Matthew Maynard: A Modern Glamorgan Great (Part 3)

CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket Podcast

This is the last of 3 episodes of the podcast devoted to one of Glamorgan’s greatest ever players, Matthew Maynard.

He begins by talking about coaching, both young players as well as elite cricketers and praises the philosophy of the current England coach and captain, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.

He mentions one instance with Marcus Trescothick which was the exception to his experiences when coaching with England. This, for him, is the essence of coaching elite players, finding solutions to puzzles. It is, when all is said and done, about finding ways to score.

Matt talks about the limits to video analysis and statistics and the importance of encouraging players to trust their instincts. Getting your own performance right is what he emphasises. Stick to your own strengths.

Matt’s England career started as a bit of a surprise to him. He describes the experience of turning up for his debut and being given a cap with someone else’s name in it. He never felt that he was wanted in the England set up and felt that this was indicative of the England Team in the 80s and 90s. Reflecting on the experience he felt he just needed more time to acclimatise to the Test and One Day International arena and, for whatever reason, never got that time.

He tells the story of how he decided to learn to drive the Team coach whilst being Director of Cricket at Somerset!

We talk about the opportunities available to young cricketers in Wales and his plans for the future and we finish with his thoughts on being an umpire, being on a committee and whether he feels 100% welsh!

If you want to donate to Matt’s Wellyman Walk, go here:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/mattwellymanwalk