‘Should England cricketers be banned from using Twitter?’ and other readers’ questions for David Lloyd
Extracted from the full interview in the November issue of SPIN magazine
Should England players be banned from tweeting? Stuart Lewin
David Lloyd: No. Definitely not. I’d be quite the other way. Engage with the fans. Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson are very clever with it. They tell you if they’ve had a bad day – but don’t go into any details – but there’s also little nice snippets… Swanny’s a card, he’ll have some fun, but they don’t go into anything in-depth that they shouldn’t do. It’s vital. In any sport, players are so isolated from the public – particularly soccer – you just never see them about now.
When you retired as a player, did you think you would be an umpire for the rest of your career? Daniel Mitchell
David Lloyd: No. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a good time in my life. But I probably knew I would go into coaching because I’d done lots of coaching badges. But when I was an umpire my ambition was to be an international umpire – and if I’d got that far, I would maybe still have been doing that, I don’t know.
Do you think you should you have played more times for England? Catherine Watson
David Lloyd: [Emphatically] No! I came back [into the one-day side] in 1980 and I should never have been picked. Botham was captain and you know how bad a captain he was – he chose me to play in that game. He must have been mad. I couldn’t see for a start. I mean, I could see alright for county cricket but he brought me back against the West Indies. And there was no chance of seeing them.
Has anyone been as frightening to watch or play against as Jeff Thomson was on that 1974/75 Ashes tour? Gordon Foulds
David Lloyd: One I played with who was ferocious was Colin Croft – and against, Sylvester Clarke [of Surrey]. He was frightening. Both nasty on the field. They didn’t like cricket, I think basically. They thought the faster we can get this bloke out or kill him, the quicker I can get off. [SPIN: Did Croft go out to hurt people?] Well, I hope all fast bowlers go out to hurt people. That’s part of the make-up: ‘I’m gonna hurt you, you’re not going to bat’. Having a ruthless streak is part of it. We had Malcolm Marshall come to Lancashire as a specialist bowling coach once and he said to the fast bowlers: ‘The first thing you do is break the spin bowlers’ hands.’
Is it true that being given a Fall CD changed your musical taste for good? Who gave you the CD and what were you listening to before? Simon Waite
David Lloyd: Paul King, who is executive producer of Sky cricket, gave me the Fall CD. And he said you’ll either get this or you won’t – and I got it immediately. But I’m still into the Rolling Stones. You’re either the Stones or the Beatles… and I’m the Stones. I mean I like the Sinatra, I think he’s terrific, but I’m a bit more punk rock.
Was the ’74/’75 Ashes tour England’s nadir during your whole time following of being involved with or following the England team? Alex Everitt
David Lloyd: The result was terrible, but as a tour it was enjoyable… I’d never been out of England before. I come from a rough area. We didn’t go abroad. I didn’t come from Weybridge or Maidenhead, I came from Accrington! And there were plenty more on the trip who’d never been out of England. I know Ken Shuttleworth who went in 1971 had never been out of England…
Who is the funniest man in cricket? Alex Kemp
David Lloyd: The man who I think is fantastic – in fact, he’s on my ringtone – is Bill Lawry. “Got him!” I think he’s fabulous. Just the enthusiasm… he’s well into his 70s and his patriotism, his love of the game and his enthusiasm is fantastic. He was a dour player, a very dour player. But as a commentator he brings it all alive. But my all-time broadcasting hero is Fred Trueman. He was the first northern voice on commentary, as far as I can remember. The first one who didn’t speak like Mr Cholmondeley-Warner.
Who is the best player you’ve seen who never made it at the highest level? Kevin Shortley
David Lloyd: Don Shepherd of Glamorgan. Spin bowler. Just check his record: 2000-plus wickets! [2200 wickets at 21 each, between 1950 and 1972]. I played against him, he was playing into the 1970s and he’s still totally involved in the game now, at 80-odd. He overlapped Jim Laker a little bit and Fred Titmus and Ray Illingworth so he never got a chance with England. But he was a wonderful bowler. The lad who’s missed out right now is Glen Chapple. It’s just never quite happened for him: wrong place, wrong time… he’s been in that many squads and missed out.
Do you find it odd that we don’t have a 50-over domestic competition in England, when international cricket is still 50 overs? Russell Hanson
Yeah. I think you’ve got to try and mirror international cricket. The 18 counties rule the roost because they are the ECB. But my mild criticism is that I’m not sure they put the England team on the pedastal I think it should be. Everything should be geared towards the England team and I’m not sure all the counties take that onboard. I’d like the distribution of wealth to be a bit more thought out. Not to give 18 counties £1.5m every year and let them spend it on what they want.
