In this conversation, Olly Hannon-Dolby shares insights into the life of a professional cricketer, discussing the precarious nature of contracts, his personal transition from Yorkshire to Warwickshire, and the impact of injuries on a player's career. Beyond the game, Olly opens up about life after cricket—a challenge many players face when their playing days come to an end. He discusses the importance of planning for a second career, finding direction beyond sport, and the balance between passion and practicality in a professional athlete’s journey.
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Brian Halford:Hello, and welcome to reports from Arbroath. I'm Brian Helford, and today I'm delighted to be joined by Ollie Hannan Dolby. Born two seventy five miles from Marlborough in Halifax to West Yorkshire. Ollie First played for his native county before joining Warwickshire in 2013. He's led Warwickshire's bowling attack, indeed carried it at times in recent years, 157 wickets in the last three championship seasons, and he is very much at the heart of Warwickshire's team and their fans.
Brian Halford:Ollie, welcome.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Thank you for having me, thank you, a sterling glowing report there, thank you. I need you in my next contract meeting.
Brian Halford:Well, I'll do my best to get you in otherwise. I don't think you need much help from me, have to say Ollie. Now, ladies and gents, I'm sure you know Ollie is the last person in the world to want to sit here and talk about his own exploits, so we won't be doing too much of that, but another hat you do wear Ollie is a PCA rep for Warwickshire which I think ten years and I know you are very invested in the welfare of cricketers during and after their playing careers and plenty of cricketers do or will need some support don't they, so just the life of a professional cricketer in many ways is a great one isn't it, but it's a strange one isn't it and often quite precarious.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah, so I mean it is brilliant you know you get to play a childhood sport and you know really enjoy it and some of the places you go and people you see and friendships you make and hopefully trophies you win it, it's unbelievable. But that's the word precarious, sign up to a twenty, twenty five year mortgage and yet you only ever really sign a two year, one year contract. I've probably spent my entire career on one or two year contracts. That old fable I remember from primary school, the sword of Damocles is always dangling above your head constantly, whether it's a change of coach or a change of captain or just some sort of hierarchy at the club, it can be really quite volatile. Lose form, get injured, all those things that happen to any sports person.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It can be very volatile and your livelihood's at stake really. It's brilliant and I love it and it's exciting. It's also very strange. Kirsty, my wife's a teacher, and we have these funny conversations where she's very jealous of my job because if I do well and I get more wickets than someone else, I might get a bonus or I might get a better contract. Whereas her teaching Salix, she's done the same as anyone else who's taught for ten years and has the same experience as the various teaching bands.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I am so jealous of her career because unless she literally punches a child tomorrow, she's got a job for life, almost guaranteed and can do that job at any town, village in the whole country. It's funny how we have these
Brian Halford:And there are quite a few jobs like that, that if you're decent at it and solid at it, will have a bit of security, but professional sport and cricket isn't like that at all, is it? And obviously it's a great thing to be, isn't it? It's a lot of young men and women's dream. And you go into it, you get your first contract, and then how soon do you does the excitement wear off, and do you start thinking, blimey, I've got to get another contract in a
Olly Hannon-Dalby:year or two? I don't know. That's hard to describe because I think it probably just happens naturally. Yeah. Yes.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You're you're super excited. And I'm still super excited to play now, it's all competing and getting better and coming up against a really good batter, and you you figure them out and you get them out. It's an amazing feeling. I can't tell you when, but there is a certain stage where it sort of tips into, oh, I'm in my last year my contract, oh, this is important now, and you know, I've got bills to pay, all that sort of stuff. It definitely does change when it changes, couldn't quite tell you.
