Tim Bresnan on the Yorkshire race storm and his retirement plans
EXCLUSIVE: ‘I 100% refute that I’ve EVER been racist… so I cannot apologise for it’: Ex-England star Tim Bresnan on being caught up in Yorkshire’s race storm – plus his big plans to travel the world with his family now he’s retired
- Bresnan had no intention of retiring after his third title success last September
- But the 36-year-old knew it was time to call it a day during pre-season training
- He was also concerned about the potential reaction to the Azeem Rafiq hearing
- Bresnan plans to travel the globe with his wife Hannah and three young children
Where next? Often for sports people consigning their kit bags to the past, it is a question to be considered with great attention to detail. Not so Tim Bresnan, whose answer could as easily be the Great Wall of China as the Great Barrier Reef.
For his close-of-play chapter is an extraordinarily, unconventional Phileas Fogg-style journey with wife Hannah and their three young children Max, Oliver and Etta; although this circumnavigation of the globe could last 80 weeks rather than be limited to 80 days.
‘People that we’ve told have been like “wow, that’s unbelievable.” Others: “You’re absolutely nuts.” Some say both. But I just think “why not?” It’s a big, wide world and it’s not a scary place.’
Tim Bresnan plans to travel the globe with his wife Hannah and three young children
Bresnan, one of England’s most decorated yet understated cricketers, says of packing possessions into storage and heading to Africa to begin the family trek in April, the month which should have seen him enter a 22nd season as a county cricketer.
‘We are starting by relaxing in Cape Town for a holiday and then we’re going to travel through places like Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, maybe Mozambique. We’ve got a loose plan, but it might change overnight or during the course of a day.’
Initially, it includes safari, taking in the spectacular Victoria Falls, engaging in elephant conservation work and humanitarian projects including a visit to a Kenyan village Max’s school teacher helped build when she was in her teens.
‘That’s a place he really wants to go. Not far from there, you can stand on the equator with one foot in the southern hemisphere and one foot in the northern hemisphere. That’s pretty cool.
‘We know people from all over the world, and they’ve suggested destinations and adventures to head on. If we can make it happen, we’ll definitely try it: the pyramids in Egypt, Petra, the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu.
‘Who knows where will be this time next year? We are not working to any deadline, and that sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But we haven’t got one.
The 36-year-old knew it was time to retire from cricket during pre-season training
‘Following travel bloggers, you realise that this stuff is possible to do and enjoyable. You can do it to a set budget and give yourself great life experiences.
‘The Bucket List Family started out in 2015 and they’re still going. They set off with one child and have had two more kids since. They have made it profitable with their You Tube projection but when they started, they did it to a scale they could afford.’
What of the mini Bresnans? Have mum, whose passion for travel developed in her youth, and dad, whose curiosity only grew on England tours wrapped in layers of heavy security, factored in schooling?
‘Yeah! They will have an hour a week each with tutors on maths and English,’ the multiple Ashes winner reveals. ‘They’re used to learning online now and one thing lockdown taught us is that they can miss a little bit of their education and be absolutely fine. The real-world experience is going to be fantastic for them. I found it eye-opening to see different cultures and ways of life because of cricket. Now to see the world through a kid’s eyes will be a learning experience for us as parents.’
Bresnan is full of surprises. During lunch with Sportsmail, in which he reveals the bitter-sweet nature of his unexpected retirement last month, he says that decision will allow him to indulge an off-field passion. He is a master scuba diver.
He continues: ‘I always said that when I retired, I would go and buy a shack on the beach somewhere and run a dive school, which still might happen, who knows?
The all-rounder played an important role as England won the Ashes in Australia in 2010/11
‘I did my first open water first course in Thailand as a teenager, then my advanced on the Great Barrier Reef. I never managed it on international duty, though. Firstly, it would never fit in with the practice and training schedules, and you can’t do it within 24 hours of a flight for safety reasons because of the bends (or decompression sickness to give it its medical term).’
So, what does he get out of it? ‘It’s the serenity. I find it really peaceful and relaxing,’ he explains.
‘You don’t ever need to go down below 30 metres, although I once went down to 40 in the Maldives because between 42-46 there was a manta ray cleaning station.
