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04
Jul
Exclusive: Yorkshire cricketer Ben Coad on his journey from Studley Royal to Headingley
Ripon's Ben Coad has had a week to remember.
On Wednesday, Yorkshire County Cricket Club defeated Essex by 10 wickets, needing only 41 runs to beat Essex’s 131 all out second innings.
It was only their second win of the County Championship season.
But this canter to victory was made possible the day before.
Seam bowler Coad and batting partner Matthew Revis combined for a score of 239 to overturn Yorkshire’s 95 run deficit with two wickets left.
Revis and Coad both hit career-best scores of 150 and 89 respectively.
Yorkshire Captain and former England wicketkeeper Johnny Bairstow expressed his pride at the “match-changing partnership”.
On the back of their test match high, Yorkshire will hope to take that momentum into the T20 series, when they restart their Vitality Blast campaign tonight against Worcestershire Rapids.
In an exclusive interview with the Stray Ferret today, Coad spoke about growing up in the district, Yorkshire’s season, and preparing for white ball cricket.
Growing up
The bowler, who lives in Ripon, began his cricket journey at Studley Royal Cricket Club when he was seven.
His parents had a big involvement in the club, and his brother also played there.
Coad said that playing cricket in the district had a big impact on his development because the quality was always good. He pointed towards Johnny Tattersall and Finlay Bean, who also came from the area.
At under-17s level, Coad was scouted for the Yorkshire youth team, and at 19-years-old he made his county debut.
Since then, he has played over 130 games for Yorkshire.
The bowler said that he can’t thank his family enough for where he is now, and that they are his inspiration to succeed.
He added they gave so much up for him to be in his position.
Conceding that he is one of the oldest players in the squad now, the bowler said he used to look up to Jack Brooks, Steven Patterson and Chris Silverwood when he first broke through.
Coad added that the proudest moment in his career so far was getting his first team county cap.
A county cap is a ceremonial cap awarded to players in county teams for exceptional service. The cricketer said that it meant a lot to him.
Ben Coad receives his County Cap. Picture: @bencoad10 on Instagram
A tough year
Yorkshire have had a tough time so far this season.
They sit in eighth place in division one of the County Championship and in the Vitality Blast north group.
Coad said the step back up had been "a lot tougher". He said:
We’ve not been as consistent as we could be. We’ve shown what we can do against Essex, but we need to apply it more consistently.
The step back into division one is obviously a lot tougher. I think it was a little bit of a blessing going down, to be honest. It meant some players could get more playing experience.
Coad said that he was happy about his innings against Essex, adding that he works really hard on his batting because he doesn’t want to be a cheap wicket.
Despite preferring bowling to batting, Coad said that he always prefers watching his batting highlights as they don’t come as often.
T20
Yorkshire are set to restart their Vitality Blast campaign tonight.
T20 matches utilise white cricket balls. White balls do not favour seam bowlers like Coad as much as red balls do.
He told us which he prefers and how he approaches both:
I always say that the red ball is the pinnacle and where you have to be at your best. I’m not favoured for white balls currently, but I try to practice slow balls and yorkers as much as possible.
Yorkshire will play both roses matches against Lancashire within a week, on July 11 and 17.
Coad said he’s looking forward to them:
It’s always good to play in the roses. It’s the closest you get to international cricket in terms of the crowd. The place is always packed. The home fixture is always the best. I like the away fixture too, but you’re more likely to get abuse there!
Yorkshire will face Worcestershire Rapids tonight at 6.30pm.
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