Gnashing of Nash

There's not much cricket on at the moment (honest) so time for a quick diversion to the English county championship and this extremely revealing interview given to the Middlesex Supporters website by David "Knocker" Nash, the wicketkeeper.

Great things were expected of Nash after playing 12 Tests for England Under-19 and being selected for England A's tour of Sri Lanka aged 20 in 1998 alongside the likes of Nick Knight, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles. He even kept Chris Read out of the side for one of the three Tests and two of the one-day matches. Since then he has slipped into mediocrity, losing his county place to Ben Scott, which is a shame. He is hardly likely to find favour with the selectors when he calls the England head coach "Drunken Fletcher".

But do read it, if only because it is such a refreshing change from the banal "we've got to put our hands up and come to the party" tripe you get from England cricketers. Among the delightful bits of honesty are pointing out that Scott, his rival for the Middlesex gloves, has made mistakes; admitting that the Middlesex team broke into Ed Smith's suitcase and hung his wife's underwear up in the dressing-room (didn't know Smith was now married but, hey, I didn't invite him to my wedding either) and the revelation that his nickname "Knocker" comes from a superstition early in his career that he had to, er, knock himself off in the gents before going out to bat.

Thanks to Ged Ladd for sending this in. If anyone else has some good stories from the county circuit to divert us during the bleak midwinter, e-mail me on patrick.kidd@thetimes.co.uk