Rob Thornton - my best captain
Rob Thornton | January 21, 2024
Captaincy is such a massive part of our game, more so than any other sport I can think of.
It’s one thing you recognise pretty quickly when coaching junior teams. You have to prepare alongside your captains and then it’s all over to them on the park. It is not just bowling changes and field placements but lifting energy, reading conditions, getting through the overs in time and being focussed on your own role in the team.
As a player I had some brilliant captains in Australia and Scotland and have also been captain of a number of teams, starting with two Northern NSW Emus tours in the early 1990s.
When I think about the very best captains I played under, who really have had a massive influence on me as a captain and coach, I have to go back to my two captains at City United in Tamworth.
I was very young going into first grade under Mark Skewes. Skewesy was old school and brilliant for me and the other youngsters, I can remember him walking up to me at training the first time telling me I had been picked and what was expected. He introduced us to standards that were non-negotiable - as the wicketkeeper I was expected to be at the stumps for every throw and my role was to always be on top of how many balls were left in the over, provide a rundown on whether it was swinging, seaming, spinning etc and DON’T EVER TALK TO THE BATSMAN, even if he was one of your best mates from school or rep cricket.
It was always 11 v 2, we had to make sure the 11 don’t like you and you will find everyone is much friendlier back in the pavilion.
As a batsman, you must play in the V for the first half an hour!!
When Skewesy moved on Basil Penrith stepped in. Basil was an unbelievably talented player, I will always remember playing in my first CHS carnival and reading the program, and at the end they had the list of best historical performances everything was S Waugh, M Waugh and other household names and in amongst them two or three times was B Penrith.
So, to begin with he had the total respect of every player in the team. When I watch Moises Henriques as captain of the Sydney Sixers I always think of Basil, as I think they share the same two crucial traits as great leaders.
1) Calmness - Basil was always fighting, never gave up and he was never flustered, even in some of our most intense situations with a pretty excitable group around him, he had clarity of thought and was happy to trust great bowlers like Tim Wooster, Tony Higgins, Mark Thompson and Terry Skewes. When we won, he smiled, when we lost he smiled.
2) Lead by example - I am sure other teams completely underestimated him, but the bigger the match the better he played. If there was a partnership building, he would take the ball, strangle the run rate and more often than not he, or Tim from the other end, would get the breakthrough. He was the most skilful bowler, definitely the first I played with that could swing it both ways and use a variety of slower balls. He was the same with the bat, he could consolidate or smash it, and often when our backs were against the wall, and you thought he was just defending he would launch the counterattack and we were back on top.
I know I made some mistakes as a young lad, probably thought I was something special and didn’t make the most of the talent I had. I have no doubt that I frustrated them a lot, but playing under Skewesy and Bas has had a huge influence on my life on and off the field and the way I try to coach, captain and lead on and off the cricket field and for that I will always be grateful.
