Kent’s vice-captain seeks to fulfil his potential with an Ashes year looming
Adam Collins04-Apr-2019Pedigree: it’s not a dirty word. At least not as far as Daniel Bell-Drummond is concerned. It is a tag he has carried with him since he was a kid. Now, at 25 years old, he is readying himself for his most important season yet, appointed the interim vice-captain for Kent’s first season in the Championship top flight since he began his professional career as a 17-year-old.His glittering CV always precedes him. You know how it goes: more runs in under-age ranks for England than any other, duly recognised as the standout schools player by in 2012 after his final season at Millfield. He clocked a Youth Ashes hundred against Australia when nobody else made it to 30. Rob Key, his captain on graduating to senior ranks, predicted that he would play 100 Tests. On every measure, Bell-Drummond was the definition of a prodigy.But now that’s less clear. It could go either way. Yes, time is still firmly on his side but, by the blunt measure of a first-class average of 32 – that mark dropped to just 20 in 2018, with no red-ball hundred for his county since 2016 – and the pressure starts to build on somebody of which so much is expected. Well, maybe for lesser types. But not Bell-Drummond. He knows his is a name people scroll down scorecards to locate and that doesn’t intimidate him.”I find that quite cool to be honest,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It is something that I have been working towards all of my life. The pedigree I was brought through with to now, it is something to be proud of, but the important thing is to try and make that step up. It is not the worst thing in the world being talked about. I prefer it to not being talked about, that’s for sure. My youth cricket and the school I went to, I was in the limelight quite early so I have been used to it from a young age. So hopefully I can put some scores together to push on.”It being an Ashes summer, a logical reference point for fans is the truly breathtaking innings he played against the touring Australians at Canterbury to start their tour four years ago. It might be overstating it to say that he ended Ryan Harris’ career, but it was the final innings in which the mighty quick bowled. Fawad Ahmed was also taken down by the then 21-year-old, the Kent faithful singing his name to the familiar White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” riff. The 92-ball century finished with 127 from 112 deliveries and every Australian tourist certain they would be seeing him again at some stage sooner than later in the biggest stage.ALSO READ: Finn at 30: Where now for England’s Next Big Thing?”It was a good day,” he says with the modesty of somebody who has been asked about that innings many times in the seasons since. “Everyone felt slow compared to Mitch Johnson at the other end because he was so fast, which woke me. I was grateful for that and it is something I will definitely think about for the rest of my life. Everything clicked.”As it did again for the England Lions the following summer. Again at his home ground, this time against Sri Lanka, he contributed a unbeaten 171 as part of a 367-run stand with Ben Duckett – the second biggest in the history of List A cricket. With Andy Flower overseeing the side, he was once again in the national discussion; on the path as everyone foretold.When the next two seasons sputtered in Championship cricket, Bell-Drummond’s white-ball credentials swelled in both formats. It won him a brief start at the Bangladesh Premier League, and more recently, for Auckland in New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition, a stint in which he averaged 74. “I wouldn’t say it has been the worst of times,” he says. “I’ve still progressed as a cricketer and then I hadn’t represented the Lions or anything, and I had two solid years in that, so definitely I have improved since then.”That measured and positive disposition is evident when talking about the rest of his winter, spent playing grade cricket with Randwick-Petersham in Sydney. Does that club ring any bells? It might do, due to the saturation coverage David Warner brought every time he picked up his bat for the ‘Randy Petes’. Bell-Drummond averaged 60 across his eight games and left with a considerably different impression of Warner than the one he arrived with.
All I heard of Dave [Warner] was in the news and I knew he was getting slammed so I didn’t really know what to expect but he was brilliant,
“All I heard of Dave was in the news and I knew he was getting slammed so I didn’t really know what to expect but he was brilliant,” Bell-Drummond says. “It sort of half-surprised me because of his reputation. I don’t know if the media got it wrong or maybe he is changing a little bit. What I can say is that the time I spent with him he was a top man. I can’t speak highly enough of him and can’t wait to see him back in the Australian team.”On the available evidence, it’s a savvy move from Kent to promote Bell-Drummond to the vice-captaincy in the absence of Sam Billings and Joe Denly, both at the Indian Premier League for the opening exchanges of the new season. Yes, he has skippered England at youth level and the MCC in Barbados last year in the season opener, but his leadership qualities off the field reinforce that he’s exactly the sort of character that commands respect.Take Platform Cricket. Launched last year by Bell-Drummond, its co-creator, 14 primary schools and 400 pupils are taught the game in the south east of London. Having grown up in Lewisham – the only current professional player hailing from there – he simply wants the diverse community to have the fair access to the sport. “It was always something that I wanted to do, being black myself, but it’s not just about that,” he says. “It just dawned on me that, if I am in the position to help and give back to the community, then I have got to do it even though I am fairly young. But I think that’s more of a reason to get into it because I am still relevant and got the energy.”Born of Jamaican parents, Bell-Drummond’s emphasis with Platform Cricket is not about race as much as socio-economics. “Having gotten into it more it is a location thing,” he says. “There are even children who aren’t from cricketing countries from origins in Eastern European. If they are all English they should all have an equal chance of playing. They may not have cricket in their blood like my parents did, but they are fully English. Every kid should get that opportunity.”Given the toxicity of the Brexit debate and its not-so-subtle focus on freedom of movement within the European Union, there would be something quite wonderful if, in a decade or so, a kid from Poland is bashing the door down thanks to the opportunities afforded to him or her thanks to Bell-Drummond’s work. Time will tell, but his energy for the task it is palpable.Returning to the challenge ahead in the new season, Bell-Drummond is craving one attribute that sets apart potential from true success – dependability. “I know that I have it in me so it is just about finding the consistency and putting the scores together that will get me noticed,” he says. “Division One will be a big thing. But to be honest, I have always had the opportunities. The more experienced that I am, the more confident I am in myself.”But is this the year? The body of work he’ll look back on as making the difference? Bell-Drummond is quietly confident but realises there is little point getting ahead of himself. “I always wake up with the dream of playing for England and it hasn’t changed. But I don’t want to look too far ahead. You can forget what is right in front of you.”