A True Hero
There has been lot happening on the cricket field in the last week. Significant events at Perth and in Mumbai (For those who are not aware, Gautam Gambhir led to Delhi to an outstanding Ranji Trophy victory). There has been a lot happening off the field as well( Ganguly dropped, IPL bidding etc).
I shall be writing about the victory in Perth and in particular VVS Lakshman’s knack of playing match winning inning s bit later. But this post is dedicated to a very moving story of an English cricketer.
The England A team (popularly known as the English Lions) arrive in India this week to participate in the Dueleep Trophy. It includes Alan Richardson, a Middlesex seamer, whose story should inspire every youngster and make everyone believe that happy endings are indeed possible in real life.
Around 10 years ago Richardson was playing Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire and assembling golf studs at a factory in Stoke, hoping that he would be given another chance to play county cricket after Derbyshire rejected him after just one first-class appearance in 1995.
"I did all sorts of jobs just to earn a bit of money," Richardson said in an interview. "I did night shifts at the Wedgewood factory in Stoke and some landscape gardening. But the worst was assembling golf studs on a production line. You had to get through 2,400 studs in an eight-hour shift, can you imagine how boring that”.[1]
Richardson never gave up, tried his luck at Edbagston and after Warwickshire rejected him, he moved to Middlesex. He has never looked back since and in week’s time he will be part of representative England team playing first class cricket in India.
The door of opportunity will always open if you keep knocking on it .Alan Richardson is perhaps the best example of this statement. He may not have many fans in India but in the author of this blog, he definitely has one.
[1] Source: The Daily Telegraph.
I shall be writing about the victory in Perth and in particular VVS Lakshman’s knack of playing match winning inning s bit later. But this post is dedicated to a very moving story of an English cricketer.
The England A team (popularly known as the English Lions) arrive in India this week to participate in the Dueleep Trophy. It includes Alan Richardson, a Middlesex seamer, whose story should inspire every youngster and make everyone believe that happy endings are indeed possible in real life.
Around 10 years ago Richardson was playing Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire and assembling golf studs at a factory in Stoke, hoping that he would be given another chance to play county cricket after Derbyshire rejected him after just one first-class appearance in 1995.
"I did all sorts of jobs just to earn a bit of money," Richardson said in an interview. "I did night shifts at the Wedgewood factory in Stoke and some landscape gardening. But the worst was assembling golf studs on a production line. You had to get through 2,400 studs in an eight-hour shift, can you imagine how boring that”.[1]
Richardson never gave up, tried his luck at Edbagston and after Warwickshire rejected him, he moved to Middlesex. He has never looked back since and in week’s time he will be part of representative England team playing first class cricket in India.
The door of opportunity will always open if you keep knocking on it .Alan Richardson is perhaps the best example of this statement. He may not have many fans in India but in the author of this blog, he definitely has one.
[1] Source: The Daily Telegraph.
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