COVERED 2024 Spring

COVERED 22 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK F or Calvin Harrison, it was always going to be cricket. Yes, there was time spent in academia – Harrison undertaking a Psychology degree at Oxford Brookes – but it was leg-breaks, not lectures, that dominated this student’s thinking. Those hours of seminars and study were no more than a means to an end; a hurdle which had to be cleared to earn a spot in the renowned UCCE University cricket system. The Calvin Harrison of today is curious-minded in life, but single- minded when it comes to his sport. Taking time to relax with guitar or sketchbook when time allows, but devoted to his pursuit of cricketing excellence. Diligent, too: a requisite trait for an individual who’s had to bide his time – he’s already halfway through his coffee when we meet inWest Bridgford, having packed the Peugeot for a half- term trip to Edinburgh with partner Maria. The 25-year-old seems so at ease with his adopted surroundings that it is easy to forget that his move to Notts was far from a foregone conclusion. Indeed, even the opportunity to make an impression was almost cruelly denied. As cricket stumbled back towards normality in the spring of 2021, Harrison’s Oxford UCCE had the majority of their pre-season schedule against First-Class counties wiped out. Only a friendly at Trent Bridge survived. And it was a century for Oxford UCCE in that fixture which proved decisive for the young all-rounder – even if it was an innings compiled while wearing the 12th man’s helmet, with no time to retrieve Harrison’s own lid from his car as Brett Hutton made inroads into the Oxford top order. Facing county stalwarts in Hutton, Luke Fletcher, Steven Mullaney and Peter Trego, the right-hander’s 121 – out of a team total of 291 – was accomplished enough. “IT WAS EASY TO FEEL WELCOMED. FRANKSIE (PAUL FRANKS) UNDERSTOOD HOW DIFFICULT IT COULD BE TO COME INTO A SIDE WONDERING IF YOU’LL GET ANOTHER CHANCE.” Calvin Harrison