DURHAM Test star Matty Potts has been reflecting on the cricketing journey that has taken him to the very top of the game.
Potts became the latest player to rise through Durham’s academy ranks to become a full international when he made his Test debut against New Zealand this summer.
The Sunderland-born 23-year-old starred against the Black Caps, posting match figures of 7-68 in his maiden Test appearance to help England to a comfortable win.
He went on to make four more Test outings over the course of the summer, and was also handed a One-Day International debut in England’s July defeat to South Africa at Chester-le-Street, and while he has been left out of the Test squad for this winter’s tour of Pakistan, the fact he was awarded an increment central contract in the last round of ECB awards confirms he remains firmly in the selectors’ thoughts.
After a whirlwind summer, the last few months have given Potts a chance to reflect on the way his career has progressed, and while he will always be grateful for the opportunities he has been given at Durham, he is also quick to acknowledge the role played by a couple of more local clubs at a formative stage of his development.
“My ambition has always been to play for England,” said Potts, in a video produced in association with Durham’s headline sponsors, Vertu Motors. “Being a youngster, you look up at these guys playing cricket on the TV and you’re like, ‘This is what I want to do’.
“There was a hill round the back of my grandad’s house and we used to go up there with a set of homemade wooden stumps. Originally, it was a cat basket and I would just knock them about in the field all day long.
“I was pretty good at it, so my mum and dad and grandad made the decision to start taking me to the cricket. That was at Philadelphia (Cricket Club), and I played at Philadelphia until I was 13, and then I made the transition to Washington Cricket Club.”
At Washington’s Harraton Ground, Potts played under the tutelage of Adrian Wood, and his former coach remembers the passion and competitiveness the pace bowler was displaying from an early age.
“He was nippy then and a little bit aggressive,” said Wood, “Whereas most junior bowlers would run in, and you know, nice line and length, Matty would one or two times think, ‘I might try and hurt him’. But Matty never had his talent dragged out of him. He knew he could do well.
“I’m not sure if he thought he could go as high as he has. I mean, we were chuffed when he came at 14, and he has just progressed nicely from there.”
After signing for Durham, his home county, Potts made his first-class debut in the County Championship in 2017, with Neil Killeen, who was bowling coach at the time, acknowledging that his ‘bullish personality’ immediately made him stand out.
“He burst onto the scene as if he had played 100 Test matches,” said Killeen. “At that point, he loved to tell everyone how to bat, how to bowl, how to field.
“He’s gone on from there and he’s still that same bullish character now. A lot of that is what has got him to where he is today.”
Pott’s performances with Durham rapidly earned him international recognition, and he burst onto the Test scene in style earlier this summer, troubling the New Zealand batsmen from the off at Lord’s.
His first innings in Test cricket ended with him having claimed four victims, a superb start, but one that left him slightly disappointed as it meant he just missed out on having his name etched on the honours board at Lord’s.
“Getting picked for England was the best feeling in the world,” said Potts. “Obviously, it was something I’ve been working so hard towards. I was over the moon, and I couldn’t put it into words.
“For my debut, I found out the day before. Stokesy (Ben Stokes) rang me and said, 'Can you come downstairs for a sec?’, and he was like, ‘Are you ready to be a Test cricketer?’. And I was like, ‘Abso-bloody-lutely’.
“I remember going off with cramp nine overs in on the first day, and I didn’t know what was going wrong. I was like, ‘Why is my body giving up on me now of all points?’.
“Obviously, it was the nerves underneath. So, walking off with cramp sitting on four wickets, with the potential of going on the Lord’s Honours Board, I was disappointed not to get five. But there’ll be plenty more opportunities to be on that Lord’s Honours Board.”
* Watch the full video, produced as a collaboration between Durham Cricket Club and Vertu Motors, here.
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