Brian Halford:You've spoken about some of the things that can affect a cricketer's future, and I think we both know quite a few cricketers that have done very little wrong, but just for a change of personnel at the top comes in, they just don't fancy you, you're down the road, aren't you? But just talk about your early career, for example, your move from Yorkshire to Warwickshire, Were you thinking at that point, Blimey, there's no place for me at Yorkshire, so can I carve out a career at a second county?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Well, I mean, young quicker at Yorkshire, learning my trade. At the same time, probably a bit daft and probably didn't realize some of the things we've just talked about that, oh, I mean, a new coach has come in. I better switch on and I better impress him. And I'm in the last year of contract. Yeah.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I mean, people are getting signed. I need to switch on here type of thing. So, basically, a new coach came to Yorkshire, a guy called Jason Gillespie. You know, he's a brilliant cricket er and has had some really good success as a coach. And he signed people like Liam Plunke, Ryan Sidebottom, Jack Brooks, all absolutely brilliant cricketers, but essentially just knocked me down the pecking order.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:For whatever reason, Dizzy didn't really fancy my bowling, which is absolutely fine. And it sort of came to a head where the club said to me, you are sort of last bowler off the rank. You can speak to other counties if you want. Which was a bit of a funny time of year. Was in about November, December, so not many counties are looking to sign cricketers at that time of year.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So basically, I'd it was in the gym at the time. Used to go up to the gym at David Lloyd in Leeds where I basically got told, can speak to the clubs if you want. Had a little cry, rang up the PCA, rang up my PCA, personal development manager, a guy called Matthew Wood, who was amazing. He met with me in a service station on the M62. Again, I had a bit more of a cry.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And then pretty quickly came up with a plan. Essentially, the next day, I got sent phone number list by the PCA just with every first team coach's phone number on it. And I just went through the list and just rang them, some said, not interested. Some said ring back in mid season. Some said ring back in the new year.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And luckily, Graham Welsh at Warwickshire rang me back straight away. It was a bit of a weird time at Warwickshire because Ashley Giles had literally just gone to England. I think it'd be white ball coach. They'd just won the championship, so there wasn't really a coach to ring. And luckily, Welsh said, come down in the new year, we'll have a look at you and see what you like.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And luckily, that one week trial turned into a two week trial, two weeks turned into a month. Then when eventually Dougie got given the job, I think Pop sort of said, you know, I'd like to sign, I'll leave you can. So one of the first things Dougie ever did was sort of give me a contract, he'll take me on for a year. It might be one of the worst things he ever did, but I don't think But
Brian Halford:when you actually phoned Pop that very first time, did you say 'Hi, Graham, Ollie Hannandelby here, you might remember me five'four at Edgebaston last year, I've got Bell and Trot out here.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Well, think I'd have called Dougie, I'm not even sure Pop's number, I think it might have been Ashty Giles on the list, and then maybe Dougie Brown's second team coach. I think I called Dougie, and Dougie basically said, oh, not too sure what's going on here at the moment. I'll maybe ring back in the new year. And then I think Pop had got wind that I'd called Dougie, and Pop called me back on his own type thing and just said, Oh, don't worry about no one being here at the moment, I want to see you in the new year. So it just got me down, yeah.
Brian Halford:Yeah, well that's at the start of what has been a really good chapter in your career, hasn't it, the Bears? But it did take some time to take off, didn't it? You didn't just roll up and get straight into the team and just flow from there.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah, well, probably two things happened. I think because of what happened at Yorkshire, you then realise how volatile it is, and you realise on what thin ice you're standing constantly. You realise, I'm dangling my head thread all the time here. So any new opportunity or any second chance at being a cricketer, also wanted to grab with both hands really. Perhaps, you know, yeah, bit of a change in mindset because I knew what it felt like to get binned off really.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:But, yeah, I definitely didn't have a great deal of success to start with. I think in my first year, probably the best thing I did was bat bat with a broken arm for a little bit, and I think I didn't bowl that well and managed to get in the side for a four day game. And, yeah, we're playing a game on TV, and we got absolutely hammered. But luckily or unluckily, at the end, me and Ricky Clark battered for about an hour. And I got hit on the arm early on, and it turned out I'd broken my arm, so I think afterwards.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And then rushing back from that injury, because it took me six weeks to get over a broken arm, rushing back from that injury, I bowled far too much, far too soon, because I was still only on a one year deal. My contract was running out in September. And I bowled 60 overs in the second team, my first week back, and pretty much had a sore back immediately. Turns out a month later I had a stress fracture. But I think luckily, I bowled well in pre season.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I'd got my Yorkers in on a pre season tour to Barbados, and then battered for a little while with a broken arm. I think the club's like, oh, this guy might have a little bit about him if you like
Brian Halford:him. When you say a little while, it was seventy eight minutes. Oh, all over. Yeah. So that's pretty noble, isn't it?
Brian Halford:Yeah. But that did show you a bit
Olly Hannon-Dalby:of Yeah. And by no means smashed it, but I think perhaps the club thought, oh, you know, he might, you know, he might have a bit about him because he battered for a while and got his Yorkers in in Yeah. On pre season tour. So it was probably the year after where I would have thought, right. This again, another one year contract.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So it's probably the year after that, you know, I probably really switched on and thought this is probably my last chance here. And luckily, for both myself and the club, 2014 was a great year. We we won the t twenty. We came second in the championship. We came second in the 50 over comp, and I played a lot of cricket that year.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You know, contributed to to the team's success and, you know, yeah, probably went on from there, which is great. So I felt like I'd not established myself because I definitely wasn't the first name of the team, but I'd I'd contributed to to some wins.
