WHILE some members of Gloucestershire’s squad may only be just getting used to director of cricket John Bracewell’s methods, batsman Craig Spearman has seen it all before.
The 36-year-old, who scored 92 in Gloucestershire’s Friends Provident victory against Yorkshire on Sunday, grew up in the academy at Auckland when Bracewell was starting out in coaching before going onto make his first class debut under the former New Zealand head coach in 1993.
“I’ve known John for 20 years so it’s a bit like life revisited with John. He hasn’t got any tricks in the bag that I don’t know,” said Spearman.
After playing in 19 Test matches and 51 one-day internationals for his country, Spearman decided to move to England to pursue a career in banking but it didn’t work out as expected.
It was then that Bracewell persuaded him to play cricket again at Gloucestershire in 2001 and Spearman insists he’s never regretted making that life-changing decision.
Spearman recalled: “I decided to stop playing cricket in New Zealand and I came to London to try and get some work in London having just finished a finance degree and was thinking I wasn’t going to play cricket again.
“There were no jobs going on so I thought I might go back to New Zealand and try my hand at something over there but at the same time I became eligible to play here as a local player.
“I rang John and came to Bristol and he persuaded me to sign a contract here.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing here and having a second life in my cricket career - my times at Gloucester have been great.”
Eight years on, Spearman holds the club record for the highest ever score in a single innings of 341 against Middlesex in 2004, and is now the most experienced member in Gloucestershire’s squad.
After suffering a depressed fracture of the cheekbone and damaged eye socket in a Twenty20 game against Northamptonshire that kept him out for most of last season, Spearman is determined to prove a point and see out the two years left on his contract.
“After last year I’m quite determined to do well and, after that injury, prove that it wasn’t a career threatening injury,” Spearman said.
“I’m happy to help the team get on an upwards spiral. John’s contract is five years, I don’t have that long but if I can do my bit in the interim and make sure the batting order is stable when I leave I’ll be pleased with that.
“We’re well capable of winning something. John might not know the players in terms of their cricketing history but he’s already introduced them to different parts of the game.”
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