COUNTY DIARY: Something's brewing at Lancashire... both on and off the pitch

The Cricketer's county diary takes readers inside the lives of pros on the Championship circuit. This week, STEVEN CROFT tells how he's taken up beer-making... and gives manufacturers an idea for a new piece of cricketing kit

The Cricketer's county diary takes readers inside the lives of pros on the Championship circuit.

This week, Lancashire's STEVEN CROFT discusses a beanie ban, home brew and what the players think about taking games overseas...

We’ll get to the cricket in a minute but first thing’s first… I’ve been brewing my own beer.

One of the members of my testimonial committee is the landlord of a local pub called The Taps in Lytham and he suggested bringing a beer out. I was skeptical, I thought we were just going to slap some labels on a few bottles and claim it as my own, but he said “no, we’ll go down to the brewery and pick the ingredients”.

So that’s what we did - the hops, the aromas, the lot. It’s a pale ale, a session ale, it tastes well and it’s getting out to a few pubs now.

^{Steven Croft has been making his own beer as part of his testimonial year}

As I’ve got older I’ve got into a bit of ale and being able to sit back and drink your own is quite special. We’ve called it Crofty's. We tried to think of a gimmicky name or use a cricket pun but nothing really stuck.

My father-in-law, who’s an artist, drew me a caricature for the labels and he’s probably done me a few favours - I’m a little less fresh and a little less pretty in real life.

A few of the Lancashire guys have been over to Lytham to try it but the big test will be later in the year at a nearby beer festival, where we’re going to give it a go. It’ll be a team day out and I’ll brace myself for some honest feedback.

I was asked if I’d like to be a brewer when I eventually retire. To be honest, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I like the idea - I enjoy my wine and ales, so we should never say never - but it’s probably best if I leave it to the experts.

We could have done with a few warming ales last week. Day three against Surrey was absolutely freezing. We all had double bottoms on, every jumper we’ve got and not many of us could move.

Only four or five weeks ago we were out in Dubai. That sort of pre-season trip is what you need because you can’t train over here, and when you get back you expect a bit of a shock, but none of us were ready for weather like that.

We all had two or three handwarmers in our pockets and they weren’t doing anything. Standing around in the cold was horrible but we steered clear of wearing beanies.

^{Croft was part of the Lancashire team which drew with Surrey in freezing conditions}

Clarky had one on for five or 10 minutes but we quickly decided it didn’t look right. Ours are bright red. Not really right for whites. Clarky got told to take it off, and he had to stand there and grin and bear it.

Maybe it’s time for the kit manufacturers to start making white woolly hats, and some of the guys wouldn’t have minded flesh-coloured mitts, to see if they could get away with it.

Anyway, the idea of taking a few games out of the country gets more and more appealing during matches like that.

Obviously every county cricketer would be keen to go abroad to play but as long as there is good reasoning behind it, it’s worth considering.

The start of this season has been dominated by the quick bowlers and this toss rule has gone against every home county, which doesn’t make sense really - you don’t really have home advantage when you know you’re going to get stuck in when it’s cold and wet and you’ll get the worst of the conditions - so it’d be a good initiative to pop overseas quickly.

Lots of counties go out for pre-seasons anyway, so there might be space for the schedule to be adapted.

Anything to get out of the cold!

Tickets are still available for Steven Croft’s ‘Lunch at the Lowry with David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd’ on Thursday 7 June as part of his Testimonial year where he is raising money for the Professional Cricketers Association’s Benevolent Fund and Fylde coast children’s hospice Brian House. Find out more by clicking here.

If you are interested in getting involved in Steven’s Testimonial year, get in touch via email at stevencrofttestimonial2018@gmail.com

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