ED KRARUP speaks to Worcestershire's red-ball captain, who takes time to reflect on a season that nearly never was, but instead will never be forgotten
The weeks leading up to the start of the county season is all about focus. Fine-tuning technique and getting mentally ready for a season that with each passing year seems to be getting longer and longer.
Distractions are not allowed in the pre-season camp, but, as has been well-told over the past six months, as the 2020 summer was soon to get underway, a storm was about to hit not just cricket but the entire planet.
“We were due to go on tour to Abu Dhabi, and the week before we had a three day training camp at Loughborough,” Worcestershire captain Joe Leach tells The Cricketer.
“It was starting to become a bit hairy then. The UAE cycling tour had been cancelled and some of the cyclists were being kept in isolation at the hotel we were meant to be staying in. We had an inkling things weren’t quite right.”
On the last day of the Loughborough camp the UAE tour was cancelled. This may seem an obvious decision in hindsight but at the time Covid was still a far-away danger that hadn’t yet landed anywhere near our shores.
“Even after the tour got cancelled, we thought it was because of the risk we could get stuck in isolation there, as opposed to anything more sinister than that.”
Worcestershire have enjoyed a significant rise in white ball cricket
After a bout of illness went through the camp, which may or may not have been Covid, the Worcestershire squad was placed into a two week lockdown before the rest of the nation.
But as we all remember, life changed very quickly for the general population soon after. With a national lockdown announced and the cricketing summer in jeopardy.
“We were very lucky. Because of our self-imposed lockdown before the rest of the country, all the guys who were young and single managed to get home to their families. We’re not talking too far but that helped a lot because we didn’t have to worry about guys being stuck on their own.”
Cricket captains do tend to have more responsibility than their counterparts from other sports but Leach admitted he was “very much one of the troops".
“Those decisions were way above my pay grade. Ben Davies, our lead physio, was very on top of it, as was Alex Gidman, the chairman Fanos Hira and Paul Pridgeon our vice-chairman. They were all across everything.”
But there was still uncertainty. Leach and his Worcestershire teammates started the year as professional sportsmen, living the dream on the highest domestic stage, yet four months later they were furloughed, trapped indoors and unsure about what the future holds, just like the rest of us.
The customary Zoom quizzes provided some entertainment, Leach is convinced the S&C team had Google on in the background while Mitchell and his wife also sat near the top of the leaderboard most weeks.
But, as it did for most, life began to get tedious. Particularly when others were allowed to net in socially-distanced pairs, yet professional cricketers weren’t allowed to pick up a bat.
“That was a little bit frustrating. There were conversations to try and figure out what the rules were. Some thought we could net, some thought we couldn’t. But as a group we decided we couldn’t.
“But with everything that was going on, batting and bowling did seem a little bit irrelevant.”
Lockdown wasn’t all bad, though, in the Leach household.
“My wife and I had a little boy last October. It was nice because ordinarily I would have missed a large part of his development. That was the one blessing to come out of it all, I got to spend a lot of time with him. They grow up so quickly.
“I count myself fortunate that I had that time with him as well as the time that we had as a family.”
Leach has long been sponsored by Woodstock Cricket
Elsewhere, Leach was an integral part of the Rapids Relay, where players from the men’s, women’s and academy squads volunteered to run a combined 1,000km over the course of seven days. Funds were donated to local charity Acorns Children’s Hospice.
“That was really good because it gave everyone a purpose and that lifted spirits. We felt like we were contributing something positive at a time when most of us felt helpless. So to be able to get out and do something that raised a lot of money for charity and enabled us to do a bit of fitness was good.
“Having that purpose in lockdown really helped the guys and it got us together as a group again.”
Almost as quickly as the country went into lockdown, daily life opened back up again, and attention was soon turned to a season that, in terms of scheduling, would be unlike anything seen before.
“Everyone came back in really good condition. There was no real expectation other than personal and professional pride that you were going to report back fit. I think our good condition at the start of the season showed because we haven’t had any major injury issues that I can think of.
“Charlie Morris is an absolute machine. You look at him in training and wonder how does he do it. He’s like the Duracell bunny.
“We came back around June 20 and our fitness meant we could train properly immediately, rather than spend two or three weeks getting back up to speed physically.
“When you play as much as we do, sometimes nets can be a case of going through the motions a little bit. But this time everyone was all over each other. Part of it was because it was the only way we could select the team, based on how we practiced rather than based on performances in warm-up games.”
Worcestershire came into the hastily arranged summer as one of the country’s premier white-ball counties. The Rapids were one ball away from retaining their T20 Blast title last summer only to be denied by Essex in the final. But they still boast one of the most balanced and threatening sides in the country with bags of talent breaking through.
But Leach is adamant that the county didn't prioritise the shortest format over the rest.
“I don’t think it was a conscious effort [to focus more on T20]. It’s difficult to challenge across red and white ball and there aren’t many teams who have managed to do it successfully over the past few years.
“Towards the end of 2019, knowing you’re going to Finals Day, attention probably naturally gets dragged to that more than the four day games that had not much on them for us.”
Celebrating a wicket against Northamptonshire in the Bob Willis Trophy
Away from the bright lights and beer snakes of Finals Day it was a tough red ball campaign in 2019.
“I think in 2019 everything went wrong that could go wrong [in red ball cricket]. Though the result slightly unflattered us, we see ourselves as being better than the 17th best team in the country.
“From speaking to the young players they very much have red ball aspirations. We don’t want to be pigeonholed as a white ball group or a red ball group. Everyone is trying to be as multi-faceted as they can.”
And 2020s unusual format showed just how multi-faceted the group can be. Perhaps the biggest change county cricket saw this summer was the introduction of the Bob Willis Trophy and its three regional conferences followed by a Lord’s final.
Worcestershire left their 2019 red ball woes behind and enjoyed an encouraging season, finishing second in the Central Group, narrowly missing out on the final.
“Not be there is a little bit gutting," he admitted. "After that Somerset game you do think about the 50 or 60 runs and how we could have found them. But our performances in the whole competition showed just how hard we trained in the build up to the season.”
A shorter, in terms of games played, alternative to the County Championship was welcomed by those who may have feared their beloved four day games may be discarded in favour of more financially lucrative options. But the conference format worked and is certainly food for thought going forward.
“It’s really nice to see some good press about our game. County cricket in general gets a lot of unfair stick. The criticism is there are a lot of dead games but I think by not having it this year people realised how much they miss it.
“People like the conference format. And it’s been good to see teams in Division Two performing well against those in Division One. But it’s hard to argue that over the past few years Essex and Somerset haven’t been the best two four day sides. It does show that the conference system could work. It seems there are more people around the circuit in favour of it than against it.”
This article was written in association with Woodstock Cricket. For more information about equipment or sponsorship visit www.woodstockcricket.co.uk
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