Patel nominated for Sports Award

• Thanks to Tim Murray and the Leicester Mercury for allowing us to republish this article

Leicestershire CCC Indoor School Manager Dips Patel, the most influential figure in Leicestershire club cricket over the past 20 seasons, has retired.

He is a worthy candidate for Leicester Mercury Sportsman of the Year because of the consistently high standards he has set and demanded of others for such a long time.

Dips has been a stalwart in the Loughborough Town batting line-up always happy to move his position to suit the needs of the team & develop young players - an occasional off-spinner and a lithe fielder.

But his main impact has been as skipper. He is a natural leader of men.

If you walked on to any ground when Loughborough were playing, it was immediately obvious who was in charge.

All the fielders had at least one eye on Dips, ready for any signal to move a few yards left or right.

Like many other top captains, Dips seemed to dictate the terms on which games were played - and that started with his uncanny ability to win the toss in important matches.

He had a thorough grounding as a player, starting out with Bharat Sports Club in the Mutual League where he honed his technique playing on uncovered parks pitches with no facilities apart from park benches and trees to change behind. His Dad & older brother would kick him into shape.

From there he moved to Clarendon Park where he played with Darren Maddy, Mike Sutcliffe, Sunil Chauhan and where Paul Corrall, Tony Holyoak and Gary Shepheard were important guides in his development.

One of the big moments of his career came in 1996 when he joined Loughborough Town, having scored runs against them for the Leicestershire Club & Ground side and impressing with bat & ball for the LCCC U19s & 2ndXI.

"Neil Gamble was captain and he asked me to join them," said Dips. "He was a fantastic guy, brilliant competitor and probably the best cricketer I ever played with, who I learnt so much from and knew I was joining the right club."

Six years later fate took a hand.

"In 2002 Charlie Bloor was captain," said Dips. "Charlie broke a finger badly in the first game of the season against Leicester Ivanhoe.

"I was vice-captain and so I took over - and we won the League.

"I was going to hand the reins back over to Charlie for the following season but he told me to carry on and backed me and we won the League again. Charlie Bloor was another tough competitor who taught me a lot. "

That was the Premier Division of the old Everards County League.

In 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011and 2012 that title again went to the Park Road club.

For good measure, they added the Premier Division of the newly-formed Everards Leicestershire & Rutland League in 2014.

Loughborough also won the County Cup in 2005, 2007 and 2008, in the last of those years clinching the treble of League, County Cup and League Cup.

There were other League Cup triumphs in 2002, 2006, 2011 and 2014.

The club had many long-serving stalwarts such as Neil Gamble, Mike Spice, James Bull, John Corbett, Paul Fisher, Jimmy Smith, Paul Thompson, Martyn Gidley, Rob Gofton, Steve Schofield and Colin Taylor - and Dips acknowledges it has been great to have them and many others around.

But he was the one who provided the glue to keep everything together and blend talented individuals into a winning side.

"My philosophy was to be strong, show good man-management and have honest conversations with the players and back them 100%," he said.

"I would always listen to the players and would always have there back, my phone would be on 24/7, you have to listen to the players and then put your own tip on it.

He has also been happy to draw on the experience of others, notably former Leicestershire pace bowler Rod Pratt who became a trusted adviser and sounding-board.

"Rod was tough but he was good," said Dips.

"He's a good watcher of cricket and he's been a good influence on our team. I still talk to him a lot and will always ask his opinion. He may not tell you what you want to hear but you can't turn your nose up at experience. A great man with unbelievable passion for the game of cricket."

Dips' philosophy has always been to develop young players for the good of the club.

Those youngsters have included several who have gone on to make a mark at higher levels.

England internationals James Taylor and Harry Gurney plus first-class recruits Nathan Buck, Ollie Freckingham, Tom Wells, Sam Cliff and James Anyon all appeared regularly in Dips' teams.

Dips' influence on building for the future will continue because he runs the Mike Turner Cricket Centre at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road, and the Leicestershire & Rutland under-17 side in addition to coaching at Loughborough University and starting his ECB Level 4 coaching qualification.

With all those commitments plus a young family (twin girls), he has finally decided to call it a day on the field.

He leaves a tremendous legacy.

* Don’t miss a ball during the 2017 season! Leicestershire CCC’s Membership packages are on sale through the club’s website HERE, or alternatively you can call 0116 283 2128.