‘It was like one of David Attenborough’s documentaries in real life. You could watch these mantas coming in like planes in a holding pattern. They would do a back flip, allow these little fish onto them to remove parasites, get cleaned and then off they would go again. It was fascinating.’
Bresnan had no intention of pulling up stumps when he won his third County Championship pennant with Warwickshire last September. Celebrations had followed a similar theme to those of back-to-back titles with his native Yorkshire in 2014 and 2015.
‘I can’t remember getting in, actually. The kids woke me up on the sofa next morning,’ he says.
Bresnan (left, middle row) celebrates England’s success at the T20 World Cup in 2010
‘The first thing Hannah did was give me a glass of champagne and told me: “You look terrible, get that down you!” Happy days.’
Not so happy just a few weeks later when with his body ‘screaming’ at him during pre-season training – ‘after one Tuesday session, I couldn’t get out of the car when I got home; imagine a surfboard with legs, that was me and I hadn’t even started bowling,’ – he was accused of bullying in Azeem Rafiq’s DCMS hearing and of unspecified allegations of racism in Rafiq’s witness testimony released simultaneously under parliamentary privilege.
Bresnan – described in Wisden’s 2012 cricketer of the year biography as possessing the ‘air of a man with an emergency cheese sandwich in his pocket’ – publicly apologised for fat shaming.
‘There is a good chance that I’ve walked into a dressing room and said, “all right ledge, you had a good Christmas,” with a glance at the extra timber when we’ve come back for New Year’s training. Something of that nature. We’ve all done that,’ Bresnan says.
‘But I 100% deny that I’ve ever been racist. I will never admit to that. And so, I cannot apologise for it. To be accused of it disappointed me and being instructed not to say anything by solicitors and clubs who were basically trying to protect themselves, all felt wrong to me.’
Bresnan’s local MP happens to be Julian Knight, chair of the DCMS committee. He has attempted to make contact to discuss the situation, without success.
But he has had regular chats with ex-Yorkshire physio Kunwar Bansil, one of the 16 members of staff sacked because of the club’s mishandling of the Rafiq affair.
‘Kunwar and I have had some very frank conversations because this has affected us both in different ways. One thing he said to me was that if he gets another position in cricket, people might be questioning whether it’s because he’s of Indian origin, regardless of whether he is the best person for the job. That’s just wrong. Utter madness that he should think that, or people think that about him,’ Bresnan says.
‘For me, it was only a small part of my eventual decision but if there were to have been any sort of comments from the crowd, referring to me as a racist, that would’ve hurt. I’m not going to lie.’
Termination of the final 12 months of his contract at Edgbaston was settled in a hurry. ‘They say you know when it’s time and I can confirm you really do,’ he continues. He gave himself 48 hours to tell Paul Farbrace, Warwickshire’s director of cricket and his ex-England Under-19 coach, and three days later, the final one of January, the decision was made public.
As England lurch from an Ashes crisis into civil war in the Caribbean, it is worth remembering the great achievements of this most unpretentious of cricketers. A vital cog in the XIs that sealed the 3-1 away win over Australia in 2010-11 and Twenty20 World Cup glory months earlier.
Starting out as a 16-year-old in a Yorkshire team comprising the likes of Darren Gough, Darren Lehmann, Craig White, Chris Silverwood and Ryan Sidebottom, he inherited the ‘give ‘em nowt,’ attitude. To great success. He was on the winning side in each of his first 13 Test appearances.
‘I averaged 40 with the bat and 25 with the ball at the stage and Ian Bell used to call me Timmy Kallis but those stats were obviously unsustainable,’ he says with a smile. ‘I didn’t tear up any trees, just contributed in whatever way I could.’
Forced to reflect on an international career comprising more than 1500 runs and 200 wickets, he is asked for a highlight and replies: ‘Winning with your mates. It’s the best thing ever. To achieve things as a team is very fulfilling.’
More specifically, he reminisces on the scene in the MCG dressing room after the England vintage of a dozen years ago retained cricket’s famous urn.
‘On the day I announced my retirement, Matt Prior sent me a picture of us sat next to other and I am smoking a big ass cigar. As if to say “right, we’ve done it.” That’s the moment.’
Soon, passports in hand, it will be time to make more memories.
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