Another bizarre month in cricket/showbiz

Where better to write this month’s column than the TMS box at Lords in the all singing all dancing media centre, writes BBC London’s Surrey summariser Johnny Barran. Like most cricket loving kids I aspired to play at the home of cricket, ideally leading England to a dramatic Ashes victory. However it was clear early on in my playing days that this was a fairly unlikely scenario, but growing up on a diet of Johnston and Arlott I did have aspirations to talk about the game I loved, with Lord’s being the Holy Grail.

So today those dreams are realized with the mouthwatering championship clash between Middlesex and Surrey who are second in the table. I say mouthwatering as Gordon Ramsey’s premier pastry chef Thierry who also works his magic at the Oval (he was baking a staggering 1000 cakes a day during the international T20 Tournament) is a guest in the commentary box and came armed with a ginger and carrot cake of distinction which as ever was demolished in barely a session by the BBC’s Kevin Hand.

It was a gorgeous day as I arrived at the ground. A few nerves jangled as I made my way up to the TMS commentary box where I was greeted by the news that Michael Vaughan had retired from all cricket. Earlier in the season I had the privilege of describing for the Beeb a silky 70 by Michael Vaughan for Yorkshire against Surrey in the friends provident. It was as ever with Vaughan a beautifully crafted innings with the trade mark cover drive, pull and pickup all in perfect order.

All of us on commentary that day hoped that it was a precursor to Vaughan’s re-admittance to the Test side, but as Steve Waugh pronounced there are no fairy tale endings in sport and careers inevitably end in tears as did Vaughan’s England career last year, very sad. It was quite appropriate therefore that the man responsible for finishing Vaughan’s career, Andre Nel joined us in the commentary box, Nel cleaned up Vaughan for a duck in the first innings and 17 in his final innings as an England player in the defeat at Edgbaston in the third test which sealed the series for South Africa. Nel, is charm personified off the pitch, but as he admitted on commentary he loves a scrap on the pitch.

Back to the cricket and Owis Shah treated us to a sumptuous 159 on day one, a poignant reminder to the selectors that he could excel in the longer form of the game. The highlight on day two was being allowed out on the outfield at the lunch break, which demonstrated to me emphatically what an incredible sporting theatre Lord’s is. Despite being supposed cricket correspondents and beyond churlish behavior Church, Hand and I spent the lunch break marking out our imaginary run ups, hitting imaginary sixes and taking imaginary wickets in our “virtual ashes” on the Lords Square much to the amusement of the written press who watched our antics in utter bewilderment.

Blimey. As I start my preparations for hosting this weekend’s polo international between England and Argentina I learn that my co-host for the event is Katie Price (aka Jordan) I am not sure whether to laugh or cry but it promises to be an interesting and entertaining day especially as the champagne starts flowing at 11.00am with prize giving a cool 7 hours later at 6. It could be a messy one……..

The later stages of both May and June have been taken up by the domestic 20/20 cup; it’s my favorite time of year as we squeeze in 10 games in a 14 day window. The week started with a visit to Hove in what was to become a must win game for Surrey. I arrived to mass media hysteria, as the World’s sporting press searching for Isdn lines and Wifi had descended on the sleepy sea side town. Not I might say for the 20/20 but for the Ashes as Australia formally began the Ashes tour with a 4 day game against Sussex. On arrival I made the fatal error of following Derek Pringle into the media catering, there were slim pickings in the great man’s wake so I settled for a burger.

As we took our seats for the must win contest, Churchy spots billowing smoke to our left hand side and remarks jokingly that it would be a disaster if that was the flood light generator! The lights at the sea end fail to fire and Churchy is spot on, nightmare! However as Sussex have previous in this territory (the lights failed against Kent) they had managed to rustle up a contingency generator and 40 minutes later had it running. Spare a thought for Afzal who was out first ball before the game was halted till the lights were up and running, sadly Surrey struggled and Sussex romped home.

With a finish way past 11.15, I catch a lift with Churchy and analyst Steve Rudkin in the “kit” van, once they have cut the highlights for Surrey TV and not before I packed it (had to earn my lift) the high point being packing the great man’s kit on board, memo to potential interested parties Ramp’s bats don’t travel in the Van, those including the one he scored his 100 100’s travel with him. We get back to the oval at 2.45 am nice!

