FROM THE MAG: He was an exceptional batsman and captain, unlucky not to win a Test cap for Australia. Now Jamie Cox is an MCC assistant secretary - he tells us about Somerset, Tasmania, favourite teammates and cricket's future
This is an abridged version of the interview with Jamie Cox that features in our October 2022 magazine. To read the full version, grab a copy of the magazine by clicking here.
You had a fine Sheffield Shield record [10,821 runs at 38.92] and were unlucky not to play Tests for Australia...
I had decent numbers, which I guess came from the good fortune of having had a long career. People said I was unlucky, that I played at an unlucky time. Maybe I was. There's no doubt I sat in a queue behind some seriously good cricketers. I've always had great peace with that because I played against them, and I could see how good they were. Do I look back and think there could have been a Test for me somewhere? I think yes, my numbers might have given me one, but it didn't happen, and I'm relaxed about it.
My two best years ironically were 1996/97 and 2000/01, leading into two Ashes tours and they were probably my best opportunities. I had experience of England in 2001 after coming here first in 1999. In 2000/01 I was hopeful of coming but it wasn't to be. In those days, you didn't get much communication if you were not selected and to be honest, I didn't really expect anything more.
Did you have a happy time at Somerset?
They were amazing times. I got really fortunate, as I'm a country kid at heart and so is my wife, so to land in a place like Somerset, which was just a bit more relaxed, was ideal. There's a wonderful local crowd, and a lovely little ground. I was lucky to start well with runs – when you are an unknown you turn up and the members suddenly adopt you once they know you can hold a bat. We had a pretty good team. As captain I subconsciously identified that winning the Championship on such a good pitch was going to be really hard, particularly as we lost Andrew Caddick to England. So we had a really strong short-form focus and it worked for us.
We had a really aggressive one-day plan, which was always about taking wickets and scoring heavily and quickly, much like England when they won the World Cup. Go hard. We played three Lord's finals in that period: 1999 [NatWest Trophy], 2001 and 2002 [both C&G]. Sadly we lost '99 and '02. I still say those three semi-finals were the best games I ever played in. They were all at home and were amazing. I was playing Shield cricket in Australia at the SCG with 100 people there and it just wasn't the same.
Cox celebrating with Andrew Caddick after Somerset beat Leicestershire in the 2001 C&G Cup Final [Tom Shaw/Getty Images]
Who did you enjoy playing with at Somerset?
When Andrew Caddick played we won. Simple. He had such an engine that he'd bowl 40 overs a day and rarely underperformed.
Marcus Trescothick was an unfit local lad but he could seriously play. The great thing about Marcus was that he was smart enough to understand that people really rated him and then he got to work. I loved batting with him. He was a great team-mate and provided me with the best seat in the house on many occasions.
We had Nixon McLean as overseas pro for my time. He was good fun but there's a good example of a bloke who just couldn't run in and bowl fast every day so he adapted.
We also had a really good bunch of county pros: Rob Turner, Ian Blackwell, Richard Johnson, Keith Parsons, Mike Burns, Peter Bowler.
You were director of cricket at the South Australian Cricket Association between 2008–14. Alas you were accused of recruiting for Adelaide Strikers outside the Big Bash League contracting window… what happened?
It was a bit overplayed, if I'm honest. In order to keep your players you had to do whatever it took, and that was my simple brief from the top of the organisation. Everyone had an understanding of how the system worked and it was completely unregulated. In effect when they decided to clamp down on it a couple of us were thrown in by our ankles. I had a couple of grumpy weeks, but came to terms very quickly that it was a mistake of my making and the rest didn't really matter. It became a brilliant learning experience in a funny kind of way as it toughened me for some of the roles I was to adopt later.
Cox speaking in his role as MCC Assistant Secretary at Wormsley Cricket Club [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]
How did this job come about?
It was thrown under my nose by a recruiting friend and as we were in the pandemic at the time, I didn't really consider it all that hard at first. Life seemed pretty straightforward for us in Melbourne, despite the Covid challenges. A month later we had a further conversation and I thought 'this sounds pretty interesting'. I didn't know what an assistant secretary was… it's not a familiar Australian job title but then I found out more what the operational brief was… if someone's going to give you the operational responsibilities of Lord's, how could you not be interested? My family were used to travelling around Australia and we thought, 'why not?' We had loved our time here previously and the timing, while not perfect, was OK.
Part of the job is managing the ground operations, security and stewarding… then I manage the MCC cricket programme. When I had my interview I went into a cold sweat. The first question was, "How are you going to improve the MCC cricket programme?" I admitted I wasn't quite sure, I didn't understand it. When everyone started to laugh on the screen, I thought 'well that was either really good, or really bad!' But when I started to understand that MCC operate for the good of the game and we have 3,000-odd playing members who just want to play good fixtures to help promote and grow the game, that really resonated with me; to try and build the spirit, and work with the Laws for the good of everyone.
We want to grow the game for as many people as possible. The MCC Foundation have done a lot of work to make it more accessible. The first game I saw was the Voneus Village Cup final [organised by The Cricketer], and the matchwinner [Ben Johns] scored a half-century to win the game and he was the king of the village I'm sure. I recall seeing that and thinking, 'How cool is that?' That is the power of Lord's.
Inside our October issue of The Cricketer magazine, you'll also find:
- Tim Wigmore says England might be left behind by private investment in cricket
- Mike Brearley fears T20 and The Hundred are killing Test cricket
- George Dobell says the Andrew Strauss high performance review is anti-county
- Tanya Aldred warns England to learn lessons from last time at No.1
- Barney Ronay says The Hundred is a plasticised invention
- James Coyne says player power has never been greater
- And much, much more...
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.