Late developer Thornton taking nothing for granted From club to county cricketer in under 12 months, such has been the remarkable transformation of Warwickshire’s late developing seamer Grant Thornton. Thornton recently made his first-class debut at the age of 24, five years after he thought his hopes of playing county cricket had been dashed. Thornton played for Warwickshire Under-19s alongside future county players Ateeq Javid, Recordo Gordon, Jon Webb, Pete McKay and Freddie Coleman but was not offered an academy or professional contract. So Thornton focused on his education – he recently completed a three-year degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Coventry University – while working part-time as a lifeguard at leisure centre in Coventry and selling guttering and fascias in a warehouse to help pay the bills. Thornton’s cricket was restricted to the weekends, first at Highway in the Warwickshire League then with Leamington in the Birmingham & District Premier League where he was spotted by former Warwickshire captain Neil Smith. ” I didn’t expect much to happen when I joined Leamington, I only went there to play a better standard of cricket,” Thornton said. Smith helped Thornton get a trial with Leicestershire at the end of the 2015 season and, as a member of Warwickshire’s cricket committee, he also pushed his case at Edgbaston. A move last year to Berkswell in the top flight of the Birmingham League gave Thornton more exposure where his success there persuaded Warwickshire to take a closer look at him. Thornton made his second team debut for them against Yorkshire in early June and he not looked back since. He trained with Warwickshire during the winter and was included in the senior squad for their pre-season trip to the United Arab Emirates. Thornton was offered a three month contract on his return and has done his prospects of longer-term employment no harm with some useful performances in the Royal London One-Day Cup and four wickets on his Specsavers County Championship debut against Somerset at Taunton last weekend. ” This time last year I hadn’t played for Warwickshire twos so it’s been quite a year,” Thornton said. ” I played most of the second team games last year and did well for Berkswell. But I didn’t really think about playing county cricket. I enjoyed playing second team cricket and combining that with finishing my degree. ” But it got a bit more serious during the winter. I went on the pre-season tour and I finished my degree a couple of weeks after we came back and so I was able to come in full-time.” After some early nerves Thornton he settled into county cricket even though he is still adjusting to the unpredictable nature of life as a professional cricketer. ” The first couple of games I played I was very nervous and that probably reflected in my performances, but since then I’ve been fine. It now feels fairly normal,” Thornton said. ” I don’t know whether that’s because I’m a bit older and a bit more experienced than an 18 or 19 year old academy player coming in. ” I would say that county cricket is a bit tougher than the work I have been doing but at least I knew where I was going to be nine to five whereas now I haven’t a clue. You can’t plan anything week to week.” Thornton had intended to start a teacher training course in September but those plans have been put on hold as he concentrates on cricket in an unplanned career move that offers encouragement to other players who have either been released or overlooked by counties. ” You should try to play the best standard you can on a Saturday and take it as seriously as possible. Some club players don’t take their cricket seriously because they don’t think they are going to get anywhere,” Thornton said. ” But this shows that, if you do put in the effort, you can get recognised by the people above.” To find out more about the Personal Development and Welfare Programme click here. {{ak_sharing}}
