Having been invited to the official launch of the Professional Cricketers Association’s partnership with The Prostate Cancer Charity, and their “Don’t get caught out by Prostate Cancer” initiative, Sport.co.uk caught up with former England pace-monger, Dean Headley to talk International cricket leagues, the changing domestic scene and why “Club England” is only a good thing...
Well first thing first, how’s the back? (Headley had to reject a central contract from the ECB and subsequently retired in 2001 due to persistent back problems)
Not too bad, 11 years since I had my operation. So no problem, touch wood (taps table). Sorry, touch wood (taps head).
Are you still playing any cricket?
Yeah I play for a club side in Nottinghamshire, called Pappelwick; can’t take a wicket, but I don’t know how long they’re going to put up with me. But I’m enjoying it; I enjoy passing on and talking cricket with younger players and getting them to understand the game.
Shortened the run-up a bit?
Very much so. Sucking up air after every four overs these days; I haven’t got any long spells left in me!
As a former England bowler yourself, how do you feel about the current crop of English bowlers, as well as those coming up at the moment?
Well for starters Stuart Broad, I think he’s finally understood his major role in the side and what a lot of people don’t realise is that he was learning his cricket, and still is, whilst playing at the top level. He didn’t have many years in county cricket to improve what he was doing.
But full credit to him, he’s bowling, hitting off-stump and using his natural assets by nipping the ball around. He’s aggressive, I don’t think you have to be aggressive ‘in your face’ types but I think he understands his game a lot more. As far as the rest of the bowlers coming up, you can see that they’re confident, which plays a major part.
I thought for a while we were getting quite samey with our bowlers, but that seems to have gone away a bit and we are producing some very good bowlers.
With regards to Stuart Broad, given his undoubted ability with the bat as well, do you feel that he would be able to perform the role that Flintoff did for England?
He’s a very capable batsman, and a very dangerous player. I think when you go back to the Flintoffs and the Bothams, those individuals are their own players and comparisons are always there. There is no doubt that he will grow to be a very useful batsman for England.
Do you feel that the England coaching side have learnt from their mistakes in the past, namely when they remodelled James Anderson’s action only for him to lose the ability to swing it both ways?
I’m a big believer in outcome, and then look at the action. If somebody swings it at 85mph and nips the ball around and gets it in the right areas, does it matter if he’s looking at the batsman at the point of delivery? If the outcome is good, leave it alone.
The domestic calendar has undergone a bit of a revamp this season with sides having some occasions where they are playing Twenty20 matches and then starting a 4-day game the very next day. As someone who had to retired due to injury, do you feel this is too much, or is it just a case of getting used to it?
I think possibly we are playing too much Twenty20 at the moment, and I think we’ve got a bit carried away with it. It’s not a new concept; we used to play it as kids, but it’s just been repackaged and sent out again and now the professionals are playing it, which helps sell it. But we’ve got to be very careful about over exposing the game.
Already crowds are dropping with people picking and choosing which games they go to, as there are only so many they can afford to go to. Doubling how much we play doesn’t necessarily translate to doubling profits and what-not. I think we’ve got to start thinking about proper schedules, especially if we want to save test cricket. Ultimately the public needs to be enthralled by test cricket and we need to be more selective of who we play.
How do you think they would go about doing that?
Maybe they should have some sort of league system in world cricket. For the likes of Bangladesh and the other developing nations, maybe they should show by performance that they deserve their real big chance, and not just have it given to them out of courtesy just because the ICC feel like it. Two leagues, five test nations in each, playing each other every year or every two years, add a more competitive element to it.
Do you feel that any such league should take precedent over the likes of the IPL, T20 Champions League etc?
Well in reality it won’t happen; you have the ICC and every other board nation in the world; they all have different agendas. There is always politics involved, it’s the way of the world. But I think there should be mutual respect – the IPL shouldn’t just decimate our domestic game. It should have some respect to work out an opening where everyone agrees on, as opposed to now where it’s ‘This is what we’re doing’. But it needs compromise on both sides. The future of the game is delicate at the moment.
One of the other potential threats to Test cricket is the “Freelance Cricketer”. Whilst the players have their reasons for going down this route, do you feel it will demean the longer forms?
All the players who seem to be going down this route have built their careers in Test and One Day cricket, people seem to forget this. At the end of the day Twenty20 is here to stay; it’s a great game to watch and has appealed to a new market whilst satisfying the existing one. I think it’s a case of balancing things; it just has to be a well thought out choice.
Hypothetically, if it was a viable option for you to prolong your career but meaning you would not be playing Test cricket at the latter part of your career, would you have considered it?
Possibly, but then some of my greatest days have been in the long form of the game. I think you’d want to play both for as long as you can but certain players, such as Flintoff, would think ‘Maybe I can’t play test matches’, and also the money aspect is there. They earn much more money being freelance cricketers, so you can’t blame them for that – it’s a business decision and it’s a clever one.
The only issue is can you keep up your level of performance by playing part-time? Can you turn it on and off? Some players need to play to bowl well and other players can just rock up one game every three weeks and just bowl well. Harmison is your classic case – he needs to bowl. Someone like him would find it very hard to be a part-time cricketer, but then you have someone like Ian Harvey who is very good at it.
As far as your personal preference – Test or One Day?
I played in a different era- there weren’t really central contracts about; continuity of selection was very poor. I think the rise of English cricket hasn’t been so much down to the players that have come up – I don’t believe the players playing today are better than the players of yesteryear.
When I played, you never knew that you were going to play the next game. England’s more of a club now, which I feel is the biggest factor for their improvement. Australia have done it for a long time, and I feel players are a lot more relaxed playing for England now; there is more pressure, but a different kind of pressure, it’s more of an enjoyable pressure.
When we played there was always an axe hanging over our heads; in the West Indies 1998 tour, we went through a ridiculous amount of players. I played 15 tests, one got called off, and I got 60 wickets, averaging 27 with a strike rate of 50 – and got dropped five times! The England “club” mentality has been the best thing for English cricket.
That being said, many feel that the selection policies nowadays have made the England side a bit of a closed shop...
Well yeah there will be people who miss out – Robert Key is someone I feel should have played a lot more for England but it’s better than the whole team losing out. Some people will always be just on the outside of the system.
Just before we go – Ashes prediction?
I like to think we can win 3-1! But in truth, any team can win it! If Pietersen gets on form then on our batting side we will have a few world class performers. If Stuart Board stays fit and keeps bowling as he is doing now, then he will be the main difference. He seems to be getting better every game and it’s funny that you think he’s played much more international cricket than he has country cricket. It would never have happened 20 or even 10 years ago.