Brian Halford:And as years went by, did establish yourself for me, you've been, if I may say this, superb for the last five years, so you have really led the attack, which at times has been very depleted, hasn't it? And you've carried that brilliantly at times, that despite quite a significant injury, what injury was was it three weeks ago? Oh yeah, yeah. And that again we're talking about, you never take too much for granted as a because even when things were going really well for you as a bowler, suddenly an injury crops up and the future is uncertain.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah. Well, mean, I had to buy my if if we'd go back to twenty thirteen, fourteen, Chris Walks, Keith Barker, Boyd Rankin, Chris Wright, Ricky Clark, Jeeton Patel, you know, with this phenomenal bowling attack, really. So I was I was always gonna be back up, you know, along with other lads, you know, Ricardo God and Tom Milnes, know, really good bowlers. We were always sort of gonna be the backup to those those big guys. I had to bide my time, really.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I've I've always thought I was probably a better Red Bull bowler than anything else, but the one day cricket that I played and the death bowling that I sort of did well in 2014, '20 '15, '20 '16 was almost a means to an end because it was the only opportunity I was going to get. Know, if there was a spot for a death bowler, I sort of said, I'd I'd fancy doing that. You know, I'd love to do that. Had some success doing it. But I always had this sort of niggling feeling that I was I was a better Red Bull bowler, if I could get a chance to cement my side in the cement myself in the Red Bull side, it's something I definitely wanted to do.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:That sort of came about when Barks and Righty and Boydy and Ricky all sort of left in 2018, I think. So the opportunity in 2019 to play a lot more Red Bull cricket was there and something I've really enjoyed. Yeah. There's been times where it's been tough and red red ball cricket is like that. Sometimes in, you know, t 20 cricket, you can you can you can bluff it a little bit and ball pretty rubbish and still pick up a few wickets.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:But in red ball cricket, day in, day out, 20 overs a day, you you have to ball pretty well to get to get your rewards. So I'm really, really delighted that that's happened over the last few years. Yeah. You mentioned there's still a bit of a few injuries. I I tore my it was during during the 2021 season where we won the championship.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Halfway through that, I I ruptured my plantar fascia, which is sort of like the arch of your foot under the under your foot. So I ripped that and was out for the season. Luckily, the lads did did pretty well without me, and, you know, we won the championship, which was great. So I didn't play a part in the end of the year, which was I was a bit gutted about. I wasn't on the field when we won the championship, but just to sort of have contributed to a championship winning side is is awesome.
Brian Halford:But I remember talking to you at the time, and it was a worrying time, wasn't it? Because you're obviously the chaps were having a great time heading to the championship with the Bob Willis trophy, you played a significant part in getting them there before you got injured, but in the back of your mind, I mean, I remember talking to you one time and you were thinking, well, hopefully it'll be okay, but you just sometimes never know.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I suppose that's that's the thing with any injury and, you know, you look at someone like Paul Liam Norwell, know, one of the best blokes you'll ever meet, one of the best pros you could ever meet, and for whatever reason, he's he's had injuries that just sort of can't shake off, in the end it sort of ended his career which is horrific for any sportsman or sportswoman. Injuries are absolutely inevitable if you do something enough times you're going get injured. However, those feelings of when you do get injured, they don't subside. You think, oh this could be the one that finishes me off or what if it's serious or what if I can't get over it or what if someone nicks my spot or all those feelings come flooding back and it it don't matter. If anything, the older you get, it might get a bit worse because your your responsibilities are up here and then your injury's sort of down here really.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So some ways being young and innocent and living at home with your mom, it might be a bit easier to be injured when you're sort of that age.
