Point to prove after ‘horrendous’ relegation
CRICKET CHRIS OSTICK IF you cut through Glen Chapple - not that I would urge anyone to do so – there would be an image of a red rose running right through him.
If there was a definition written down for ‘one club man’ anywhere, surely the entry would simply say ‘Chapple, Glen - Lancashire’.
He has been at the club since 1992. He has played, captained and now coaches the side, led them to their first outright County Championship title in 77 years as skipper, celebrated one-day glory on the Lord’s balcony, taken 985 first-class wicket, bludgeoned 8,725 first-class runs and is the best English player never to have won a Test cap.
So it seems a bit of a daft question to ask him if it hurt when the Lancashire side he coaches was relegated from the top flight of the County Championship last season when many were tipping them for the title.
“Relegation is horrendous,” is his simple reply.
And he means it. Nobody knows more than Chapple the expectations at Lancashire. More than 150 years of history expects success. It is one of the biggest clubs in the land, one of the most famous in the world, steeped in success, and counts some of the game’s greats among its heroes.
Lancashire shouldn’t be in Division Two. And Chapple, more than anyone, knows it.
“It is three times we have suffered relegation, and it has happened to all the big clubs,” said Chapple, whose side went down last season by a single point, a point they were docked for a slow over rate earlier in the campaign.
“There are so many reasons we got relegated. To score one more point would have kept us up. That’s frustrating and you have to get over that first.
“Four or five teams were struggling last year, it was a very close year, the games we lost were so close. We tied a game at Somerset; they were very fine margins.
“It was a talking point throughout the year among all clubs that there were eight good teams in the divison and a quarter of them go down! You know somebody is going to go, and we were one of them.
“Two going down out of eight is harsh. There is no perfect solution, but two from 10 is more doable when you talk about bringing through young players and dealing with losing international players. If you have six international players like we did playing for the Lions and England there are challenges there not to be part of the 25 per cent.
“Relegation makes you look at things closely. It makes you address everything. And it can be just small things - making sure you are fully on it on a certain day; tactically if the ball is moving around; ●● Lancashire coach Glen Chapple can we work on that aspect of our game; can we do work in the nets on replicating conditions we faced last year?
“There is a real challenge and hunger here to get back up and to stop it happening again.
“We are confident we have a strong squad who were stung by last year and you will certainly see an attitude from them that they have a point to prove.
“We expect to see a real energy and focus. I am excited by the challenge and the squad we have got.”
Preparations began in November, and the squad have been in Desert Springs Resort in Spain over the last week on a warm-weather training camp.
But it is not just in the nets or in the gym where the battle for promotion is planned.
“We went to Whittington Barracks,” explained Chapple. “The trip was for some fitness work, but also to get a perspective on how a different kind of team operates with the pressures they face.
“We looked at attention to detail and teamwork. One involved carrying an 85kg stretcher for 8.5 kilometres as fast as we could. You have four men on the stretcher and six in the team.
“It’s impossible for those same four men to carry it 500 metres or even 200 metres, so at any given point someone has to take over a corner. Some find it easier than others.
“Now, when you’re in the field for six hours you have ups and downs, so how in tune is the individual player with what the team is trying to achieve?
“Six hours is a long time to keep complete focus on what you are trying to achieve and that is a skill you can improve throughout your career. For bowlers it is the understanding of tactics and putting pressure on the opposition.
“There’s a whole host of things that good teams do really well but good teams can also pull together when teams are tough. Cricket is a game in which there are many ways to get an advantage over the opposition by good teamwork.
“You might only save one run but you might keep a batsman on strike for the next bowler and you might create anxiety among the batsmen and that will lead to a breakthrough.”