Middlesex County Cricket Club

haven't

you, Jos? So what I did was I asked Claude how you got on in your final season for Middlesex.

Therefore, did you deserve another contract? What you've written about and you're saying, well, that was the end of my contract and I was extremely sad about it.

And we'll touch on that again a bit more in a moment.

So I asked Claude how you got on in your final season.

a season as a Middlesex player.

What do you think Claude told me when he dug back into the

stats? I don't think I remember fondly that season particularly.

podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.

Hello and welcome to the Middlesex County Cricket League podcast.

The MCCL season is now but a distant memory.

But we still, Sal Alley from North London and myself, have cricket to talk about.

watching it at home mate yeah

yeah good and Arcelor going well we don't say too much we're doing okay yeah yeah I'm pleased something's looking good um cool our guest now we have a repeat offender This young man's been on the pod before and we didn't put him off so much that he refused to come back.

So really pleased to welcome North Middlesex's finest, Middlesex superstar even, is that a fair phrase? Maybe, maybe not.

Luke Hollman, good to have you back, Luke.

Thank you for having me on.

Middlesex professional cricketer, retired at 26.

Talk us through the decision then.

Professional sport is difficult and I think as soon as I had that kind of realisation that I'd lost a bit of drive to get better, it becomes even harder.

I think it was just literally a day I woke up and went like, I don't think I want to be doing this anymore.

What would you say is the best

player you've played with? The best player I played with was Kane Williamson when he was overseas in Middlesex.

That's

can.

And if you wonder what will happen if you don't, look and see how a cricket team in Middlesex in England had to change its name by force last week because it was called and had been for years the Middlesex Crusaders.

Look and see how stories about little pigs can't be taught to children in English schools anymore, lest offense be taken by the religion of peace.

Resist it while you can, Hitchens says.

So we've got Simon Hughes joining us, who runs the podcast, The Analyst: Inside Cricket, which you can find on all the best providers.

A great summarizer, analyst, and former Durham and Middlesex fast bowler.

So Simon Hughes joins us in this episode to give us the expert's opinion on the greatest players that we've seen from overseas in our County Championship.

Hope you enjoy the episode.

Between those two, difficult to tell really.

I would've just gone for, with, with the, the opening pair there, I think I, I, I...

Indisputably g- Gordon Greenidge, and I just would've put his own, uh, West Indies partner, Desmond Haynes, in 'cause he played for Middlesex.

I can, I can elaborate on that later, but those two together were phenomenal.

That's an interesting question.

I mean, I got made Middlesex captain at the age of 24.

I mean, I captained cricket teams at school and whatever.

I don't think that's leadership really.

That's just sort of making a few decisions on the park.

But I think once I became established in the Middlesex community, I became more and more interested in what levers do we have at our disposal to help this team perform better.

So I was always trying to help the team leadership, the coach and the captain, give my thoughts as to what we could do differently.

And so...

and he was second fiddle behind Johnny Bairstow.

He went to Middlesex, and he has been superb.

His energy behind the stumps, he's a good wicketkeeper technically.

A lot of people say about wicketkeepers, about their glove work, but often it's their footwork that gets them into position, that allows their glove work to sort of come forth.

I know he went off to Spurs at the tail end, but...

That used to be the case with county cricket as well.

You had players that were so-and-so, Middlesex and England, so-and-so, Somerset and England.

There seems to be now much more of a fashion to be moving around than ever there used to be.

I, I, so I don't know the exact reason why, but you know, this is a guy who could probably get most b- county batting coach roles if wanted.

And equally, I don't know how far along this went, but I have a, you know, I know for a fact that with Middlesex looking for a new director of cricket, somebody who ha- is respected by the new Middlesex CEO recommended that they go after Ed for that gig.

So he's a very well-regarded individual.

Um, we obviously know what he did with some of the better batters on the women's side, and he loves Ireland.