The Wicked Cricket Column

Chris Adams Interview - The Unedited 'Cricketer Magazine' Version
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Over two months has passed since the interview with Chris Adams was published in ‘The Cricketer Magazine’. Out of respect for
the editor Alec Swann (Graeme’s older brother) the non-edited version which Adams had approved was not published on this blog
(it was but for just 15 minutes!) but now one feels sufficient time has elapsed.

Since this interview was written Chris Adams has helped steer The Netherlands to being Round 1 joint winners with Scotland for the
‘ICC Cricket World Cup’ Qualifier 2018 and subsequently an opportunity to play in the ‘ICC Cricket World Cup’ the following year. Adams
will be rejoining the Dutch team in September to help them win Round 2.

(Some readers may note around 20% of the original interview was deleted by Alec)

Part 1

Chris Adams stands at the periphery of the global cricket village. His recent successes as a cricket consultant for Sri Lanka when he
helped them beat England in a Test series for the first time on English soil and then later aided The Netherlands to win their first trophy
in 14 years at the ‘ICC World Cricket League Division 2 Tournament’ have not opened any new doors.



So, does his four and half years as Surrey Coach continue to be a stigma? Is Adams the alpha male who does not fit in with the present
English county mentality or is he simply misunderstood? Why, given his impressive winning CV, are coaching jobs hard to come by?

We meet at Adams’ country sports club. It lies less than eight miles from the county ground that brought him fame, success and a series
of trophies as a captain and batsman. It has long been obvious that Adams’ heart remains with Sussex CCC and his overriding dream is to
return to the club one day in a coaching capacity. Surrey was merely a job not a destiny. As he awaits his next cricket gig, Adams plays
tennis, attends ECB coaching conferences and performs commentary work for SKY SPORTS.

It is 2 years since your Surrey contract was terminated. What are your reflections on the job?

From day 1, I was never fully accepted at Surrey. I was referred to as “the Man from Sussex” but I was fine with that. The club had got
themselves into a mess and I was asked to do a job that few else wanted. The size of the task ahead was massive. Surrey had around
26 professional players when I took over in late 2008. The players’ salary budget alone was over £2.3m and with the £1.8m salary cap
introduced in 2010, over £500k a year had to disappear. It doesn’t require an Einstein to understand there is only one way of achieving
this. Players would have to be released and you can’t do that by releasing five youngsters on £20k each. It had to be primarily senior
players who’d been at the club for a long time. Either that or I had to reduce their salaries by half - no player accepts that.

"Hand braking an oil tanker was an easier job than turning Surrey around"

These difficult decisions never made me popular in some quarters of the club.The other problem and most concerning was the players just
weren’t performing. The team had become too much of a cozy environment - they weren’t being challenged. ‘Hand braking’ an oil tanker was
an easier job than turning Surrey around.



You stated in an interview “Surrey is a great club but with greatness comes great expectations”. What do you mean by this?

Every time I walked through the ‘Hobbs Gates’ I felt the sheer awe and history of the Oval but also the spectre of eras gone by, eras that let’s
say didn’t, perhaps, endear them to the cricket community. My overall experience of The Oval was this big corporate machine that led on nearly
every decision at the club. I think both Richard Thompson and Richard Gould do their best to manage this effectively but it will always be a one-
sided marriage in my opinion.

"Surrey’s greatness is more about the money they generate" 

The business is an International venue that does its duty to accommodate the club. In fact, when you strip it back, Surrey is a club unlike any
other. My former county Sussex always had terrific support, where the balance between the club, its supporters and the need to be a ‘business’
wrapped around a cricket team was excellent and very visible along with a real sense of family. At Surrey I would meet many supporters when
I commuted who would follow and cheer from afar. They weren’t active within or around The Oval, which is a shame, as a more balanced approach
of support would go a long way to the growth of what most people view as a ‘real club’. Surrey’s greatness is more about the money they generate
and the high expectations on everyone and everything that come with this. 

It’s been 3 years since the tragic death of Tom Maynard. Do you still think of him?



Tom is never far from my thoughts as are his family whom I am close to. Imagine being in their position. When something of this enormity happens
you don’t have any training so you have to rely on your natural instincts. I felt many people’s immediate reaction was to run and hide. They couldn’t
handle the intensity of emotion, that is how they coped and I totally understood and accepted that. I felt I stepped up my leadership and led the team
through this as was most humanly possible. The big question I faced - when do you start playing again?

