Steve Watkin, the former Glamorgan and England seam bowler, was the speaker on February 7th at another well-attended talk in the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket.
Below is a review of the talk by Alun Rhys Chivers of Golwg:
Born into a sporting family, it was maybe inevitable that Steve Watkin, this month’s guest at the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket winter talks, would himself venture into the world of sport in some shape or form.
While his sister Lynda won over 100 caps as sweeper for Wales hockey and Great Britain (injury ruled her out of GB Olympic team selection), Steve claimed 902 first-class wickets (904 if you include the two for the MCC) and 303 in List A matches; not a bad return for someone who only managed three Tests and four One-Day Internationals for England. Though he readily argues that his sister’s achievements “far succeeded anything” he ever achieved.
Born in Maesteg and brought up a six-hit away in Duffryn Rhondda, the young Watkin was a Leeds United football fan and a keen goalkeeper, a nod to which could be seen on his back throughout his career as he wore the number 1 shirt.
It’s not surprising then that he always had a keen admiration for the wicketkeepers he played alongside. Colin Metson was the best (he’s not biased!), but he also rated Alec Stewart and Jack Russell highly (although the latter had almost dropped his first Test victim!). Metson rarely dropped anything, he says, standing up and taking the ball on the rise with outstanding reflexes. But the most fun keeper? Adrian Shaw!
Watkin, as a teenager, took his inspiration from Ian Botham and Jeff Thomson, and the 15-year-old could soon be seen turning out for Maesteg Town (albeit with no bowling boots to call his own when he first played in the junior league).
From there, he was introduced by Lloyd Davies to Tom Cartwright at Glamorgan, and subsequently joined the Second Eleven set-up in 1982, playing alongside Malcolm Nash and Eifion Jones at the back end of their careers.
Long before his rise to the first-team in 1986 (playing alongside Matthew Maynard, Steve Barwick, Hugh Morris and Alan Butcher), he’d already eyed a coaching career, gaining his Level 4 as part of his degree in Human Movement Studies at South Glamorgan Institute. He would be greatly influenced in the early days by Steve Barwick, Greg Thomas and John Derrick.
There was “no great mystery” to his bowling, he says, other than to keep the seam up. It would stand him in good stead in those first few seasons. His career best bowling figures of 8-59 came against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1988, a match which clearly favoured the seam bowlers (Allan Donald and Gladstone Small shared 19 wickets). He ended 1988 with an impressive 92 first-class wickets for Glamorgan, and two for the MCC.
He recalls a composition (essay) he wrote as a 13-year-old, saying that he wanted to play for Glamorgan and England and so it “meant everything” when, in 1989, he was awarded his county cap after claiming 13 wickets against Lancashire at Old Trafford.
He ended the season with selection for England ‘A’ to East Africa and Zimbabwe, alongside future England greats Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and Graham Thorpe, as well as Derek Pringle, Mark Nicholas, Syd Lawrence, Martin and Darren Bicknell and Steve Rhodes. It was here, he says, that he learned the art of variation in his bowling, crediting the tour with having improved him as a bowler, facing the likes of Alistair Campbell, Dave Houghton, Richard Pycroft and John Traicos in a side pushing for full international status.
He began the 1990 season in the MCC side against Worcestershire, the annual curtain raiser against the county champions, joining Michael Atherton, Phil Tufnell and Dermot Reeve amongst others. It was at Worcester that he would hear of his first England call-up as cover for the injured Derek Pringle to face the West Indies in the second Test at Headingley, a day after Ian Rush had scored for Wales in a World Cup qualifier against Germany in Cardiff. He admits to nerves but a great sense of pride as he was presented with his cap in the changing room – a far cry from the on-field presentations seen nowadays.
The nerves soon settled when he claimed his maiden wicket, Desmond Haynes, caught behind by Russell. By the end of his second over, his figures would read 2-2-0-1 - not bad for someone who admits to not having bowled very well but “with enough good balls”! His prize wicket would come later when he had future Glamorgan teammate Viv Richards caught at mid-off by Gooch, a wicket which was “up there” with his first wicket in cricket (Hick, c Morris b Watkin), and that of Brian Lara.
He earned a call-up for the ‘A’ tour to the Caribbean in 1991/92 alongside Glamorgan teammates Robert Croft, Matthew Maynard and Hugh Morris who had been elevated to captain to replace injured Martyn Moxon.
