• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Good and Bad Personal Meetings with Cricketers

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
I was talking about this with some friends the other day and we were discussing which players they had good opinions of after meeting them and which they thought less of and why.

I do not watch that much live cricket so my list is heavily weighted towards playing but I am interested in meetings others from CW world have had.

Bad
During England tour of SA last year I was bowling at the Eng players in the nets at Centurion. The track was a bit juicy due to the rain, Mike Watkinson told us we could only bowl with old balls and we were told not to go flat out and just take the edge off the delivery.

Anyway, I was bowling at Robert Key and after a few balls you could see he was not that happy. I then pitched 1 up that seamed back (the track was doing a bit). He was not properly forward and it bowled him middle stump through the gap.

I was happy for an instant, but then Key turned around, kicked the stumps over, stormed out of the nets and threw his bat about 20 yards. He packed his bag and disappeared.

I was a little shocked but carried on bowling to Collingwood (who is so fast you could not believe). The rain then came down in buckets. As we were leaving the nets 2 heavily tattooed shaven headed guys came up to us and said “Which 1 of you ****s bowled Robert Key?” I replied that it was me and they told me that they were getting a shirt signed by the players to be auctioned for charity and that Key had stormed out of the nets and refused to sign anything.

What a guy!

Good
My 1st practice session with Notts, when I was a kid, was a pre-season training session. We had to run from Trent Bridge to a facility that was shared with Forest and County. We were then split into groups of 3 for circuit training. I was put in a group comprising of myself, Chris Cairns and Chris Lewis (prob a fast bowlers group). They chatted and joked the entire time and I was in awe. I was so impressed with them. They were real people and seemed like very nice ones as well.

I would love to hear from others about who are nice in person and which are arses
 

adharcric

International Coach
Met Kapil Dev at a charity match when I was pretty young. He seemed pretty cool but obviously I can't be so sure. I also had the chance to meet Sunil Gavaskar because a family friend of mine was having dinner with him around here, but for some reason I didn't care to go. I also met Larry Gomes and talked to him a little at a casual dinner last year. That was pretty interesting ... he was talking about facing Lillee and Thompson and how ridiculously good Viv's eyes were ... and picking up Gavaskar with his first wicket. His advice was "just watch the ball and play it late, it's not so bad". Pretty useless advice, but it was cool nevertheless.
 
Last edited:

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Well I did a search for something similar before posting and could not find anything. Want to name your threads with a more obvious title next time? :)
 

archie mac

International Coach
Goughy said:
Well I did a search for something similar before posting and could not find anything. Want to name your threads with a more obvious title next time? :)
I try to be clever with my title names :cool:

Don't try to start one on this subject either please copy cat:p click here
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Goughy said:
Bad
During England tour of SA last year I was bowling at the Eng players in the nets at Centurion. The track was a bit juicy due to the rain, Mike Watkinson told us we could only bowl with old balls and we were told not to go flat out and just take the edge off the delivery.

Anyway, I was bowling at Robert Key and after a few balls you could see he was not that happy. I then pitched 1 up that seamed back (the track was doing a bit). He was not properly forward and it bowled him middle stump through the gap.

I was happy for an instant, but then Key turned around, kicked the stumps over, stormed out of the nets and threw his bat about 20 yards. He packed his bag and disappeared.

I was a little shocked but carried on bowling to Collingwood (who is so fast you could not believe). The rain then came down in buckets. As we were leaving the nets 2 heavily tattooed shaven headed guys came up to us and said “Which 1 of you ****s bowled Robert Key?” I replied that it was me and they told me that they were getting a shirt signed by the players to be auctioned for charity and that Key had stormed out of the nets and refused to sign anything.

What a guy!
Yeah well if you looked like a pie, wouldn't you be annoyed?

Speaking of pies, Ian Blackwell is a nice guy, drinks at my local.. I've given throwdowns to Jimmy Adams and Nixon McLean, both really nice guys.. And Boeta Dippenaar was really nice when I asked him for a photo..
 

