A late starter, T10 opportunities and promotion with Lancashire – Richard Gleeson's career of two halves

NICK FRIEND: As Gleeson prepares for the perverse challenge of leading a bowling attack in 10-over cricket, he reflects on an unusual career path, a meteoric rise and the opportunities afforded by a winter on the franchise circuit

Last week, an article forced Richard Gleeson to stop in his tracks and reflect. The average professional cricketing career, it was revealed, comes to an end at the age of 26.

For the Lancashire seamer, that time was almost six years ago – a different stage of Gleeson’s life, 12 months before he would even be given his break by the county game.

It puts all that has happened since into context; from Cumberland to Northamptonshire to Lancashire, his hometown team, to England Lions recognition to talk of further international honours to the Bangladesh Premier League to the T10 League. A journey, give or take, of five seasons.

Now, perhaps, is the perfect moment to reminisce – almost a month on from a successful Hundred draft and a week before the third instalment of the T10 League gets underway. Gleeson is readying himself for the challenge, enjoying the sense of self-worth that comes with being picked up amid such competition.

It is a world away from the not-too-distant past, when Gleeson – then a club cricketer – wondered whether he would ever make the grade. Even after making his Northants debut – his maiden first-class wicket was that of Shaun Marsh, he continued to juggle county cricket with his full-time job of coaching in schools. In a sense, it has eased all that has come since; it is, in a sense, a bonus.

“I hadn’t even started my career at 26,” he says, looking back. “To come from where I was just playing club cricket and minor counties to then doing all these tournaments around the world is amazing.

“I had a bit of a reflection about all this a couple of weeks ago and it has just been a bit of whirlwind, really. I don’t think I’ll realise quite how quickly it has all happened until it all finishes, I suppose. It’s quite amazing to think.”

Gleeson has a Bachelor of Arts degree in coaching and sports performance, he already holds his ECB Level Three badges. To an extent, the 31-year-old has lived the challenges of professional sport in reverse; he will, of course, face the same tribulations that ultimately come with retirement, but having already once confronted a world where he was not an elite athlete.

“I don’t think my background gave me any understanding into what professional sport would be like,” Gleeson admits. “It’s completely different to anything you’d expect or from what I expected it to be.”

He credits his teammates at Northants, where he spent four seasons, with pushing him down the trail through which he has rolled with considerable success.

“That set me off on the right path, but I think it just took the pressure off me a little bit maybe,” he adds. “To know that I had a career, I was going and playing and just enjoying it really.

“I was just seeing what was happening, seeing if I was good enough at that level. It was never make-or-break as a career move for me. It was a case of going and enjoying county cricket.

“I think that stood me in good stead to start off with. It took that pressure off and just let me enjoy what I was doing. The rest just went from there.”

^{Richard Gleeson took 47 wickets as Lancashire won Division Two of the County Championship}

Over the next fortnight, Gleeson will form part of Team Abu Dhabi, coached by Trevor Bayliss and featuring Moeen Ali, Corey Anderson, as well as a quintet of players on England’s domestic circuit.

Jonny Bairstow pointed to the role of the ten-over format in providing the blueprint for England’s chase in the final rain-reduced T20I against New Zealand. Both sides made 146 in their 11 overs. The competition’s relative novelty – viewed at first as a joke of sorts – has opened eyes to what could be possible in T20 cricket if players and teams launched their assaults from the very first delivery.

There is, quite simply, no time to waste and no place to hide. In 29 games in the 2018 edition, there were 32 totals greater than 100. Northern Warriors, led by Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell, made 183 for 2 in their 60 balls.

For Gleeson, therefore, a tearaway fast bowler, his task is a thankless one. In an era accused of being batsman-friendly, this competition might just represent the bowler’s greatest foe. Only three men, Dwayne Bravo among them, took more wickets than him in last year’s fortnight.

Gleeson’s nine wickets came with an economy rate of 11.93: a fair effort – marginally higher than Russell’s and far lower than franchise regulars Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Lamichhane.

If that is as good as it gets for a bowler, why does he do it? It is a valid question, given the circumstances.

“It is set up for batters to go out and whack it,” he laughs. “You are expected as a bowler to get hit, so it kind of takes the pressure off a little bit.

“But what I think I found from last year was that it does then give you a chance to be a hero and win games. If you can bowl your two overs and take a couple of wickets and keep the run rate low, you can almost win the game inside your two overs.

“It’s a great opportunity to play against some of the best players in the world and it’s exciting cricket as well.”

