Harry Pougher nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

After 50 years in cricket, Harry Pougher can claim to have played against some of the biggest names in some of the country's biggest Test venues.

Pougher has taken on the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Fred Trueman and Graham Pollock in a playing career that is already worthy of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

However, his work with coaching stands as an equally magnificent achievement, as he played his part in introducing Kwik Cricket to England and sparking the interest of the sport to a whole new generation of cricket stars.

"I attended a meeting in 1989, at Trent Bridge, as chairman of Lincolnshire cricket association at the time," explained Pougher.

"The meeting was to talk over a game which is called Kanga Cricket in Australia.

"We took it on and called it Kwik Cricket and the Lincoln McKinnells League formed the country's first league."

Kwik Cricket has brought more youngsters into the game over the last two decades, with the sport played at schools across the country.

Played with a soft ball, the rules mean that teams lose runs rather than having a player taken out of the game.

These variations from the true form of the game have seen it criticised by some parties, but Pougher believes that the game is a perfect introduction to cricket.

"Some people brand the game as a bit 'Micky Mouse'," said the former Robert Pattinson School teacher.

"However, the players bat and bowl in the same way, and they field in the same way. They also get the same passion and excitement for the game as you find in the full version of the game."

The way youngsters are brought into the game is one of the biggest changes that Pougher has experienced.

That, he explains, and the way players field in the modern game.

"In the past we had what we knew as 'escort fielding'," joked Pougher.

"A batsman would strike the ball to the boundary and the fielder would 'escort' the ball to the line from a safe distance, not really getting close to stopping it.

"Now, fielding is very athletic and there is a lot of emphasis on keeping the run rate low."

Pougher's own entrance into the game came as a nine-year-old playing for his father's team, Gunness, near Scunthorpe.

Pougher admits he was taken along to make up the numbers on an away trip, but it turned out to be an eventful arrival into the game.

"I scored three runs," explained the right-hand batsmen who went on to open the batting for Lincolnshire.

"But the highlight of the day was catching out the opposition's captain."

From there, Pougher went on to play for Appleby Frodingham before moving to Lincoln in 1967 where he joined Ruston Bucyrus before eventually linking up with Lindum in 1985.

By this point he had already made his debut for Lincolnshire, playing against Leicester 2nds at Oakham in 1959.

"All I remember of that game was that it was a two-day match, it was pretty warm and I spent the majority of it in the field," explained Pougher, 68.

"It was a good experience and I was fortunate to be playing in the same team as Johnny Lawrence.

"He was a Yorkshireman who bowled leg-break and googly. He was a bit of a father figure to the younger players – he was a great bloke."

Pougher's Lincolnshire career saw him take on four first-class county sides and take on some of the biggest names in the sport.

After finishing playing in 1990, Pougher focused his attention on coaching. His teaching, however, had already seen him pass on his know-how to future England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.

Behind the scenes he was also hard at work at setting up the foundations for cricket in the county.

"Harry is highly regarded as a coach and administrator, with a wide range of contacts throughout the county, he helped lay down much of the framework for the recovery in the county's fortunes," said Nigel Fisher, now a senior official of the Lincolnshire County Cricket League and a sports journalist who covered Lincolnshire Minor Counties matches throughout Pougher's latter spell as skipper in the 1980s.

"As county captain, he worked just as hard off the field as he did on it – particularly in the search for talent."

To read extensive previews of the Lincolnshire Sports Awards, buy today's Lincolnshire Echo.