Onions ready to show new layers as bowling coach
GRAHAM Onions admits becoming Lancashire’s new bowling coach is a huge relief after having his playing career cut short by injury.
The ex-England seamer was preparing for last season with the Red Rose when a back issue sustained on the eve of the Bob Willis Trophy campaign led to the 38-year-old announcing his retirement on medical advice last September.
Uncertainty lay ahead, but Onions continued to work with the professional and academy squads before Christmas and has now joined the coaching staff at Emirates Old Trafford on a full-time basis.
“I’m delighted I can now get over the real harsh reality and the tough times of thinking I wasn’t going to play again when I wasn’t quite ready to give it up,” Onions said. “There have been a few rough weeks along the way since my retirement.
“But there’s a definite relief. I potentially could have had income coming in from different areas, maybe being self-employed and doing the coaching.
“That really isn’t me. Being self-employed doesn’t get me out of bed in the morning, but if I can get up and be part of a team and help a team culture, then that’s what makes me think I want to be part of something special.
“There have been a few conversations and a little bit of time to try to get our heads around how this is all going to work. We got there in the end. Did I ever think I’d be in this position? Absolutely no chance, no way. I’m incredibly grateful. I’ll give everything I can to succeed.”
Onions has been charged with overseeing the fortunes of bowlers from across the spectrum - from those at the beginning of their careers to, occasionally, England’s record Test wicket-taker James Anderson.
Onions, who joked Anderson ‘needs a bit of work on his wobble seam,’ intends to show the same wholehearted zeal that brought him 723 first-class wickets and nine Test and four one-day caps.
“Over the last three or four years since moving from Durham, it’s been in the back of my mind that coaching is what I want to do,” Onions said. “The way I am as a person, I throw everything at it and give my best.
“I’m desperate to win more silverware and develop some of these young lads from the academy to be professional cricketers.”
Lancashire are set to begin their County Championship campaign at Sussex on April 8 and while Onions needs no reminding of the vagaries of the Covid-19 pandemic, he is hopeful fans can start entering grounds by then.
“I think that’s got to happen, I really, really do,” he added. “I know from a playing point of view, I’d be desperate to play in front of crowds again.
“The lads have started (training) this week and they’ve been so excited, I’ve never known a group so excited to come in and train and get the ball in their hands.”