COVERED 2025 Spring

COVERED 22 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK L ess than a year ago, Rob Lord was on the cusp of accepting that a career in cricket wasn’t going to work out for him. After a series of unfortunate knocks that made his route into the professional game somewhat challenging, he may have been forgiven for feeling that way. Notable barriers to securing a stab in a professional setup included a global pandemic, changes to the ECB academy age categories and a serious ankle injury. Taken together, it makes where he is today seem all the more impressive. Having dreamt of playing profession- ally for as long as he can remember, it seems a real sense of drive, persever- ance and hard work have fuelled his ambitions to achieve his lifelong goal. And although hopes were beginning to fade last year, the tide finally turned in Lord’s favour when Peter Moores came knocking in July. As he gets comfortable up in the padded chairs of Six, the bowler admits it came out of the blue. “If someone told me this time last year that I’d be playing first team cricket for Notts, I would have struggled to believe them to be honest,” he says. “One of the head coaches for a team I play against in the Cheshire League, who was also a friend of Pete’s, took a few videos of me when we played against them last summer - I had no idea at the time. “I was washing my car at my dad’s when the message from Brad (Pete’s friend) came through – it was a nice text to receive.Then I played a four-dayer at Lady Bay that went quite well and the rest is history.” Coming into a professional set-up mid- way through the season is no easy feat, but certainly one that Lord grabbed with both hands, albeit whilst putting himself under pressure to perform. Initially on a short-term contract, Lord knew he had to do his talking out on the field. “I suppose that pressure pushed me to do well. Just going out there and giving it my all for every game was the aim,” he reflects. “My first game (at Leicestershire in the One Day Cup) was tough - we bowled first on a pretty flat wicket, and Leicester had a strong One Day Cup side. “I was pretty nervous and it probably showed.There was pressure to do well but it was good to get that game under my belt. “Taking my first professional wicket was a nice feeling, as was the five-fer against Surrey (in a One Day Cup win at Guildford). “To pick up wickets against names like that (Dom Sibley and Ben Foakes) was massive.They were a huge confidence boost going into the next few games. “To then play in front of so many people at Trent Bridge was nice (with almost 7,000 in attendance for Family Fun Day). It was a funny experience having kids shout your name asking you to sign autographs – I mean, I was playing club cricket halfway through last year.” Get 5% OFF using promo code: NOTTS5 G E T I N TO U C H AT ambassadorcruiseline.com Call 0808 303 0894 ABTA No. Y6765 4.7 /5 ServiceRating 1343Reviews BestUKMid-Size CruisesOverall BestValue for Money (Ocean) T H E B E S T V LU E AT S E A PROUD PARTNERS OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB The promotional code NOTTS5 cannot be combined with other charity/member/association/media or affiliate promotion codes or onboard future cruise offers. It may only be combined with an Ambassador Campaign Promotional code advertised on the Ambassador website. The promotional code is not valid on Ambassador’s Festive Events, Fly Cruises, selected charters and cannot be used over Ambassador’s Black Friday promotional period. 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