Bowling coach Liddle ready to pass on his T20 tricks of the trade to Steelbacks attack

It’s a format of cricket that is heavily weighted in favour of the batters, with the ever-increasing crowds turning out to see the ball flying to all corners of, and even out of, the ground.

Small boundaries, fielding restrictions and some of the world’s best batters for hire all add up to, more often than not, runs, runs and more runs!

There are of course low scoring matches, and there are days when the ball has the edge over the bat, but that’s really not what T20 cricket is all about - and it can be an unforgiving experience for those running in with the ball in hand in at either end.

It is something that new Northants bowling coach Chris Liddle is well aware of, having played at the top level until last summer, and he is hoping his experience is something that can help the Steelbacks bowlers in this summer’s Vitality T20 Blast.

A left-arm seamer, Liddle was considered to be a white-ball specialist as a player, and played a key role as Gloucestershire reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 competition, going down by seven wickets to Derbyshire Falcons.

His record in T20 cricket is impressive, having claimed 99 wickets in 91 matches at at an average of 23.56 with a strike rate of a wicket taken every 17 balls.

Now 35, Liddle has hung up his bowling boots to concentrate on coaching, but he is hoping the fact that he has played the game so recently means he will be able to help the Steelbacks attack restrict the batting damage this summer!

Asked if T20 cricket is something a bowler can enjoy, Liddle admitted: “It can be disheartening, especially when you turn up and it is a 50-metre boundary and you think ‘oh no!’

“But that is just cricket isn’t it? It’s what people want to see, they want to see excitement, and balls getting whacked out of the park.

“But hopefully we come up with the plans to bowl teams out and so limit how many times we go out of the park, and that is part of the game.

“Bowlers have to recognise that the batsmen are trying to take them down, and they are expected to go for runs.

“So it has to be that players don’t get too disheartened if things don’t go your way.

“We will have a lot of white-ball cricket in the 50-overs and T20, so there are going to be a lot of times where you can correct what went wrong before.

“We are only humans and it is natural that we will make mistakes, but it is making sure that when we are on top that we nail that down and be ruthless enough not to give the batsman anything.”