INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Is this the end for the REAL Headband Warrior? Somerset seamer Jack Brooks could follow Stuart Broad into retirement

• Somerset seamer Jack Brooks, 39, weighing up his options and could call it a day
• Sam Billings has gone from Test cricketer to Kent outsider in just 14 months
• Spinner Tom Hartley is being considered for England’s Test tour of India

County cricket’s original Headband Warrior is considering following Stuart Broad into retirement.

Somerset seamer Jack Brooks, 39, has decorated the domestic scene over 15 seasons, gaining notoriety initially for his signature headwear and energetic wicket celebrations before developing into one of English first-class cricket’s most prolific bowlers.

Twice a County Championship winner with Yorkshire, he has played for six counties all told and will call it a day unless a couple of smoldering irons in the fire catch light in the next few weeks.

Like England’s leading Ashes wicket-taker Broad — who began sporting the Ralph Macchio look to reduce temptation of wiping sweat away during Covid when players were discouraged from touching their faces — Brooks is a new dad.

‘It’s great, but a lot harder than bowling uphill into the wind,’ he says. Becoming a family man means he now has different priorities in life and so, should he play on in 2024, it would need to be at a club within an easy commute of his Oxfordshire home — such as his first club Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire or Worcestershire.

Somerset seamer Jack Brooks, 39, has decorated the domestic scene over 15 seasons

Otherwise, he will seek to develop his coaching work. Brooks spent last winter as a fast bowling consultant with Western Storm and was highly praised by Lauren Filer ahead of her Test debut against Australia.

‘I could walk away and I am in a good space with that, but I will weigh up any options that come my way,’ says Brooks.

‘I am open to playing, supporting younger bowlers and if there were any coaching opportunities tied up in that, great. If not, it will accelerate the post-career stuff I have planned.’

Brooks did not make his first-class debut until the age of 25 following years of trialling and minor counties cricket, but arriving in the professional ranks with real-life experience provided him with a different perspective.

‘There was always a slight fear of failure because of my route into the game. That I might be around for a good time, not a long time, but I always tried to make my mark,’ he says. ‘I wanted to play in a way that meant I would be remembered regardless of performance — someone visual, passionate, giving their all.

‘I never really got down about bad performances. I was always like, “Well, a bad day playing cricket for me is better than a good day in my previous role, sitting in an office”.

‘At times I had to pinch myself, looking at the players I was playing with and the teams I was in. The friendships I’ve made have meant I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve always taken playing very seriously but in the best way possible it felt like I was messing around with my mates for a living.’

Stuart Broad began wearing a headband to avoid wiping sweat away during Covid

Brooks’ best messing came at Yorkshire, where he played alongside England internationals Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance, Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom, plus New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. His 81 first-class outings yielded 316 wickets at 26.39 apiece, with 140 spanning the title-winning campaigns of 2014 and 2015.

His five seasons at Somerset coincided with a Covid campaign that left the one-time England Lions player requiring surgery on a thumb and both achilles following Bob Willis Trophy final defeat on first innings to Essex.

But Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry paid tribute to one of the game’s most colourful characters ahead of his Taunton departure next week, saying: ‘Jack has added so much to our environment since joining us back in the winter of 2018.

‘His enthusiasm and passion for the game are clearly evident to everyone both on and off the field, and his willingness to work with and develop aspiring players, alongside his determination to succeed, is a shining example to everyone.’

Billings out of favour

It would be the understatement of the season to suggest that 2023 has not gone to plan for Sam Billings.

The 32-year-old began it by announcing he was snubbing a spell with Kolkata Knight Riders at the Indian Premier League to focus on county commitments as club captain, a pledge laced with the personal goal of adding to his three England Test caps — two of which came as recently as the start of the Bazball era last summer.

Sam Billings (above) has gone from Test cricketer to Kent outsider in 14 months

However, he endured such a grim run of form in the County Championship that — after making 92 runs in 10 innings, including three ducks and a highest score of 31 — he dropped himself for a mid-season defeat to Surrey and relinquished the leadership of the four-day side.

Billings then captained Oval invincibles to Hundred glory and returned to Kent’s match day squads this month, although he did not make a final XI and was omitted completely from the club’s final round fixture against Lancashire this week that will determine whether they play in Division One or Division Two next year.

With the Essex-bound Jordan Cox sidelined with a hand injury, Kent have instead kept faith behind the stumps in 28-year-old Harry Finch, who until two months ago had not been selected to keep wicket in a first-class match.

Of Billings, Kent coach Matt Walker said: ‘Although he’s not the captain of the four-day stuff, he’s still captain of the club and still wanted to be around to help the group, offering his experience and just his presence, really. So he was in the wider squad. But there wasn’t really room for Sam to come in.

‘Everybody has a role to play — whether you’re playing, around practice or carrying drinks. It’s really important that everyone is on the same page and trying to help achieve what we are trying to do.’

But the demise from Test cricketer to spare part in 14 months does place a question mark over Billings’ future at Canterbury.

Hartley in contention

Spinner Tom Hartley is being considered for England’s five-match Test tour of India in January

Despite a modest season with Lancashire in which he has claimed just 18 County Championship wickets in nine appearances at 45.22 runs each, Tom Hartley is being considered for the five-match Test tour of India in January.

England are intent on having at least one spinner within their squad who fires the ball into the pitch in the manner of Indian pair Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, which has led to the 6ft 4in slow left-armer entering the selection equation. Somerset’s teenage off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, another without a 2023 first-class record usually associated with higher honours, has also been discussed.

In addition to releasing the ball from a greater height like Hampshire’s Liam Dawson — a characteristic that increases variations in bounce on crumbling surfaces — Hartley is also a very useful batter, having averaged 39.22 in Division One.

The 24-year-old made his international debut in the one-day win over Ireland at Trent Bridge last weekend.

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