It’s unbelievable that so many of them are struggling, on those terms.
I like the Australian model. Take the WACA: the money goes to the Western Australia Cricket Association and the state teams gets money from the WACA but there’s a lot of money goes on grass roots. And – just in my opinion – the English game is awash with money, awash with it, and I’m not sure the money gets to grass roots the way it should do.
David Lloyd’s Start The Car tour takes in Buxton, Norwich, Derby, Malvern and Salford, between October 29 and November 17. See local theatre websites for full ticket details
Extracted from the full interview in the November issue of SPIN magazine
Harry Pearson guests at SPIN Magazine Club at The Warrington on August 5
The SPIN Magazine Cricket Club welcomes Harry Pearson of The Guardian as our special guest on Thursday August 5.
Harry will be talking about his career and his new book, Slipless in Settle, in conversation with SPIN editor Duncan Steer. He will also be taking questions from the floor and signing books.
The kick-off time is 7 for 7.30. Entry is FREE but advance booking is advised. To book your place, please email: spincc@spincricket.com.
The Warrington is at 93 Warrington Crescent, London W9 1EH. Nearest tube: Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo)
Harry’s new book Slipless in Settle, published by Little, Brown, is an account of a summer spent watching league cricket in Yorkshire. It has all the eye for grim-up-north colour and telling/ridiculous detail that has won Harry’s previous books (and Saturday Guardian sports columns) so many fans.
There is an extract from Slipless in Settle in the current issue of SPIN. There’s more info on the book here: http://tinyurl.com/Slipless
Harry has previously written acclaimed books on, variously, football (‘The Far Corner – a mazy dribble through north-east football’), Belgians (‘A Tall Man in a Low Land’) and the secret (ish) world of North country fairs (‘Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows’).
As ever, as well as the cricket chat, it’s a chance to enjoy some free Gordon Ramsay food and mingle with cricket movers and shakers. Plus there’s a free prize quiz to win dinner for two at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant, upstairs at the Warrington.
The SPIN Magazine Cricket Club is held once a month at The Warrington and features players and authors as guests within an informal pub quiz/chat show atmosphere.
To be kept in touch with future events, please write to spincc@spincricket.com.
And if you join the SPIN Cricket Club, you get 10 issues of SPIN PLUS 10 per cent discount off dining at the Warrington for a year. http://www.tinyurl/SPINCCRamsay.
Duncan Hamilton guests at SPIN Cricket Club, July 14
Round 3 of the SPIN Cricket Club at Gordon Ramsay’s rather nice pub near Lord’s, The Warrington sees us host Britain’s No 1 sports writer for a special evening to launch his new book. The event is free and there will, as ever, be some free Ramsay food.
To put your name down, please email us at spincc@spincricket.com.
If you sign up to become a member of the SPIN CC at the Warrington, you get 10 per cent of Ramsay dining for 12 months AND 10 issues of the best cricket magazine going. (www.tinyurl.com/SPINCCRamsay)
No 1 sports writer? Well, Duncan Hamilton has won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award twice in the last three years, so you do the math’s’. Firstly, in 2007, with Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 years With Brian Clough, Duncan’s account of life as the journalist who knew Clough best during his glory years. The book sold over 100,000 copies.
Then, last year, Duncan won the award again with his acclaimed biography of Harold Larwood, which brought a whole era back to life, brilliantly.
Duncan’s new book, A Last English Summer, is a journey through English cricket taking a series of games in the summer of 2009 as a starting-point to talk about the history and character of the game and of Englishness itself.
The book is inspired by Duncan’s lifelong love of cricket and by JB Priestley’s English Journey.
Duncan will be talking about this new book and his career in general, with SPIN editor Duncan Steer. As usual, we will have a prize cricket quiz to win dinner for two at the rather splendid Ramsay restaurant upstairs at the Warrington.
Entry is FREE, kick-off is at 7 for 7.30, there will be a free Ramsay buffet and a chance to meet and mingle with cricket movers and shakers.
The Warrington is at 93 Warrington Crescent, London W9, nearest tube Warwick Avenue or Maida Vale.
And don’t forget, if you sign up to become a member of the SPIN CC at the Warrington, you get 10 per cent of Ramsay dining for 12 months AND 10 issues of the best cricket magazine going. (www.tinyurl.com/SPINCCRamsay)
Get 10 per cent off Gordon Ramsay dining when you subscribe to SPIN
With classy takes on classic food, top-notch service and – we can reveal – a fine wine list, The Warrington dining room is a great place for a special-occasion dinner or a business lunch. Just up the road from Lord’s, it’s also perfect for a post-match pint or meal.
