By JMB
March 24 2007

In association with Yorkshire CCC we are running a series of pre-season player interviews. The twelth player in the spotlight is GREG NORTON. Greg enjoyed a good season last year which saw him secure a regular 2nd Team berth.

For those of us who only know you through the scorecards, describe yourself as a cricketer?

 

I’m an up and coming youngster who is learning every season – learning a lot from the more senior players and taking it all in and taking it one step at a time. I think I’m quite a good thinking bowler. I’m medium-fast and know my role in the team and what I’m there to do, to hold one end up and bowl tight, especially in one day cricket – bowl maidens and bowl at the death with Yorkers and line and length - stuff like that.

 

Who were your cricket heroes as a young lad?

 

I used to like watching Darren Gough when I was young. Also Glen McGrath, and people like that for the line and length bowling that they do. They are both good role models to look up at.

 

Do you realistically see a possibility of any first XI cricket this year?

 

I just want to work hard during pre-season and then cement my place in the 2^nd Team. I don’t think there will be any chance early on in the season in the 1^st Team, with the more senior bowlers that are there, like Kruis, Gillespie, Hoggard, Bresnan, and people like that. I’m just a young guy in his first year on staff wanting to have a good season and cement my place in the 2^nd Team and have a good 2^nd Team season. Hopefully, if there any injuries and stuff like that towards the end of the season, I might get into the one-dayers.

 

The one-dayers are the normal route into the 1^st Team – do you see Twenty20 cricket as a good place to start or is it too smash-bang-wallop?

 

I do think it’s a good place to start because it’s a quick game and you haven’t got time to be nervous because it’s that fast. You’ve got to move quickly and think fast so there’s no time for nerves – it puts you on the spot. As a bowler you can get your rewards, but on the other hand you can go for plenty. I would love to play Twenty20 cricket as I think I’m a good death bowler. It would be great experience to play in front of a big home crowd.

 

Competition for the 1^st Team is hard, but the competition for 2^nd Team places is equally tough with the likes of Thornicroft, Shahzad and Patterson, Lee, Hannon-Dalby and more all vying for places?

 

It’s good to have that competition really. We all get on and we’re all good friends, but that competition is good because it keeps everyone hungry for the game. No one can sit back and take it easy, everyone’s got to be there every game and at it hard. Yorkshire has always had good youngsters over the years in the bowling department.

 

Do you see yourself as being a guaranteed selection in the 2^nd Team?

 

I’d like to think so yes.

 

When you broke into the 2nd Team last year were you disappointed not to get longer spells? Did this affect your rhythm?

 

Sometimes it does, but I was only 18-years-old, so you’ve got to ease your way into it. You can’t just expect to come into the side and bowl 30-overs a day. It’s like when people make the step up into the 1^st Team, you don’t expect them to go in and bowl all day. I think I bowled really well last year and I was happy with where I was at. I learnt a lot and I’m still learning and that is what I’ve got to do, keep learning and improving. I wasn’t too unhappy about that. I got my chances in the one-dayers and bowled a few overs in the 2^nd Team Championship matches so I was pretty happy to be honest.

You got a 5-for against Warwickshire in last years Second XI Trophy. Was that the highlight of the season?

 

Yes, I’d say it was. I bowled really well in most of the 2^nd XI one-day matches. I bowled well at Leicester and bowled well in the final. The Warwickshire match was probably the highlight of my season.

What is the new Director of Cricket Operations, Ian Dews, like? Are the youngsters at the club pleased for him?

Yeah we are really pleased for him. He’s a good bloke as well and I get on with him really well. You can have your serious times where you need to be serious and also you can have a laugh. You’ve got a good balance between when you’ve got to get down to business you do it like you should do and he will tell you how it is if you are not performing, and then off the field after the game it’s just friendly banter really. He’s a good bloke and I’m happy for him.

 

Where did you play your cricket before you got into the Academy?

 

I started off in the Under-12’s and progressed through the age groups until when I was 16 when I played for the Under-17’s, a year above my age, and did really well. I then played for the Under-17’s the year after, at my own age as well, alongside Adil Rashid and Adam Lyth. The three of us played above our age at Under-16 level. We had a good side in my age group with Adam Lyth, Greg Wood, Adil – so there were a few good lads.

 

When you get to the Academy and you see that everyone is at a good standard that you’ve got to work really hard to make a career out of it?

