ENTERTAINER TREGO SET FOR NEW STARRING ROLE Peter Trego has been one of the great entertainers of county cricket for the past 15 years so it should not come as a surprise that the Somerset all-rounder is in demand as a presenter and narrator for a new television channel. Trego has already been hired by Insight, an ultra HD factual entertainment channel and is booked in for acting lessons and media training to prepare him for in-front-of-camera presenting work in the future. ” They have given me the opportunity to train with them over the next year to present their shows in front of the camera,” Trego said. ” Throughout the cricket season, in and around fixtures and training, I will be going to acting classes and media training and other things they feel I need to touch up on. ” It’s a really exciting challenge for me. They are going to link me up with a chap who works in London, who is one of the top guys in his field, for acting training. ” It’s an environment that is very alien to me although a lot of the guys I have played cricket against will say that acting isn’t anything I need to work on and that I do that pretty well. ” I’ve always had that feeling that I really want to entertain whether it be with my cricket or the nature I play the game. Now I have got a huge opportunity to do that in the second phase of my working life. It has come as a bit of a surprise but I am really ready to grab that opportunity.” Trego had already impressed as Somerset’s ‘Man on the Mic’ during NatWest T20 Blast matches last summer and by interviewing Chris Gayle to help promote the competition. But a photos taken at a photoshoot caught the eye of new channel and convinced them to sign up the Somerset star. ” I did a photoshoot last year and they saw the images of the shoot and really liked them from a visual point of view,” Trego said. ” They didn’t know anything about me as a person but my agent had a load of content to give to them from Sky Sports and from the ECB website where I did that playful interview with Chris Gayle at a driving range for the NatWest T20 Blast. ” They saw me doing a bit of interacting with commentators on the mic, one on particular talking with Paul Allott about a big fat pigeon which was standing at silly mid-off chewing up the seed and almost got pinged by the ball 15 times. ” We had a bit of fun with that. It shows the other side to your nature. They really liked that so when that slim opportunity came my agent was able to show them a lot of things I had done media-wise. Putting the belt and mic on can be a bit of a pain but I’m really pleased I did those little jobs now.” Although Trego has a potential career to go into when he retires from playing he insists that cricket remains his immediate priority. ” You have to be switched on to what you are going to do after you have finished playing, but that’s not a negative thing,” he said. ” I still back what I’m doing. I’m 34, I’m fit and playing well but there will be a natural end to my career. In sport you never know exactly when that date will be so preparation is crucial. To have something that gets my juices flowing is potentially a great position to be in. ” Although cricket will be getting my full attention, on my days off I will be stood in front of a mirror, hairbrush in my hand as a microphone, pretending to present. It’s going be like being 13 again. ” Whenever the time comes to retire I will rest the bat against the wall and hang my bots up with a lot of pride about what I have done on the cricket field. But I am certainly not done yet. ” I have noticed in my practice and training that because I have got this other venture it has relaxed me a little bit. Those tensions about what I was going to do after my career were starting to creep in. ” But having a multi-million pound company seeing some positives in what I do has given me a huge amount of confidence moving forward that things will be all right after cricket. ” I’m not going to rest on my laurels. I will be working hard to make sure I score my runs and get my wickets but also want to upskill in the requirements of presenting as much as I can in the next 12 months.” {{ak_sharing}}
