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By CONRAD SUTCLIFFE
NEW Devon cricket captain Chris Bradley is hoping his example will encourage others to follow in his footsteps into the county side.
Bradley’s route to the top job in Devon cricket was unorthodox as he went from village cricket with Stokeinteignhead to Bovey Tracey, where he made his name as a shrewd captain and prolific wicket taker.
A back injury forced the 30-year-old educationalist to switch from seam bowling to off-spin – but the wickets kept on coming.
Conventionally, Devon players come up through the county youth system, ultimately graduating from the U19s or U21s into the full county side.
Devon ignored Bradley’s claims for a place in any of their sides – youth or otherwise – until he was approaching his 28th birthday.
Bradley had a quiet debut against Cornwall in a rain-ruined game against Cornwall at Torquay, then took eight for 63 against Wales at Abergavenny and has been one of the first names on the team sheet ever since.
Following his appointment as captain, Bradley has revealed he had almost given up hope of playing for Devon and was just about to call it a day with Bovey.
“I was working in Gloucestershire and travelling down to play at weekends and beginning to wonder if it was worthwhile,” said Bradley.
“That winter I was on the verge of packing it in with Bovey, finding a club closer to where I was living at the time and calling it a day with Devon.
“Then I got an invitation to the winter nets on someone’s recommendation, the selectors must have liked something I was doing and that summer I was selected for the team.
“Two years later, they have made me captain, which is quite a turnaround from almost packing it in.
“I made it into the Devon side by doing well in the Devon League. If I can do it, so can others.”
Bradley said he wanted to dispel the widely held belief around Devon’s leading clubs that the county side is a ‘closed shop’ with no way in for good league players.
“The county youth system goes a good job producing players, but if someone is good enough it does not matter where they come from,” said Bradley.
“What I would like to see are observers in the four corners of the county, someone like Keith Donohue at Plympton who has played a lot of good cricket and knows what’s what, feeding information back on possible county players.
“And if the captain of Tavistock or Exeter or any other club has a good player they think I should know about, or has seen one playing for someone else, I would like them to pick the phone up and tell me.
“I don’t know what the practices were before, but that is the way I would like to see it done in future.”