Name: Steve Orrell
Nickname: Ozzy
Current or past player: Past it player (but still got my cricket bag in the shed)
What sparked your interest in cricket:
Back garden cricket with my two brothers. Also, watching my dad play cricket for Transparent Paper in the North Manchester League. Never a dull moment – he just tried to smack it out of the ground. I also used to spend most of my summer holidays watching the Test matches on the BBC when Sky was simply that blue thing up above us.
Do you prefer the T20, 50-over, county or Test format of the game:
Test. No other game can last so long and a draw still be an exciting outcome. But T20 is great to attract youngsters to the sport.
Cricketing hero:
Clive Lloyd. Me and Billy (John Billington) used to go to watch Lancashire in their Gillette Cup matches – but there was only person we’d really want to see.
Favourite current (professional) player: Virat Kohli and Steve Smith
Most admired/best player you have played with:
When I came into the first team at 18, I would look up to Brian Lorenzini, Bob Hinchliffe and Paul Gethin. I’ve spanned a few eras so it is difficult to pick! But to answer the question.
Best – Chris Humphreys. All-round talent and his will to win was second to none, and a great character to have in the dressing room.
Most admired – Mark Whelan. I learnt so much just watching him play and he made batting so simple.
We’ve been lucky to have some very, very good pros, such as Craig Duxbury. You don’t stay pro at a club for nine years if you are just ordinary. Others include Danny Jones and Carl Hey – great to see a player who grew up at the club return as pro – and although I stopped playing when he was signed, Marty Walters is another who has made a great impact too.
I’ve also never known a player make such a successful transition from pace to spin as Bradders. His wicket tally speaks for itself.
Most formidable opponent:
In my younger days, it had to be Glenn Bullock. He always seemed to score a ton against us, and the best chance of getting his wicket was running him out. More recently, it was Paul Green. Cannot remember him failing against us. Andy Dyson from Glossop also stands out.
Favourite away ground:
Glossop and then Cheetham Hill (because I always used to get runs there). Denton West on a sunny day would attract a good crowd and atmosphere.
Favourite/most memorable match you’ve played in:
Three spring to mind. Two were because of the backs-to-the-wall situation we were in and losing the game could well have cost us the league title on separate occasions.
The first was against Roe Green. Pete Walters played an amazing innings. He was our Ben Stokes and Phil Kyle was our Jack Leach as we still needed a load of runs with nine wickets down and not many overs left. Was it nerve-wracking? I watched every delivery Kylo faced, peeping through the toilet door in our dressing room. We won the game and went on to lift the league title a few games later.
The second was Sam Holden at Stretford. Another brilliant innings in the same mould when we were out for the count and victory meant we won the title on the same day.
The third most memorable match was my final career game at Denton West in 2014, but not because of anything I did. I was due to bat at number 3 and we were chasing a challenging total of 176 against the best bowling attack in the league. But I never got to the wicket as I witnessed one of the most destructive pieces of batting I have seen at any level – 136 not out from Ryan Stanbury. Unbelievable!
Personal highlight/champagne moment:
Personal highlight: Hitting top score of 132 not out to help beat Irlam. I reached 96 when I tried to get to 3 figures in style so I yahoo-ed one high in the air to the deep mid-on boundary. Mike Bocarro was underneath it and he has bucket hands, so I was a gonna, but he dropped it, and against the normal Prestwich etiquette, I can remember the whole crowd cheering.
Champagne moment: Being captain in 2004 – the first time we had won the league in nearly 100 years. It was the final game at home and destiny was in our hands. Win and we won the title. DSL were in with a shout, as were our opponents Dukinfield. Before the game, you dreamt of scoring the winning run or taking the winning catch, but not of learning how to do the rain dance. Dukinfield set us a target of 170, but we were down and out at 50 for 8 until Steven Lorenzini and John Walters became immovable objects, and survived everything that was bowled at them. We knew the rain was coming – so avoiding being all out would win us the league. I remember Ernie ringing me from outside the Grapes pub in Prestwich Village and saying, it’s peeing down here, are you not off yet?
Eventually, we came off but had to rely on the rain not stopping for about 40 minutes. I was holding a young Toby in my arms in a crowded clubhouse when I saw the Duky skipper searching me out, and I thought it had stopped raining and he wanted us back on the field. However, he came to shake my hand, and that elusive title was ours.
Funniest moment/s in cricket:
Playing at Denton against Kenny Benjamin, who was then in the Test side for the West Indies. We had a lot of support that day including John Billy, OB, Greeney, Coops, Clarkey, Matty to name but a few. He only got 2 wickets against us but smacked 50 with the bat. Benjamin latched onto one half tracker and pulled it like a Trident missile to the square leg boundary – where Greeney happened to be walking with a full tray of drinks for the lads. At the last second, he managed to duck out of the way as the ball skimmed over his head and he looked mightily relieved for a few seconds, until the ball crashed against the portacabin behind and rebounded back, smacking him in the head. From memory, he managed to save most of the drinks.
Best way to relax after the game: Newcastle Brown
Do/did you have any cricketing superstitions:
Don’t ask me how this started. We had a bizarre team ritual for a time when I was captain when we all had to kiss the fruit – like a big melon or pineapple – before we went out onto the field. It seemed to work, as we won a lot of games and fruit sales at Tesco had never been so good.
What will you miss most in cricket during this enforced break:
Car rides to the 1st team away games with Bob – always amusing.
Was looking forward to see our current crop of youngsters take another big step forward at senior level – we have some real talent coming through (witness our young 3rd team last year) and my hope is that they still maintain their drive and enthusiasm when we’re able to get back playing.
Is there anything you’d change about the game:
Leg byes should go to the batsman’s score – as I’d have probably doubled my number of runs.
Just a thought about fielding. I’d love there to be some sort of scoring system to visually mark a fielder’s contribution to the game, aside from catches and run outs, in the form of runs saved (or runs conceded by fumbles etc). A player may save 20-plus runs by their ground fielding but there is nothing to show for it in the scorebook. It would have to be an arbitrary judgement by the scorer, but I still feel the fielding element is an undervalued part of the game, especially with youngsters.
If you could invite 3 cricketing celebrities (players, presenters, commentators) round for dinner, who would they be and why:
For sheer knowledge and entertainment – Ian Botham, Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli. If one could not make it, I’d have Ally McCoist. I don’t know whether he can hold a bat, but he can hold a conversation.
