I was so gutted to see Courtney go but it proved a masterstroke
Matt WindowS Former Gloucestershire batsman
Cricket was not the only path that I could have gone down in my career – I was world No 3 at rackets during my youth.
It’s an elite sport because it is confined to only a number of schools and Queen’s Club – and a number in America – but that was a brilliant game for me and lent itself well to cricket because it is the fastest ball sport in the world.
I was lucky enough to go to Clifton College in Bristol and we had Kevin Bowring as our coach, who was also Wales’ rugby coach between 1995 and 1998. He said I had a choice but I chose cricket.
My father, Anthony, used to play for Gloucestershire back in the Sixties, so cricket was in the family. There was always memorabilia around the house of his achievements.
It was a proud moment then in 1992 when I made my firstteam debut, and Courtney Walsh was the one who helped me make that breakthrough. He was an outstanding bloke in everything he did. He did look after us, but at the same time we had to perform for him because he put everything into the club over a 14-year period – he just did it all himself.
Unbeknown to me, I was close to breaking records that day. It was against Essex, who had Graham Gooch and several big names. I made 71 and got close to joining an esteemed list of those to have made hundreds on debut for the club.
My career at Gloucester was mapped in various ways because back in the Nineties it was a ‘learn your trade at the bar’ type thing before professionalism started to creep in with all the success that would bring.
The best year of my career came in 1998, I can’t pinpoint why – the talent was always there, it was just about trying to unearth it on a consistent basis.
It earned me an England A call and that was brilliant and unexpected. It was a bloody good side. I was captained by Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Graeme Swann and Rob Key were there. It was pretty much the backbone of that 2005 Ashes team and it was a privilege to play. There was quite a lot of entertainment going on.We toured Zimbabwe and South Africa, and Zimbabwe had the worst rains in 50 years so there wasn’t much else we could do. It was quite jovial! Back at Gloucestershire in 1999 – that’s when our one-day success started, seven trophies in five years.We had a new coach in John Bracewell who made a very difficult decision to get rid of Courtney. He thought everyone was reliant on him. We brought in Ian Harvey and everyone quickly knew their roles in the team, becoming experts. Personally, I was upset because I was very close with Courtney. At the time I thought ‘what the hell is going on here?’ But it turned into a masterstroke. Still, it was upsetting and disappointing to see him go after all the service he had given. We showed what teams can do without individual big names. Bristol became a fortress. As did Lord’s.We knew how to play there and how to take it to the other grounds. I retired at 33, in 2006. I had just started to get injuries. That was debilitating and my form tailed off, I had a benefit year so I decided to leave and let someone else have a go. I’m now in financial services and also look to take on a mentoring position at the club. I do follow their success, and I go up there more than I used to with my son.