Middlesex CCC
An interview with your Club Captain Neil Dexter (part 1)
Yep, that's him!
By Kimmy
November 21 2010
After months of pleading, Dexy finally succumbs and agrees to an interview with Kimmy.Unfortunately the petty cash doesn't run to lunch in the Tavern, so it's a warm cuppa from the local cafe....Kimmy asks Dexy the questions you are all dying to ask.. (and some you'd rather not!)
So, Dexy, thanks so much for agreeing to answer my questions.... There are a number, but the MTWD fans are a hard nosed lot that are, well, nosy!!
(The below is an edited version or we'll be here ALL day!)
1. Five things you miss about South Africa?
I definitely miss my family, my friends and my dogs, as well as the good weather in South Africa and the lovely beaches. Don’t get me wrong, Southend and Clacton are very nice, but they’re not quite up there with Algoa Bay in Jo’Burg – although you’d struggle to buy a bag of candy floss, a pot of cockles or a ‘kiss me quick’ hat in Algoa Bay!
2. Five things you like about the UK.........your new home!
I love the British lifestyle, the cricket obviously is great, the people I’ve met on and off the field have been fantastic and the way things are run in general. And of course, the most important thing I love about being here has to be Middlesex CCC.
3. Greatest achievement
Being made captain of Middlesex - It is an immense honour and something I am hugely proud of.
4. First crush!
When I was about eleven years old, I fancied a girl by the name of Bridgette Thorpe (yes, I was young). She was lovely, although who knows what she’s like now.
5. Was it always cricket for you and how did you get into it?
I have always loved most sports, but cricket has always been my favourite. I have been fortunate in having two older brothers and they were both keen cricketers too, so the competition between the three of us has always helped, especially in those big tournaments we used to have on our street with some friends and neighbours. So cricket in the street is what originally got me into the game and then playing it through school from about the age of six.
6. Why to England?
I have always had a British passport, through my Grandfather on my Dad’s side, who was born in Richmond. I was given an opportunity to play in England, which I’m very grateful for and will never look back.
7. You said that you want to play for England.... Why?
To play for your country is what I have always wanted to do, and I have been living in England for almost eight years now, so (whilst I will undoubtedly get massively sledged by my friends in South Africa when they read this) I consider England to be my home, and to play for England would be a dream come true.
8. And do you think you will stay here?
I will definitely stay here, as I’ve said above, it is my new home. A few trips to South Africa may well be taken however, to escape the cold weather, as I can be very miserable when it is freezing cold.
9. You seem shy, which five words you would use to describe yourself?
It’s just a front I put on....ha ha! No, joking aside, I probably do come across as quite shy, but those who know me well will definitely say I am far from shy. Five words, to describe the real Dex would be.......calm, fun, adventurous, spontaneous and dedicated.
10. Five words you think others would use to describe you?
Shy (ha ha), affable, genuine, committed and funny.
11. Did you have a nickname as a child, and if so, what was it?
From playing cricket in South Africa I’ve always been nicknamed Polly, after Shaun Pollock, as I’ve been told by plenty of people that I look like him. Otherwise it’s just plain and simple Dex.
12. Do you have a club nick name, and what is it?
Dex is the only polite one I can mention, although if you ask Murts or any of the other jokers in the squad, they’ll doubtless tell you some others, although they possibly shouldn’t be put in print, as you have a family audience on Middlesex til we Die, and they may cause offence!
13. What to you prefer, sweet or savoury?
I’m definitely a savoury kind of guy.
14. Beer, wine or spirit?
Definitely beer, although when I’m out and about on the town, I move onto spirits after about three beers.
15. Town or country?
I’m pretty keen on both really. I love London, as the pace of life here is great and there’s always plenty going on, however I think some of the countryside here in the home-counties is really beautiful, and there’s nothing more relaxing than being out and about in the open air.
16. If I gave you £1000 (yeah right!) what would you spend it on?
I would starve myself for a week, then go for the biggest Wagamamas meal in history and eat like a horse until it was all spent.
17. There's a programme on the television called 'come dine with me'. Basically five strangers get together over five nights and go to each other’s houses. The host cooks a three course meal. If you were on the show, what would you cook? Oh, and can you cook, because that would help?
