With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA
Bjorn Mordt is taking inspiration from Liverpool football boss Arne Slot as he prepares to take charge of Berkshire for the first time in a competitive match this weekend.
Former Berkshire captain Mordt has taken over as the county’s Head Coach from Tom Lambert who steered them to a period of unprecedented success with 12 pieces of silverware – the latest a shared Championship title with Staffordshire last season – in eight years.
Mordt acknowledges that he faces a daunting challenge which he likens to the one Dutchman Slot, who has just guided Liverpool to the Premier League title, faced when he succeeded Jurgen Klopp at Anfield last summer.
“What Tom did for Berkshire is quite incredible. It’s going to be a hard job to follow him but the inspiration I have is Slot and Klopp. Hopefully I can do something similar but I might be asking too much of myself,” Mordt said.
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But Lambert, who has been appointed Director of Cricket of Datchet as well as running the now privately-funded Challengers programme, has left Mordt with a squad that is accustomed to winning and is underpinned by a successful youth system which has enabled Berkshire to regenerate the senior side.
“I have done quite few sessions with the boys and I have also been with our Under-18s and from what I have seen the future is quite incredible,” Mordt said.
“The amount of young kids we have coming through is remarkable. The average age of our first team squad is still young. There are a couple of older guys in Dan Lincoln and Andy Rishton and then you have Euan Woods who seems to have been around for ever but yet he is only 26.
“Underneath that we are just stacked with lots of really young, handy kids. I am hoping that this year we can get a couple of them playing for major counties.
“From my point of view winning trophies would be wonderful but trying to make sure these guys follow their dreams is just as powerful.
“We have some guys who could make a difference and who, if they were given the opportunity to train every day in a professional set-up would just fly.”
One of the players who Mordt believes has the talent and temperament to graduate to the first-class ranks is batter Johnny Connell who made 150 against Middlesex in a Showcase Match three years ago but who has only just been offered trials by a first-class county for the first time.
“Johnny is up with Essex at the moment and he has played in a couple of twos games for them,” Mordt said.
“I am more shocked than surprised that no-one has actually gone: hey, we will give you a rookie contract.
“But it’s only a matter of time. I had chat with Johnny four or five weeks ago and I said to him to just keep his head down and keep on doing what he is doing.
“Luckily Essex have come in for him and the beauty of that is that you sit between two coaches don’t you? Essex are looking at you and whoever you are playing against gets to eyeball you too so I’m hoping that good things come from this.”
Connell will be available for Berkshire for Sunday’s trip to Wormsley to face Oxfordshire and Monday’s home game against Cornwall at Slough.
Seamer Tommy Sturgess, who played List A cricket for Worcestershire last season, will be added to the squad for Monday’s match against his former county.
National Counties Trophy
Sunday May 4 (11am)
Group One
Dunstable: Bedfordshire v Cumbria. Barton: Lincolnshire v Northumberland.
Group Two
Shrewsbury: Shropshire v Norfolk. West Bromwich Dartmouth: Staffordshire v Herefordshire.
Group Three
Tring: Buckinghamshire v Cornwall. Wormsley: Oxfordshire v Berkshire.
Group Four
Sudbrook: Wales NC v Hertfordshire. Marlborough: Wiltshire v Cheshire.
Monday May 5 (11am)
Group One
Dunstable: Bedfordshire v Lincolnshire. Peterborough: Cambridgeshire v Northumberland.
Group Two
Brockhampton: Herefordshire v Norfolk. Bignall End: Staffordshire v Suffolk.
Group Three
Slough: Berkshire v Cornwall. Abingdon Vale: Oxfordshire v Devon.
Group Four
Wimborne: Dorset v Hertfordshire. Warminster: Wiltshire v Wales NC.
With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA
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