Five Firsts

'I once told Nasser Hussain that he had the biggest nose'

Paul Nixon looks back on his maiden first-class century and chirping an England captain out

Interview by Jack Wilson
11-May-2013
Paul Nixon: a heart-stopping maiden first-class hundred was to pave the way for 20 more  •  Getty Images

Paul Nixon: a heart-stopping maiden first-class hundred was to pave the way for 20 more  •  Getty Images

First first-class century
My first hundred came at Grace Road against Hampshire in 1992. I remember being 96 not out overnight after bad light stopped play.
We came out the next day and I had an over from Malcolm Marshall to face before they could take the new ball. The first one I pushed forward to and it roared past my left ear at about 90 miles per hour. I played and missed at the next four before getting one off my hip down to fine leg.
Cardigan Connor took the new ball and he couldn't have bowled it in a better place, a half-volley on leg stump that I flicked away for four. It was a massive relief.
First pair of wicketkeeping gloves
They were a pair of Gunn & Moores - I was ten at the time and playing for Cumbria Schools. I've always kept wicket since I started playing. My first bat was a St Peter.
First England cap
I'd been on tour to Pakistan and Sri Lanka as a No. 2 to Alec Stewart in 2000 but I didn't get a go until way after that.
We were playing a T20 international against Australia in Sydney in 2007. It was amazing, playing in front of 40,000 people, and I scored 30-odd not out. I thought: "Happy days, I'm playing international cricket and I can score runs, I can do it."
But it was back down to earth with a bump a few days later. We played a one-dayer against the Aussies and I was out lbw to Mitchell Johnson for a duck. When I got out I walked off the wrong way to the changing rooms and the whole ground were giving me stick.
First autograph
There wasn't much cricket going on near where I lived in Cumbria, so my first autograph was actually Peter Beardsley. It was pretty special as I'm a Carlisle United supporter.
First time I chirped someone out
I don't know exactly but one sticks in my mind. I once told Nasser Hussain that he had the biggest nose and was the most hated man in county cricket - but I was being pretty truthful!