Scott Boswell beats the yips
In an interview with the Guardian, former Leicestershire pacer Scott Boswell shares how he recovered from the nightmarish over that ended his career
ESPNcricinfo staff
20-Sep-2013
In 2001, on what was the biggest day of his life, Leicestershire pacer Scott Boswell sent down a nightmarish 14-ball over that included eight wides. It was the final of the C&G tournament and that over ended his career. In an interview with the Guardian, Boswell admits it took him 10 years to overcome the memory of that match and he now revels in a new-found passion for cricket coaching.
He was, he says, "a nervous cricketer". His action, he admits, "wasn't a biomechanical dream". But the first over was fine. "Peter Bowler cut me for four. But I felt OK." When he came back for his second, Trescothick was on strike. Boswell's head started to swim. He had been struggling to bowl to left-handers. Suddenly Trescothick "looked as though he was 50 yards away. He was like a tiny dot. I just couldn't see him. Then I bowled a wide and I heard the noise of the crowd. I bowled a second wide, and the noise got louder and louder and louder." His muscles grew tight. His fingers grew tense. He began to sweat. "I just couldn't let go of the ball. I wanted to get on with it, so I began to rush. The more I panicked, the more I rushed." He lost his run-up. The pitch, already on a slope, seemed to tilt sharper beneath his feet. He makes it sound like vertigo.