Brian Halford:And of course, you had a benefit this year, didn't you? Which I was just wondering, will the benefit system remain for much longer? Because cricket has changed so much, isn't it, in the last twenty years, never mind one hundred and twenty years ago when benefits came in. Yeah, know. Because they came in, didn't they, when professional cricketers were really poorly paid and hardly paid at all in the winter, So cricketers really needed a benefit.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah. I think they were almost invented by cricketers, weren't they done in Kent? So I can't remember who was the official first testimonial beneficiary. But, yeah, they were giving players a golden handshake, really. Whether that happens, whether I'll be honest.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:One of the big things is player movement. Players don't really stay in one place, you know, too long anymore. And the advent of all these whiteboard cricket leagues, will you see the best players be freelance and live in Dubai and just play where they want throughout the year rather than staying at county? I I honestly don't know. I honestly don't know.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It's it's sad to think much like it's it's quite similar to the sort of overseas. Know, Jeet and Patel is an overseas player I had, you know, played for played with for six, seven years and was an absolute unbelievable servant to to Warwickshire cricket. Unbelievable servant to English cricket, really. But those great overseas that come to account here year on year on year on year, you know, we see that again. You see Simon Harmer, someone at someone at Essex who does it, and Frank Worrell at at Surrey, someone who's doing it at the moment.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Will it be ten years, will it be five years? It's sad to think what it might become.
Brian Halford:And indeed, homegrown players have now got franchises to because even when a player might stay at, like Jacob Bethel, Dan, most of them must stay at Warwickshire for ten years or whichever county, but they will be away for significant parts of that time.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Well, mean, Bethel's an unbelievable success story, we should all be incredibly proud of him at Warwickshire. His family should be proud of him, we should be proud of him, you know, he's a brilliant human being, and he's a brilliant cricketer. But, essentially, I don't I don't think we're gonna see much of him now for probably if his career goes the way it could do and the way it should do, we might not see him for fifteen years. And at the end of that fifteen years, Willy wanted to come back and and play Red Bull Cricket for Warwickshire in April, mate. I want his Yeah.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Got his mansion in Barbados. I'm not too sure, but, you know, that's that I'm I'm not begrudging Beth at all there. It's you know, I wish him every success in the world because he's a top, top man, but it's funny to think where the game's going and what might happen to to him. Yeah.
Brian Halford:Indeed. And just looking back, if I could put your PCA hat on for a moment again, because, I mean, you got, as we're talking about benefits came in many, many years ago, because professional cricketers were really poorly paid, there were examples of, I think going back just either side of the First World War, of the club, I think Dick Lilly wanted to play football as well as cricket professionally, just increase his income and Harry Howells asked for a position to run a pub, permission to run a pub in Coventry, cause they just needed to supplement their income. Have you ever thought of running a pub or being a professional footballer? No,
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I haven't, but it's interesting, we're a lot better looked after these days, and we have twelve month contracts, so you're employed all year round. But it's funny how and that is brilliant, it's the safety net that's there is a lot better than it was just the examples you you see there. But I do wonder in ten years time when I finished playing cricket, you do you do sort of wonder, would you have been better in the winters doing something away from the game? Yeah. Would would probably from a cricket wise and a fitness wise and a skill wise point of view, probably not.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:But for the rest of your life, I don't know, would I ever there's some funny stories out there about guys selling Christmas trees in the winter or, you know, going to work for Morrisons and all that stuff. It's brilliant and the safety net is amazing, but it's almost like from the your life after cricket, might you be better, you know? Do we need something I like in the winter?
Brian Halford:Was it Ed Giddings that's right. Ed Giddings was the
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Christmas trees. Yeah. That's right.
Brian Halford:But I know talking to Steve Perryman, you wouldn't have come across as
Olly Hannon-Dalby:a coach this way,
Brian Halford:he's a great guy, of course when he played for Warwickshire in his early days back in the 70s, he had to find something to do in the winter, you know, and I guess in a way that, what's it like being a professional cricketer, especially before Christmas, I'm guessing? Just fitness work?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah. I'll answer your question in a minute, but I suppose what I'm so trying to say is, from a cricket point of view, it probably is better to be on a twelve month contract, but the life skills you might get from being on a six month contract is is sort of interesting. It's something, you know, that's why the PCA and players have to work hard in the winters to try and go get that experience, whether it's coaching, whether it's work experience. But yeah, it's a funny balance.
Brian Halford:Would it reboot your I mean, think you would hope that most professional cricketers really love cricket, but if you're doing some hard yards and fairly gruelling yards in the winter, would it reboot your appetite a bit you went and sold Christmas trees
Olly Hannon-Dalby:and clean windows? Oddly enough, do you know the year I mentioned I got injured? My first year at Writershire was 2013. I had a stress fracture in August, so my season was over. And I was proactive, and I went and did some work experience for a recruitment company in Leeds.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And I spent nine weeks as the office intern, office dog's buddy at a recruitment company. And I really enjoyed it, and it was it was sort of made me think, oh, you know, if I if I'm not playing cricket, I'll be okay because I can go do that. But it also made me think, sob that. I don't wanna do that just yet. I wanna carry on playing cricket.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So, you know, sort of opened my eyes to the world away from cricket and made me think, oh, I wanna stay in stay in it.
