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Journalism of Courage
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville could have had a career in a sport other than football. The former England player used to play cricket for Greenmount in the Bolton League when he was still growing as an apprentice at Old Trafford. In an interview to Wisen Cricket Monthly, Neville, who won 20 trophies with the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson, recounted the experience when he knocked a century for Greenmount with future Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden on the other end in the year 1992.
Neville, who was 17 at that time, recounted how Hayden motivated him during the match-winning partnership. “I hit a bad shot, and Hayden came up to me and said, ‘Concentrate, I don’t want any of that crap, this is not the time’. That mentality of ‘You don’t get out, you don’t give your wicket away’. That was something I didn’t value enough. He did. Even then. He valued his wicket.”
Neville further talked about how he always wanted to be a part of team that Hayden became a part of in his career. “McGrath. Warne. Gillespie. Gilchrist. The Waughs. Hayden. Taylor. That Australian side was everything I would want in a team,” Neville said. “You know what I love? The mentality. They were always on the front foot and they never backed off,” the footballer added.
The former England international further added that he was toughened up as a sportsman by his early experiences with cricket. “I’d say cricket toughened me up in my early years a lot more than football, because I was playing in the third, second and first team until the age of 15. We were playing with men, some professionals of that time, fast bowlers, with your helmet on. It was really scary,” he said.
Gary Neville appeared in 85 international fixtures for England senior side between 1995 and 2007. He also made 400 appearances for Manchester United and was one of the members of United’s famous “Class of 1992”.
