Category: Speaker Review

Former England batsman and current Leicestershire batting coach James Taylor graced and entertained a packed CCS audience at the last of the speaker events of the Winter/ Spring season of 2023/24. Our autumn season begins in October 2024.

Please click on the Gallery link here or in the top menu to view additional photos. 

All images courtesy of Pete Wilson.

Pen Portrait

James William Arthur Taylor was born on January 06, 1990 at Burrough on the Hill, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. His father was a National Hunt jockey but injury forced him to retire. James did his A levels at Shrewsbury School for whom he played cricket. He was a prodigy who scored 202*, as an 18 year old, playing for Loughborough Town. He became a highly talented right-handed batter, in the middle order, and occasional legbreak bowler. He played for Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and England. He is modest of height (5 feet and 6 inches) but, with good footwork, he was a strong cutter and puller.

He played first-class cricket from 2008, aged 18, to 2016, aged just 26. He played 139 matches scoring 9,306 runs at 46.06 with 20 centuries and 47 fifties and a top score of 291. Along with Andrew McDonald, Taylor holds Leicestershire’s record partnership for the 4th wicket of 360*, made in just 73 overs, against Middlesex at Leicester in 2010. His top score of 291 was made for Nottinghamshire against Sussex at Horsham in 2016.

2009, aged just 19, was his breakthrough year. He became the youngest Leicestershire player to score a double century when he made 207 against Surrey. That season he made 1,207 runs at 57.47 and was named the PCA’s Young Player of the Season. He was also the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year.

He was appointed captain for the England Lions in 2011 for the series against Sri Lanka A. He had an impressive series including an innings of 168*. Calls were getting louder for him to be promoted to the full England XI. Given his burgeoning career, approaches were made by both Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, with the latter county winning his signature.

He played 7 Tests for England between August 2012, against South Africa at Leeds and January 2016, against South Africa at Centurion. He hit 2 fifties with a top score of 76. He also played 27 ODIs for England between 2011 and 2015. He made 887 runs at 42.23 with 1 century and 7 fifties and a top score of 101 against Australia in 2015.

On 12 April 2016, it was announced that Taylor, aged just 26, was forced to retire from playing due to an incurable heart condition.  Cricket fans were shocked to hear that such a promising career had been so cruelly finished.

Post playing, he went into coaching and has been an occasional summariser on “Test Match Special”. In July 2018, he was made a full-time selector for the England team. In April 2021, this role was amended to being head scout. In October 2022, he was appointed as batting coach for Leicestershire.

It will be a delight to welcome to our society someone still involved in county cricket who was a highly talented batter whose career was cut short prematurely due to ill health.

Ken Burney

Paul Farbrace entertained the CCS members with stories and anecdotes from his time as a first class cricket player, coach, media pundit and even a stint as a goalkeeper for Coventry City FC when Bobby Gould was the manager.

Whilst at Kent, Paul was mentored by his wicket keeping hero, Kent and England legend Alan Knott and also realised a childhood ambition of a “caught Farbrace bowled Derek Underwood” appearing on the match scorecard. Knowledgeable and experienced as a coach at County and International level Paul candidly answered questions on the skills and experience that a coach can impart, but also the importance of learning, support and encouragement for players to flourish. Interestingly an approach which is very much evident in the leadership and management styles of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Please click on the Gallery link here or in the top menu to view additional photos. 

All images courtesy of Pete Wilson.

Pen Portrait

Paul Farbrace was born near Sandwich in Kent in 1967 and had a brief first-class career – representing his home county for three seasons – ending in 1989. He then played for Middlesex for six seasons but his overall first-class batting average of 18.23 (best 79) counted against him and his place was taken in the county team by Keith Brown.

It is as a coach that Paul has achieved more prominence in the game – including many national and county coaching roles. That side of his cricket career began in 2000 with the England Under 19s and Women’s teams. In 2007 he became Assistant Coach to Trevor Bayliss with Sri Lanka and he was on the team bus that was attacked by terrorists in Pakistan in 2009 – mercifully only sustaining minor injuries.