Brian Halford:It is a few years away or being well, but have you thought what you'll do after cricket? Are you are you looking I know you are you've done some quite a lot of coaching already and and successfully. So Yeah.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So, I mean, I may have done my coaching badges up to level three. I've done an umpiring badge. I think I would like to stay in the game doing what I'm not entirely sure. Almost quite envious of those people who, you know, they've got the family business and they're like, yeah, I'm gonna go do that or they've always gonna be a fireman since the age of five. I'm quite envious of those people because currently I have absolutely I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:The chance of being a cricketer sort of fell on my lap a little bit. Never really set out to be a cricketer. What is actually going to happen? I'm not too sure.
Brian Halford:On firing is you've you've
Olly Hannon-Dalby:think I could. Yeah. I think I could see myself being an on player.
Brian Halford:It is. It's it's it must be lovely, mustn't it? Because I must admit, at the age of 60, I still don't know what I wanna do with my role. I
Olly Hannon-Dalby:think I'm Well, that's that's reassuring if
Brian Halford:Well, I think a lot of us never find out, do we? But the likes of Boyd Rankin always, for example, always knew he was gonna go back to the firm, didn't he?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I like that sort of reassurance.
Brian Halford:Ollie, just talking about the demands on professional cricketers, a cricket fan called Ben Cook was speaking to me the other day, came up with a really interesting question, he said, I just wonder what Ollie and all professional cricketers make of the itinerary of county cricket, because it is so congested and it's so varied. Yep. When you see the fixtures come out, do you think, cool, blind me, or do you think,
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You try to get me in trouble here and say so much, shouldn't I? No. I'll be I'll be totally honest. I I understand the the arguments about the schedule, the the PCA and certain players make very good arguments. I think this year, Warwickshire played the first two twenty game of the year at Durham at 05:00 at night, and the next day for the blast off, we're in Birmingham at two in the afternoon.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So, you know, that's just almost it's not safe. It's not gonna be the best for the cricket. The guys are gonna be tired, probably at risk of injury. That's not right. However, I'm probably one of the few who I don't I don't mind the schedule, and I I don't love the fact that when certainly reducing red ball cricket.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I don't really want to see that happen. You know, 14 games, I really wouldn't wanna play many less than that. It's already been reduced from 16 when I when I started out. But I do understand the points about safety and time to improve your skills because there's probably a certain feeling during the summer that you're just sort of going from game to game and if you've got a deficiency at your cover drive, when can you actually work on it. I do understand all that.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:But I also, you know, I don't want to sound like a miserable old grump, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Know, if it if it was an easy cushty job where you you played one game and then had three weeks off, then every career adviser in the country would be saying, yeah, go be a cricketer.
Brian Halford:It's Yeah.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You know, it's a doddle. So so I think probably cliche, but there's probably a balance to be had. Yeah. Maybe there is a smidge too much cricket now. I wouldn't personally want it to be seen, I wouldn't like it to be reduced too much because I hate to think the detrimental effect that would have on the game, on people's jobs, and all all that sort of things.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So it it is tough. There's no no doubt about it. I've probably sat in a lucky situation, not a lucky situation, but I I don't play t 20 t 20 cricket anymore. So there is probably a little bit of the season where I'm I'm not quite as busy as some guys, something like Sam Hayne who plays every form I know. I have conversations with him where he says I'm, you know, shattered a lot of the time.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So I do get the arguments, but on the flip side, invariably if you wanna work less, you probably have to sacrifice something, and whether that's wages or staff sizes or
Brian Halford:I remember talking to Geetan one time, Geetan Patel, and saying about the workload, because he played everything, sometimes with his arm hanging off, and he just said mate, we're professional cricketers, bring it all on, and he just an absolute, he just loved his cricket,
Olly Hannon-Dalby:didn't he?
Brian Halford:Do you think of the championship being pushed into the two ends of the season Ollie? I think I know that's a subject that people have got strong thoughts on. Well, mean, the people I feel sorry for
Olly Hannon-Dalby:at the end, are the spectators because in there there's days in April and then days in September where it is absolutely freezing and you're at, you know, Edgbaston where the wind can howl through a little bit sometimes, and it it it can't be the nicest place to watch cricket. So that's that's not great. The problem is where you do fit it all in. You know, I I I the guy called Alan Fordham at the ECB has got this Rubik's cube that's changing multiple times, and there's 18 counties Rubik's cubes to try and fit into a a finite amount of time. I have no idea how you how you fix that problem.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Do you play four day cricket in the middle of summer when the hundred's on? Mhmm. But then does that deplete the standard of four day cricket? I I have no idea. It's a conundrum.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I have I I'm a simple man from Halifax who does does not have the answers to to to how we solve that problem, but we we essentially play, you know, a lot of cricket and it would be nice to spread certainly championship cricket throughout the summer, I'd say.
