Klinger and Miles Hammond surpassed his tally of 277 runs, but both made theirs at a faster rate.

It is a role he enjoys and, even if it might seem a more old-fashioned notion in the T20 realm, it is one he believes remains fundamental in allowing those around him to go about their business at their own rate.

^{Ian Cockbain has been a key member of Gloucestershire's T20 side}

“It’s all well and good if you’re chasing a small target to go out there and try to blade it,” he says. “If you get 60 off 30 balls and win the game for your team, you look like a superstar.

“But realistically, I tend to play the higher percentages and if I can get a 50 off 40 balls to win the game for us and do the dirty yards, if you like, that’s something I’ve always prioritised – making sure that the team win.

“You look at the teams across the Blast and you go: ‘How did a team lose that game?’ Someone might get praised for a quickfire 40 but they don’t win the game. It is something that has been a big frustration of mine, but it is one of those things. I’m sure coaches do look at how you score your runs, not just how many and how fast.”

His name has been a regular in franchise drafts in recent times, but he still awaits his first taste of the circuit. As with many things, getting through the front door can be the toughest step.

This year, therefore, offers an opportunity. Jack Taylor will captain Gloucestershire in this year’s tournament, with Klinger having retired.

But the Australian leaves behind a tangible legacy: “He’s had such a big impact on the club as a whole – not just on our T20 cricket,” adds Cockbain, who was his vice-captain in the T20 Blast and had thrown his name into the ring to replace him.

“If you look at someone like Klinger, his strike rate isn’t the best in the world but he’s got seven T20 hundreds – possibly the Blast’s best-ever batter.” In 87 Blast appearances, he struck 2,949 runs at an average of 42.13. Those runs will need replacing. “It would be nice to take them over and get a few more under my belt,” he adds.

This year’s competition, however, comes with a difference. Ordinarily, the likes of Cockbain would ramp up their preparations in the second team T20 tournament. But with Covid-19 putting pay to those plans, the last month has been a demanding period.

“It’s normally nice because you get some time in the middle and you’re normally playing against strong opposition as well because everyone uses the second team games as a warm-up tournament,” he explains.

“For me personally, I like to feel where the gaps are in the field. As long as I’m hitting the ball clean, I feel pretty comfortable. But it’s all very well and good hitting the ball clean, but you have to hit it in gaps as well. You can’t get that scenario in a net.

“That’s probably going to be my biggest challenge once the tournament starts – hitting balls into gaps straight away. You can do all the preparation beforehand to be hitting the ball cleanly and consistently striking the ball well, but it takes a little bit of time to get into the groove of things with gaps and running between the wickets.”

^{Cockbain has scored 2,665 T20 Blast runs}

Cockbain’s last T20 match came in last season’s Blast quarter-final against Derbyshire, an evening that still rankles with the Gloucestershire faithful, having lost out at the last hurdle ahead of Finals Day.

It is only natural, therefore, that there will be rust to shake off in the coming days. Even for those who have had regular match action in the Bob Willis Trophy, this will constitute a significant change.

“It might take a few of the guys a bit of time to get into the swing of things,” he says. “You saw it with the football and even in the Test matches – you saw the batters scratch around a little bit and the footballers misplacing passes where you would normally expect them to pick out players. It will be interesting to see how it all starts, to be honest. I’m looking forward to it.”

In theory, Cockbain’s absence from his county’s four-day plans might have allowed him the opportunity to spend the month honing his white-ball skills. In a coronavirus environment, though, that is more complicated than it might normally be.

The Bristol County Ground has only been available for training use at certain times, with Gloucestershire playing their first two red-ball games on site. Meanwhile, rules around the use of local club grounds are still stringent for county pros.

As a result, Cockbain has done much of his practice with the club’s youngsters, as well as with Benny Howell, who has been working his way back to fitness on the back of injury issues.

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“I’m hoping that it will be a bit of an advantage once the tournament starts,” he ponders of his unusual build-up.

“But we haven’t actually been able to get into the ground a great deal, which has been quite frustrating. We’ve literally just been training twice or three times a week while the lads have been away.

“It has been quite frustrating having all this free time to practise T20 but not being able to have the facilities to do that. But we’ve been in for the last two days and hopefully we’ll be back in tomorrow, leading into Thursday.”

And Thursday will represent far more than any old game. It will be the first time since last year that he has been able to return to the buzz of playing alongside his teammates in a competitive game, with pandemic regulations meaning that he has spent the last month effectively operating in a different bubble.

“We’ve crossed paths coming in and out of training, and you get your five minutes of banter with the lads,” he says. “But apart from that, it’s going to be nice to actually be involved in the changing room environment again.”

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