He became first-team coach for Kent in 2009 and after two seasons left to become 2nd XI coach at Yorkshire. Then, in 2013, he became National Coach for Sri Lanka. A busy and successful few months followed – with Tests and ODIs against Pakistan and Bangladesh crowned by success in the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup in 2014.

He then resigned in April 2014 to become Assistant Coach to Peter Moores with England. His period with England would also include being Interim Head Coach, when Moores was sacked, and working with Trevor Bayliss until 2017. This period included the unsuccessful 2015 World Cup and finalists in the T20 World Cup in 2016 – when England were favourites and the West Indies needed 19 to win from the final over. History records that it was bowled by Ben Stokes to Carlos Brathwaite and only needed four balls to reach a conclusion.

Most recently Paul has been Sporting Director at Warwickshire (for four seasons) and is currently Head Coach at Sussex – with a stated mission to develop local talent. He is married to the mother of Ollie Robinson – the English Test bowler.

Chris Coleman

Kevin Sharp, the former Yorkshire batter and coach at Yorkshire and Worcestershire opened our 2024 spring season. 47 years of experience in the game allowed Kevin to entertain the CCS members with humorous anecdotes related to amongst others, Geoffrey Boycott and Joe Root, share his personal experience of how getting hit in the face when batting affected his confidence as well as give his thoughts on some of the pertinent issues within cricket today such as fixture scheduling and the Yorkshire racism saga. 

Please click on the Gallery link here or in the top menu to view additional photos. 

All images courtesy of Pete Wilson.

Pen Portrait

Kevin Sharp was born in Leeds on 06 April 1959. He went to Abbey Grange High School in Leeds. He was a left-handed batter and occasional right-arm off break bowler.

He played for Yorkshire from 1976-1990. He was a very gifted cricketer who made his debut aged 17. He made 260*, at New Road, for England Young Cricketers in 1978. He was capped in 1982 aged 23. He played 218 first-class matches during which he scored 9,962 runs at 30.84 with 14 centuries and 47 fifties and a top score of 181.

He also had three seasons at Griqualand West in South Africa between 1981 and 1984. He played 17 first-class matches and averaged just under 40.

Following the end of his Yorkshire career in 1990, aged just 31, he played for Shropshire in the Minor Counties from 1993 to 1997 while also playing club cricket for Bridgnorth and Ossett.

Following retirement from playing, Sharp has worked as a batting coach for Yorkshire and as an umpire. He coached some real batting talent at Yorkshire including Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth, all of whom were to play for England. Root remains a friend of Sharp and occasionally calls him for technical advice.

Having been part of a coaching clearout at Yorkshire in 2011, Sharp was recruited by his old playing colleague, Steve Rhodes, who took Sharp to Worcestershire onto their coaching team. When Rhodes was sacked in 2018, Sharp was upgraded to Head Coach. He held this post for 4 years until he retired in 2022. During his time at New Road, the county was known as one which produced a stream of good quality home-grown talent.

It will be interesting to hear the thoughts of a man who has been involved in county cricket for almost 50 years. His coaching has nurtured much talent for the benefit of English cricket.

Ken Burney

A thoroughly enjoyable evening with our Guest speaker Ian “Gunner” Gould. He had the CCS audience in raptures of laughter with stories told in a wonderfully engaging and humorous style. Ian shared tales of his upbringing, journey into sport as a goal keeper for Slough and Arsenal and then as a batter/wicket keeper for Middlesex, Sussex, England and then his transition into World class umpiring. It was a pleasure to have a guest that has had such a varied experience at the highest levels with many of the cricketing greats but also as an umpire officiating at some of the most significant and memorable International matches. 

Please click on the Gallery link here or in the top menu to view additional photos. 

All images courtesy of Pete Wilson.

Pen Portrait

Ian James “Gunner” Gould was born on 19 August 1957 at Taplow, Buckinghamshire. He was a left-handed batter and wicket-keeper who played for Middlesex (1975-80 and 1996), Sussex (1981-90, captain in 1987) and at ODI level for England in 1983.

