Frith gets Foxes' call

JEREMY FRITH has been given an unexpected opportunity to make his dream of a first-class cricket career come true. Leicestershire are interested in the Total Cobo and island all-rounder and he will be going to England to play for the county's second XI later this summer.

However, the 26-year-old emphasised that he was not getting carried away by Leicestershire's interest at the moment, having had his hopes of a first-class career dashed in the past by both Gloucestershire and his home county, Hampshire.

'So far what has happened is that Leicestershire invited me across and I spent two days with their first team squad in April, after which they said ?we think you are good enough to be a county cricketer? and they asked me about my availability for the year,' he said.

Frith works for Itex in IT support in schools and has made it clear to Leicestershire that any games he plays for their second team this season will have to be during school holidays.

At present, there are no spaces within the Leicestershire squad, but they are looking for someone with experience to be available if and when required.

'What I have said is that they cannot expect me just to play cricket whenever they need me and not have it lead to anything concrete.

'There has got to be something at the end of it for me.

'I have got a good job here working with great people and I value that greatly.

'I have also got a girlfriend who has been very understanding about all this and for me to go into county cricket full-time, it has got to be financially viable and some security in it.

'But I am going across to play in one or two games when I am available and if, in September, they were to offer me something acceptable in terms of a contract, I would consider it,' he said.

The initial contact between the two parties came from Jack Birkenshaw, the former Leicestershire coach, who has become a regular visitor to the island working with Guernsey's young cricketers, alongside Frith.

Frith admitted that the call from Leicestershire came as a surprise.

'Around August time Jack said ?you really need to be doing more with your cricket?,' said the Total Cobo player.

'It was not until Leicestershire called me in April that anything more came of it and it was very much a surprise.

'With the experiences I have had with county cricket, you do not expect, at 26, for someone to come up and say they are interested in having a look at you.

'But in terms of my cricket, since I was 16 I have worked my backside off looking to get opportunities to go as far as possible. For me, if at the age of 26 someone tells me I have got a chance of making it, I would be pretty stupid just to dismiss it and not take it seriously.'