Brian Halford:It was a conundrum, well, it always has been, hasn't it? It was widely perceived too much cricket before the hundred. So then you introduce another competitor.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Well, funny, think, I don't know the exact year that the PCA was founded. It's 50 years old in it, so I can't do the maths there. And I think when they've got the minutes for the first meeting of the PCA, they play too much cricket, they'd like to be paid more, the umpires are rubbish, and can we do what we want in the winters? The problems probably haven't changed from when Fred Rumsey was found in the PCL those years It's probably all very similar things. Can we get paid a bit better and play less cricket?
Brian Halford:Similarly, I think if you go to pretty much every Wisdom Cricketer's Almanac ever produced in the, what is it, one hundred and eighty years now, whatever it is, in the notes by the editor section there's always some self flagellating about, from English cricket, about the format, and it's been perpetual Yeah. Debate, isn't
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Cricket's funny. Always seems to be messing with itself, whether it's eight ball overs, six ball overs, back foot no balls, the leg side wides, fields, body line, you know, cricket's always fiddling with the rules somehow, ain't it? I'm not sure. Do other sports do this or No. Not really.
Brian Halford:Yeah. Quite often it's bowlers that seem to cop for Well, yeah.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I'm wrong. I was This is
Brian Halford:a bugbear of mine,
Olly Hannon-Dalby:but I can't think of many rules in the last two hundred and fifty years that have been to help bowlers. I can think of maybe two or three. I think this new one at the death when a a batter gets out and it doesn't matter if they cross the new batter's face, you think that's good, that helps a bowler. Eight ball overs down six ball overs, that probably helps a bowler. But invariably you get this thing where any innovation that a batter invents is unbelievable.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:A scoop, dancing around the crease, turning around to be left handed. What innovation. Whereas whenever a bowler does it, it's somehow devious, underhand and cheating. Bodyline was a plan to a batter to make him score less and it worked. It was a brilliant innovation.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It worked. Now Kevin Peterson, when he first switch hit, was Lourdes' unbelievable skill, which is an unbelievable skill. Now we have got young cricketers. One's just left what's called Amir Khan, but there are young cricketers all over the world who can bowl with both arms. But that skill is completely negated by the fact that you have to say, mister umpire, I'm currently a right arm over bowler.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I'm gonna be bowling this side of the wicket with my right arm. And then if you wanna use your left arm, if say, I'm now being a left arm round bowler, I'll be using you know, why can't a bowler if they have the skill to bowl with both arms, why can't they just say probably say which side you bowling and understand that. Yeah. You can bow from this side, but whatever arms come in at you. Because batters stand there and dance around like Fred Astaire and it's all fun and games, but bowlers come up with any innovation and it's devious.
Brian Halford:Were you playing at Guildford that time when Keith Barker was bowling at Ricky Ponton?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:No. But I've heard yeah. Heard the He
Brian Halford:just did a little bit of kink in his run up. Yeah. Nothing major, but compared to what batters do in the crease, you know, it was almost nothing, but he was Yeah. I think
Olly Hannon-Dalby:he I think he as you've written, obviously, left arm, I might have just been waving his arm or just bending it, just trying to put him off, and he Yeah. The game stops, he's like, bastard, what are doing? You can't do that. Yeah. Ridiculous.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It's a batter's game. I'm telling you, it's a batter's game. If you could think of many rules that have helped bowlers in two hundred years, I'd be amazed. Maybe I'll tell you, Ladswell, the reduced the size of bats, haven't they? They all say that that might have helped bowlers, maybe.
Brian Halford:Well, maybe the next two hundred years is gonna be bowler friendly, so.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:We'll see.
Brian Halford:Let's just do, if I may, a couple of things, I was going to throw three incidents in your career, of which I think many people will have very fond memories, the first one you've already mentioned, 78 heroically batting with a broken arm at Taunton. Chris Woakes and Liam Norwell have got a few thoughts on you, because if it wasn't for you, they'd be in the history books as having taken an all 10 for Warwickshire. Any thoughts on that? Liam Norwell was very gracious last week when we spoke to him, and he said if you hadn't taken that first wicket against Hampshire on the big day, the last day of the 2022 season, You know, that was the one that took the whole Yeah. Initiative for Warwickshire, and then he took the last nine Yeah.