I’m very good at heating up a pizza up in the oven, so if that meets with your definition of cooking, then yes I’m brilliant! No seriously, I can cook the basics, mainly all to do with pasta however. We actually had some cooking lessons at the beginning of the season, and I learnt how to knock together a few meals then. I can’t remember what they were, but they looked good anyway. I guess for a three course meal on ‘Come Dine with Me’, I would plump for a packet of crisps for a starter (an exotic flavour, maybe prawn cocktail), then I’d plump for a pizza, with a cup of coffee for dessert, as I’m brilliant at making that.
18. Which is your favourite season?
I suspect you may already know the answer to that one.......without doubt, summer.
19. And holiday destinations? What’s your favourite?
I mentioned Clacton and Southend above.....both lovely, but not quite up there with the best global holiday destinations! I have been on many fantastic holidays and have seen some lovely parts of the world, but one place I really want to go to, is the Seychelles, although I guess I need a girlfriend for that one though! Maybe I should give Bridgette Thorpe a buzz and see what she’s up to these days?
20. If you could travel anywhere in the world, that you haven't been to yet, where would you go?
I want to travel around Europe and see of much of it as possible, as I have still yet to do any travelling since I’ve been living in the UK!!
21. Do you like to browse around the shops, or do you prefer internet shopping? I’m more of a browsing around the shops type of shopper.
22. What is your favourite movie?
The Shawshank Redemption – brilliant!
23. What’s your favourite song?
Save Tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry
24. Do you prefer listening to CD’s or the radio?
CD’s every time, although if I’m in Dawid Malan’s car I would definitely choose to listen to the radio, as he has got the worst selection of CD’s known to man. Who would have thought that someone like Dawid would listen to the greatest hits of Val Doonican, the best of Terry Wogan (didn’t know there was a “best of”) and Valley Tunes by Max Boyce? Say no more!
25. What was the Last CD you bought?
Keith Urban - Greatest Hits
26. Do you sing along?
Of course, although not always in tune!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:05:13:34:43 by Ged.
Lower Mound often comments that Dex is shy an quiet as he speaks softly, and indeed during the final match of the season v Worcestershire Lower Mound had it in his head that Dex might resign the captaincy and hand it to Chris Rogers, whose signing for 2011 had already been announced. Hopefully, that will not have to happen. However, it was noticeable that during that match Dex kept on asking Scott Newman for advice.
Hopefully Dex become the first person since Mike Gatting to captain Middlesex for longer than three seasons, a feat he can achieve by remaining as captain until at least 2013.
The reason why he speaks highly of the Essex seaside is obviously due to his loan spell there in 2008, although his first county, Kent, also have a few seaside resorts.
Looking forward to part two and the crucial question "What did you think you were doing putting the rubbish out and doing your back in before the last season started when you were Diamonds banker to beat Jeff Coleman to the fantasy league title ?"
Brilliant,proud of you lass.
Quote:Jonathan Winsky
It is a sad state of affairs though when it has to be the responsibility of MTWD rather than the club's media department to bring interviews to supporters, although I was appreciative of Steven Fletcher's interview with Anthony Ireland on Tuesday.
Very unfair criticism of the club ther, JW. It was actually the club itself, specifically Fletch, who helped to fix this interview up for us.
We all co-operate with each other and that helps to make the club a good place all round.
We plan to publish Part Two as a Christmas Special in a few weeks time, for the sake of variety and to keep you all in suspenders.
Many many thanks to Kimmy for seeing this interview through from idea to delivery. It is top notch. And of course thanks also to Dex for answering the questions.
Will you please stop assuming the club have the time to do all the media work you seem to require them to do , they have a cricket club to run after all.
Give 'em a break for Christ's sake man ,some people are never happy unless they are moaning .
Once again , thanks to all involved in this piece you wouldn't see on many a County website , let alone an unofficial supporters one.
Looking forward to the next chapter,well done mate.