"...we didn’t lose just Tom that day, we lost a large chunk of the side. Some will never recover"

Our first game back was absolutely horrific. A T20 against Essex. There was a minute’s silence before the start, then a wreath presented, a heartfelt
gesture from Essex, and all of a sudden we were batting. Steve Davies and Jason Roy walked out to the pitch in bits - they were crying, we were crying,
nobody could focus. I knew this was wrong but at what stage does it become right? The fall-out was difficult for everyone as we didn’t lose just Tom that
day, we lost a large chunk of the side. Some will never recover. On reflection, I realize my role at Surrey was all but over then, for all the plans we had
invested in were shattered and I was never going to be given time to rebuild. Until the tragedy the strategy was on track. Surrey had won a coveted Lords
Final, been promoted to the Championship Division 1 and now it was time to consolidate before competing for the title. Tom’s death changed everything.

I'm looking for a labourer on my emu farm if he's interested - seven days a week, 12 hours a day, 300 squid a week, not too shabby. I'd rather he got a gig at Sussex though, the main gig. Although if he actually would prefer a batting coach job I can't think of a more suitable county than Sussex.

The Sussex CCC “LGBT” Connection
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For the close-minded please turn away now.

LGBT stands for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender’ and Sussex CCC under the leadership of Tim Shutt, head of ‘Sussex Cricket
in the Community’ arranged a special cricketing day on August 15th at Hove for such a group of people.

The club must be applauded for leading the county way as in a City like Brighton & Hove who covet their annual 'Gay Pride' and 'Naked
Bike Ride', where Kemptown, as one wag said, has its own ‘pink pound’ currency, it is fitting that our own cricket club should openly
embrace these fields.

The 6 a-side mixed softball tournament, better known as ‘Kwik Cricket’, where no former cricketing experience is required, was a great
success. The club’s CEO got involved alongside other staff members and around 10 teams played in a knock-out competition. There was
a BBQ and drinks bar as part of the event.

Tim Shutt explained, “A key part of the Sussex Cricket in the Community strategy is to provide inclusive opportunities for all and Sussex
has a large group of LGBTs.” Members of the best known gay cricket club, ‘Graces CC’, were also present. They are the pioneers within
the sport.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKtkNyslkY
www.gracescricket.org.uk/

Steven Davies - a Gay Hero



When Surrey and former England batsman/keeper Steven Davies 'came out' in 2010, he was heralded by the media as a hero. As Davies
explained later in ‘The Daily Telegraph’ it was a tougher challenge than facing Brett Lee.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/8351004/Steven-Davies-gay-coming-out-was-tougher-than-facing-Brett-Lee.html

Yet, since Davies, instead of the male closet doors being flung open, they have remained firmly shut, even though there are allegedly
a fair number of professional cricketers who are gay.

Alan Hansford who briefly played for Sussex between 1989 and 1992 as an opening seam bowler and ‘came out’ after giving up the sport to
become an accountant is just one of a few who are known.

Born in Cuckfield, he took 4 for 46 and 4 for 29 on his first-class debut against Cambridge University, and in his second Championship match
at the end of that summer took a career-best 5 for 79 against Hampshire at Hove. He finished the season with 20 wickets at 24.25 but was
unable to recapture that form in subsequent years.

In 1989 Hansford was a member of the Combined Universities side, captained by Mike Atherton, which reached the quarter-finals of the Benson
& Hedges Cup. Years later Atherton wrote that Hansford was the only gay cricketer he had come across, in response to a letter from Hansford
in which he wrote, "There can't be too many gay accountants who dismissed you twice in a first class match".

Interestingly, as women’s cricket prospers, so lesbians are now ‘coming out’ far more readily.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett recently stated that her first experience of LGBT was when playing cricket in Australia.
 She told ‘Gay Times’,
“I played a lot of women’s cricket and there were many lesbian women involved. Some would form a relationship with each other so they could
both play cricket together at the weekends.”

She continued, “That was my first awareness of these issues. And some of my school teachers who I played cricket with outside of the classroom,
they weren’t ‘out’ in the school, but within sport they were.”

Blackwell & Askew are to marry on September 3rd



The most recent example of women cricketers ‘coming out’ involve the Australian women’s Vice-Captain Alex Blackwell and England cricketer Lynsey
Askew.

Blackwell is regarded as one of the world's best female cricketers. Her willingness to speak out on issues such as homophobia in sport, has earned
her widespread respect among teammates and Cricket Australia. She and Askew, who have been in a relationship for seven years, will marry in
England on September 3rd, three days after the final game of the Ashes series.