Over the summer, SPIN is also hosting a series of free, cricket-themed events at The Warrington, too. Editor Duncan Steer will be interviewing players and writers while The Guardian’s Rob’s Smyth will host a prize quiz. Our next event is on June 16, kick-off 7pm, when our star guest is New Zealand and Middlesex’s Iain O’Brien. Please email us to register your interest at spincc@spincricket.com, as we are expecting this to be a very popular night.
The Warrington Hotel is at 93 Warrington Crescent, London W9 1EH, nearest tubes Warwick Avenue and Maida Vale.
Go here to join the SPIN club for priority booking on future events, that 10 per cent discount card and 10 issues of SPIN delivered straight to your door – all for just £25.
Free 2009 Cricketers Who’s Who when you subscribe to Spin this month!
Yup – you get a free copy of the Who’s Who – worth £18.99 RRP – when you subscribe to SPIN right now.
The Cricketers Who’s Who is celebrating its 30th year of publication and features full profiles of every player likely to play first-class cricket in England in 2009.
As well as stats and career details, the 750-page tome also features player’s off-field opinions on the game as well as things like their favourite bands (generally this is Snow Patrol, though one player, oddly, chooses 80s MORists Mike and the Mechanics.)
So Chris Silverwood is a karate black belt; Liam Plunkett’s favourite band is (still) “r’n'b”; Rob Key called his daughter Aaliyah and, as a youth, played tennis for Kent; Stuart Broad played hockey for the county as a teenager and always bowls three warm-up balls before he begins a spell…
We could go on.
Suffice to say it’s full of hard fact and soft trivia and is pretty much indispensable – particularly if you’re getting it for free.
This year, it also features an intro by England skipper Andrew Strauss (4 A-levels, BA Hons (Economics), favourite band not listed but known to be friends with Keane.)
It’s obvious!
Welcome…
March 20, 2009 by Duncan Steer
Filed under News
In the four years SPIN magazine has been on the news-stand we’ve put together about two million words on the modern game, including the biggest-ever published interviews with the likes of Tendulkar, Pietersen, Afridi and Flintoff; expert columns from Imran Khan, Tony Greig, Navjot Sidhu and Graham Thorpe; exclusive Hawkeye analysis; and plenty of exclusive photography.
Proper, serious, in-depth coverage of modern cricket for people who love it.
The whole idea was to produce a cricket magazine that felt less like a trip to the headmaster’s office and more like a trip to… the cricket. To show modern cricket fans some things they are genuinely excited about – rather than stuff they should care about.
Until now, that archive has not been available on the web at all. It’s been a real case of miss it and miss out. We thought that was a waste.
The whole archive isn’t on here yet – it’s about 5 per cent – but there should be enough to keep you going, along with all our podcasts, some highlights from the current issue that’s on sale now and some web exclusives.
We’ll be adding more archive material on a daily basis, so make sure to check back.
Our notion is that a magazine is not, as has traditionally been the case, an out-of-date newspaper. Instead, we think of SPIN as a tremendously up-to-date book, a glossy souvenir of recent cricket that has the space and time to offer in-depth coverage of upcoming events.
We remain the only independent cricket magazine in the UK. Wisden is owned by Sky – although no-one ever seems to mention this, oddly – while All Out Cricket is funded by the PCA and the ECB.
Whether these titles can comment independently on the major issues that confront our game is not for me to say. I can only say that SPIN can, and does.
Keep coming back to see more info on some special SPIN events this summer and some very tasty offers for our readers.
Let us know what you think: spin@spincricket.com
Episode 8: Hawkeye, dressage and stepladders
The Third Umpire and Jono Russell are joined by SPIN’s Hawkeye guru, Colin Spiro, in a candlelit Wetherspoons to discuss the Olympics – and a bit of cricket too. We talk to SPIN columnist George Dobell and one of the men leading the charge for cricket to be included in the 2020 Olympics, Shahriar Khan of the Asian Cricket Council. PLUS: the chaps debate their dream Test Match Special line-up – will Mike Selvey make it? Also: Colin the Janitor talks about stepladders.
Episode 7: Female streakers and slide trumpets
The Third Umpire, Rob Smyth and Jono Russell discuss Michael Vaughan’s resignation, KP’s promotion and England’s 2-0 hiding at the hands of South Africa. Also: Colin the Janitor on slide trumpets and, last but not least, the Mark Butcher Band. Really.