Next up Surrey entertain Kent in another must win game, its a family show this evening as my brother in law is Surrey mascot Kenny Kennington. Kenny brings the house down in the build up to the game as he moonwalks, break dances and “caterpillars his way round the oval to Snoop Doggy Dog. Despite woven in ice packs in the costume, Chris. Loses 3 pounds in body weight and remarks that it’s the best work out he has ever had ever had. I am also on my best behavior as I have Seb Coe as a guest, despite my “gentle pressure” on trying to get the 20/12 Olympics to include cricket he refused to commit, I will keep trying though. Sadly Surrey lose in a thriller by 1 run and with it ending my lingering hopes of a trip to Finals Day.

The 6th Ashes test being hosted by my village side East Bergholt on the 28th of August is picking up momentum as I have managed to persuade Stuart Law to captain Australia. Neil Foster, Derek Randall, John Lever and Devon Malcolm are already confirmed for England, it promises to be a cracker!

Stuart Meaker: the fastest bowler in England

If you’re pushed for time, Stuart Meaker’s story can be told pretty succinctly in numbers. Age: 19. Number of championship games played: 0. Height: five ft 11. Top reported speed: 96 mph. That’s right: 96mph. Which would make him close to the fastest English bowler ever recorded.

SPIN has never devoted a feature to a player who has yet to make his championship debut before, but we figure Meaker, still making his way in Surrey’s second XI and England under-19s, is a special case. That 96 mph top speed, as we shall see, has been slightly exaggerated by Chinese whispers – but only slightly. And if his coaches at Surrey and in the England set-up are understandably keen not to put too much burden of expectation on a young player who only turns 20 next January, Meaker himself is affable enough to talk honestly and realistically about his life in cricket’s waiting room.

He’s suffered two back injuries since he bowled that ball at the ECB Academy at Loughborough last September; injuries that have slowed his progress this season and which serve as a reminder that young fast bowlers rarely enjoy a straight route to the top. Yet, though his promise has yet to translate into match-winning performances, few English fast bowlers have caused so much excitement so early in their career as Meaker.

Our fast bowling special in June showed some of the buzz about Meaker in the English game. “He’s a skiddy bowler, a bit like Darren Gough but with another two yards up his sleeve,” said fast bowling expert Ian Pont. “He’s got raw pace,” said Martin Bicknell, the leading county seamer of his generation, now involved with Surrey’s academy. Most importantly, Kevin Shine, the ECB’s National Performance Centre head bowling coach said: “Stuart doing very very well. He’s being looked after really well at Surrey. He’s a talent but he needs time to develop and learn his craft.”

Let’s go back to that day in September last year: “Kevin Shine got me up to the fast bowling programme at Loughborough,” recalls Meaker. “We all had a full body scan and then they put us on the Hawkeye. Shiney knew from the under-19s that I bowled fairly quick – but I don’t think he was expecting what happened on that day. And neither was I, to be fair!
“I managed to open up at 88 mph. 
I thought, ‘Hello – that was quite quick.” Because I knew the speedo was out I put in a little bit of extra effort. And the quickest I bowled on that day was actually 92mph. But Shiney told me afterwards that the speedometer at Loughborough was very accurate – and that the ones on TV can add a few mph. He thought if I’d bowled like that on TV, it would have shown as 95-96mph.”

While England fans may find the prospect of an 18-year-old cranking it up to 92 mph pretty exciting stuff, there has been a sense in the past that ECB coaches may look to slow down young bowlers, changing their action for the sake of injury-prevention and accuracy. Kevin Shine was, presumably, keen that you didn’t get too carried away…

“Well, actually no. Quite the opposite. Shiney got very very excited – because it had broken the record: no-one had ever bowled faster at Loughborough. Harmison, Flintoff, all the big guys had been 
measured up there – I mean, it might be that they’d never put 100 per cent into it.

“It was weird: afterwards, I suddenly started hearing whispers from people that I had bowled 96 mph. And I thought: “Hello – where’s this come from?

“But to see someone who’s 18 bowling that quick gets everyone talking, gets everyone jumping. Everyone thinks you 
can only get quicker from that point on.There’s obviously that want or need in England to find a Brett Lee or Dale Steyn. But there’s a lot more to it than just running up and bowling fast, I’m afraid. There’s a long way to go before I’m up there with those kind of bowlers.”

Meaker is, plainly, an ambitious 19-year-old but he’s a likeable chap, with a few wry, off-the-record lines and none of the cockiness that can befall sporting prodigies. Just shy of six foot, he’s shorter than you might expect of a top fast bowler, with his power coming from his upper-body strength. While others make comparisons with Lee or Gough, Meaker says: “I always tried to model my action on Allan Donald because he was my hero: he bowled fast and he was aggressive. He’s everything you would want in a fast bowler. But in terms of my action and technique, I’m probably more like Malcolm Marshall: quite front-on and skiddy because he wasn’t very tall.”