Askew, 28, represented England in eight matches between 2006-08. Blackwell openly thanked Lynsey for her love and support when she was named
the New South Wales female cricketer of the year last April, but the 31-year-old expressed regret that it was illegal for same-sex couples to get married
in Australia.

"It disappoints me that it's not a reality for us in Australia, but things are moving very quickly, and hopefully by the time we get home it is recognised,"
Blackwell said from England. She was in Britain during May when Ireland voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage. "That was exciting, and it had
such an impact in Australia there were questions being asked: 'Why are we lagging behind on this issue?"' 

Blackwell is only the second international cricketer to come out as gay at the height of their career - the other being Steven Davies. Blackwell said keeping
such a central part of her life a secret would have clashed with her basic values. "It's not healthy to hide who you really are," she said. 

Meanwhile, in other sports like football, lesbians also show a far greater readiness to ‘come out’ compared with their male counterparts. None more so than
England women’s football captain Casey Stoney who came out after being inspired by diver Tom Daley.

Casey Stoney



The Arsenal Ladies defender said, "I was living a lie. I've never hidden it within football circles because it is accepted. But to the outside world, I've never
spoken about my sexuality." She added: "I feel it's really important for me to speak out as a gay player because there are so many people struggling who
are, and you hear about people taking their own lives because they are homosexual. That should never happen.”

Stoney, who has 116 caps for her country and also captained Great Britain in the London Olympics, said the decision had taken "a long while to get to" but
that "a huge weight" had been lifted from her shoulders.

She continued, "For the last 10 years I've always cared too much what other people think. I was frightened of the stereotypes, frightened of being judged,
frightened of what other people might say, especially the abuse you can get through social media. But I think I'm in a place where I feel so comfortable in my
own skin, I feel so loved by the person I'm with, that I feel I can face anything."

She also said it was "incredible" that World Cups have been awarded to Russia and Qatar given their attitude towards gay people. Homosexuality is illegal in
2022 host country Qatar, and disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter has told gay fans going to the tournament to "refrain from sexual activity".

"I won't be going to Russia or Qatar to watch the World Cup because I wouldn't be accepted there," Stoney said. "I think it's incredible that these countries are
awarded such prestigious events when they don't accept homosexuality. There will be some competing who are gay. I can't imagine how frightened they will feel.

"When Russian President Vladimir Putin says that gay people can come over but 'please don't go near the children', what sort of message is that sending when
he’s the country’s ruler? It seriously worries me."

Meanwhile, Ex-Aston Villa player Thomas Hitzlsperger retired before he revealed he was gay in January, alongside former Leeds player Robbie Rogers who later
returned to play for David Beckham's former team, LA Galaxy.

Stoney, who plays in the semi-professional Women's Super League, says that homosexuality is more accepted in the women's game than the men's. She estimates
there are "maybe two or three" gay players in some teams.

As for Sussex CCC, one hopes there will be many more LGBT events at Hove but to be ‘fully inclusive’ isn’t it time a member of staff entered the City’s ‘Naked Bike
Ride’? Go on Zac, here’s your chance! 

I can't get my head around this sort of event. I am neither homophobic nor racist but surely this is segregation of the worst kind?
It's the same as the MOBO's or the British Asian cricket awards, by definition they are closed groups and as such are self segregating?

To my simple mind it's the same as setting up a day of cricket for only ginger haired players or only players under 5 foot!

Am I wrong?

Not sure it's a question of "being wrong". But perhaps some minorities require encouragement to join in the sport. I don't see any reference to the event being exclusive. Well within the remit of  ‘Sussex Cricket
in the Community’.

Sussex CCC Museum on TV
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During the recent Yorkshire Championship match at Hove, Derek Johnson, who works for ITV Meridian News and describes himself
on Twitter as, “Correspondent. Cameraman. Bottomless pit of need” arrived at the ground to film a piece about the club museum.

Trustees and volunteers Phil Barnes and Nic Sharp were interviewed by Derek and appear during a 3 minute slot which should be
aired one evening this week between 6pm and 6.30pm on Meridian News.

Derek Johnson & Dickie Bird at Hove


(pic: Phil Barnes)

A highlight of the feature is an appearance by Yorkshire CCC President, Dickie Bird, who was following the match in the club Directors’
lounge. A quick sortie up the Pavilion steps followed by a persuasive tone from Derek and Dickie was happy to be involved with the
filming. He is very praising of the museum.

twitter.com/derekjohnsonitv