Jesmond Ground

Hi, I'm Phil Hudson 2nd XI captain at Newcastle Cricket Club in the North East Premier League (NEPL). When I was scanning through Captains Corner onthe LCA website I noticed a distinct under-representation on 2nd teamskippers, the mere mortals who hide in the background of the 1st teamcaptains shiny excellence. The real driving force of the club.

First off, I'd like to dispel a myth about 1st team captains. Most of them would have you believe that they are good/great cricketers who work tirelessly for the club to ensure that the 1st XI maintains their position in the league and does well in cups etc. They spend a lot of time training and juggle various commitments to ensure the smooth running of the cricketing operation. However, this is all a lie. The reality is that 1stteam captains are evil. They take great pleasure in calling a 2nd XI captain such as myself on a Saturday morning and carefully decimating hisside, robbing him of star batsman (to bat at number 8 obviously) and frontline opening bowler (3rd change maybe?) whilst at the same timeprobably nicking their scorer as well, and enquiring as to whether we have any good match balls as they have used their for nets or something ridiculous. A 1st XI can be righted with a phone call in minutes. My clubfeels 2 Saturday sides, 1 Sunday side. This means that lads in the 3s on a Sunday may have plans for the Saturday and can't play. Time to tear the hair out! Inevitably some urchin picked up off the street will have to comein and equally inevitably drop a catch (probably off my bowling) that will cost us the game.

Phone calls with the 1st XI skipper therefore become tense negotiations amid talk of quid pro quo. Bluff and counter bluff. 'You want bowler X? He's got family commitments so can't there, sorry. Take Younglad Y instead, can bowl a bit and great fielder. Good for the future of the club etc.'There follows a quick call to Bowler X to explain to him exactly what his family commitments are, and why he is remaining with your just and righteous cause. Selection meetings end up like Cold War summits, the 1stXI skipper suspects but can never prove.

I have been captain of our side now for 2 years, in my first year we won 2 cups but finished bottom of the league. Last year we strengthened the club considerably and ended up finishing 4th in the league (the 1s enjoyed a best ever finish also), which was really encouraging. This season our newly appointed first team captain/ my new nemesis has been playing in Australia over the winter so I have had to do a lot of running around with kit and nets etc. Our new online club shop has been a god send - players order their club kit from a mini site off a local sports shop, they pay online and the sizes are their responsibility. Technology at it's finest. Have also spent the winter training our scorer to use my Ipad to update play-cricket at games, this will revolutionise the Sunday morning lie in for me. Our preseason starts in a couple of weeks, everyone seems to be looking forward to it bar the old experienced warhorses (never ever net) who promise every season that this year is the last. Our team is currently reeling from the loss of our talismanic all rounder (Player of the Year last 3 years) Matt Bashford who has rather inconsiderately taken a job in Southampton. I'm waking up in the middle of the night panicing about my seam attack in his absence. This means that my leg spin may require some further deployment (I urge anyone in NE2 to take appropriate precautions when walking around in the summer, crash helmets and kevlar vests are normally sufficient) but also gives an opportunity to some of our thriving juniors to develop their games.

All in all, very much looking forward to the start of the season. Our overseas player arrives soon to clutter up my flat, my phone bills will go through the roof, I'll have players moaning about non selection/batting order/field placements, secretary's moaning about results sheets,groundsman whinging about practice wickets but it's not all bad news - I've just spoken to T-mobile and had the 1st XI captains phone number blocked from calling me...

You can follow Phil on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/lovetheturret