Brian Halford:Robbing you of a tenfer.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Well, that is the line I always say if I'm totally honest. I got the first wicket in both innings, ergo, those two lovely men stole a tenfer off me really. But, yeah, very fond memories of both. The Woxie one was quite surreal because Woxie bowled unbelievably and got ninefer. It was during those strange days where you could get called up to England mid match.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So we got called down to a Test match mid match. We then replaced him with Josh Poison who probably really wasn't really a like for like replacement. Think we're probably being a bit cheeky there saying it's gonna see him on day one and then maybe spin on day four three, four. And we lost the game. So Chris Woolkes board like an absolute legend.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:We're playing at Durham. I don't remember the scores, but we lost we lost a game. A guy a guy got a nine for, and we messed it up that badly that we lost a blooming game. So that was not great. Liam's given the context of the the whole game and the day and what was at stake and Liam's body actually, because he was he wasn't really fully fit
Brian Halford:Far from it.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:When he when he when he did that. So with everything at stake there and the emotion involved and the fact that me and Liam seem you know, we were bowling a lot, just me and him, and how tired we were, and, you know, that was just an unbelievable day. Something I will never ever forget, the fact that we sort of went through it together despite being 200 meters away from each other. We're sort of feeling the same thing down at Fine When we spoke to each other after, we were both, like, on verge of tears at Fine Leg thinking, I'm holding rubbish here. Just need to back him up type of thing.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:The knife was unbelievable. What it meant and staying up and all that stuff. Yeah. Incredible. You know, like I said, William's been incredibly lucky.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:He's a top human being, but if that's his legacy at the club, then what a legacy to leave. It quite
Brian Halford:poignant, wasn't it? His last game in in first class cricket. Another game I'll just throw at you, one final one. Home to Surrey, sixty six balls to
Olly Hannon-Dalby:get off the mark. Yep.
Brian Halford:Took Burgess to his century. Yep. And your batting has given quite a bit of frustration to the bowlers and pleasure to the spectators in
Olly Hannon-Dalby:the last year. Well, I literally Michael Burgess has recently retired, so I I happened to be in in London last week, so I met met up with him for a for a drink and to sort of say, well done. And we chatted about this and just how, you know, much we both loved that day. And we're quite lucky that me and Burgie had a few of those occasions where we, you know, we battered together for a long time, but it was a it was quite a flat pitch from memory. And my mindset was like, I do not want to bowl on this pitch again, I don't think.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So it was day day four, always gonna be a draw probably, but it was just whether we ended up bowling or not. I think when I came in, Burgi might have been on 70. Yeah. And luckily, with me patting it back, absolutely blocking blocking every single ball and Burgi whacking it, think Burgi ended up getting a 70 or something like that, which was very cool.
Brian Halford:And ninety four minutes without scoring a run, and it's a shame you couldn't get to your hundred minutes really, wasn't it? But, I mean, that just showed. You don't do that without a bit of technique and a bit of concentration No. Even if it's a flat track.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:No. And I get it. It was pretty simple, the fact that Burgea was whacking it so well. And my job was pretty simple though. It's like, well, I've just got a knock to get out.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And eventually, it became a bit of a thing. You know, a twelfth man had run out and drink and say, oh, you're some records here. You're unknown for so long. So it almost became I didn't wanna get off the mark. And then eventually, when I did get off the mark, I didn't even hit that.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It was like this terrible little ball down leg side, and I sort of wafted my bat. No bat on it. Burgi called me through for a single, which he probably shouldn't have done really because it meant I faced the next over. But I didn't hit it, and the bat the umpire said runs. Was I was like, no.
Brian Halford:Didn't
Olly Hannon-Dalby:hit Didn't hit it. Because otherwise, because I think it's something like a county cricket record, the minutes on naught or balls on naught. But there are there are international I think Stuart Broad's got the international record of one hundred and twenty five minutes on naught. I was like, could've done it.