I tend to feel unable to associate with sportspeople, celebrities, politicians or members of the Royal family unless they give interviews or use social networks (Twitter, Facebook - as long as they let people view their wall - blogs, message boards etc). When Cheryl Cole went through her divorce with Ashley and lots of things were said and written about it in the press and on TV, I was hopeful she would make a statement about it, give an interview on it or use a social network to whinge about it, since I like to tell everyone how I feel. Her failure to do any of those things made me think of her as distant, and I lost respect for her, especially as her three fellow X Factor judges have all historically shown evidence of being human. However, when she went on Piers Morgan's Life Stories a few months later, my respect for her skyrocketed as I realised she is human after all.
My respect for the Royal family also skyrocketed when Prince William gave interviews on Tuesday about his engagement, although to be honest it isn't all that rare that his voice or that of Harry is heard on TV. He comes across as being really human, and I can't wait for him to be King, although unfortunately we will all have a long wait for that.
As someone who often gives John Simpson and Richard Scott a bad press, it had a big impact on me to when an interview with Simpson appeared on Facebook and when the coach attended September's forum and had quotes published in the November 2010 Wisden Cricketer as it made me sympathise with them and realise that they take great pride in their work.
I didn't wake up this morning and think to myself "today I'm going to criticise the club's media department and write about Cheryl Cole and Prince William just for the sake of it today", as I have long had thoughts running through my head along the lines of "I think that Middlesex's players are distant", "I struggle to associate myself people who come across as distant" and "I wish Middlesex's players gave as many interviews as those who play for my other sporting club", and they are thoughts that go through my head every day.
Quote:The Diamond ruled ok
Give 'em a break for Christ's sake man
I don't believe in Christ. I barely observe the Old Testament even though I should, so I'm hardly likely to observe the New one!
However, I am unsure what Christ has to do with kimmy's interview of Neil Dexter, apart from the fact that part two is due to appear around the time of Christ's birthday.
thanks very much for making the time available to talk to one of us, one of that set of blurred faces sitting and watching you from about 100 yards away.
Most of us probably don't have anything like your talent, nor can we ever hope to understand what goes through the mind of a professional sportsman, living on and dependent upon his wits and talents.
That's probably why we take such an interest in you, because we really envy you, and because you're the guys we really envy, and through whom we place so much frustrated sporting ambition.
The media - professional and amateur - scrutiny on anyone even half known to the public is so intense these days, that I think you've been very kind to us in opening out as much as you did.
Surely you must be part competent at a good brai, man? All you do is burn / char the meat, pretend that it tastes really good, and then dare anyone else to say otherwise for fear of being thought non scene and not getting what the real SA expereicne is all about.
Chusssst mein leedell joke.!!!!
Thanks very much. Good Luck with the "boot camp", and let's see you get maximum points against whoever you and the boys put to the sword first up next season.
Put a man out on the hook for Ace. I still haven't recovered from him putting the ball down deep square's neck off Bichel at HQ in the last over of a day's play. It's about time we got revenge.
Thanks, also to Kimmy. Look forward to Part Deux.
I actually put this request forward at Richmond, so you can see how long it has taken to think up the questions and for Dexy to answer them!
I hope you have enjoyed part one and will come back to read part two lets say (for all you non Christians) towards the end of the year!
There are some brilliant questions to come (even if I say so myself!!)
Oh and Dex.... I have the perfect girlfriend for you.... She's lovely!!! (and NO not me!!)
Kimmy
I don't know how you would have coped years ago, when sportspeople rarely gave interviews and what sports news was around was actually news rather than manufactured tittle-tattle!
Go back 30 years or so and you couldn't "watch" a match on the internet or teletext. The evening papers actually printed latest scores in a Stop Press column, knowing that plenty would be interested, even if the score they read was already a couple of hours out of date. I think you could get the latest scores via a phone call but that was about it.
In fact, most people did not give interviews, not just sportspeople. The sheer number of them seems to have made the mass communication channels like a monster that has to be fed. But that did not make me feel remote from Fred Trueman, Danny Blanchflower, Clive Radley and so on. Top footballers often got to their matches by public transport and sent their children to the local state schools, which I suppose helped!
I'm not someone pining for the "good old days", but if we can only like or understand someone who has an active PR campaign, that seems to be a very sad consequence of otherwise beneficial changes.
