SLATS: It's a happy night outside the visitors dressing room here in Mumbai as inside Lord is celebrating with his boys after another resounding win... Oh what's this a drunken Lord has stumbled out with and come up to his old mate Slats for a chat.
LORD: Sure can
SLATS: what are your aims for this season? you're slowly becoming established as a top WCC side
LORD: Well , my aims this season would be to carry on building the side i have structured from the past seasons, hopefully making an entry into Div 1 4d this season and getting back into Div season 2. Also reach the top rounds of the new WCC Cup. hampshire have had bad luck in the cup except for the initial seasons of the cup, so we would like to prove our worth there aswell
SLATS: it's interesting you should say that a lot of other teams view the cup simply as a practice game. are your preparations for the cup the samea s other games.
LORD: Yes, Hampshire dont take anything lightly when it comes to cricket on the field. We have strong ethics on field and off field. We take each game seriously as they come by and work very hard may it be pre season games regardless of win or loss. Our preparations for the Cup are certainly a notch ahead of the preparations for the normal OD games. Practises are made more intense for the cup. seeing as our fortunes have been bad in the previous seasons.
SLATS: Do you blame people for your bad fortunes? Your players? Blewy? it has been rumoured your not very happy with the blewett!
LORD: No, misfortunes would have to be the own teams fault for having good composure upto games and then breaking down just because the team lacked focus, and were perhaps a bit too overconfident. Rumors will always be rumors, and i think it is completely false. Blewy and I have a top notch friendly relationship off field and on field. Blewy , rich ( of kent ) have probably been the closest to me in Wcc. Apart from the reason that ive been getting shipment of rank bad rookies there is no reason to not happy with Blewy.
SLATS: Talking about friendships.. They have a big influence on trades.. and talking about trades which this season do you feel has been the most important about ur coming of age as a side?
LORD: Well given my rank bad memory , give me a second to recall....
SLATS:now's probably a good time to give the website a plug. check out all of last seasons trades on
http://www.cricketweb.net/worldclubcricket/stats/trades.shtml
LORD: Well i only made 1 trade in the season that was acquiring Y McDowell, i desperately needed a spinner replacement after champion bowler S Macgill retired prematurely. and Y McDowell is a young bowler who has great potential. And the move to get him to hampshire might turn out to be a good one. He has youth and he willing to learn, and with S Warne loving hampshire as a holiday spot, Dowell is very lucky to have him as a personal coach. Certainly the loads on him being our sides prime spinner. And seasons to come he will prove a force in Wcc is my prediction.
SLATS: Who do you see as the key player in your team? who can't afford to get injured
LORD: Well, i have built my team such as everyone person in the XI is a key player. a few not as key as other but the majority being crucial players. So it will be quite wrong to pick out anyone at this point. All our players have their own individual strenghts and weaknessess and qualities.. and all that put together brings out the strong hampshire who have a strong team ethic and friendship everyone sees on field and off field.
SLATS: do you love any of your players? I would sleep with Llewellyn would u sleep with Inzy?
LORD: like i said previously i love all my players but probably Graham , Crawley, Inzi and newbie S Pollard a little more m strictly heterosexual and my girlfriend wouldnt approve of it, so i wouldnt even think those thoughts. Or sleeping with inzi.. you could try , but consequences would be far worse if he was roll onto you. Many team players have complained sleeping in the same room as him , saying he has the worst snore.
that said nzi has been improving on his fitness a lot lately.. e has shown top effort to get into shape and puts a lot of time with the physio and the gym , you would think he is Shoaib Akhtar like in no time..
SLATS: who do u see as your main threat in div 2 four day
LORD: TN without a doubt they are a strong team , and cloete has been a top manager for them to build a class side. he has had his share of good luck to add to that aswell , and i would say in div 2 Hampshire would be 2nd behind TN, not having played them yet, we relish the prospects of a beautiful game of cricket when we do..
Regardless of win or loss, i will still respect cloete for being a top coach/manager and a good friend as the best team would win on the day .
SLATS: funny that cos really he's just a lucky ******* with no skill. no onto lord as a person. who you taking to this years awards night
LORD: my close friend Snoop Doggy Dog and my babe Natasha and ofcourse the award nominees from hampshire would be in the white limo too..
SLATS: ah you're a worry. do you ever play rock music or only ****** stuff
LORD: the only time i listen to rock music is when my friends are bumping their rock cds in their car , or a few times before playing cricket myself but only the hardcore rock stuff to physc me up eg Slipknot, 8 foot sativa, Marilyn Manson , but apart from that you wouldnt catch me without a discman and earphones bumpin rap and hip hop
im too deep into all aspects of it aswell..
SLATS: what would ur last meal be before u die
LORD: My last meal would be a table full of my favourites from each country.. India , NZ , Kuwait, Malaysian, US ( junk food ) China and Africa so im going to die a very contente man
SLATS: and finally you are abvout to die and you have 10 dollars. what would u spend it on.
LORD: probably poison , since im sick of suffering and want to get it over with..
can way move away from death im far from it.. talk about nightlife or friendship in wcc or hampshires matches i cherish
SLATS: who do u love in wcc
LORD: Well most people in Wcc are real good friends with me, I probably am the closest to Blewy , Rich2001 and Nibbs Wcc wise..and then following Cloete, yourself, Guy ( mr ponting ) , Marc, and Liam
SLATS: thank you for ranking me on the second tier it's touching to be friends with a homie like yourself. have u ever met any of the wcc boys in real life
LORD: Nope unfortunately ive met none but talk to all of them quite a lot ive only met 1 person from Cw thats all.
SLATS: you're a loving person but go back and celebrate with my boys
LORD: erhmm? with your boys?
SLATS: yes in other words i don't want to drag this interview on any longer
LORD:lmao okay can i make a one last shotout
SLATS: you are limited to 5 words
LORD: WCC is greatest, thanks everybody. ( grammatical errors due to limit on words )
SLATS: haha yeah right!!! u're sucha lover boy
LORD: i prefer the term pimp