From Grace Road to Glory: Darren Maddy | The Reluctant T20

By Tim Murray

Stellar names from the cricket world arrived at Queen's Park on a Monday evening in July 2013 for a special event, an all-star charity T20 game. It was a fund-raiser for the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer charity launched by Australian pace bowler Glenn McGrath and his late wife, Jane. 

McGrath, who took 563 Test wickets, skippered the Foundation XI, which included Darren Gough, Adam Hollioake and Damien Martyn. Their opponents were a Derbyshire XI, who had former County favourites Kim Barnett and Devon Malcolm lining up alongside England women's star Tammy Beaumont and the original Mr Twenty20, Darren Maddy. 

T20, or Twenty20 as it was originally called, was launched in the 2003 English season and Maddy soon proved the star turn. A clean-hitting opening bat, brisk medium-pace bowler, agile fielder and smart catcher, he was a leading member of the Leicestershire squad who dominated the first four years of the new format. 

They reached all of the first four finals days and, when they won the trophy for the second time - at Trent Bridge in 2006 - Maddy was man of the match in the decider against Notts for his 86 not out, one wicket and two catches. During that game he became the first person to reach 1,000 runs in T20 cricket. 

Not surprisingly, he felt a weight of expectation before the Chesterfield game even though, by now with Warwickshire, he was in the final season of his first-class career. 

The figures suggest he had a reasonable match. He claimed Martyn's wicket at a cost of 30 runs in his four overs and took two catches before hitting 17 off 15 balls as his team lost by 13 runs but he feels he could have done more. "I was invited to play alongside these cricketing legends," he said. "I had come with the reputation of being Mr Twenty20 but failed to deliver the goods on this occasion. I was playing against some of the greatest players from around the world and wanted to impress, so was disappointed that I did not perform to the level that I knew I was capable of." 

The irony was that Maddy did not relish the idea of T20 when it was first mooted. "I was a cricket badger and a traditionalist," he said. "Jack Birkenshaw really instilled this it into me when I first joined Leicestershire. He encouraged me to be a student of the game and to learn about its history and those who had played before me. As a cricketer, I felt it was important to understand everything about the game I was playing as this was my life."

Maddy's great ambition at that stage was to win a Test cap. "I went on an England A tour to Kenya and Sri Lanka in 1997-98 and did very well and all of a sudden my name was being spoken about and entered into people’s conversations," he recalled. He duly won an England one-day call-up against South Africa the following May and, when he went to Queen's Park a few days later for a Championship match, his name was right in the Test reckoning. 

He said: "Chesterfield was a venue that I had read a lot about and heard others talk so fondly about it, so I was really looking forward to playing at the ground known famously for being set within Queen's Park, with the twisted spire and batting on what was traditionally a good, fast wicket. 

"However, it wasn’t the idyllic conditions that I was hoping for and, as my memory serves, it was a bit dull and overcast. The wicket was good, but with a bit in it, and it was a low-scoring game." Leicestershire won by 38 runs with Maddy scoring 40 in the second innings. Wisden reported: "The presence of England coach David Lloyd fuelled speculation that Maddy would make his Test debut, though in the event it was Cork who was selected."

Maddy said: “In 1998 I was in excellent form in one-day cricket but I couldn’t convert that into the four-day game." Nevertheless, he helped Leicestershire win the Championship for the second time in three years, did well again on that winter's England A tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa and finally made his Test debut in 1999. But, after winning three caps, he was left out and then along came Twenty20. 

He said: "When T20 started, I didn't really want to play it. I had played for England, won County Championships and played in Lord's finals. I was a traditionalist at heart and my life’s ambition was to be successful for Leicestershire and to play for England. In doing so, I had dedicated my whole life to reaching the top but, unfortunately, it wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it would be. 

"I felt I had worked really hard for so many years and, on reflection, it felt like this was comparable to climbing up Mount Everest. The journey to the top had arrived but, once I reached the peak which was to play for England, it was as if I slipped quickly back down the other side, back into county cricket and was completely forgotten. I'd had a taste of international cricket but, for one reason or another, it was over all too quickly and it took me a while to get over and accept this. 

"I was close to 30 when T20 came along and I thought this was going to be more of a young players' game. I was of the opinion it was going to be a bit agricultural and that it might be better suited to players from league cricket. That was until we had a pre-season game, we had so much fun and it released the shackles. 

"Until that point I had been striving for perfection all my life, to have the perfect technique and to look and play like an England cricketer but, in this format of the game, all I had to do was to try to hit the ball as far and as hard as I could. I immediately rediscovered my love and passion for the game. It was a kind of liberation for me. 

"The supporters really got behind it and Leicestershire became a very vibrant T20 club. I had never seen so many people at Grace Road before, it was literally standing-room only. 

"It was such an exciting place to play at that time as it was a totally different atmosphere to the usual four day Championship and even the one-day crowd that we were accustomed to and I wanted to perform so they would all go home talking about me." 

Maddy did not make any major changes to his technique for the new challenge. "I just played more positive and attacking shots “ you had to hit the ball in the air more," he said. 

"Growing up in the '90s, the old pros rarely hit the ball in the air. I tried to hit the ball as straight as I could over long-off to long-on and, when the bowlers dropped their length, I would simply pull or drag the ball squarer on the leg-side and any width would allow me to open up the off-side. It was a simple game-plan." 

Maddy was also an exponent of the reverse-sweep and remembers first trying to paddle-sweep Lancashire and England pace bowler Peter Martin while making 136 not out in a Benson & Hedges Cup game in 1998. 

He thinks T20 had a swift impact, saying: "Looking back, T20 cricket raised the profile of the domestic cricketer - there were bigger crowds, more televised games and everyone was talking about cricket. We had a lot of success and were good at it too. We were ahead of our time, we had some great one-day players and we were well planned and prepared in this format. 

"It was a great time to be at Leicester. Those three or four years were special times and it compares to the achievements of playing in 1996 and 1998 when we were the best four-day team in the country. It was so great to be part of a club performing at that level. 
“T20 has evolved quickly and is responsible for what we see in cricket today,” Maddy reflected. "Back then, I was considered a hard-hitting batsman but now, with the bigger bats and the attitude towards hitting sixes, the boys are hitting it twice as far. To be fair, we never practised range-hitting and the shots they attempt today. 

"The skill levels of the modern cricketer are phenomenal and it's crazy how much they have improved over the last 20 years. I believe T20 is great entertainment and has been good for the evolution of cricket as we see these skills and approach transferred into all formats. However, I am a little bit concerned about where we go from here and what the future holds, particularly in the longer format.” 

If Maddy were playing today, he would surely be in demand for franchise leagues all over the world. 

However, he concluded: "Timing is everything in sport - the Indian Premier League came in towards the end of my career when not many English players got drafted. My dream was always to play for England and T20 cricket gave me an opportunity to do so again - at the inaugural T20 World Cup - seven years after my last one-day appearance. 

"Looking back, I am extremely proud of my career and what I have achieved. To have played professional cricket for 23 years has been amazing. I have been fortunate enough to play with and against the greatest players of the game while playing at some of the best and most picturesque grounds in the world.”