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01
Jun 2024
The ex-Yorkshire cricketer bowling spin for Harrogate
Jack Shutt still remembers his first professional game for Yorkshire.
The 26-year-old’s career with the county cricket side spanned six years from playing in the T20 Blast to 50-over clashes and first class matches.
But his debut was no ordinary fixture - it was against Lancashire in front of a bumper crowd at Headingley during the T20 tournament.
These days, he plies his trade at Harrogate Cricket Club where he also hosts coaching sessions.
But, he still has his sights set on retuning to county level.
Bowling spin
Jack grew up in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, where he used to go and watch Elsecar Cricket Club play on a weekend.
By his own admission, his schooling did not lend itself to the sport. He had to find his feet in cricket at local clubs.
His state school was focussed on football and not much cricket was played.
It’s an interesting one in Barnsley. From my personal experience, at a state school in Barnsley there wasn’t any cricket at all in school at all.
I think people who get into cricket in Barnsley generally do it through clubs.
At aged eight, he joined the junior set up at Elsecar where he played until joining Castleford Cricket Club when he was 16 to play in the old Yorkshire league.
Jack started out as a batter until he turned 12. He then started bowling seamers, which he described as “okay for junior level”.
One day, while playing on the outfield at Elsecar and trying his off-spin, he was spotted by former Yorkshire spin bowler Ian Swallow and encouraged to try spin bowling.
He [Swallow] was heavily involved at Elsecar. He saw me bowling some off-spin while messing about one day and he said: ‘You should try that and work on that’.
I had a bit of a wiggly run up when I was bowling seam and he said the spin would be better than the seam.
Playing for Yorkshire
Jack was soon picked up by Yorkshire’s academy after impressing at Castleford. Forty wickets in his first full season saw him join the set up where he came through alongside the likes of Jordan Thompson and Harry Brook.
Ian Dews and Richard Damms ran the academy at Yorkshire at the time.
Jack points to the pair as part of the reason why he was successful in working his way up through the ranks.
He signed professional in 2017 aged 20.
Two years later, he was handed his debut in front of 20,000 fans at Headingley Stadium against Lancashire.
Jack bowling against Lancashire in the T20 Blast.
Sat outside Harrogate Cricket Club on a cloudy Thursday lunchtime, Jack recalls the moment he was told that he would be playing in the Roses clash.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore was captain and Andrew Gale was coach. I remember a couple of hours before the game, Tom came up to me and said: ‘Good luck, you’re playing’.
From there, it is a bit of a blur to be honest. In terms of the county cricket schedule, that is Yorkshire’s biggest game in the entire season.
Jack performed well despite Yorkshire losing the game by nine runs. He managed two wickets for 31 runs.
Aside from the defeat, he remembers taking those wickets well.
I remember getting Liam Livingstone out, which was nice.
Then I ended up bowling against Glenn Maxwell, so it was a very surreal experience.
Departing Yorkshire
Much of Jack’s career of Yorkshire was spent in the T20 set up, where he played 13 matches and took 16 wickets.
One of his standout performances came against Durham in 2019, where he managed a five-wicket haul as Yorkshire went onto win by 14 runs.
However, he only played five first class games, where he managed five wickets.
His time in the Yorkshire set up came with the privilege of playing alongside former England captain Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, both of whom Jack describes as “freakishly talented”.
But his spell at Headingley came to an end in 2023, when he was released alongside batter Will Fraine.
Jack was released by Yorkshire in 2023.
Jack points out that he was only ever on a one-year contracts at Yorkshire, meaning his time at the club could have ended at any point.
Regardless, the hierarchy at Yorkshire decided not to renew his contract and opted to keep just one off-spinner in Dom Bess.
His last first 11 appearance came against Middlesex in a 50-over match, where he managed four wickets for 49 runs.
Reflecting on his time at the club, Jack is matter of fact on the issue.
My last two performances in white ball cricket were four wicket hauls, so I don’t really look back and think that I haven’t performed. I just didn’t think it quite worked with the opportunities.
I think also, to be honest, there’s the fact that I’m not a batter - I’m just a spin bowler. In the current modern game, it’s becoming more and more that you want your spin bowler to be a number seven or number eight batter.
I’m not that. So, that obviously held me back as well.
Bowling off-spin for Harrogate
Fast-forward to March this year and Jack signed for Harrogate Cricket Club.
The move came after Will Bates, Harrogate captain, messaged him shortly after he was released from Yorkshire to float the idea of coming to bowl some spin at St George’s Road.
Jack took some time to think about his options before returning to sit down and speak to the club.
Speaking about his decision outside the clubhouse while looking out onto a lush looking wicket and next to a set of new £105,000 practice nets, Jack says it was an easy choice to make.
After I had spoken to the club, I thought it was the best option.
I think it is probably the best place that I could be playing cricket outside of county cricket. There’s not many clubs that have the facilities and the environment created by the people involved. It’s a complete cricket club, which appealed to me.
The decision to join Harrogate also allowed Jack to continue his self-employed coaching sessions.
He offers one-to-one and small group coaching at Harrogate when he’s not stepping up to the wicket to bowl spin.
For Jack, the coaching is rewarding. But he is still on the lookout for another professional contract.
He feels he still has something to offer the game
It’s extremely difficult once you drop out of the game. If nobody is in for you straight away, it’s tough to get back in. I’m fully aware of that.
If nothing happens, then nothing happens. But I still think that I’ve got something to offer.
If you have any local sporting figures who you think should be featured in Sporting Spotlight, contact calvin@thestrayferret.co.uk.
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