Charlie Thurston’s match-saving contribution shows way for youngsters in shortened summer

NICK FRIEND: The 23-year-old Northamptonshire batsman made a crucial 96 as his side salvaged a draw in a game they looked to have lost. He explains why he being given an opportunity now can mean so much

As Leicestershire and Derbyshire completed dramatic run-chases on the final day of the first round of Bob Willis Trophy action, Northamptonshire’s own feat slipped back beneath the radar.

By Tuesday evening, the result of their clash with Warwickshire had long been in the bag: a draw clutched from what – midway through the third day at Edgbaston – appeared to be the jaws of defeat.

Only, having fallen to 148 for 5 – still requiring 79 runs to make their hosts bat again, they mounted a recovery led by the trio of Adam Rossington, Luke Procter and Charlie Thurston. Between the end of the 44th over and the conclusion of the 175th – at which point the result was finally declared, they were the only men who would take to the field for the visitors.

Rossington, the captain, has done a remarkable job ever since replacing Alex Wakely as the club’s red-ball skipper midway through last season. Bottom of the second tier in June, they would be promoted come September. His unbeaten 135 took the form of 497 minutes at the crease and 399 deliveries – his longest red-ball innings by some distance.

Procter, an experienced head whose first-class debut came for Lancashire more than a decade ago, offered some considerable support, batting through the final day with Rossington for 112 unbroken runs of his own.

And then there is Thurston, the novice of the trio. And amid a plethora of fine individual displays from across the country, his knock should not go unnoticed. When the 23-year-old was dismissed for 96, just short of a maiden hundred for Northamptonshire’s first team, he had gone some way to offering his side a fighting chance.

In many ways, he represents much of what was present in the weekend’s first set of fixtures from this one-off, truncated season: a young player of enormous potential seeking to prove himself. With 15 appearances for the club across all formats, he was not among the weekend’s 14 first-class debutants, but he remains at the start of a fledgling journey.

“It has given opportunities to younger lads like myself to actually get some first team cricket in,” he tells The Cricketer.

“I felt like I was a little bit unlucky last year because I felt like I was in pretty good nick and I was scoring some decent runs in the second team. I was just that next man in last year but the lads who were in the first team already were batting well and they cemented their spots, so I didn’t really get a look in, which was obviously disappointing but it’s just the way that cricket goes, isn’t it?

“Obviously, to get the nod for the first game of the season was really good and I was just glad I could get off to a decent enough start and help the lads get out of a tricky situation.”

Before the beginning of the Bob Willis Trophy, it had been almost two years since Thurston last appeared for Northants’ first team in red-ball cricket – he has predominantly been considered more of a white-ball prospect. His only first-class century actually came against the club, during his time at Loughborough University.

^{Thurston made 96, his highest first-class score for Northamptonshire}

Naturally, there is a sense of disappointment that he couldn’t add to that tally with four more runs at Edgbaston – he was trapped in front by Tim Bresnan, but at the same time there is a sense of pride and satisfaction at having given so much towards a match-saving cause, as well as a subsequent confidence boost.

“To get that score on the board gives you that reassurance that you can do it at this level against a very good attack,” he says. “It felt great. You play a lot of second team cricket and it’s a big step-up to the first-class game.”

In a shortened campaign, the hope is that such a tangible contribution can cement his position in the middle order for the remainder of the Bob Willis Trophy.

There were nine centuries recorded across the first stage of the competition – all by established pros on the county circuit. His effort was the next-highest, and also the top score by any of the youngsters on display.

He is determined not to give it much thought at the moment as he seeks to enjoy what remains of a pandemic-ravaged summer, but he is aware that he is approaching the final months of a one-year contract, having signed an extension ahead of this season. It gives this period an additional sense of importance, even more so given the uncertainty around what happens next.

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“I’ve kind of been used to it,” he explains. “I’ve been on one-year deals for most of my short career so far, so in terms of that it doesn’t really bother me. You can’t let stuff like that get into your head.

“You just have to get out there and focus on the job at hand which, obviously as a batter, is to score runs. That little bit of added pressure of being in the last year almost helps you zone in a bit more and really focus.”

It is why he is keen to move on from the relative frustration of missing out on reaching three figures for the first time. “I was gutted at the time but that’s just cricket, isn’t it? You get out in the 90s,” he reflects. “I try not to get too up or too down. So, if I go through a run ow low scores, I don’t really get too down. If I’d got a big hundred, I wouldn’t have been overly excited. I’d have been very happy but I’d have tried to remain level-headed.”

He points to a pre-season warm-up match in the final week of July against Middlesex, whose academy incidentally he spent time with as a teenager, and the curious nature of form – especially on the back of such an extended period without meaningful cricket. “I felt absolutely terrible,” he laughs. “It was my first time batting in the middle against the red ball (since lockdown), I was scratching around, I felt off with my movements.”

^{Thurston is applauded by his teammates as he returns to the dressing room}

One of the benefits of the perilous situation in which he found himself against Warwickshire, however, was the reality of his side’s strife. “From the position we were in, it feels like a win,” mused head coach David Ripley following the game’s conclusion.

And for Thurston, the simplicity of the equation made life easier after so long. “It was just nice to go out there and not have any scoreboard pressure,” he says. “You could just set your stall out to bat for two days.”

He has done it before in second team cricket; there was a double hundred against Scotland A in 2018, as well as a century in a 219-run stand with Emilio Gay last season against Warwickshire.

A product initially of Bedford School, he came to Northants via Loughborough, where his MCCU colleagues included Gloucestershire’s James Bracey, Essex seamer Sam Cook, Canada batsman Nitish Kumar, Warwickshire wicketkeeper Michael Burgess, Middlesex’s Robbie White and Leicestershire opener Hassan Azad.

As much as anything else, the environment among that group of likeminded aspiring professionals has given him the impetus for where he finds himself now.

“It was a massive help because at that time, I didn’t have any formal contract, so it gave me that chance to still further my cricket while going to get a degree,” he adds. “To be able to still have that access to high-level cricket and training and to be able to work at my game alongside getting a degree as well was huge.

“I think in terms of the university setup, those three first-class games at the start of the year were great stepping-stones for me to bridge that gap to first-class cricket. It’s all vital experience in terms of being able to play at that level. When I ended up making my debut for Northants, I kind of felt like I’d already been involved in that experience. I was massively grateful for the programme – it was a huge help in maturing my game. I want to try to play all three formats.”

It takes Thurston back to the present: if representing Loughborough eased the leap when he arrived at Northants, then coming so close to a Bob Willis Trophy hundred can have a similar significance. Even in this abridged campaign, one knock won’t make a summer. But it has given him a mighty fine start and a platform from which to build.

And for a young talent looking to make his way in the game and solidify his place in this most complex of seasons, that is the most anyone could wish for.

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