As the County season gets underway, The Cricketer spoke to three players who are playing Second XI cricket – as they try to make it as a Professional

‘You’re not that young at 23, we don’t have a place for you here.’

As the County Season approaches, everyone focuses on the ‘Ones to Watch’ and which overseas is going to which club or will the Hundred ruin the game forever.

But what about the other county cricketers on the 10 to 5 ‘county grind’ driving multiple hours to play a Second XI game that means nothing and is all about individual performance.

Taylor Cornall is familiar with the county grind. At 23 years old he was told by Paul Allot and Lancashire in August 2022 that he was too old and compared to the youngsters coming through, he wasn’t what the club was looking for.  Cornall points to the academy in take of Matty Hurst, George Bell and Tom Aspinall as incredibly impressive teenagers at the time.

The opener then drove six hours to Kent for a trial, organized by Allott, and then did the  shorter drive to Worcester where, while finishing his dissertation, he scored a ton and was offered two professional contracts.

The left hander picked Worcestershire and was back on the ‘county grind’ again.

“I would play Monday to Thursday with the 2s, then Friday to Sunday I would be 12^th man for the 1s. It was mentally and physically exhausting”.

Cornall speaks about the mental struggles he had when selection did not go his way. He openly admits to comparing himself to other players in his own team thinking.“If he scores runs today he’ll be ahead of me. The environment was tough, it’s a mixture of trialists, senior professionals and squad players desperate to get back into their first teams”.

Cornall retired from the county game at the age of 25, taking up a role as an Account Executive, ‘the demand wasn’t there for an opening bat, I have an economics degree,  I needed to see what else was out there and it was nice to get into a stable full-time role’.

One of those trialists Cornall speaks about, who are still trying to break into the county scene is all-rounder Joe Pocklington. The left-arm spinner, who was at Sussex from 10 years old has come through the Southern counties set up with players such as Ali Orr, Henry Crocombe and Jack Carson.

Pocklington is a 2s veteran, having played a large number of games for Sussex and even captaining the side on two occasions. These two captaincy experiences best capture the odd life of a player on the ‘county grind’.

“The first game I captained we had a strong side with plenty of county pros, then the next game a week later I was introducing myself to half the team as we had a side made up of trialists and boys from the senior academy.”

These games will be starting in the next couple of weeks with nobody watching at out grounds as players battle it out to get into there county championship sides. Pocklington will be one of those players, being told by Sussex that he wasn’t in their plans, he’s now up in Leeds.

The left arm spinner did four years at the Yorkshire University captaining the UCCE side and impressing. Last season he played a game for the 2s at Yorkshire and a game down for Derbyshire while getting paid for Farsley in the Bradford Premier Division.

Much like many players in his position, Pocklington then headed Down Under in the winter, playing Grade Cricket for Gordan in the Sydney competition as he tries to improve. This path has been trodden by many a county pro.

So as the season approaches Pocklington is giving it one more shot, sending out plenty of WhatsApp messages to coaches with his CV hoping that he can get that one big break.

Nico Reifer has had that taste of County Cricket playing in the Royal London Cup for Surrey but also now finds himself on the outside of the County game looking in.

He, like Pocklington, has spent this off-season in the southern hemisphere, but the right hander has spent it in Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

Due to his Bajan family, Reifer does have the option of going back to Barbados to play domestic cricket, he played a T10 tournament in the land of his birth in January but the 24-year-old still has his sights set on the county game.

His desire is best shown by flying back from New Zealand for Sussex’s open trial earlier this year and then flying back later in the week so he could play for his Kiwi club side.

The 2s games aren’t just about three day cricket either, with counties using it as a training ground to tune up their white ball players in preparation for the T20 Blast . “The biggest challenge, for me as a batter has been the limited time you get to hit the ground running. You get a good ball, one poor decision and failure, that is three chances already and the County will already be wanting to look at someone else.”

He has had opportunities now in three 2s set ups at Leicestershire, Surrey and Northants and he talks about the different environments at each club. ‘At these games you are driving there not knowing where you are going to bat as the team could be packed with pros so you maybe at seven or it could be an academy team meaning you will be at three, it’s a lottery’.

The Second XI pre-season starts for most sides in the first week of April with the league starting a month later. If you walk past an out ground at Guildford, Thame, Horsham, or another leafy part of the UK spare a thought for the players out there on the ‘county grind’.