‘It’s cut-throat’ – what is it like to be a second XI cricketer?Image source, Leicestershire CCCImage caption, Sheridon Gumbs spent five years in the academy at SurreyByAndrew AloiaBBC Sport, East MidlandsPublished4 hours agoEvery ball counts. It is a slogan made for The Hundred competition – the pyrotechnic-charged, music-pumping version of cricket bankrolled by billionaires.It is a world away from what you get on the fringes of the professional game, where first-class cricket meets well-manicured English village grounds that so often host second XI matches.At least, you would think so.For some, playing for the ‘twos’ is a tightrope cricketing existence and a last shot at trying to make it as a professional. Every ball really could count.But unlike The Hundred, where top earner Harry Brook will pocket £465,000 for a month’s work, some second XI players on trial runs with County Championship sides are rocking up to play in matches on the UK daily minimum wage of just over £100, with a little more on top for expenses.That’s what it was like for Sheridon Gumbs as he toiled day-to-day, game-by-game trying to prove himself at Leicestershire during a trial period that spanned a season and a half.For 18 months there was no contract, just that day rate, as the former Surrey youngster and England Under-19 international tried to piece together a career with a hit and hope attitude.”You don’t have that safety net because coaches are under no obligation to let you know how you’re getting on or how you’re sizing up to be part of that first team,” the 22-year-old told BBC Sport.”To me, it was go to training and if you’re picked, rock up, try your best, try to perform and just take it and play it by ear.”Yeah, 18 months is a long time, but you’ve just got to trust it. “Nothing easy is worth having and it’s professional sport – it’s not meant to be easy. It’s cut-throat. “So if you really want it, then go out and get it. It’s a gamble, I guess.”Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Sheridon Gumbs travelled to Australia to play for England Under-19s in 2023But there is a reason Gumbs stuck at it with the East Midlands side when rival County Championship clubs began to show interest in him – and why that gamble would eventually pay off.It was just days before the lucrative Hundred competition started last week that Gumbs’ willingness to persevere was rewarded with a three-and-a-half-year deal at Leicestershire.
“There were a lot of people last year that sort of reported ‘what’s going on’? Gumbs recalled. “I was putting runs on the board, having a lot of success and people were like, ‘oh, Leicestershire are messing you around, this, that and the other’.
“But I had nothing, I almost felt in debt to Leicestershire. They reached me out of this hole and granted me this opportunity.”
A succession of setbacks as a teenager meant Gumbs almost gave up on his career before it ever really got going.
He was released by Surrey just months after returning from Australia where he played for the England Under-19 team in 2023.
A trial run at Hampshire followed – but ended after just a few matches.
And at that point, he even thought about dropping out of Loughborough University – the one place he wanted to study sports management because it is the home of the national cricket performance centre.
“I almost put cricket to bed after that, because at the back of my mind I was thinking, almost as an excuse, what more could I have done or shown?” Gumbs reported.
“I obviously wasn’t getting any sort of results anywhere.
“Cricket’s a very mental sport and I think having that break and realising that I essentially owe it to myself to pursue it as a career and keep going, keep knocking on doors, has helped me in the long run.”
