Liddle looking to establish himself in all formats
4 March 2016
New signing Chris Liddle says he hopes to establish himself in all three formats as he looks ahead to his first season with Gloucestershire.
Despite being a consistent performer in T20 and one-day cricket, the left-arm seamer was limited to 18 First Class games during his nine year spell with former club Sussex.
And the 32-year-old says the chance to stake his claim for a County Championship place was a major reason behind his decision to move west last October.
He said: “I’ve always wanted to play in all formats. I had a good experience with Sussex in one-day cricket but was never really in the fold for the four-day stuff. It became quite hard trying to prove to other people that I could play four day cricket.
“Daws (Richard Dawson) said you come here with a clean slate cricket-wise and it’s down to how you perform which was exactly what I wanted to hear.”
A specialist at both ends of the innings in one-day cricket, Liddle began his career with Leicestershire before joining Sussex in 2006.
He has gone on to take nearly 200 wickets in all formats including 82 in T20 matches at an average of 23 and an impressive strike rate of a wicket every 17.6 balls.
Chris’ housemate during his first three seasons at Hove was current Gloucestershire spinner Tom Smith. And he says his team mate’s praise for the club played a part in convincing him to commit his future to the Royal London One-Day champions.
He said: “I spoke to Smudge when I first heard Gloucestershire were interested and he had nothing but good things to say about the club, about Daws and about the lads.
“Having played against them for a couple of seasons in the T20 I knew they were a good outfit and have all bases covered – especially in one-day cricket. Beating Surrey at Lords in the One-Day cup was a great achievement and with the age of the squad here it is an exciting time.
“It’s been great since coming over and has confirmed my decision was the right one.”
In addition to his county experience Chris also spent a winter playing in the Bangladesh Premier League for Dhaka Gladiators in 2013 where his team mates included international stars Chris Gayle, Kieran Pollard, Luke Wright, Owais Shah, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Shakib Al Hasan.
Despite this experience Chris says he still felt a few nerves when joining up with his new county.
He said: “You definitely feel the pressure to show the lads in the changing room what you can do as a cricketer. To be fair the lads have been unbelievable and made me feel a part of the group straight away.
“My focus now is on trying to win a place in the team and win games of cricket for Gloucestershire.”
After nearly a decade at Sussex Chris says he is looking forward to a new challenge but paid tribute to his former club for helping him develop.
He said: “They gave me my opportunity and me the cricketer I am today so I will always be grateful to the coaches and the team mates who helped me to improve.
“Mike Yardy in particular was a massive influence on me. We spent a lot of time talking cricket and his knowledge of the game is unbelievable. He gave up his time to try and improve players throughout the whole club not just the first team.
“I had a great time and made some friends for life but I am excited about this next chapter with Gloucestershire.”
