Story Diary of a County Captain (ICC2006 A.E)

[tk257]

I will post monthly extracts of the diary of Tim Fox the Lancashire captain for the 2025 season. Any suggestions to improve his writing and presentation please feel free to advise. Here is his first entry

Meet Tim Fox. Born in the Manchester suburb of Wilmslow on 5/12/96, Tim has been appointed Lancashire club captain for the 2025 season. A consistent performer for his county he has yet to carry this form into the international game.
Tim's Career Record:

Here is his story?



1/4/25
Pre-season was in full swing and this was the first practice we had outdoor. It was a bit of a chilly morning and our two overseas players Daniel Bossenger from South Africa and Paul Holdroyd from New Zealand are complaining and struggling to adjust, but they are world class performers and we have high hopes of them. The two jokers of the team Matthew Rose and Greg Rogers were in top form constantly winding everybody up with there dry humour and practical jokes. Despite often being rivals for the England all-rounder spot they are great friends on and off the field. Greg was congratulated on his engagement to Jessica by the lads. He has lived a lot of his life in the public eye and it must put extreme pressure on him. I prefer a more private life off the field but that?s just the way I am as a person. The talk of the session was how we would get our revenge on his stag night for all the pranks he has pulled on us. It was a busy week , I had attended a Kookaburra event where they officially launched the new Thunder range. The people at Kookaburra are great but this was a badly timed event in my view as I would have preferred to be in the nets.


19/4/25 vs Worcestershire
My first game as captain proved to be a successful one. We couldn?t have asked for a better start when Jack Shaw took a wicket in the first over of the season. Our leggie Jeetan Singh took 3-41 and Charlie Churchill took 3-50 as they were 254 all out. Our reply got off to a good start with Robert King making 94. It is incredible that in his 36th year he is still making runs as he enters his 17th season of FC and International cricket. Aaron Young made 92, with Greg and Matt both scoring quick fire 50s. I was disappointed to only make five but the team victory mattered. Paul took 3 wickets in the second innings and we knocked off the 20 runs required for victory easily. A solid start.

23/4/25 vs Scotland
An easy win over Scotland in the Challenge Trophy. 50s for Azza (Aaron Young), Michael Johnson, Greg and Matt as we made 326-5. Greg took 3-5 in reply as we won the by 197 runs. I have stated in my column in the Independent that Scotland should be removed from the competition as they have not progressed since I first saw them as an 11 year old being demolished by Hayden and the great Ponting in the 2007 World Cup. These comments did not sit well with the ECB and I hope this hasn't damaged my England chances.


My player of the month for April is Greg Rogers. 140 runs in two innings and 7 wickets at 13.

 

[freddiw]

awesome start, good ideas and never seen a good looking ICC individual player story love it

 

[tk257]

3/5/25 vs Middlesex
Thankfully I won the toss and elected to bat, it looked an absolute belter and I wasn’t wrong. Azza was again in the runs with another 90 but it was the innings from Dan Bossenger that was the stand out. His 290 was one of the finest innings I have seen and I had the pleasure of batting with him for a period of time. I was disappointed to get out in the 90s but I was happy to get some runs on the board. After Dan was out I declared at 610-9 and we had two and a half days to bowl them out twice. At 182-5 I was reasonably happy and then I brought Stuart Wilson back into the attack and he mopped up the tail with 4-42. He moved to us 4 years ago from Surrey when he was 30 looking for a fresh challenge. But despite taking over 1000 wickets at 27 in his career he has never been given a chance to play for England which baffles me.
20 year-old LFM Harry Knight took 4 in the second innings. He already has 28 test wickets and he is potentially a great player. I was finding the captaincy pretty easy and relaxing but it was bound to be with so many runs on the board.




7/5/25 vs Durham
My first selection headache as 5 of the team who played the last game were selected my England. Ed Chambers, Marc Garnett, Charlie Churchill and debutants Stuart Eaves and Liam Knightly came in for Rose, Rogers, Singh, Knight and King. I always remembered how Rob King had welcomed me as a youngster so I tried to use the same approach to Liam Knightly. I won the toss again and we batted first. We always adopt a pinch hitting tactic and it came off. Azza scored 114 off 74 balls with no sixes and showed that placement is just as effective as power. Some late hitting from Stuart Eaves took us to 301-5. In reply we started badly and Willo (Stuart Wilson) wasn’t happy when I took him off. He later came back with a second spell of 3-3 to prove a point.

Knightly: Impressive Debut
My earlier words of wisdom may have inspired Liam who took 3 wickets on debut and overall it was a good day as Durham were 160 all out.