Meaker, who came up through the England age-group teams and made his under-19s debut in 2007, was offered a one-year contract for 2008 by Surrey, which has now been extended for another two years. He grew up in South Africa, moving with his mum and sisters to Surrey when he was 12. “I’ve done most of my growing up in cricket in England,” he says. “I regard myself as English now.

“I’ve even got an English accent, to be fair,” he says – and he’s right. There’s no hint of an overseas background in Meaker’s well-spoken home counties tones.

Is it easy for a youngster to switch sporting affiliations, then? “It’s harder when it comes to rugby than cricket,” says Meaker. “When I came here I lost touch with anything to do with South African sport. You start to hear about Andrew Flintoff and the Ashes all the time and you start to support England and hope they do well.

“Rugby is a bit different, though: in South Africa, you’re pretty much born with a rugby ball in your hand. It was drilled into me when I was very young that I was going to support the Natal Sharks – and I watched the South Africa side win the 1995 World Cup. It sounds like a very split allegiance, but that’s just the way it is! But I feel immense pride whenever I represent England. I’ve grown up with most of the guys and I feel as much pride as they do. My grandparents were English and they moved to Rhodesia – so there was always English blood in us.”

That South African background helped make him a sportsman, he says. “It’s very much a sporting culture over there. It makes a big difference that the winters are not really cold. In England, you’re indoors for pretty much half the year. It’s not very nice to go out. In South Africa, I was always outdoors, on the trampoline in the back garden, playing sport with my friends. You’re always messing around and playing outdoors.”

Meaker says he’s wanted to be a professional cricketer since he was a toddler. Coming to England, it didn’t take long for him to get spotted. He won a series of awards on the back of playing for South of England under-15s at the Bunbury Festival in 2004, including a week at the ECB Academy with the full England team.

Soon after the Eureka ball last September, Meaker’s stress fracture was diagnosed: two months’ rehab did not stop him getting selected for the Under-19 World Cup squad in February, though it did mean he was not properly match sharp, he says.
A stop-start 2008 season has been a frustration: soon after appearing in Surrey’s first game of the season, against Loughborough UCCE, Meaker was out for another month with a back injury. After that, he has been on the fringes of a squad that has struggled in all competitions. “I haven’t been that close to the Championship side. In fairness, I haven’t bowled amazingly well this season until these last two second XI games in August where I’ve got everything together and it’s all suddenly clicking.

“The first team have so much to play for. We really don’t want to go down and they have looked to go with older, more experienced players, the guys who’ve done it before. There’s nothing I can do about that. I’ve just got to keep doing my stuff and keep putting in performances.”

Shine and the England set-up at Loughborough are ultimately running Meaker’s development. But Meaker has been working with Surrey bowling coach Geoff Arnold since he started with the county as a 14-year-old. “Geoff gets instructions from up above on how to handle me. But I’ve grown up with him 
as my coach: if the ECB said that 
I shouldn’t bowl so much, I think Geoff – and I – would tend to disagree: when I start to bowl well, it’s because I feel I’ve got a lot of overs under my belt. I’ve got that confidence behind me.”

With an ageing Surrey side fighting relegation, Meaker’s first-team chance may not be too far away. For now, he’s getting plenty out of playing in the seconds, he says. “As a young bowler in your first year on staff you can learn a lot. People say the standard isn’t great but Middlesex last week had a very good batting line-up – they had Nick Compton and Billy Godleman as openers. Obviously there’s a brand new learning curve when you get to first team level and you come up against your Langers and Trescothicks. But there’s a lot to be learned in second team cricket. And I love it.”

Meaker’s winter plans are not fully nailed down yet, but there’s plenty on the table: maybe a stint playing Grade cricket in Australia; definitely a stint at Loughborough under Shine’s tutelage. Meaker is excited about his future but his confidence is matched by a matter-of-fact modesty. His talk of hard work and putting in the hours sounds entirely genuine rather than the box-ticking cliché of a media-trained veteran.

How fast does he think he can bowl? “At my peak and feeling strong, mid-90s would be brilliant. If you can bowl 90mph consistently, you’ve got a lot on other bowlers. But when you get to professional level, batters are used to quick bowlers, so you have to concentrate more on bowling good areas. It’s all well and good bowling really fast but unless you can land it on the wicket, it’s pointless.

“In any case, I think a lot of my extra pace comes naturally when I’m in a rhythm and feeling confident in my accuracy, rather than specifically trying to bowl fast. I need to work on learning how to bowl – and then the pace will come.

“But,” adds the Fastest Bowler You’ve Only Just Heard Of, “I always know I’ve got a bit up my sleeve.”