Pedro Delgado

International Debutant
Bumped into Luke Sutton a few times in supermarkets, always said "alright Sutty" and he always had a cheery hello back for me. Top fella. David Hussey was mercilessly ribbed last summer on the boundry rope at Derby (not just by me) took it all really well and gave a bit back too as one might expect. No bad tales from me, I bet Colin Croft is a grumpy ******* though, just got that look about him as has Mike "what else does Thorpe bring to the party apart from runs" Gatting.
 

Raymond

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Child Hood

Kapil Dev - Chief Guest at a Shoe Store (Power Shoes) right on the Ground Level of my apartment complex in India, Mumbai

Viv Richards - At a Party, (..Neena Gupta connection ), Mumbai

Roger Binny - Can't remember where

Adult

Vinod Kambli - Met him couple of times in a NightClub, Mumbai - had few beers

Mhmd. Azharuddin - Luncheon in Taj Hotel, Mumbai

Steve Waugh - RadioClub, Mumbai
 

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Bad: Merv Hughes. Swore at me a couple of times (can you blame him?) :D

Neutral: Chris Cairns @ NZ vs Prime Ministers XI. Of all the NZ player's signing stuff, he was the coldest. Dunno why.

Good: Lou Vincent at the same place. Got a couple of photos taken and he had a bit of a chat to me. :)
 

33/3from3.3

International Vice-Captain
Cant seem to remember any bad ones which i may have had
I had a pretty good chat with Kyle Mills on the boundary at an NZ A game he seemed pretty nice
Lou Vincent is also a pretty nice guy...










...not a bad chin either
 

Barney Rubble

International Coach
Good - Marcus Trescothick, Freddie Flintoff, Jimmy Anderson, Andy Flower, Shiv Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Strauss

Bad - Michael Holding. Refused to sign any autographs on either of the two occasions I met him as part of a small crowd, and was pretty much pushing myself and some kids out of the way to get to his car. Arrogant eejit.

EDIT: Tino Best did the same as Holding actually, he's not that nice a guy.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Almost all of the Aussie players I have met have been very nice to me, personally. And since they have been here 3 times in the last 7 or 8 years, I have had plenty of opportunity to catch up with them. David Boon was really nice as well, although I am still not sure why he was here at Chennai during the WC quaterfinals in 96. Most of the Indian players are nice too, except Yuvraj and Sourav, but both were in bad form when I tried to chat up with them, so maybe it is understandable. Lara was really cool, he was actually the first one I have met, I think back in 1994. The Pakistan players were okay, Saqlain and Wasim Akram were the best, IMHO. Their physio back then, Dan Kiesel was a great bloke as well. He spoke at length with us. Murali is awesome because he can talk in my first language. I am a distant relative of Krish Srikkanth but I haven't really met him too many times. Oram was a great bloke as well, Fleming and Atherton were idiots of the highest order though.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Haven't really met may players myself, but:

Good: Doug Walters and Atul Wassan, both at the Shanghai Sixes. Walters just seemed to be very much of a joker, and had a bit of a chat to me when I got my picture taken with him. I played in the same team as Wassan in Shanghai, and he gave me a few tips in the nets.

Neutral: Viv Richards. Seemed alright, just a bit distant and cold, especially when I asked for an autograph. To be fair though, I didn't really talk to him other than when he asked to borrow my pads.
 

Swervy

International Captain
a mate of mine has played in the same league team as a number of 'names'. Brad Johnson of South Australia is meant to be a top bloke as is Charl Langeveldt, but Nagamootoo is a bit up his own anus...apparently
 

Slats4ever

International Vice-Captain
Good: Brad Hogg. Keen for a chat with anyone who will talk to him and always smiling
Brett Lee: The most likely in an Australian team to go sign autographs for ages and pose for photos.
The whole Sri Lankan Team: The nicest and most humble guys. Whenever they're around you can tell they just love playing cricket and they'll talk to you about it. They really do understand how lucky they are to be there.

Bad: Doug Walters: Played 18 holes with him and he's an absolute ******. Barely talked. Was in his cart all day listening to the races and kept the radio on the whole time even when I was playing my shots.
Glenn McGrath: Very rude to me and some other kids seeking autographs when he just mumbled "get out've the way kids". When we were just standing there asking him and not in his way at all
 

Top