 

Yeah. I’m quite a fit lad and I always give it my all. I always give it 100%. I’m not one of those who shy away. You’ve got to put the hard yards in if you are going to reap the rewards. At first when I came up there were Gilbert, Shahzad, and Patterson playing for the Academy side. You find that you don’t play every single game for the Academy, particularly when it’s your first year. It’s the same for everybody really - you just start easing your way in. After that year, if you’ve done well enough, you’ve cemented your place in the Academy and play on a more regular basis.

 

What do you see as the next step in your career?

 

I’m on a Junior Pro contract now, for one year. So this season I’ve got to continue to impress and work hard. You’ve not got to think too far ahead of yourself. You’ve got to take every day as it comes and you’ve got to be happy and work hard. You can’t just sit back and take it easy. Everyone’s improving and it’s down to who wants it more so you’ve got to keep grinding it out and you can’t take a break because there will always be others who put the extra in and want it, so you’ve got to stay hungry for it and go for your dream.

 

What have you been doing over the winter?

 

I did a bit of work on the telephones for a company and also I was with Steve Oldham once or twice a week working on my bowling, working on my action and getting my run up sorted out. I’ve been doing a bit of fitness as well because we had a fitness programme of our fitness coach Dean Riddle and I’ve been working at that. I’m in decent shape. We’ve just started pre-season and it’s been quite tough with the fitness that he’s done, but it’s all good at the moment. It’s just keeping yourself ticking over really.

 

Your pre-season with the 1^st Team guys – how has that been?

 

It’s been good. It seems to be more chilled out now. Everyone is concentrating hard and the banter between all of the lads is good. It’s good fun. Everyone’s getting on well and training hard. When Darren Gough came in on his first day back he put his bag down, pulled his sun glasses up and said, “Goughie’s back lads”. All the lads were laughing and it was good fun. We had a meeting with Martyn Moxon and he said how he does things.

 

Do you see yourself as a potential all-rounder at county level or just a bowler?

 

The first aim is to concentrate on my bowling, but you’ve got to do both. If there is a place available and a bowler is needed they are going to pick the bowler that can bat better. I’m trying to work hard on my batting as well

What part of your bowling are you looking at improving in 2007?

 

It’s rhythm really. I’ve got good control and accuracy it’s just my run up. It wasn’t the smoothest so Steve Oldham has been working on that with me and it’s pretty good at the moment. So it’s fine tuning the run up. You can get a bit of extra pace as well with a smoother run up, plus you’re not taking as much out of your body so you can bowl longer spells. I’ve been working in the gym to get stronger and hopefully the extra pace will come.

You are working with some great bowlers in Hoggard, Gillespie and Gough – you can’t help but learn from those guys can you?

 

Yeah, just watching in the nets and watching the way they go about it as well. Getting to speak to them, you are going to benefit from that. Having the fifth best bowler in the world bowling alongside you is exciting stuff. They all speak to you. They all get along fine with you, teach you, acknowledge you and have good fun with you as well.

 

That must make you feel more at home when you step up and train with them?

 

Yeah it does, but I’ve been going up for the last two years pre-season, so it wasn’t that much different because I know quite a few of the guys quite well. With Hoggard, you didn’t really see much of him because of England, but he’s a good lad and funny as well.

When you are batting are you a swinger or a blocker?

 

I’m a bit of an aggressive batsman really. I like to get boundaries and get after the ball. I’ve got to work on my temperament as a batsman.

 

Picking the right balls to hit?

 

Yeah. It’s the arousal levels as Kevin Sharp would say. Picking the right balls to hit and not getting carried away.

Can you give us three Academy names to look out for?

 

Jonny Bairstow, Chris Allinson and James Lee. It’s a good strong system all the way down and a good set up.

If you get a chance in the Twenty20 this year, which song would you choose to play when you are coming into bat?

 

This is a hard one (laughs). Probably the lads would say something like 50 Cent or R&B. That’s my sort of music and the lads get on at me a bit about it. They give me a bit of stick about it.

 

Adam Lyth suggested that I ask you about cars and who do you think has the best car in the side?

 

Goughie’s Toureg. We went off-roading last week. It was something that Goughie had set up for us through Volkswagen and we went off-roading near York and that was good fun. Ajmal Shahzad likes his cars too – his Golf is a bit suped up.

 

Andrew Gale told me that you never sit still. He says that when everyone else is sat down relaxing at lunch or tea you are still charging around playing cricket and the like.

 

I don’t know, it’s just the way I am really. It’s to pass the time and something to keep me going. I just have to be doing something all the time. I’m the same at home - my Mum always says I can’t keep still. It’s just the way I am (laughs).  

 

Thanks to Greg for his time.

 

Next weeks interview will be with GREG WOOD. Please submit any questions you have for Greg HERE.