Retro Ronnie part 2

Continuing our exclusive serialisation of Ronnie Irani's memories of life on the county circuit, thanks to Essex CCC and boredfingers.com, his sponsor. Read Part 1 here

On his Test debut, in 1996 against India: "I remember turning up a couple of days earlier to Edgbaston for the preparation and even though you've been selected for the squad you still feel like you are on trial. You end up being completely knackered before the Test match begins because you feel that you still need to impress the captain and coach.

"In the hotel the night before the game we all gathered for a meal with the Chairman of Selectors, Raymond Illingworth. Mike Atherton (the captain) came up to me beforehand and said 'Good luck tomorrow', so I was really happy with him saying that, especially as he never had too many nice words to say about me. But I did take heart from those words as they were probably a first from him to me ... but unfortunately a last as well!

"I know that Illingworth has had a bit of stick throughout his career but I found him absolutely brilliant company. He was cricket mad, backed it up with awesome knowledge and was so complimentary to me he made me feel 10 feet tall going into the game. I already knew he had been a fine captain during his playing days but you just sense when someone is full of quality – and this guy clearly was.

"It was a really good night and I was buzzing from it. In fact I was buzzing so much that I did not sleep much that night. I reached my room around 10.30, expecting to get my head down by about 11.00 but I just could not get off – I was in a hot sweat. By about 11.30 I thought 'Bloody hell, this isn't working' so I flicked the telly on and thought if I did that I'd be off in 10-15 minutes. Over the previous couple of days Atherton had been going on about a great film called The Shawshank Redemption. So I switched that on and just couldn't sleep so watched it until about 1.30-2.00am.

"At the end of the game – having won it and felt that I'd contributed (Irani made a run-a-ball 34 and took the wicket of Mohammad Azharuddin) – I remember getting back to the dressing room after the presentations wondering what celebrations we were going to get involved in and everyone was packing their bags. There was no feeling of enjoying what we had achieved. It was a case of 'next'. I thought we were going to celebrate but before you knew it everyone was making their way back to where they'd come from – it was quite disappointing and very dour."

In 1997, Ronnie got his first taste of silverware with victory in the NatWest Trophy, but it was the ill-tempered semi-final against Glamorgan that sticks in the mind. "We were at home to Glamorgan, who had a star performer in Waqar Younis; Darren Thomas and Steve Watkin were fine one-day bowlers; Robert Croft; Matthew Maynard – just a fine one-day outfit.

"In the previous week we had played against Kent when Martin McCague had hit me in the ribs, which became badly bruised. In my tenth over against Glamorgan I let a delivery go with full force and ended up pulling an intercostal muscle. I went straight off to hospital for a cortisone injection, which just didn't work. I then took loads of painkillers when I came back to the ground so was drugged up to the eyeballs and completely spaced out.

"When I came into bat I still felt confident that I would see the side through but I got given a dodgy lbw decision. As I was hit on the pad the ball ricocheted to gully and as I ran for a single I was looking at the ball, only for Thomas to punch the air in celebration after I was given out. As the punch went up, I ran into it and he struck me just under the grill of my helmet! There had already been a bit of aggravation that match with Thomas bowling Stuart Law a beamer, hitting him on the fingers; Mark Ilott was involved with a bit of pushing and shoving later on with Croft so it was all kicking off. This was the game that had it all.

"In the end Peter Such managed to hit Thomas's last ball for four to achieve a great victory. After that there were some serious celebrations and it was then a rush to get myself fit for a Lord's final. I was sent out to Munich to have homeopathic injections and my first meeting with Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfart, a man who managed to get me another 10 years out of the game."