Lives in Cricket No 1 - Allan Watkins

Chapter Eleven ‘Go Back to What You Love’ If he was to move into coaching, Allan’s first thought was to get in touch with his old friend Donald Carr, who had retired from playing and was now an assistant secretary with MCC. Carr’s advice was that he should go up to Lord’s for a full coaching course. This went against the grain for Allan: “I’d heard all the tales about Lord’s – how you mustn’t do this, you mustn’t do that. You must hold it this way and you’re holding it that way.” To Allan it all sounded so negative, and he knew that the coaches at Lord’s would never have countenanced the grip that he had inherited from Maurice Leyland. He turned down Donald Carr’s advice, but was nevertheless pleased to learn of possible coaching opportunities. The rest of Allan’s working life would be devoted to coaching at English public schools. His only qualification was a career stretching over 20 years as a professional cricketer, but it had taught him all he needed to know, and to this he brought his own philosophy of taking a positive view of a young cricketer’s natural inclinations. “Some of the people you coach, they’ve got shots and they may look awful, but it’s their strong point, so you develop it. And that’s what I’ve tried to do all my life.” Allan was engaged to do some pre-season coaching at Christ College, Brecon. Then, in 1964, he obtained a full-time position at Framlingham College, a public school a few miles inland from the Suffolk coast. It took courage to uproot himself, his son David feels. Though cricket had made him a member of the wider South Wales community, Allan’s home had always been in Usk and this was where he belonged. The move to East Anglia provided him with a qualification to play for Suffolk in the Minor Counties Championship. The suggestion that he might do so came about when he became friendly with Cyril Perkins, one of the legendary figures of the Minor Counties game, whose left-arm spinners brought him 779 wickets for Suffolk. Perkins was coach at Ipswich School, one of Framlingham’s opponents, and he persuaded Allan to make himself available for the Suffolk team. 96