Anything beneath 12 runs per over signifies a job well done, he reckons. His Lancashire side fell victim to Surrey’s Will Jacks during the clubs’ preseason, when they met in a T10 friendly. The youngster thrashed a 25-ball century, even if Gleeson played no part. It is a sign of the times. Stephen Parry was taken for six consecutive sixes.

Gleeson recalls the combination of Sharjah’s flat pitch and inviting boundaries during last year’s tournament almost with a shudder. He is hoping for something less imposing this time around at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. “It will give us more of a chance,” he adds.

This time, he arrives full of confidence. A £60,000 signing in the Hundred draft for Northern Superchargers; more than a financial fillip, it is a token of appreciation for his skillset.

“I think getting picked up quite early on in the draft actually made me realise that I’m probably quite highly thought of – it was really encouraging for me,” he explains.

It is an aspect of the draft – and drafts more generally – that has been missed by most commentators: the psychological boost of being snapped up by a high-profile coach with franchise connections and a team of number-crunching analysts.

^{Lancashire went unbeaten as they were promoted back to the top tier at a canter}

It is one of Gleeson’s reasons for taking part in Abu Dhabi. He points to Hardus Viljoen, the South African, who was the runaway leading wicket-taker in last year’s T10 League.

Since then, Viljoen has played in the T20 Blast, Pakistan Super League, Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League and Mzansi Super League, while also picking up a sizeable Hundred deal. It is never quite that simple, but franchise cricket is a shop window. It is a fickle industry, where being flavour of the month can carry you a considerable distance. It is short-termism with a difference – the difference being the potential for long-term gain.

“It can open doors,” Gleeson says. “People are watching. If you’ve got an opportunity, take it. I think it actually helped me with the 100-ball draft as well because I did quite well last year in the T10.

“It’s obviously a shorter format than T20, so it looks like maybe coaches have gone down a similar route – bowlers who can bowl quick, wrist-spinners or guys that deliver real change-ups.

“And then you’ve got batters who hit a clean ball from the word go rather than the innings-builders. I think it definitely helped me. People are watching and people look to build their teams for other competitions based around what they see.”

He has also found a benefit in playing alongside some of his county rivals. Last year, his Maratha Arabians squad featured Adam Lyth, Alex Hales, Liam Livingstone and James Vince. He quizzed them on what they made of him as a bowler, where they have looked to target him and how they have seen him.

“Then you can change up what you’re doing based on what you think the opposition is thinking of you,” he explains.

This time around, he is joined by Lancashire teammate Alex Davies, Luke Wright, Harry Gurney and Lewis Gregory.

^{Gleeson's first wicket in first-class scalp was that of Shaun Marsh - his second was Mitchell Marsh}

Unsurprisingly, it will be his first cricket since finishing a successful domestic campaign with nine wickets against Leicestershire.

As the Old Trafford county won Division Two at a canter without defeat, nobody took as many wickets as the former Northants man. His 47 scalps came at an average of 20.17 and, more notably, a strike rate of just 34.8. In the nine games he played, there were five five-wicket hauls.

Naturally, he credits those around him for his own personal success. In James Anderson and Graham Onions, he has two of the game’s most experienced seamers to look to; Gleeson acknowledges that even at his age, he remains – comparatively, at least – a novice in the professional game. Similarly, Glen Chapple offers another wise head. The trio of Chapple, Anderson and Onions have taken 2,658 first-class wickets between them.

The ever-consistent Tom Bailey and the rising star of Saqib Mahmood have kept him on his toes, but also in amongst a thriving, competitive working environment.

“There was a meeting at the end of the previous season,” he recalls. Lancashire had just been relegated – albeit with a hint of misfortune, but relegated nonetheless.

“We just said: ‘This is what we want to do. We don’t just want to go up, we want to go up in style. We want to do it properly and show how good we are.’

“We set out points targets – promotion was the first target and going unbeaten was the overall aim. We thought it was a realistic one as well. At the same time, you never know if it’s going to go that way.

“But Lancashire is such a big club – it was expected that we would get promoted and I think it was expected that we would do it in the way that we did. You give the fans something to cheer about, but then they also get behind you when you need that little boost.”

There will be talk of consolidation as the club returns to where it feels it belongs. Gleeson, however, is setting his sights higher. “We know that if we fire on all cylinders, we can beat anyone,” he stresses.

“We’ve bounced back up by showing our class. We were head and shoulders above anyone else. You never know what can happen – it was only the year before relegation that Lancs came second. Anything is possible.”

From Cumberland to Abu Dhabi in the blink of an eye, few know that better than Gleeson.

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