Five years after his retirement from professional cricket, Darren Bicknell looks back with Jimmy Hindson.
Darren Bicknell’s move from high-flying Surrey to lowly Nottinghamshire at the turn of the millennium, looked a bit odd.
Surrey had just won the Championship and were a club packed with England stars that was going places, whereas Notts had just finished 17th in the County Championship with only Gloucestershire separating them from the wooden spoon.
The left-handed opener was also moving to a club that he’d enjoyed prolific success against – scoring 1,025 runs in 10 Championship fixtures at an average of 102.50. Joining his ‘banker’ team meant that he would have to find those runs elsewhere – and that was a challenge that many batsmen on the county circuit would not have risked taking on.
"Gal had gone through some tough times at Notts as captain but he was a very determined character when it came to batting and I think we egged each other on." Darren Bicknell
But with six clubs showing an interest, Bicknell chose Trent Bridge as his new home. He was already friends with Paul Johnson, whom he had roomed with on England A duties, and was also intrigued to work with Clive Rice.
“Notts were at a pretty low ebb at that stage and I felt I might be able to make a difference.” Bicknell explained.
“Surrey had the majority of the England side with the likes of Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Adam Hollioake and my bother Martin.
There were a lot of seriously good cricketers and they had a confidence and swagger about them. Notts was a much more low-key dressing room, and you didn’t have the egos. I’d had 13 years at Surrey but I felt I still had a bit more to offer.”
Moving from the excellent batting surface at the Oval to Trent Bridge, which under the direction of Clive Rice meant playing on pacey wickets with at times unpredictable bounce, made Bicknell even more determined to get runs.
“I always hated getting out and was loath to be expansive in case I gave my wicket away," he said.
"The lads always used to take the mickey out of my phrase: ‘You are never in at Trent Bridge.’ I was happy to play in my tight compact style for hours and hours.
"You always knew that the session would be really hard work and then, after that, you could cash in. Because of the way I batted, I was probably valued more at Trent Bridge than I was at the Oval – where you could give it some ‘umpty’ before lunch.”
Bicknell struck up a formidable partnership with Jason Gallian at the top of the order. Both fierce competitors, they spurred each other on, becoming incredibly consistent as an opening pair, although Bicknell admits that he saw Gallian as something of a rival before he came to Notts.
He explained: “We were both like-minded in that we hated getting out and wanted to make big scores. Gal was at Lancashire, scoring lots of runs, and I would look for his score – in a funny way hoping he wasn’t getting any runs because I wanted to compete with him to see if I could go on and play for England.
"Gal had gone through some tough times at Notts as captain but he was a very determined character when it came to batting and I think we egged each other on. He was a great person to bat with – very relaxed but incredibly brave. Nothing phased him and if it got a bit confrontational – he was right in there.”
Notts began to improve, with Mick Newell making some astute signings along the way and Bicknell pointed to leg-spinner Stuart MacGill as the catalyst for a change in attitude in the dressing room.
“We went from being a side who had to play at 100 per cent to compete – to then being able to win a game from anywhere,” he added.
“MacGill could be fractious at times but was a match-winner and we got a huge belief from that. Then Flem (Stephen Fleming) came and allied to Mick being in charge, it meant we had a great attitude in the dressing room. There were other signings, like Mark Ealham. We had the feisty young ones – the Afzaal’s and Pietersen’s – and then really good, solid senior cricketers.
“We eventually won the Second Division – but I don’t think we really believed initially that we could win Division One at the start of 2005. We got off to a good start though and people were performing such as Ryan Sidebottom, who was a great signing, as was Graeme Swann, who would always bowl sides out when the ball turned and expectations were high. AJ Harris on his day was the quickest and brought in extra skills because he could reverse swing it.”
Bicknell will always be remembered for playing a key role the County Championship success in 2005, which he described as an incredible high. He retired the following season and is now the Director of Belvoir Castle Cricket Trust, which has given some 2,500 children the opportunity to play cricket in the Vale.
“It’s great being able to put something back into the game,” he concluded.
“Looking back, I really enjoyed being at Notts and seeing them go from, dare I say it, a mediocre side to one that won the Championship. It was a lovely time to be involved.”