‘Ash hits the longer ball in our family’ – Luke Wright
LUKE WRIGHT has more than 100 appearances for England to his name yet he is willing to bow to his brother when it comes to the ‘best in the family’ tag.
In the week it was announced that Guernsey coach Ash Wright will play for the island side having completed his three-year residency, his younger sibling gave a glowing endorsement of his credentials.
‘To be honest, Ash has always been the most talented in the family. When we grew up, he was always a great ball-striker,’ said Luke, the Sussex T20 captain who recently broke a county record with a brilliant 166 against Middlesex at Lord’s in the Royal London Cup.
‘If anything he missed out in the fact that he was out of the game when T20 came along. If that had been around when he grew up, especially at Leicestershire when he was a professional, then he would have flown at it.
‘I suppose he is unlucky in that way, but it’s nice to see him back playing. It was such a shame when he wasn’t playing – he was a bit of a missed talent – but he certainly hits the longer ball in the family.’
He laughs when adding that Ash is perhaps ‘not in as good a nick as he used to be’, but he believes that his brother taking on a player-coach role will be of great benefit to Guernsey.
‘He is enjoying his life over here, which is great, it’s one of the things he loves about being over here, he’s met such great people and great friends over here and now he gets to represent them.
‘It’s a proud day for him and it’s a proud day for the family. Obviously, I’m pleased I’ll be here to watch his international debut and I really hope he can help the team because I know what he can do as a batter, he has prepared well, he has been playing back in England in club cricket to get ready, so fingers crossed he can do well.’
Luke was here this week at the invitation of his brother to assist with coaching some youngsters as well as the senior island squad.
Speaking in-between the two sessions, he revealed that he had been impressed by what he saw from the juniors before adding that although the senior squad might be regarded as underdogs in the competitions they have ahead of them, that could work in their favour, starting with the T20 Inter-Insular series.
‘I think it’s about playing smart and using that underdog tag to your advantage. That’s when the pressure is all on Jersey, they are probably expecting to come here and win, so I think it’s using that and making sure you set up in a way that you play smart and give yourself the best chance,’ he said.
‘I’ve seen the guys, there’s certainly enough talent there to win the games, it’s just making sure they can put Jersey under enough pressure to do that.
‘I’ve lost to many underdogs. When I played for England we lost to Ireland, we lost to the Netherlands and that’s the thing – on any given day, if one or two players come off.
‘That’s the exciting thing for Guernsey, they have got a chance. If one or two of them come off, you can win games.
‘I think there are chances for a few upsets in the coming tournament. I’ll be at training with them today and help out in any way I can, but speaking to Ash I think the lads have prepared well.’
