Bradley Dack starred for Gillingham last weekend at Newport County – and on Monday showed he’s a handy cricketer too.
Dack’s two goals helped the Gills clinch a comeback win at Newport, and was the star man again, taking the cricketer-of-the-day accolade as Kent Cricket played host to Gareth Ainsworth’s League 2 high-flyers at Beckenham.
The Gills players had a day away from Priestfield, as they were first given some lessons on technique before playing a game, all under the supervision of coach Min Patel, the former player whose career included almost two decades at Kent, which saw him take 589 first-class wickets.
Gills boss Ainsworth is big on extracurricular activities for his players and enjoyed taking them away for a day.
He said: “Min the Spin represented England at Test level, and it’s not every day you get to get experience of another sport with somebody who’s been at the top of their game and hearing from him.
“The synergy between the two sports is good. It looks a million miles away when you visually look at it, but there are all sorts of comparisons and Min was great at the end of the session.
“They all bought in, which was fantastic. Then they had a game at the end, which was very competitive for all the boys, and they loved that.
“Bradley Dack’s one of those annoying people, isn’t he, that can turn his hand to any sport and be good at it, and I have to say that I was probably one of those as well. I loved any sport and I’d have a go at any sport.
“Brad’s definitely got some good technique on the batting. He caught a few high balls as well. He’s very decent, but I don’t want to give him too much praise – he had enough last weekend!
“Sam Vokes showed that he was a real slogger with the bat as well.
“Those two are maybe getting a bit old to change sports but they certainly made their mark at Kent Cricket.”
The key takeaway from the day for Ainsworth came from Patel’s Q&A session at the end, when he was asked about similarities in team selection and the importance of a squad.
Ainsworth said: “The captain is the one who picks the team and the strategies in cricket, very similar to my position [at Gillingham], but Min was saying when you’re not in the team, or when you’re not favoured, what’s your roles? That’s very similar to here.
“It’s the people who are on the outskirts sometimes that can make the big difference. I’m a massive believer in that. I think man management is so important because it’s the ones on the outskirts that can sometimes get you that result.
“In a lot of the games, it’s not just the 11 that go out there and get the result. It’s the 22, 23 we’ve got here who all push each other.
“I know that if I’m a player, I’m thinking, ‘wow, I’ve got somebody very good waiting in the wings just to step in. I’ve got to be at the top of my game.
“You see it in training every day. It’s mayhem sometimes training because it’s two really good teams against each other and it’s difficult to get some messages out sometimes. I’m really pleased with the way we are.”
