I’VE QUICKLY GONE FROM ENGLAND PLAYER TO GRANTHAM COACH!
But Mark Footitt is far from bitter at being a nearly man
Mark Footitt needs only to glance at the dining room cabinet in his Mansfield home for a permanent reminder of the time he became England’s great fast bowling hope.
it is there that a bottle of champagne, sent to him by the ECB for what had turned out to be a peripheral role in England’s last test series triumph in South africa, stands as a tangible glimpse of what might have been.
Footitt is the forgotten member of the squad that upset the odds to win 2-1 on that memorable tour four years ago, a left-armer capable of bowling at close to 95 miles per hour who was meant to be England’s potent new weapon.
instead he just missed out on making an appearance in what became a rare overseas series victory and never again came close to fulfilling the fast bowling needs of an England side still searching for bowlers capable of thriving overseas.
Now, as England embark on their attempt to replicate that South african triumph, Footitt is about to begin a new career away from the spotlight with Grantham Cricket Club after four injuryravaged years culminated in his county retirement this summer.
‘We were all sent a bottle of champagne by England to mark that win in South africa,’ Footitt tells Sportsmail. ‘i’ve never drunk mine and i don’t think i ever will. i keep it on display in my dining room as a souvenir of what was a really great time for me.’
Footitt’s reluctance to pop the champagne has nothing to do with any bitter taste in his mouth from England’s failure to hand him a test cap to go along with the fizz. He has long since come to terms with his status as a nearly man of international cricket.
‘England being in South africa again brings a lot of good memories back for me,’ he says. ‘it was the first and only England tour i went on and being in that environment was new and exciting. and i really was pretty close to playing in the tests.
‘i played in both warm-up games, took a few wickets and did everything i was asked and it seemed to be a shout t between me and Chris Woakes s for a place. they went with h Chris and he has done pretty y well since so i think they got that one right to be fair!’
Footitt, now 34, has coped with enough adversity to be able to smile at his Sliding Doors moment. ‘i’m a firm believer in things happening for a reason and it just wasn’t meant to be,’ he says. ‘My path in life was not to be playing international cricket so i concentrated on other things. My fate was to be a very good county player who was on the verge of playing for England but never got the chance. i enjoyed the 18 years i played professional cricket and most people would chop their right arm off to do it.’
it had taken Footitt a decade in county cricket with his native Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to get to the brink of England selection at the age of 30 and he had just secured a deal with Surrey that was meant to propel him to domestic and international success. But his near miss in South africa was as good as it got as injuries and an inability to settle in London combined to derail a career of so much promise.
‘i sat down with England management at the end of that tour and they told me to start the season well and there was no reason why i wouldn’t be in contention for the tests that summer,’ he says. ‘i certainly had the feeling i would get a chance.
‘i had just started with Surrey and pre- season went all right but then i was injured in my second game, the first time i’d had any injury in four and a half years. i tore my side and was out for eight weeks. From then on other bowlers emerged and overtook me in the pecking order. i never really got back on track with international cricket.’
the following year, Footitt asked to be released from his Surrey contract to return to trent Bridge for reasons that had nothing to do with cricket.
‘it was a big eye opener going to London and i had a young family in Nottingham so that made it hard,’ he says. ‘there came a point when family had to come first so i came back to Notts.
‘then in my first Championship game back i suffered a stress fracture of the neck. it was so rare it took nine or 10 months to get back to bowling anywhere near how i needed to. it affected my time back at Notts because i was always playing catch-up.
‘You get to the point where you think, “this is never going to happen”. i had a dark time but i said to myself, “No, get out of this. keep going and something will come along”.’
that something is a role as general manager at Grantham CC which will involve administration, playing and coaching. it is a long way from Potchefstroom and Pietermaritzburg where he made his England appearances but it is the fresh start Footitt needs.
‘they have big plans and it’s a great opportunity for me,’ says Footitt. ‘i start next month but before then i will be watching how England get on in South africa. My tour there was something very few get to experience. there’s no bitterness about not playing for England, it just wasn’t my time.
‘if i’d stayed fit for the first half of that summer i could have been playing test cricket. Who knows?
‘But i can’t have any regrets because i had a fantastic career. i wouldn’t change it for the world.’