Interviews
Graham - Lancashire
Slats: For many years Lancashire have been one of the quiet
achievers... quietly going about their business manager Graham, has
built up a very strong side. Currently the Lancashire side is the toast
of English cricket, playing in division 1 for both competitions and
doing very well. Unlike his other counterparts, Graham has a largely
"real" team, meaning that a lot of his players are real life players and
not generated rookie, showing that a side doesn't need new "freaks" just
to be successful. This interview I believe will give a great insight
into what makes Graham and the quite achievers Lancashire click...
Thanks for spending the time with us today Graham... it's often hard to
get a comment out've you as you usually are one of the quieter managers,
but the Lancashire side have really impressed this season, their one day
form has been great with everyone in the team contributing well. In
saying that though who are the stars in your one day side to see you
hopefully lifting the trophy at the end of the year?
Graham Batting was my real area of concern at the end of last
season with the retirement of M.Ramprakash adding to my woes.
I made the big decision to allow my best bowler S.Harwood to return to
Victoria in exchange for rookie batsman Z.Court and an arranged first
round draft pick pace bowler A.Salvi.
Thankfully, Salvi has proven to be a real find, but disappointingly
Court hasn't really bolstered the batting as yet.
My OD hopes revolve mainly around my pace attack with Salvi and
Y.Engineer standing out in particular. If they can restrict the
opposition's batting, then hopefully some of my batsmen will fire enough
to pick up enough wins to avoid relegation. My OD batting goes down to
Dravid at no.8 but there are no real standouts amongst them.
Slats: In the 4 day game you're currently sitting on 4th, with the
gerat Rahul Dravid mirroring his real life form into WCC? How much of an
influence does someone like Rahul have in your team on your younger
players like Court?
Graham Dravid is holding the batting together although M.Kaif has
also made a good start to the season. Court hasn't fulfilled his promise
as yet, but I guess it's still early days!
Slats: The swing of Salvi is proving to be a great bonus and he is
showing his promise as one of the games greats. Are you surprised by his
progress especially seeing u picked him up so late in the draft?
Graham I had a deal with Victoria that allowed S.Harwood plus a
player of my choice to go in return for Z.Court plus their first round
pick. I provided a list of first round picks to the Victorian manager
and Salvi was the player acquired. Thankfully he's a more than capable
replacement for Harwood.
Slats: Outside Rahul the batsman have really been struggling. how do
you see the team solving this problem and are you going to try anything
different in the coming matches to get more runs on the board?
Graham As previously mentioned, Kaif has also been performing and
the other batsmen have had the odd good contribution, but batting
remains my area of weakness.
Lancashire's success under me has always been founded on a strong
bowling attack. Hopefully some of the older heads in the side (batsmen)
might inspire the youngsters to perform.
Slats: Realistically how much chance do you think you are of winning
either of the titles this year... there are some strong sides in both
competitions and if you don't win, where will you be looking to improve
your side for next year and how many years will it take for you to win
the title?
Graham I'm looking to avoid relegation in both the FC and OD
competitions.
If I can strengthen the batting over the next couple of seasons,
Lancashire will be a force to be reckoned with!
Slats: All round your side is very young with many players being
under 22. Was this a concious effort to prepare your team for the
future, or you were just lured in by the sheer talent of these
youngsters?
Graham Both really. There's only so much you can do when trading
and acquiring draft picks.
My strategy was to try and build a well balanced side that could compete
at both FC and OD level and this meant having to take some risks with
youngsters.
Under the new sim this was a real risk and I was hoping that some of the
youngsters would prove to be real stars. Salvi and Engineer seem to be
in this category and should form the foundation of my attack for many
years to come. However Court and Q.Boxall have been disappointing to
date.
Slats: Who do you see as the strongest side currently in division one
in both forms of the game? is it south australia? or does someone else
pose a larger threat?
Graham SA are the side to beat for sure. It has been interesting
to note the decline of Mumbai. Also Bugssy has a huge challenge on his
hands as the ageing stars of his NSW side near retirement. Yorkshire
have surprised me with their success this season, but experience has
played a big part under the new sim to aid both NSW and Yorkshire.
Slats: Which team outside of England do you enjoy beating most?
Graham Any of them!
Slats: Which player in all of WCC would you most like to join your
side next year?
Graham No one player in particular, but I would like to acquire a
proven batting star (not one that's too old though!).
Slats: If you could see one thing change about WCC what would it be?
are you pleased with the new sim? is the VB cup worth it? do you like
all the freak rookies?
Graham I'd like to see the VB Cup be a 50 over knockout.
The new sim is much more realistic than VCM4 although still not perfect.
Yes I think that some of the younger players should be real stars right
from the start. It happens in real life, so why not here?
Slats: Now onto Graham as a person...
It's a standard Saturday night... where could we find you? at a pub?
restaurant? home? dance club? what are you doing, where can the ladies
find you?
Graham I'm 45 years old and married with three teenage boys, so I
don't get out to create havoc as I used to like you younger fellows!
I enjoy sports management games (TCM2004, ICC2002, Madden2004) and I
also enjoy computer chess.
As a chess player I managed to win the NZ Correspondence championship
back in 1994-95 (without computer assistance I might add!). You can find
many of my games on the Chessbase website and on a comercially available
database CD, something also of which I'm proud. Don't play much chess at
present though.
Slats: After the series between Australia and India what team is the
best in the world?
Graham Aussie still perform consistently well both home and away,
so I go for them.
India are chock full of talent, but don't perform away from home all
that often and their temperaments aren't as good.
Slats: It's a standard rule as part of these interviews, you have to
create your ultimate woman. you can use as many as you want, britney
spears or whoever, but what does she look like?
Graham Good looking with a nice bod!
Slats Say the first thing that comes to your mind when i say these
words....
Slats: pussy- Graham cat (this is a decent forum!)
Slats: Anna- Graham Kournikova
Slats: baby- Graham no more thanks. Three's enough!
Slats: curve- Graham you're starting to drive me
round the bend now!
Slats: straight- Graham normal!
Slats: That's all we have time for this week... thanks very much
Graham, but stay tuned for next week...