In his new book, Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher tells how he went from a seat in the Trent Bridge stands to starring for his home county. Interview by Alex Brinton.
Luke Fletcher is a Nottinghamshire cricket cult-hero. A local lad who grew up in the city has gone onto live every schoolboy cricketers’ dream and represent the county with distinction.
His new book Tales from the Front Line chronicles that journey. “I used to go and watch the T20 games with my mates, and the next thing you know I am in the changing room,” he told me.
Fletcher was born and raised in Bulwell, a small suburb, 10 tram stops north of the University. He didn’t come through the usual academy set-up, he played club cricket for Papplewick and Linby CC and by the age of 15 he was playing in the Nottinghamshire Premier League. “Playing such high-level cricket at such a young age definitely helped me grow as a player.”
Becoming a professional cricketer was never in Fletcher’s life plan, “I never expected to make it until I did, and even then, I thought I might just play for a couple of years,” he said. Before signing for Nottinghamshire, he worked in the kitchen at Hooters, a bar near the train station, a period of time he looks back on with fondness, “It was good fun at Hooters and filled the void until I was offered something more permanent at Notts,” said Fletcher.
If I’m looking to meet up with a few of my mates for some nice beer and a chat I like to head up towards Hockley. There’s lots of good independent pubs and bars up there.
Where is your favourite spot for a pint with your mates?
The following winter he worked on the gates of the construction site at Trent Bridge. Notts were building a new stand and needed someone to help the builders get in and out of the site. Fletcher was training with the first team, but without a contract, so needed some money. A happy arrangement was struck.
Nottinghamshire and England batsman Alex Hales is a name that crops up time and time again in this book. Hales, or “Baz” as he’s known, is a mercurial talent, capable of savage acts of destruction with the bat. “He used to get double hundreds in one session in the second team, we always knew with talent like that he was going to play for England,” said Fletcher.
Then the pair lived together in their first few years in the team, and the book is littered with anecdotes about nights out and the bollockings that followed. Fletcher tells the story of him and Hales being out till 3am before a game against Scotland. Both played poorly and were then given what Fletcher described as, “the mother of all rollockings” by their coach Mike Newell. “For a long time, Luke still thought he was a Saturday afternoon club cricketer,” said Newell. “If he went out people would recognise him and if he caused mayhem, well, they knew he was, and they’d ring me and tell me.”
Me and my wife Kirsty like going to baresca which is a tapas bar near the Lace Market
Where is your favourite place for a meal?
One night out in Bierkeller changed everything. On his way out he got talking to a girl called Kirsty and a decade later they are married with two children.
In just his second season, Notts won the biggest prize domestic cricket has to offer – the County Championship. “To be honest, it was great to win it, but it was wasted on me. Some players go their whole careers without winning it,” Fletcher said. While the significance of winning the title might have been lost on a young Fletcher, the party that followed wasn’t. “We got a healthy bonus for winning it and I had spent most of it within a couple of weeks. We had some great nights out.”
For the sheer novelty and history of the pub you can’t beat Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in the castle wall.
Where should students go for a pint?
If the County Championship is domestic cricket’s biggest honour, then the showpiece day is the final of the one-day cup, this is cricket’s FA Cup final. Seven years on from the County Championship, the significance of this prize was not lost on Fletcher. “The night before I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed thinking about all the balls I had bowled in my career. All the way back to Papplewick and Linby CC. I kept thinking that all the balls I had bowled up to that point had built up to today,” said Fletcher.
Fletcher opened the bowling and was so close to getting off to the dream start when England international Jason Roy edged the first ball of the final to slip, but the normally capable Rikki Wessels dropped a simple chance. Notts were triumphant thanks to a brutal onslaught from Hales. He finished unbeaten on 187, the highest score in one-day final history. “Many people describe it as the best one-day innings they’ve ever seen and I wouldn’t argue with them,” said Fletcher.
A matter of weeks later, Notts were playing the Birmingham Bears in a T20 match at Edgbaston. Fletcher told me he started his day with a KFC for lunch – an unconventional fuel for a professional sportsman. He entered the attack in the fourth over.
“I just tried to bowl a decent ball, good length and hopefully cramp the batsman [Sam Hain] for room. The next thing I saw was Hain back away from the ball and bang,”. Hain hit the ball back at Fletcher with meteoric force and it struck him a sickening blow on top of the head. “I fell to the ground waiting to be knocked out and then I wasn’t. My hands were holding the top of my head and when I took them away there was blood spurting out. It was pretty shocking,”. As you would expect with such an horrific injury Fletcher was taken to hospital. “That night was the best night’s sleep I have ever had and when I woke up, I was given a sausage and egg cob and to be honest I felt really good.”
The footage of the injury sent shockwaves through the sport. “Everyone knew it was going to happen to someone at some point and I’m sure it will happen again,” Fletcher told me.
A new form of cricket was scheduled to arrive this summer, but because of coronavirus The Hundred will have to wait. The Hundred is similar to T20 cricket, but each side has just 100 balls for their innings. Fletcher is a skilled T20 bowler and was picked up by the Trent Rockets. “At first I thought someone must have pressed the wrong button when I found out I was chosen,” he said. “If I get selected again next year it will be brilliant to take part in – the standard of cricket will be very high. I am really looking forward to testing myself against some of the biggest names in the world game.” he said.
Luke Fletcher’s new book Tales from the Front Line is a great insight into domestic cricket and some of the characters in it. If you like cricket and the stories that come from cricket dressing rooms then this is the perfect book for you.
Luke Fletcher Tales from the Front Line (Pitch publishing), £16.99
By Alex Brinton