Brian Halford:Unlucky. Could've done it. I have to ask, how many hours do you spend in the Nets practicing your leave? Because I think you've got the most elegant leave in country I
Olly Hannon-Dalby:don't like messing with my bowling. I just I don't like looking at the way I bowl. I think I don't like the way it looks, so I don't wanna see it type of thing. I obsess I love my batting. So I I watch videos of my batting.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I I spend a lot of time in the nets obsessing about my batting. But I must admit, the coaches are legends and they indulge my batting fetish, if you like. Ian Westwood, Tony Frost, Stuart Barnes, they claw at me for hours and hours and hours. I dread to think the returns on balls faced Rooms I've scored for Warwickshire in the middle compared to balls faced in the nets are probably are probably quite low. However, I'd absolutely love I love tinkering when I'm buying.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah. I
Brian Halford:love it. And the irony here is, of course, occasionally number elevens have a huge role to play, don't they? Because they're they're at the crucial moment.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:And that is the what the couple of frustrating things that do get on your your nerves are when, let's say, you play a nice cover drive, but it's the last ball of the over, so you can't run. So you do have to turn that like, I'm not saying I've turned down thousands of runs, but maybe up to 50 or 100 runs you've turned down because you're like, no, you stay down at your Burgea, you stay at that in this sort thing. That does irk at times because you think, know, could get a few more runs in. I would love a first class 50, that's one of my big career goals. What's your highest?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:It's 40.
Brian Halford:I think you need to go higher up the order, but you keep running out of partners don't you? Like you did on that famous day, Birch got out, didn't he?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You were still going I don't know if I've of painted myself into a corner where I've become this bat who faces a lot of balls and doesn't score many runs. So, you know, for me to score 50, I might have to face 200 balls, which is gonna take a while.
Brian Halford:You haven't done the Knight Watman's job, have you ever thought of?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:No, we've got Diane Briggs, was very, very good at it. Craig Miles has done it recently, know, but they're both very good, so I tend to stay well in at Lumber eleven, which I'm fine with.
Brian Halford:Well, just finally getting back to the welfare of cricketers.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:You
Brian Halford:have had, and you are having, a tremendous career, and it's come through a few bumps, and every long career we'll do in professional sport, won't you, in professional cricket, but to any young cricketer or any aspiring professional cricketer, do you think it's worth all the hassle?
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Yeah, do, yeah, given, like I said earlier, the place I've been, the friendships you make, you know, the things you get to experience, the trophies, good times are amazing. So, yeah, there are definitely peaks and troughs, and as I say, you know, I am not gonna be a cricket when I'm 50 years old like Kirsty will be a teacher or someone might be an accountant. You do get the feeling that you're tearing away in this sports car, having a great time now, but you know you're careering towards the edge of a cliff. Where the edge of the cliff is, who knows? But it's an amazing time, and the things I've experienced and the, yeah, the things I've seen and done, I'm I'm incredibly grateful to have had those opportunities.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:So I really would, yeah, I really would say. If you've got a chance to be a professional sports person at anything, do it. Probably as a sort of intermediate, the important thing is to get things outside of cricket as well, you know, something else you're passionate passionate about and another career that you can fall back on, all those things are probably quite important to get alongside your I
Brian Halford:think academies these days at clubs do very much put emphasis on that, don't I think in a way they prepare cricketers to fail, because fair few of them will, know, so hopefully young cricketers are aware of but I guess you don't want to be too aware and too worried about their future, do you? You want to have the joy of it
Olly Hannon-Dalby:as well. No, probably not at that young age, but it certainly does get to the age when you're 25 and whatnot, and you think, yeah, actually having something outside of cricket and something that you know you can fall back on does help. Like I mentioned briefly that work experience, that definitely helped me because it made me think well I'll be okay, I can do something. I might be at the bottom of the ladder for six months a year but I won't be destitute. I can apply myself at something else.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:There's no doubt about it as a sports person, you have this career where you might end up doing this and your earnings are here, whatever. You're going to fall off a cliff, whether you're Jacob Beth or Chris Walks, Oliver and Donohue, doesn't matter who you are, age 40, you will have to start again at something unless you're very lucky and you don't have to work again, which might happen to a few, but it's very few. You have to have two careers in your life.
Brian Halford:Yeah. The least two, probably. I look forward to turning up the Edgbaston One day, and here are the umpires, Oliver Hannan Dolby, and another.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I'm I'm very glad you didn't see them. You know, I thought you might have said the turn up to New Street Station and say, I know that linebacker. I know that guy busking. You used to ball alright.
Brian Halford:I don't think that'll happen.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:I hope not.
Brian Halford:Ollie, thanks very much. It's been a pleasure.
Olly Hannon-Dalby:Thanks, Brian. Thanks for having me. Great
Sean Miller:Reports from Our Broth is an Orion Creative Services production. To listen to more episodes, to read our blog, or to join our mailing list, please visit reportsfromourbroth.com.
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