By now, cricket was also on the up in Wales, with Glamorgan membership increasing to 14,000 after a campaign during the AXA Equity & Law League winning season of 1993. The county now had Dutchman Roland Lefebvre in its ranks, a reliable, accurate seam bowler and talented fielder whose death-bowling contributed vastly to the side’s success.
The campaign culminated in that special day at Canterbury. It had almost gone wrong when Duncan Spencer bounced Viv Richards, who was given not out to a catch at square-leg from a no-ball. “I didn’t realise how quick he was,” says Watkin, adding that Spencer is one of the quickest bowlers he’s seen.
1993 also saw Watkin back in the England side, missing Glamorgan’s match against the Australians at Neath, in which Matthew Maynard struck a century before lunch. It was at that time, Watkin says, that he was at his best as a bowler, claiming six wickets in two Tests. He was called up that winter to tour the West Indies, though a certain Angus Fraser would prove a stumbling block to his progression as they were perceived to be similar bowlers.
Ending the season with 86 first-class wickets, he was awarded PCA Player of the Year at a Lord’s function attended by Max Boyce, and named one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year - “everyone’s dream” and a once in a career accolade – the only domestic player amongst the Australian quartet of David Boon, Merv Hughes, Shane Warne and Ian Healy.
Now out of the England set-up, Watkin played his part in the Championship-winning campaign in 1997. Under the guidance of new coach Duncan Fletcher, he formed a successful opening partnership with overseas star Waqar Younis, the “best bowler” he played with. One more wicket that season would have given him a better average than the Pakistani. Zimbabwean Fletcher, says Watkin, brought a different culture to the well-organised side.
During the Benson & Hedges Cup campaign that year, Glamorgan had made the British television news headlines for the wrong reasons after a seemingly ill-tempered match against Essex at Chelmsford. Robert Croft and Mark Ilott had squared up to each other (“there was nothing in it whatsoever,” says Watkin). Darren Thomas had also got caught up in it, hitting Ronnie Irani as he celebrated a wicket, Steve Watkin calling it “one of the funniest things I’ve seen.”
A richly deserved benefit season followed in 1998. A largely outdated concept in the era of lucrative T20 contracts, Watkin believes there is still a place for them. Amongst his events that season was a function with Rory Bremner in London, attended by his benefit patron Sir Harry Secombe.
By 2000, it was a new era in Glamorgan’s history. The county reached their first Lord’s final since 1977, losing to Gloucestershire in the Benson & Hedges Cup, despite a Matthew Maynard century. Watkin says that Lord’s was a “funny ground to bowl on” because of its slope. He had been rested the week before the match when Glamorgan had played against Middlesex at Lord’s, but he says it would have been beneficial to have had the practice ahead of the final. He would have to wait until 2013 to return to a Lord’s final, this time as assistant coach, although the outcome was the same, with a defeat to Nottinghamshire.
Before his career ended in 2001, the year before the advent of T20, Watkin achieved one of the few milestones which had thus far eluded him – a half-century with the bat. It came as a night-watchman against Warwickshire. The season ended with promotion to Division One of the one-day league, and Watkin bowed out on a rare occasion that his emotions got the better of him (“My legs went to jelly!”), bowling a wide with what should have been his final delivery in professional cricket.
“I have no regrets whatsoever,” he says of his illustrious career. “I never thought too much about [milestones]. I had a little target every game of five wickets, and I’d try to get 50 wickets every season.”
Since 2001, Academy Director-turned-assistant coach Watkin has overseen the development of the likes of fast bowlers Huw Waters and James Harris who, he says, should have had long careers at Glamorgan. He says that patience is needed with the current young side, with Jack Murphy, Ruaidhri Smith and Connor Brown showing glimpses of potential.
Lower down in the ranks are Devon’s Kazi Szymanski, 25-year-old Jamie McIlroy from Builth Wells and Newbridge wicket-keeper batsman Alex Horton, who new Director of Cricket Mark Wallace claims is one of the best wicket-keeper/batsmen in the world for his age-group.
A Sunday League and Championship winner, a Lord’s one-day finalist and international cricketer turned county coach, Steve Watkin undoubtedly deserves his place in the annals of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, and he has certainly won the affections of the county’s faithful.