Tom's Great Memories Of Gloucestershire
13 February 2013
Tom Richardson will take with him memories of some fantastic cricket when he leaves his job as Gloucestershire Chief Executive in September.
In the second part of a series of exclusive articles for this website, Tom offers more reflections on his 12 years with the Club.
First he was asked about the many International fixtures that have graced the County Ground during his time as Chief Executive. He said:
“In 2001 just before my time with the Club, Gloucestershire hosted an England v Australia one-day International, which was a fantastic occasion.
“The following season we had India playing Sri Lanka in a floodlit game at the County Ground, when Sachin Tendulkar scored a marvellous hundred, and from then on we had to bid for games against increasing competition from other counties.
“We were invited to tender each year and we managed to secure an International fixture every season up to and including 2011. More recently we have bid for a series of matches and we will be running England V India in 2014 subject to us getting the pavilion, media centre and control room development satisfactorily done in time – this is currently on track. We have an additional match in 2016 and then the bidding starts again.
“My favourite was probably the England v Australia one-day International we staged in 2005. We sold the game out really early, as you do with Australia, and it was a great day.
“Paul Collingwood took one of the most amazing catches you could ever see and Jon Lewis was playing for England. Kevin Pietersen belted Jason Gillespie and one or two others all over the County Ground and it was just sensational entertainment.
“Last summer was the first year we didn’t get an International and that was because we hadn’t developed our ground. We won’t get one in 2013 either.
As a team, Gloucestershire have also given Tom some wonderful memories, which he hopes to add to this summer.
“We had early success on the field after I took the job,” he said. “In 2002 we won promotion in the one-day league, having been relegated the previous season, and in 2003 we won the C&G Trophy, beating Worcestershire in the final.
“We repeated that success the following season, having reached the inaugural T20 Finals Day a year earlier, losing in the semi-final. We got there again in 2007, losing a very close final to Kent.
“The team played some tremendous one-day cricket in the early 2000s. We had a fantastic captain in Mark Alleyne, who John Bracewell used to say could sniff out any opportunity, and some wonderful limited overs players.
“Since 2007 we have been starved of success on the field and there is no doubt that is down in some measure to the fact that we had to reduce the amount of money we spent on the squad.
“We have been through a period where we have sought to develop our own players. To be successful on the pitch you must have everything else in place and our somewhat tired facilities were simply not producing enough revenue.
“That is why ground development was so crucial to the Club’s future. We also needed to improve things like our practice facilities so good players would want to join us and we would be a destination of first choice.
“The recession affected everyone and we had no alternative but to significantly reduce our playing budget. We saw our income from corporate hospitality fall and there were several other factors which meant we had to tighten our belts.
“We have been in that position for a while. I describe it as bowling uphill into the wind. But we have now turned a couple of important corners and can expectantly look forward to bowling downhill with the breeze behind us.
“The ground development is underway, we have an excellent team of coaches and staff, a number of our players have come through our academy system and there are more to come and the next thing should be a real push to make those practice facilities better. The opportunity to increase revenue will also allow us scope to invest more in recruiting, developing and retaining our better players.
“When I look back over my time as Chief Executive a lot of off-the-field developments will give me satisfaction. But so will the two trophies won in 2003 and 2004. And in some way the two semi-finals of the C&G Trophy in those years were as exciting as going to Lord’s.
“The one against Derbyshire in 2003 was nail-biting because we were down to our last pair, with James Averis facing and Graeme Welch bowling.
“James had a waft at one, which had us all groaning. Then he whipped one round to fine leg and we were in the final. It was as close as that.
“In the 2004 semi-final against Yorkshire I remember Jon Lewis bowling out Michael Vaughan and Michael Hussey taking a most marvellous catch running around the boundary at deep square leg.
“Craig Spearman got a fantastic hundred that day to help us to the final. They are very special memories.” However, we have to keep looking forward and get everything in place to return to those winning ways.
In the third and final part of this series, Tom will talk about where the club currently stands and his hopes for the future.
