With the Ashes in full swing and Liverpool’s cricket season well underway, we thought what better time to catch up with a collection of the league’s players to talk line, length and music. Getintothis‘ Jamie Bowman fends off a few musical googlys.
With its emphasis on speed, grace and sitting around idly for hours drinking heavily, cricket should be the ideal sport to appeal music fans.
But like most sports, even this most high-brow of pastimes struggles to shrug off its jockish image when it comes to the musical tastes of its players.
A quick glance at the Desert Island Discs archive shows the usual sprinkling of Phil Collins and Elton John chosen by the likes of Ian Botham and David Gower.
England’s lone bastion of good taste (well, he likes Oasis), Graeme Swann, has long lamented the pre-match RnB selections from his team mates.
With the third Ashes Test about to start at Old Trafford and Neil Hannon’s wonderful Duckworth Lewis Method reclaiming cricket as the indie fan’s sport of choice, we asked various members of Liverpool’s cricket mafia about their musical loves.
James Cole – captain of Northern Cricket Club
Getintothis: What’s your favourite album of all time?
JC: Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Getintothis: What songs would you listen to before a match to get you in the mood for a big game?
JC: Hot Fuss by The Killers.
Getintothis: Any favourite local acts you or the lads on the team listen to?
JC: We listen to a bit of The Beatles but nothing else really local.
Getintothis: Pick three bands to headline your own ground if you were staging a festival?
JC: The Killers, Arctic Monkeys and The Saturdays (for obvious reasons!).
Getintothis: Finally, what’s your Ashes prediction?
JC: 4-0 England.
Chris Firth – captain of Southport and Birkdale
Getintothis: What’s your favourite album of all time?
CF: I suspect my tastes vary widely from the rest of the side, which tends to be all that rap and RnB nonsense so it’s a toss up between Oasis’ Definitely Maybe, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
Getintothis: What songs would you listen to before a match to get you in the mood for a big game?
CF: We tend to take in turns to pick a song before the game, so it can be anything from Queen to Steps or Pitbull.
However, I think we’ve become quite well known for singing our team song after victories. It’s the rather rude version of the Yogi Bear song, which can be found on YouTube if you want to have a listen!
Getintothis: Any favourite local acts you or the lads on the team listen to?
CF: Can’t say there are any really no, although I quite liked the Zutons a few years ago, and obviously there’s The Beatles.
Getintothis: Pick three bands to headline your own ground if you were staging a festival.
CF: It would have to be Queen to headline being supported by Bon Jovi and Led Zeppelin. Decent bill that.
Getintothis: Finally, what’s your Ashes prediction?
CF: After the first two Tests, I think it will be 5-0 and 4-1 in Oz!
Ian Robinson – captain of Ormskirk Cricket Club.
Getintothis: What’s your favourite album of all time?
IR: Oasis – Definitely Maybe.
Getintothis: What songs would you listen to before a match to get you in the mood for a big game?
IR: I like a bit of Motown on the way to away games although I’m in the minority I think.
Getintothis: Any favourite local acts you or the lads on the team listen to?
IR: My team mate Matt Glayzer is mates with one of the lads from Lawson if that counts?
Obviously there’s The Beatles and I like a bit of The Coral as well.
Getintothis: Pick three bands to headline your own ground if you were staging your own mini festival.
IR: The Killers, Oasis and Arctic Monkeys.
Getintothis: Finally, what’s your Ashes prediction?
IR: 3-1 England.
Adam Irwin – captain of Sefton Park.
Getintothis: What’s your favourite album of all time?
AI: Seems remarkably unoriginal for a bloke who grew up in Salford in the ’80s and ’90s, but The Stone Roses eponymous debut album sound tracked my youth.
Getintothis: What songs would you listen to before a match to get you in the mood for a big game?
AI: Not much time for that anymore, but if I was travelling to games and trying to get in the right frame of mind, maybe A Guy called Gerald – Voodoo Ray or something like that.
Getintothis: Any favourite local acts you or the lads on the team listen to?
AI: I can’t speak for the rest of the lads but I went to see Bill Ryder Jones at Camp and Furnace a few weeks ago. Very good indeed.
Getintothis: Pick three bands to headline your own ground if you were staging your own mini festival.
AI: Orbital, the band who performed the best set I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury in 1995. Laura Mvula, an old friend who is a spectacularly talented musician, and I’d get Neil Young to play at dawn. I can’t imagine that would be a problem.
Getintothis: Finally, what’s your Ashes prediction?
I managed to get to Trent Bridge to watch Ian Bell give England a chance of victory. Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann will be too good for Australia, but it will still be tighter than some have predicted. 3-1.
Jamie Bowman – Liverpool Echo cricket correspondent and Sefton Park player.
Getintothis: What’s your favourite album of all time?
JB: So hard to choose but it would be a fight between The Stone Roses debut, Love’s Alone Again and Happy Mondays’ Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches.
Getintothis: What songs would you listen to before a match to get you in the mood for a big game?
JB: I get incredibly nervous and pace around chain smoking so something to make me sit still. Brian Eno or some dub reggae.
Getintothis: Any favourite local acts you or the lads on the team listen to?
JB: There’s so many. The La’s are one of my favourite ever groups as are Echo and the Bunnymen. At the moment I like Baltic Fleet, Outfit and Mugstar. If we’re playing on a Sunday we all like going to the Caledonia to watch the Loose Moose String Band after the game.
Getintothis: Pick three bands to headline your own ground if you were staging your own mini festival.
JB: Kraftwerk – I’d make them play in the middle of Sefton Park and people could cycle around them. I’d have Julian Cope play too and persuade Hawkwind to get back together.
Getintothis: Finally, what’s your Ashes prediction?
JB: I have a sneaking suspicion the Aussies will come back hard at Old Trafford but I still think it will be 3-1.
Further reading on Getintothis
Top 10 best albums from the Dawn of the Premier League
Music and the great Transfer Festival Window
