It was Forrest Gump who once said ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get’.
Well, that is an apt way of describing Ian Dews’ life as the head of Yorkshire’s Academy and Second teams. And, boy, does he love it!
Dews is preparing for another summer in his “massively rewarding” coaching job.
Last summer, the second team won the one-day Trophy and reached the semi-finals of the Twenty20 competition, while the Academy finished third in the Yorkshire Premier League North, were beaten finalists in their T20 competition and reached the semi-finals of the Knockout Cup.
This year, who knows quite what will happen. But that is part of the excitement for Dews and his fellow coach Richard Damms.
“Last season was a really good one, and a lot of the lads who came through into the seconds from the Academy in 2014 (they won the League and Knockout Cup double that year) were successful,” said Dews.
“You could see the stage development. We’d had a few rough years, but we started to dish out a few performances.
“It was really good to see some of the lads progress and play first team, the likes of Harry Brook got his chance and Matthew Waite.
“They’ve created some more competition.
“It’s going to be interesting to see who gets that first shirt for Essex and who comes with me for our first second-team game at Bristol.”
