This year’s Bradford Literature Festival takes place between 30 June and 9 July incorporating 400 writers and 300 events across ten days. It promises to be a wonderful whirlwind of literature, debate and entertainment for all ages and I’m delighted to be a guest panellist on 1 July at 11am in Bradford’s City Hall Banqueting […]
Yorkshire CCC
Cricket’s War of the Roses delivers but how much does it matter to fans?
Match day at Headingley. Yorkshire v Lancashire in the County Championship. Serious stuff. The walk up Beechwood Crescent tried to lighten the mood with an appeal to ‘Smile Beautiful’ emblazoned in blue (lipstick perhaps?) on a road sign. It was muggy and threatening clouds confirmed that I ought to have paid closer attention to the […]
Liam Plunkett on fitness and Yorkshire’s trophy quest
Liam Plunkett stands up tall on the railing in his aqua blue Yorkshire T20 shirt, puffs out his chest, points that chiselled chin and stares into the distance while the photographer reels off multiple frames. The Yorkshire and England bowler doesn’t grumble when asked to model moodily but flashes his best ‘blue steel’ pose (Zoolander […]
Gary Ballance talks captaincy and fast bowling promise
Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s captain Gary Ballance has come a long way in between our interviews that have bookended his Yorkshire career. I first met ‘Gaz’ as a shy teenager breaking into the first-team squad, who eyed my recording device suspiciously and spoke as bluntly as he was to end up treating the bowling from […]
Ben Coad on aggression, belief and the County Championship
In the aftermath of the hypnotic conclusion to Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s County Championship liftoff against Hampshire, the Friday heroics of Ben Coad felt like another lifetime. The message from Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon and Head Coach Andrew Gale has been for the young pretenders to push harder for a first-team shirt. Cue a […]
Peter Handscomb on Yorkshire CCC and Championship cricket
Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s overseas player Peter Handscomb is admirably chipper given he got off a plane from Australia the previous evening. He smiles and blinks into the Headingley sunshine before we shake hands and get down to business. The 25-year-old had a blistering start to his Test career by racking up seven consecutive scores over fifty […]
Geoffrey Boycott on Yorkshire, cricket-playing fleas and steak and kidney pie
Geoffrey Boycott begins our interview with an apology. I suspect, like a well-paced innings, timing his numerous commitments is crucial but the phone line has been momentarily engaged by someone else: “Sorry…I couldn’t ger im’ off…” The ex-Yorkshire and England batsmen, now firmly established as outspoken commentator on BBC Test Match Special, has agreed to […]
Yorkshire County Cricket Club AGM: Stick, twist or bust?
Before my debut appearance at a Yorkshire County Cricket Club AGM, there were more pressing concerns at hand as a fine mizzle descended: where can you get a decent cooked breakfast around Headingley before 9am? Tripadvisor led to Caffe Latte on Otley Road (superb) and appreciable calm on my own, sprawled out on a leather […]
Jack Leaning on Handscomb, North vs South and batting homework
I catch Yorkshire County Cricket Club batsman Jack Leaning by phone one afternoon for a natter about winter training and he launches into the meticulous, finessed programme tailored for each player. At this time of year, downtime centres around taking it easy and boxsetting it up given the likely punishing summer schedule for the twenty-three year-old […]
Back to the Future at Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Fair Warning. No time travelling cars in this article (if you noticed the ‘Back to the Future’ reference in the article title), though come to think of it, there is a Doc! So…on my roaming around the web, I noticed reference to the Yorkshire Pride Appeal funding research into causes of back injuries at Yorkshire County Cricket […]