Grunpy Old Adelaide
Lets just enjoy it rather than analyse outside factors too much
Barmy Kev
I'm only here for the tele
I am totally incapable of associating (i.e. seeing them as 'one of us') with people who come across as being distant, so the last thing I want is to support a county cricket club whose players are distant as that would be my worst nightmare. I instinctively feel that people who are 'distant' are the complete opposite to me, i.e. they don't care about their work, they have different interests to me, they have a totally different lifestyle to me, they don't care what supporters think etc. Therefore, I appreciate it when my perceptions are disproved.
I don't think the situation is so much that Middlesex's media department is bad as that my other sporting club's media department is good.
I know that I really need to stop drawing comparisons between Middlesex and my other sporting club, but when my other sporting club spend so much time brainwashing me and feeding me interviews with players and staff, it will be a tough act to stop me wishing for the same at Middlesex, as unrealistic as that may be.
To see that Neil Dexter cares about his work and is not all that different to me comes as a great relief.
We have a very small group of staff at the middle who wear several hats and spend their winter months making sure everything is in place for the summer for people like you to enjoy at least the experience of cricket, if not the match itself.
With the advent of the club's FB page and an overhall of the website I think we will see many more interviews blogs and info about the players coming up...
Might I suggest that instead of you moaning on here about what you haven't seen about the club you email them direct and ask them, you will find them very receptive and you might even be asked to contribute yourself! (and yes this can be done via email!!)
We await to see your response from the club....
Anyway... back to the interview...
Kimmy
I am not sure whether or not it will be the cure for the depression I wrote about earlier today.
JW......
I know you don't usually respond to people when they give you good advice, or try to help you, but I don't know if your mum and dad are still away, so I am stepping in....
I've just read your post about the accountancy course....
Don't fret over what to do, you're obviously a very capable lad, or you wouldn't be there in the first place!
I know you have your issues, but can you talk to your tutors? They are there to help and guide you. I would think that if they thought it would help you to do some more study in your own time then they will tell you, however if they think you are on track I expect they will tell you to enjoy your time off!!
Speak to anyone who has a full time job and they would love to have the spare time you do... Don't spend the time worring your life away!
If you're concerned you are wasting your time, then how about compiling something for the site...?
I know you keep saying that you can't think of funny things to say, but sometimes it's the 'unfunny' things that make people laugh the most!
You like to find stats for us don't you? How about looking some of the stranger ones for us, I dunno the person with the most Middx innings with the lowest runs (probably a tail ender, but funny (who would forget Finnys innings at Uxbridge last year?)
Or something Middx/Ashes related?
Or.... start to think about the questions you might like to ask at the next forum, or something.....?
Have a think and see what you come up with.....?
For everyone else on here... I know this is a long post and NOTHING to do with the thread, but sometimes I just have to say something.....
Sorry
Kimmy
The fact that I vented my frustration on Monday in the form of a post on MTWD is testament to the fact that I like people to share their emotions with others.
I know that it sounds like a great lifestyle to be at college 10:00am-2:30pm on a Tuesday and Thursday and to have the rest of the week off, but I preferred last year when I had to go in Monday-Thursday, as last year we were set a lot of practical work, whereas this year I don't get much chance to put what I have learnt into action, plus I have to tear myself away from my computer or TV on my days off to study. I think the reason why there is less hours this year is due to a cut in Government funding.
Hopefully I will find the time at some point to start reading the 2010 Annual Review.
Only that you haven't read the review yet!! (ha, ha....)
Read mine straight away (yep I had nothing to do that day, except try and shrug off this flu bug, but what an enjoyable day it was!)
Maybe your tutors hope that you will be set your own study timetable? Ask them if you are still concerned.... Or maybe you can set your own as you said you need to take yourself away from the computer or TV....
Ah... JW I feel a new years resolution coming on, especially for your exam, set yourself a timetable for study and computer.....
BTW well done for passing your mock exam.... So don't beat yourself up too much.....
Kimmy
You are brave to ask the questions methinks. Not sure I could.
There are some good questions in part two... and one cricket corker (I think anyway...)
This is just to make sure you all come back for the second part!!
Kimmy
