PORTER’S JOY OF ESSEX!
Bowler who nearly quit is on the brink of title glory
THE Essex cricketers invited to watch West Ham and go on the London Stadium pitch to celebrate their promotion to the County Championship first division were meant to dress up for the occasion. Jamie Porter was having none of it.
‘It was this time last year,’ said the devout Hammer. ‘They gave us a message saying the dress code was smart, but I thought, “No, I can’t go to a West Ham game without my West Ham shirt on”. So I wore that. I’m the only West Ham fan among the team, so I enjoyed that and the fans did, too.’
Twelve months on and football comes to mind again as Essex, one of only two non-Test-staging counties in the top flight, prepare to complete the remarkable achievement of winning the title the season after promotion.
Essex will be champions barring a miraculous comeback win for Lancashire against Somerset today. It is akin to Leicester winning the Premier League.
At the centre of it has been a 24-year-old who almost gave up on the game four years ago before re-emerging to spearhead his local county’s quest for a first Championship title in 25 years.
And now Porter can look forward to his first England Lions tour in Australia this winter and a possible Test future after becoming the leading first division bowler in the most prolific of his three 50-plus-wicket county seasons.
‘It would be huge if we win this,’ said Porter as Essex wait on the result from Taunton. ‘The last time Essex won the title was before a lot of the team were born. It was the year before I was born. It would be very special for quite a few people.’
Not least a fast bowler who credits a suburb of north-east London more associated with footballers David Beckham, Harry Kane and Andros Townsend for putting his career back on track when he looked lost to the game. ‘Chingford Cricket Club have played a massive part in me being here now,’ said the engaging Porter.
‘It was doing well there in league cricket that brought me to Essex’s attention when it looked as though I wouldn’t play professionally.
‘I had gone to work in recruitment and was enjoying it, but I started to miss cricket a lot. The lads were playing and I was in an office. I ended up at Chingford because I knew a lot of the guys in the first team. The logical thing was to go and play with my mates and doing that changed my life. Essex gave me a lifeline.’
Porter had spent more time in the Middlesex system and then with MCC Young Cricketers before Essex snapped up a bowler who, having been raised in Ilford, was very much one of their own.
Essex wicketkeeper James Foster said: ‘Ports is a legend of a bloke, a really nice, down-to-earth guy, but he’s very competitive on the field. He had something about him as soon as he started playing for us, but he’s continued to develop his skills.
‘He’s an England contender now. With his skill and having done so well in such a short space of time, he has to be.’
Porter concurs on his competitive nature. ‘I hate losing and I go into games with the attitude that I don’t want to leave it to anyone else. I want to take responsibility and do the job that’s required,’ he said.
‘Sometimes if I have to get in the face of the batsmen I will do that and in the heat of the moment I can get fired up, but I just enjoy competing and winning.’
The county man of the moment is something of a throwback in that he is a proponent of old- fashioned line and length, searching for seam and swing movement at a brisk rather than express pace. He is also, first and foremost, a red-ball bowler rather than a whiteball specialist.
‘I have a little bit of a pinch-me moment when I think about things because over the last three seasons it has got better and better,’ Porter told Sportsmail. ‘It’s been a bit unreal. I always had the skills but it took time to work out how to use them. Essex coach Chris Silverwood and the guys at the club helped me to piece it together and learn how to really bowl.’
And this product of the T20 generation is, refreshingly, a devotee of the longer game.
‘Test cricket is the ultimate goal,’ said Porter. ‘It’s been my No 1 ambition since I started playing. Test cricket is the one I want to play in.
‘To wear the white shirt and the blue cap with the badge on it, that’s the dream. If I could play a Test at Lord’s… For me, it’s Test cricket all the way.’
But first should come Essex’s big moment. ‘We’ve got a generation who can replicate the Keith Fletcher and Graham Gooch era and we’ve got an opportunity to be a dominant force,’ added Porter, who is competing with Essex spinner Simon Harmer to be the first division’s leading wicket-taker. Porter, after his seven wickets in this week’s thumping win over Warwickshire, leads by one.
‘We’ve got a group who enjoy playing for Essex and want to play for the club. We’ve got guys now who want to put the team first and, as long as we keep that attitude, we’ll be tough to beat over the next few years.’