Jack Brooks is laying the foundations for his final chapter

SAM DALLING speaks to the Somerset seamer who is spending time on the treatment table to ensure his fine career isn't cut short prematurely

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Many sportspeople can trace their success back to a single individual. The one that showed faith, believed in them when no one else did and provided a guiding hand. 

For countless domestic cricketers, David Capel - the former Northants and England star who tragically passed away aged 57 in September, was that figure. 

Capel’s name will always be synonymous with the Wantage Road club. He spent 32 years there, after all. 

And during the latter part of his tenure as head coach in the late 2000s, he gave Somerset star Jack Brooks his shot at the professional game. 

“I will be forever grateful for him for giving me a chance. He believed in me when I didn’t really know if I was good enough,” he told The Cricketer. “He made me believe I could be a pro cricketer. That first winter I was in the nets honing my technique, ironing out a lot of the things that could make my action go wrong. 

“He called me over to say our big gun overseas South African Johan Van der Wath wasn’t coming back, and they wanted me to replace him. I’m thinking ‘how am I going to replace this guy who bowls 90mph?’ but he told me to just take the new ball and be aggressive.  

“His passion was unbelievable, and it rubbed off on me. He lived every ball as if he were playing. He believed he could still go out and do a job himself. When we won, he’d be high fiving, whooping and hollering and when you lost he really took it to heart. He loved the club so much and always wanted the club to do well. 

^{The late David Capel was key to Jack Brooks' development}

“He had so much more to give to the game. He was involved in so long and so many people had been touched by him. A good man taken too soon.” 

Brooks is best known for his time at Yorkshire when he was at the peak of his powers. During 81 first-class outings for the White Rose yielded 316 wickets at 26.39.  His 140 poles in 2014 and 2015 helped the side to back-to-back Championships. 

In an attack boasting an abundance of international stars - Ryan Sidebottom, Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid – plus the metronomic Steven Patterson, Brooks out-performed them all. 

But Northants will always be close to his heart, and where his big break came.

“It was basically an open net with the 2nd team, the academy and few other random trialists,” he explained of his 2008 breakthrough.

“I just thought, bugger this, I’m going to steam in for an hour and a half and see if I can make a name for myself. I took a brand-new ball out of the bag which isn’t really the ‘done’ thing! Looking back it was a bit rogue but it sort of sums me up really. 

“I was being quite aggressive and bowling bumpers just trying to rough them up. A lot of their lads had been out on the beers and so were struggling. They must have been thinking ‘who’s this nutter with long hair and a headband is bowling bouncers and chatting rubbish?’  

“There was a similar session the following week, but I got pulled over and told they didn’t want me to come back for it. I’m thinking ‘what have I done?’ but they actually wanted me to play for the 2nd XI against Warwickshire at the County Ground. It was my first taste of a first-class pitch. I ended up taking six-fer (6-99) and scoring 40-odd (43). It was one of those moments where you sort of stand up and make people take notice of you.”

^{Brooks spent six seasons at Yorkshire where he won two Championship titles}

Twelve years on and Brooks is with his third county, Somerset.

It is more than a month since the Cidermen endured another near-miss this time in the Bob Willis Trophy Final against champions Essex. A stalemate over five days was enough for the Chelmsford county to prevail having led after the first innings, leaving Somerset as runners-up for a seventh time in premier first-class competition.

“Looking back now we are still disappointed but what more could we have done in the circumstances really? We went into the last day genuinely thinking we would still win. We didn’t think they’d manage to block it out as they did but the pitch just got flatter, slower and more benign.  It was just one of those frustrating occasions where they outplayed us. They’d done what they needed to do.”

Brooks has a year left on his current Somerset deal and is itching to play on despite now being 36. Having come into the first-class game relatively late (he was 25 on debut) there are plenty of miles still in the tank.

Having put a thumb injury suffered during that Lord’s final behind him, next up was surgery on both Achilles.  That knifework was at least pre-planned. He was been struggling for a number of years and, having explored all possible avenues, surgery was the last resort.  

“The surgeon was confident it went really well. He said I should be back to being 85-95% pain-free,” he explained. “That’s massive for me as at times I’ve been less than 50% pain-free and at best this summer it was maybe 70-75%.  I see it as short-term pain for long term gain. You will hopefully see a better version of me in terms of my mobility, my movement and what I can do. 

“It has been very frustrating for someone like me who knows what I am capable of at full throttle. I will be able to push off with a bit more force and power. My spells through the day will be more consistent rather than dropping off.”

For now, Brooks has plenty of time to pause, take a breath and reflect. Since arriving at Taunton he has been the first to stick his hand up when it comes to community activities and was one of a host of cricketers around the country to spend time checking on elderly members in the early summer. 

But he also wanted to be proactive in looking at what might come when the boots are hung up. Through the medium of LinkedIn, he asked for help. The response was overwhelming; closes to 400 likes and dozens of responses. 

“The year has taught me is that anything can happen,” he outlined.  

“Cricket for me has been really cool. I’ve had some unbelievable times and lived a boyhood dream, but it doesn’t last forever. You need to work out what is best for you while also being aware of other people’s struggles and helping where you can.

“The message was a mixture of uncertain times but also because I’m coming to the end of my career. I’m very conscious of the current employment climate and didn’t want it to sound like I was begging for a job, but I wanted to put my hand up and hopefully have some work experience or options alongside playing. 

“The post blew up and got way more attention than I’d ever thought. I was sifting through messages for weeks and I’m still quite busy with Zoom calls.  The responses have been really heartening. There are a lot of kind people out there who have given me advice or help and I’m very grateful to them. It has given me a lot of clarity takes the pressure off of cricket.” 

And would he recommend the approach to his fellow pros, many of whom are in limbo during the winter months?

“You never know who is following you on social media these days. The best thing I can say is don’t be afraid to ask for a bit of advice or help. Take that hit to your pride. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. 

“You try something and if it’s not for you, you can put it to bed and move onto something else. I’ve seen a fair few other cricketer do it as well since which is great. It’s a no-brainer isn’t it; why wouldn’t you?“