Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

114 out again. In 1979, Bob’s life took its final cricket-ward turn. By now he had taken the first-level coaching qualification, and was doing some part-time coaching at Ilford Cricket School; but by day he was still working for the estate agents. Then ‘a guy in the office who was cricket-mad said: “There’s a vacancy in the paper for an assistant coach with Essex County Cricket Club; that’s right up your alley. Why don’t you apply?”’ Bob had always been interested in the mechanics of sport, and ‘what causes what’ in the techniques of games. A coaching job would allow him to develop this interest, as well as extending his involvement in cricket. 184 So he applied; and he was duly appointed as assistant coach to Graham Saville. Soon afterwards, Saville secured a job as Eastern Region coach with the National Cricket Association, and Bob became Essex’s senior coach, a post he held for 20 years until his retirement aged 65 in 1999. 185 He was not just a coach, either; for many years he also managed the finances and the bookings at the cricket school at Chelmsford, as well as organising future courses. In due course he too became an Eastern Region staff coach, working under Saville. On the coaching side alone, his responsibilities were considerable. He ran one-to-one coaching sessions through the day and evening for boys (and a few girls) and adults; day courses during the school holidays; evening coaching with county squads of all ages, including all the pros still in the country during the winter months; and pre-season sessions with staff players. It was not a quiet life, especially during the school holidays when the place was ‘full of kids’. As well as securing the qualifications required to coach at this level, including passing an advanced coaching course at Lilleshall in 1979, Bob also has the unusual distinction of holding both a City and Guilds certificate and an NVQ in cricket, testimony to the seriousness and thoroughness with which he undertook his new task after finally joining the Essex staff. And although Bob’s speciality was wicketkeeping, he had to coach all aspects of the game. Neither batting nor bowling were mysteries to him. As a batsman – he bats right-handed – he describes his style as ‘nurdling and tucking it away’: he is principally a back-foot player who scores mostly square of or behind the wicket off the quicker bowlers because he doesn’t have the levers to hit through the ball with great power, though he can slog effectively when the occasion arises. This style has proved successful: he regards himself as a ‘batsman/wicketkeeper’ at club level, though more of a ‘keeper/batsman’ at higher levels. He has half a dozen centuries to his name, the best being a score of 123 for Leigh against Ilford, ‘and most of the guys I got it against I have coached!’ 184 Bob himself was never coached, either as keeper or as batsman; he learned his cricket simply by copying, and by instinct. 185 When retirement came, he didn’t give up his coaching duties overnight, but on his own initiative he continued working part-time at the cricket school at Chelmsford for a while. A Life in Cricket