Michael Talks to Paul Bolton
March 23 2008 - The Sunday Mercury
Warwickshire’s cricket may have become a bit of a pantomime on occasions
last season when they suffered relegation so it is perhaps appropriate that
their players will be taking to the stage in their own production later
this year.
Veteran batsman Michael Powell has unveiled plans to end his Benefit Year
with a pantomime at Edgbaston on December 4 which is expected to feature
past and present Warwickshire favourites. Powell has enlisted the help of
actor David Troughton, the father of Bears batsman Jim, to help put on the
production.
Troughton Snr is a keen cricket fan who combined his many appearances on
stage and screen with his commitments as secretary of Birmingham League
club Stratford.
Powell also hopes that acting commitments will allow Sam Troughton, Jim’s
younger brother and one of the stars of BBC's 'Robin Hood', to play a starring
role in the pantomime.
But the supporting cast is likely to include Powell, fellow opening batsman
Ian Westwood and other Warwickshire players who are spending the winter
in Birmingham.
“We wanted to do something a bit different to end the benefit year and which
was a bit of fun,” Powelly said.
”The Troughton family are very keen to get involved and it will be their
production. “But we will also be looking to get the players and members
of the coaching staff involved as well. “I’ve mentioned it to the players
already and the response has been very positive. Obviously a lot will depend
on whether players are spending the winter here or overseas but there are
usually quite a few players around at that time of year. "Ian Westwood
is very enthisiastic about it and he can't wait to get on stage."
The pantomime will round off a busy year of functions for Powell whose Launch
Ball with the usual programme of cricket matches and golf days plus a glittering
Launch Ball featuring 1970s chart-toppers Showaddywaddy at Chesford Grange
near Kenilworth on April 12.
The fact that Powell has been awarded a benefit and that he is in his 15th
year on the staff at Edgbaston does not mean that he is about to retire.
After two years in which he was repeatedly overlooked by former director
of coaching Mark Greatbatch, the early indications are that Powell is enjoying
a new lease of life under new director of cricket Ashley Giles.
He surprised many by finishing first in the bleep tests on the first day
of pre-season training at Edgbaston last Monday and is determined to make
it difficult for Warwickshire’s younger batsmen to dislodge him this season.
“I will be the first to admit that over the last two years my fitness levels
have not been what they should have been,” Powell said.
“But that’s because I was facing a brick wall every day that I came into
work. For whatever reason Mark Greatbatch didn’t seem to want to pick some
of the older players - Dougie Brown and myself in particular.
“It didn’t matter how well we performed in the second team, we got overlooked.
If you go to work and you are not allowed to perform at the level you would
like, sooner or later you are bound to think what is the point in coming
to work.
“That’s the reasons my fitness levels dropped. I am 32, almost 33, but I
was walking round like a 37 or 38 year-old.
“But there’s a different regime now. I’ve chatted to a few people and I
know that if I am fit enough then I am going to give myself the best possible
chance of playing first team cricket.
“I know that I don’t have a God-given right to play first team cricket but
I’m fitter than I have been for a few years and I intend to make sure that
the young guys have to compete for their place.
“I think I surprised a few people when I came out on top in the bleep tests
at the start of the week. There was a suggestion that I might have hired
a body double to get me through, but that’s not true!”
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