Lewis & Fowler talk to players
Mon 29 Feb 2016
All-rounder Ben Raine said a visit from former England Test stars Chris Lewis and Graeme Fowler was extremely valuable for Leicestershire CCC players.
Lewis and Fowler are helping current professional players learn from their experiences when they accompany Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) staff on pre-season visits, the first of which was held today at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.
Former England all-rounder Lewis was released from prison last year and is committed to helping educate current players to ensure that they do not make the choices he did.
Fowler, the former Lancashire and Durham opening batsman, has previously appeared in the PCA’s Mind Matters series discussing depression and mental health issues.
Raine is one of Leicestershire’s PCA representative s alongside Niall O’Brien, who is currently on international duty with Ireland ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, and explained the importance of the insightful session.
He said: “For Chris to come in was very brave. You can hear things time and time again but when you hear a very personal story, it holds power behind it and has made me and the lads think about what we’re doing. It was very beneficial for us.
“We’re lucky that the PCA do a lot for us, a lot of the lads have used this winter to do other things, such as James Sykes doing barbering and Ned Eckersley a journalism course. The PCA support of professional players is excellent.
“A great point that Graeme made was that we’ll spend more years out of cricket than in cricket. It made me think that I need to be smarter with money and planning for the future. I’m sure a lot of our lads will think the same.”
Chris’s involvement with the PCA began when he attended the sixth annual Rookie Camp at Edgbaston earlier this month and today’s visit brought back memories of some happy playing years at Leicestershire CCC.
Graeme discussed his experiences to help raise awareness of the support that the Association offers past and present players including the PCA Confidential Helpline.
Leicestershire CCC would like to thank the PCA, Chris and Graeme for coming to speak the players this morning.
