Steve Waugh knew there was something about Paul Nixon during their time together at Kent. Waugh once said: “Nico should have been born an Australian.” It was the ultimate tribute from a man so proud to wear the Baggy Green.
Waugh also said that there are no fairytales in sport but he might have to revise that now for his old teammate. For Nixon had the perfect finale to his professional playing career in England.
The veteran played a key part in Leicestershire Foxes’ thrilling third Friends Life t20 title. Nixon threw himself full-length to take a crucial one-handed catch for the team at a packed Edgbaston on Saturday evening.
“Every fairytale needs a sprinkling of magic,” grinned Matthew Hoggard in the post-match press conference, complete with a straw hat donated by a Leicestershire fan and an ice cold bottle of beer. “That was the sprinkling.”
Hoggard was spot on; the dismissal of Kieron Pollard proved the catalyst for an 18-run win that nobody outside of Leicestershire believed was possible. The feeling within the camp, of course, was the polar opposite.
“As a squad, we’ve had a belief in our abilities to get over the line, whatever the situation,” said Will Jefferson, the hero of the one-over eliminator that clinched a thrilling semi-final triumph against Lancashire Lightning.
“We talk about finding a way,” said Nixon. Josh Cobb echoed those sentiments: “We’ve always found a way to win,” he said, during the rain delay in the quarter-final tie against Kent. That was one of many games the Foxes pulled out of the bag during a fantastic campaign.
Cobb’s Finals Day story epitomised the spirit within the Leicestershire camp. It started horribly with a diamond duck but Cobb showed a tremendous lack of fear to go out to bat in the one-over shoot-out.
What was going through his mind? “The mindset was pretty simple: Clear the ropes,” he laughed. “It was the last chance saloon.” In walking off the field as a winner alongside Jefferson, Cobb’s day had taken a significant turn for the better. It didn’t stop there.
Cobb took four wickets and completed a smart run out in the final as part of a man-of-the-match performance. He was also one of the few batsmen who scored freely in the showpiece game, gathering 18 runs from just 10 balls.
It took some bottle; as it did for Wayne White, who suffered the horrible feeling of going for the last-ball six in the semi-final that tied the game. White too bounced back, hitting a brisk 10 not out from five deliveries in the final before claiming that key wicket of Pollard via Nixon’s super glovework.
The duo’s character will not have been lost on Nixon, who picked up Cobb just hours after he was born. Just over 21 years later (Cobb celebrated his birthday during the recent LV=CC game at Colwyn Bay), the duo were holding a trophy and enjoying a drop of bubbly on the Edgbaston turf.
This was the stuff that dreams are made of. “Thankfully, it was written in the stars today,” said Nixon, with a glint in his eye. “The timing was right, everything was right.
“The Kent game at home was very special and I felt like that was my send-off. Mentally, I felt that this was business time; that this was for the lads, who’d given me so much.
“That Kent game was for me, this is for everyone else. This is for Leicestershire as a Club. This is for Leicestershire as a county.”
It had all made for terrific viewing from the state-of-the-art press box at Edgbaston, where the media were very well looked after. Warwickshire had provided enough food and drink to cater for everybody twice over.
There were programmes, scorecards and information aplenty. Nothing was too much trouble; the little touches make a big difference and everything had been thought through.
I say terrific viewing, but I could barely watch the closing stages of the game against Lancashire. By the end of it, I felt physically sick; almost ready to explode at the combination of excitement and tension.
Thankfully, the players were the calmest people in the ground and it was fantastic for Phil Whitticase, his backroom staff, Chairman Paul Haywood, Chief Executive Mike Siddall, the Board of Directors, the committee members, the Club staff and the supporters to be part of this thrilling triumph.
From Abdul Razzaq’s hitting masterclass alongside White’s clean hitting at Lancashire at Old Trafford to the fearless batting of James Taylor and Jacques du Toit against Derbyshire at home, the Foxes developed a winning habit.
Brilliant all-rounder Andrew McDonald was the competition’s leading run-scorer and chipped in with runs and good catches, left arm paceman Harry Gurney was among the top wicket-takers and added hostility to the attack.
Look up economy in the dictionary and Claude Henderson’s picture would be next to it. Matthew Boyce, although not getting the opportunity to have much of a bat, was like dynamite in the field.
Hoggard took wickets throughout and showed his class and experience on Finals Day while Jigar Naik took three wickets in his first over of t20 this season and was always ready to come into the side.
Cobb and Jefferson were destructive in the powerplay overs, while Nixon, in his last professional season, importantly helped get the Foxes off to a winning start at Wantage Road.
They didn’t look back after ending Northamptonshire’s unbeaten start to the season. “Everyone has come to the party,” smiled Nixon. And everyone was going to one too, to celebrate this phenomenal achievement.
