Jeremy Blackmore speaks to Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory about the county’s aspirations for silverware this year and his own ambitions of playing for England
Lewis Gregory might have felt his chances of playing cricket at England Lions level were doomed before he was called up to captain the squad in the UAE before Christmas.
It was the fourth time the Somerset all-rounder had been selected, but the first time he had played a game due to a cruel run of luck with injuries.
“It was nice for the body to have finally sorted itself out,” he smiles wryly, “and be available to actually go and play some cricket – instead of being on the slab having knives and screws stuck in.”
Leadership suited Gregory last summer and brought out the best in him with bat and ball as he led Somerset to T20 Finals Day with an impressive tournament batting average of 46.86 and an explosive strike rate of 202.47. Not to mention 18 wickets.
So, it was no surprise that when captaining a Lions white-ball side in the UAE – featuring players with previous international experience in its ranks – he finished as leading wicket-taker.
He was selected again for the Lions trip to India after Christmas and went out hoping to put in performances which would push his name forward for international recognition. He believes he has done that and now wants to nail that reputation so that people think of him as a ‘gun all-rounder’, should places open up in the England side.
“It was firstly quite nice to get the recognition to go on the trip in the first place and a huge honour on how I went in the summer to be able to captain these boys before Christmas. It was exciting and I learned a lot from it.”
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