Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Farbrace the tour guide
An east Kent all-rounder has been working with former Kent director of cricket Paul Farbrace ahead an England over-60s tour of Barbados.
Whitstable Cricket Club’s John Butterworth, 60, is in the England squad for the Carib Cup and, despite no funding support being available, he has raised enough for the tour. The event will take place from January 30 to February 10.
Ahead of the competition, England’s squad attended a two-day training camp where Farbrace - director of cricket at The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury, from 2009 to 2011 having played for the county as a wicketkeeper between 1987 and 1989 - worked with them alongside ex-nottinghamshire bowler Andy Pick. Butterworth said: “Just prior to Christmas, we met up at Loughborough. We had a two-day training camp there with Paul Farbrace and Andy Pick. “Paul used to coach England and he has just taken up a job as head coach at Sussex, although he’s from Kent. “The captain of the England over60s team is Richard Merriman - and he actually taught Farbrace so that was entertaining seeing them being together!
“There were also two lads there from the University of Gloucestershire and they were filming the two days and interviewing. Generally, I think they’re going to make a short film to promote the senior cricket situation. Hopefully it’ll lead to other people maybe getting interested in, maybe, sponsoring.” Farbrace is also the stepfather of Kent-born England fast bowler Ollie Robinson and will now coach him at Sussex.
But presently he’s coaching Sharjah Warriors at the inaugural International League T20, held across the United Arab Emirates. Joe Denly is part of his squad while Kent team-mates Fred Klaassen, Sam Billings and Qais Ahmad are also involved in the competition, which runs until mid-february.
In the Carib Cup, England’s over-60s could face hosts West Indies, Australia and USA, as well as “rest of the world” and “rest of the Americas” outfits. “It’s really exciting,” enthused Butterworth. “I didn’t know about the Americans playing cricket there. “They weren’t originally involved but Canada dropped out. It’ll be interesting to see the stories from different people. “That is one of the beauties of playing at any age group but particularly at an older age group.”
But Butterworth, who’s also an artist, has opted to extend his trip while he’s out in the Caribbean so he can also get inspiration for his work in sunnier surroundings.
It’s the sales of some paintings - along with support from Whitstable CC which helped him raise the funds for the tour.
“I got enough money to pay for the flights and the accommodation,” said Butterworth, who has raised around £2,700. I didn’t reach the figure on the Gofundme page but I had a quiz night, which went well. “Whitstable gave me the clubhouse and let me run a quiz night and a raffle, so that was really helpful. In my other life, I’ve managed to sell some paintings to people who wanted to support me as well.”
This tour, however, may only be the first of many in 2023 for the senior side. “There’s lots of opportunities coming up this year which the manager was telling me about,” said Butterworth. “There’s been invitations to play in tournaments in Canada and Pakistan. “That’ll be towards the back-end of this year. Then this time next year there will be a World Cup of senior cricket in India.”