9/5/25 vs Derbyshire
I had fond memories of Derby where I once scored 117 off 54 balls in the Challenge Trophy. But they had improved vastly since then and finished 3rd in the 4-day competition last year. The day started badly when Marc Garnett pulled a hamstring in the warm-up so I handed a debut and county cap to Joel James, a promising opener who averages over 60 in second team cricket. I lost the toss for the first time and they elected to bat on a decent track. It started well as we made an early breakthrough but then they piled on the runs. The lads came off dejected at the close as they were 300-5. This was going to be my first major test as captain. They were eventually 448 all out. I was a little disappointed with Paul Holdroyd who seemed to lack energy and enthusiasm. In reply Azza and Dan continued there good form and Azza scored yet another 100 but we collapsed and lost the last 7 wickets for 30 odd runs. I was angry and let my feelings be known to the lads. It reached boiling point when Paul said that I was as much to blame. He was probably right but I snapped and told him to F*** off. An eerie silence hung around the room. Things didn’t go much better in their second innings as they declared at the start of day four 273-4. I was again disappointed as the wicket had deteriorated and we didn’t exploit this. So we had 398 to win but not enough time so we had to bat out. But it wasn’t easy and we lost early wickets but I dug in and played my first ‘captains innings’ and with handy contributions from Eaves and ironically, Holdroyd we held on for a draw. I finished 141* and was glad to score my first century of the season.




13/5/25 vs Worcestershire
We dropped Paul for the one-dayer against Worcestershire; he needed the break to get his head in the right place. We brought in Marcus Radford a leggie as it looked like the pitch may turn a bit. We elected to bat and started well but nobody went on to score big with me, Azza and Dan all getting starts. The tail dug in to get us to 229 all out. In reply they were cruising at 166-2 and we were heading for our first defeat. Then I brought back CC (Charlie Churchill) (3-25) and Liam (4-36) and they capitulated to 215 all out. The comeback was a big morale booster and we were back to winning ways.


17/5/25 vs Gloucestershire
I gave the guys two days off before the game to recharge the batteries. We had the international boys back and I brought in Rose, Rogers, King, Knight and David Kaye for the game. Greg had maintained his form scoring 145* in the test against Bangladesh. We batted first on a good track and it was the Bossenger & Young combo that again provided the chunk of our runs as we finished 368 all out.

In reply we had them 45-5 but a big partnership took them to 357 all out. It was awful, our bowlers tried everything; Dowland and Longrigg never have or never will play like that again. But we still had a chance and after we scored 338 in good time we had nearly a full day to bowl them out. It looked good at 135-6 but we went wicketless for 25 overs and despite 6-66 from Marcus Radford we just couldn’t do it.


I was gutted, so were all the lads. We hadn’t lost on the last day, it was day 2 when we should have had them following on. I discussed with our coach, Mark Chilton later about our lack of killer instinct with the ball. Our overseas player’s mind was elsewhere and we needed him to turn it around.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Great work mate. i like the pres.

 

[tk257]

24/5/25 vs Somerset

Just a couple of days preparation ahead of this game at Taunton against an ageing Somerset side. With 8 players selected by England this would be our toughest test of the season so far. They won the toss and batted first on a pitch that looked as though it could deteriorate. It didn?t start well and at one stage they were 164-2. I brought back CC and he produced the goods taking 5-70 and young Knightly also got 2. We ended day 1 19-1 after Michael Johnson went early. On the second morning we progressed nicely with runs for Joel James and Dan Bossenger but the rain intervened and kept us off until after tea. At this stage I knew we would have to post a big total so we wouldn?t have to bat again. Dan continued where he left off and fell 9 short of a ton. He was joined by David Kaye who scored his first 100 in 2 years and went on to make a career best 201. He was well supported by Ed Chambers who made 83. So at 529 all out they were 249 behind with a day and bit to spare. They started well but then lost 4 wickets for 16 runs thanks to a brilliant spell by CC and Stuart Wilson used all his experience to topple the tail and guide us to an unlikely innings victory. CC finished with match figures of 10-112, only the second 10 wicket match haul in his career.



25/5/25 vs Warwickshire
Another one-day game off the back of a 4-day game. The scheduling is ridiculous. We finished at Taunton around 5 O?clock; we leave Taunton at 6.30pm and back at Manchester for 10.00pm. Then we go home and then have to be up at 8 the next morning to drive to the ground for an 11am start. It?s no wonder a lot of teams rest players in one-day games. Thankfully our board invests a lot of money on fitness and physio sessions so our squad is fit and raring to go before every game. The game itself was a bit of a non-contest in the end. We batted first and raced away scoring 160 off 20 overs. However, wickets fell and we had to consolidate and a crucial fifty by Chambers took us to 311-6. Ed is a handy cricketer who played second fiddle to Rose and Rogers when they were available but he accepted this well and behaved like a good pro. Earlier Kaye and Bossenger had blasted quick 50s putting on 110 in 12 overs. In reply they lost their heads looking to smash everything to the boundary and Marcus Radford took 4-16 after Jack Shaw took 3 wickets to leave them 157 all out.



29/5/25 vs Nottinghamshire
Thankfully we had 3-days off before the next game. As club captain there are various responsibilities and on the 27th I attended a charity golf day, it was an enjoyable day in glorious sunshine. But by the day of the game the weather had changed and I was surprised when they elected to bat first. Stuart Wilson exploited the cloudy conditions taking 4-27 and Jack Shaw took 3-57 as we bowled them out for 177. We knocked off the runs in good time with Marc Garnett scoring a rapid 82 and a comfortable victory followed by 6 wickets. With a hectic Twenty20 campaign coming up it was good to have squad members scoring runs.

Player of the Month- Aaron Young. 628 in 7 innings and it would have been more if he wasn't selected by England.