CHRIS SCHOFIELD

We caught up with Chris Schofield shortly after he took his best figures in one-day cricket for Surrey - four for 32 - down at Hove in the Friends Provident Trophy...

Marcus Hook: We had a chat at the back end of last year, when you first broke into the Surrey first team, but what's it like now that you are a full-time professional once more?

Chris Schofield: It's fantastic to be back. I worked hard for a couple of years, playing Minor Counties cricket, and thankfully Surrey gave me an opportunity to play first-class cricket again. The boys have been fantastic. They've made me feel really welcome. It's been good to move down to London, obviously it's a bit different from Lancashire, but I've been made to feel really welcome.

MH: So where are you living?

CS: Between Streatham and Balham, which is alright.

MH: Now, on Tuesday night, I didn't think you were going to get a bowl, but then you were pulled in off the boundary and you really did a job...

CS: I had a chat to Butch at about 25 overs gone and just asked: 'Which end are you looking at?' He said: 'Probably the top end.' The overs were ticking down. Things were going alright with the seamers and that, then Doshi came on and then he called upon me with fifteen overs left. It was about seven and a half an over when I came on. In recent games I've been bowling a lot of overs in the second team and in one-day cricket and I've been bowling very well. Butch has obviously been watching me bowl and seen how I've been bowling and he's been really happy with the way I've been playing. He had the confidence to bring me on at that time. He didn't have a problem with me coming on at that stage of the game. I was going to bowl the last over if needs be. It wasn't a problem. I know myself I've been bowling really well and I haven't really had a problem with my confidence. So he was very happy for me to bowl at that stage of the game, in a bit of a pressure situation.

MH: One thing that helped was that Surrey held their catches, which, in fact, has been a feature all season...

CS: Fielding-wise we've been fantastic. That night it was very difficult under lights and dew was coming in. It's always hard work under lights, other than a drop by Neil Saker the catching was fantastic. James Benning took a good catch out on the boundary to get rid of Wright and Doshi took a good catch at mid-wicket as well. Doshi has been working hard on his fielding and it's good that he can catch them when they do come to him.

MH: They say that if a side is holding on to its catches it's a sign that the spirit in the team is good and I get the impression that although Surrey aren't where they want to be in the championship, nobody is panicking...

CS: The spirit in the camp has been fantastic. We're not where we want to be right now in the championship, but, generally, the cricket we have played has been very good, especially in the one-day stuff. With the championship I think it's just a matter of time before we kick in and get a win under our belts. It was a bit unlucky that the pitch flattened out at Hove on the last day, otherwise that might have been our first win. Generally speaking, everybody's playing really good cricket and it's just a matter of time until we get our first win and hopefully we can kick on from there. I think we just need that one victory under our belts and I think we'll be fighting to get back up towards the top of the table. It's going to be hard work, but I think if we do get a win under our belts that'll just kick-start us.

MH: Perhaps it is coincidental, but we have looked much better since Matt Nicholson's arrival...

CS: Matt Nicholson has been fantastic in the changing room, but before that we were playing good cricket, but with him coming into the team and strengthening the squad even more has been good. Sakes has been bowling fantastically. He has been given an opportunity. Due to a couple of injuries he came in and he's taken his opportunity very well. He's another person who you're going to struggle to keep out of the side at the moment. It's a good headache for the coaches at the moment because everybody seems to be playing good cricket and everybody wants to play.

MH: I guess it must be really frustrating to be in and out of the championship side, but I've been keeping a close eye on the second team scores and you've been scoring runs as well as taking wickets...

CS: That's all I can do. I know it makes it hard work for them, not picking me. There's me, Ian Salisbury and Nayan Doshi fighting for places. With the other two having a fantastic season last year I know that they're going to be looking to use them as much as they can in championship cricket. But if I keep going away to the second team, scoring the runs and getting the wickets, it's going to be difficult for them to say: 'We're going to leave you out again in this championship game.' It's whatever they think is best for the team at the time, in terms of the line-up they want, you go with it. I know I'm going to come into the first team for the one-dayers. I've been bowling very well and haven't really been required with the bat because the lads are doing the stuff up top. With the ball and in the field, things have gone well for me. During my last three years with Lancashire I was playing predominantly as a batter. They didn't use my bowling at all, so I became a number six batter. The club knows that I can hold a bat as well and can offer a lot in the field. They need the energy of me, James Benning, Rikki Clarke and a couple of the younger guys to do all the diving about.

MH: But you're only on a one-year contract, does that matter to you?

CS: Not really, I'm just glad to be playing first-class cricket again. At the end of my first year out of the game, when I was playing with Cheshire, nobody came in for me. So I thought I'll come down to Suffolk, try once more and see what happens. I played a couple of second team games, but I thought if no county came in for me it would be a case of: 'Well I've tried for two years, I've done my best and nobody's come in for me.' But I did work hard, I did take wickets, I did all the travelling about to get back into first-class cricket and I got given an opportunity. This is my chance to prove to people that I can still play and I can bowl, because that's what people are going to sign me as - as a bowler predominantly. Last Tuesday night shows that I am capable of bowling in first-class cricket and when times are tough. I've worked hard for two years to try and get back to where I was and it's good now that Butch has got the belief to turn to me and say: 'Here's the ball, just bowl.' With Lancashire, it was a case of bowling one or two overs here and there. When I first played for Lancashire I bowled a lot of overs. In one-day cricket, after the restrictions, I used to get thrown the ball and bowl my allotted nine or ten overs. I used to bowl and bowl. But, unfortunately, with the signings we had I got less and less bowling, which led to a dip in my game because I could only play as a batter and fielder. But now, after playing a lot of Minor Counties cricket, Surrey believe I can be a bowler that they require in all forms of cricket.

MH: You've obviously had a lot of self-belief to get back into first-class cricket, but who has shown belief in you?

CS: Mark and Alan Butcher. We've had a lot of talks about what I need to do with my action and how I need to approach the mental side of the game. But because I'm bowling that many overs in second team cricket; which I have Nadeem Shahid to thank for, giving me twenty overs a day, bowling me constantly, now I feel I can just walk up and bowl. I think at times when I was with Lancashire and I wasn't bowling in the middle, which makes a big difference, when I did bowl, if I got hit to the boundary the confidence the captain had in me went and unfortunately I never got the ball in my hand. But now it's a case of captain and coach working together, watching what I'm doing; a lot of communication between myself and the first team and second team coach and the captain and things are going very well.

MH: So what is the spirit like in the second eleven, because you're not the only one playing for the twos who might be a first team regular if you were, say, at another county?

CS: We do have a very strong squad. I don't think most of the second team boys are far away from playing first team cricket, plus they are getting a lot of help from the senior guys. They are learning a lot. It is a little bit frustrating that you know you're playing well and you're still not getting picked, but I'm just happy with the opportunity I'm getting at the moment to be a professional cricketer. I am doing what is required, what I have been asked to do in one-day cricket and, hopefully, I'll get chosen to play some more four-day cricket and do well in that.

MH: Final question, of the guys you have played twos cricket with this summer, who can you see playing international cricket in, say, five years time if he keeps his head screwed on the right way?

CS: The way James Benning has been going on for the last couple of years, the way he has developed in one-day cricket, he's been a bit unfortunate not to have had a run in the championship side. But he's only a young lad and his time will come. The way he has gone about his cricket, I don't think it will be long before he's playing international one-day cricket.

MAY 2007

To see the April 2007 interview, with Alan Butcher, click HERE