"I've done all sorts of jobs - in a fishing tackle shop cleaning maggots, landscape gardening, all kinds"
Saturday 6 June 2020 18:27, UK
Seamer Richard Gleeson says he's never given up on his dream of playing for England despite an unusual route to the top.
Glesson, 32, is one of 14 uncapped players included in England's training group of 55 - the latest stage in a remarkable five-year rise in which he played for Cumberland in minor counties cricket before being picked up by Northamptonshire.
Since switching to Lancashire in 2018, he has improved his first-class record to 140 wickets in 33 matches at an excellent average of 21.43 and now has a chance of appearing for England this summer.
"To go from being a club cricketer at 26 to an England international at 32? That would be amazing," he said.
"It's a great story, to never give up and keep following your dream, to keep pursuing things because you never know what can happen or when.
"It's a great advert for the minor counties (now the National Counties Cricket Association) as well, I think they'll enjoy my story. If it does happen for me with England, and hopefully it does, I think it will make a nice read."
After completing a university degree, Gleeson had a range of unusual jobs before a stint in coaching offered him his breakthrough.
He explained: "I've done all sorts of jobs - in a fishing tackle shop cleaning maggots, landscape gardening, all kinds.
"I spent two winters in Australia and was meant to go back for a third but it was my sister's wedding so I stayed home and worked in a boiler factory.
"I was a bit of dogsbody, lifting and carrying, getting things off the shelves to send to the production line."
He added: "I had my career path in coaching, I've done my level three, I've done tutoring and that's the direction I was going down. I was a club cricketer and I was enjoying it. I probably did think at this age I wasn't going to get an opportunity.
"That's when James Middlebrook came to me and said I had the opportunity to play at Northants. I thought I'd give it a go."
