Darren Thomas (Glamorgan)
Hard hitting all rounder Darren Thomas has been playing professional cricket for the last fifteen years for Glamorgan. Here he shares his thoughts on the changing structure of the game and the impact on today’s all rounder.
What is the biggest difference in professional cricket today compared to when you started?
The major change in cricket since I started playing in 1992 has been the two division structure. This has made the game much more intense. In the past, if you weren’t pushing the top three or four in the championship or one-day league, you would tend to play the youngsters on the staff towards the end of the season.
Nowadays there is much more to play for. You only had to look at the First Division of the (Liverpool Victoria) County Championship. In the last round of games, Sussex and Lancashire were playing for the title, while Nottinghamshire, Durham and Yorkshire were all playing to stay up and keep their Division One status. This is great for the game, creating an intense competition and I’m sure it brings the spectators in as well.
What challenges has the Twenty20 Cup brought?
Bowling wise, I have found the Twenty20 experience very intense. In 2004 we made it to the semi-finals at Edgbaston which was brilliant. We were playing at Sophia Gardens in front of 5,000-6,000 spectators and you have to be on the edge of your game every ball. All cricketers dream of playing for England in front of a packed house and the next best thing was that finals day at Edgbaston in front of 20,000 people. There is no taking a breather as you might in a county championship game for any of the players, bowlers in particular. You might try three or four different deliveries an over, with bouncers, yorkers, slower balls and the like. We reckoned that if four bowlers got it right on the day, we would win the game. It may not have been as tiring as bowling 25 overs in the County Championship but it is certainly more explosive.
Have the wickets changed a great deal the last few seasons?
I think the pitches have got progressively flatter since I started fifteen years ago but the main change has been the balls. We used to be able to choose between Dukes and Readers – the Dukes balls being quite an oval shape that used generate plenty of swing. Having said that, you do come across the odd sporty pitch every now and again, which assists the bowlers.
So if you had to advise a young all rounder trying to make his way in the game, what would you say?
If you are taking on the challenge of becoming a bowling all rounder, there is a lot of fitness work involved and it can be pretty tiring; but you have got to go out there and enjoy it. Ultimately you are a long time out of the game. You are playing professional sport, getting paid decent money for something that I still regard as a hobby. It certainly has been an honour to be involved in.
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