He played football, as a goalkeeper, for both Slough Town and Arsenal thus acquiring his nickname of “Gunner”. He became Chairman of Southern Football League club, Burnham, in 2009.

Gould played 298 first-class matches in which he scored 8,756 runs at 26.05 with 4 centuries and 47 fifties with a top score of 128. He took 536 catches and made 67 stumpings. When at Middlesex, he won the County Championship in 1976 and 1980 and whilst at Sussex he won the NatWest Trophy in 1986 and the Sunday League in 1982.

He toured the West Indies with the England Young Cricketers in 1976. He played 18 ODIs in 1983 including that year’s Cricket World Cup in preference to Bob Taylor, England’s red ball wicket-keeper at the time. In those 18 games, Gould took 15 catches and made 3 stumpings.

He is best known as a high quality umpire. He stood in 74 Tests (2008-19), 140 ODIs (2006-19) and 37 T20Is (2006-16). He stood in 3 matches at the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. He umpired his first Test match in 2008 – South Africa v Bangladesh. He was promoted to the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires in 2009. He stood in the high profile India v Pakistan semi-final at the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was one of twenty umpires to officiate in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. He was one of sixteen umpires to stand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. In July 2019, he retired as an umpire having stood in his 140th ODI game.

In 2020, Pitch Publishing released Gould’s autobiography, “Gunner : My Life in Cricket”.

We look forward to hearing from a man who has both played and umpired at a high level and who is widely known in cricket circles as a chirpy character.

Ken Burney

An excellent evening with Warwickshire CCC head coach Mark Robinson. Entertaining, thoughtful and humble, Mark shared and reflected on his career but also his approach to coaching and people management. The latter, was very evident in his handling of the insightful and entertaining Q&A session.

Please click on the Gallery link here or in the top menu to view additional photos. 

All images courtesy of Pete Wilson.

Pen Portrait

Mark Andrew Robinson OBE was born on 23 November 1966 in Hull, Yorkshire. His nickname is Robbo and he was a right-arm fast-medium bowler for Northamptonshire (1987-90), Yorkshire (1991-95) and Sussex (1997-2002).

He took 4 wickets, including Neil Fairbrother and Mike Watkinson, on debut for Northamptonshire against Lancashire in 1987. His breakthrough season was 1988 when he took 46 first-class wickets at 22.93.

He was a genuine tail-ender. In 1990 he set a world record of 12 first-class ducks in a row, albeit with 7 of them not out. He finished the season with a total of 3 runs in 16 first-class innings with a top score of 1*. It was his ten not outs which elevated his average for the season to a heady 0.50!

In 1991 he moved to Yorkshire. In 1992, he took 50 first-class wickets at 22.68 and for the next 3 summers he took between 45 and 49 wickets. In 1993, he took a career-best innings haul of 9/37 against his former county, Northamptonshire.

He missed the 1996 season before joining Sussex in 1997. He had a good first season taking 48 first-class wickets at 29.70. In both 1998 and 1999 he took over 40 first-class wickets. 2000 was a disappointment but 2001 saw him, in Division 2, have his best season with 56 first-class wickets at 19.33.

In 229 first-class games he took 584 wickets at 30.49 with 5 wickets in an innings on 13 occasions and 10 wickets in a match twice with a best of 9/37 as above. He made 590 runs at 4.01 with a best of 27.

In October 2005, he took over as cricket manager at Sussex. Between 2005 and 2015 he had great success there – the county won back to back County Championships in 2006 and 2007 and also won the NatWest Trophy in 2006, the Pro 40 in 2008 and 2009 and the Twenty20 Cup in 2009.

He took on the role of coach to the England Women’s cricket team in 2015. He led the team to win the World Cup in 2017 having beaten India in the final. In 2018 he took England to the final of the Women’s World Twenty20 when they lost to Australia. He stood down in 2019 after 4 years in charge.

He became 1st Team Coach at Warwickshire in 2021 and met with immediate success by winning both the County Championship and the Bob Willis Trophy.  

It will be interesting to hear the views of a highly successful coach who is currently on the county scene.

Ken Burney