Player Profile for Gareth Alexander
| Name: |
Gareth Alexander |
| Age: | 28 |
| Nickname: | Gerf (or whatever Craigy decides to call me) |
| Batsman/Bowler/All-rounder: | Batsman |
| Other teams played for: | Edinburgh University |
| Debut (Date and Opposition): | Against Academy 3s at Mallusk must have been around 1990 |
| Highest Score: | 106 v Saintfield 2003 |
| Best Bowling: | Every spell was crap |
| Favourite Opposition: | Dundrum a good bunch of lads and good hospitality at the Road House |
| Least Favourite Opposition: | More or less everyone else, although I have to admit that if I played for another team then my answer to this question would most probably be Larne. |
| Favourite Ground(s): | Newforge (always scored runs there), Laurelvale |
| Least Favourite Ground(s): | Lurgan Park never scored a run against Victoria away. Was distraught that the year after we finally got out of section 4 we drew them in the 1 st round of the cup the following season. Other miserable places to play are Templepatrick and Shorts. |
| Career Highlight: | Captaining Larne to the Section 3 title in 2002 Beating Armagh off the last ball of the Intermediate Cup final in 1996 Chasing 246 to beat Ballymena in the last game to stay in Section 2 in 2003 |
| Career Low Point: | When we won 3 games in 3 days at the end of August 1999 we celebrated winning the league as Dungannon had to win their last 4 games and could only drop 4 bonus points. However, the 4 teams to play them sent out joke teams in September and Dungannon stuffed them all. It was nice to pass them on the way up the following year. |
| Best Player you played with: | Breaks my heart to admit it but it would probably have to be Johnny Craig although I wish he was half as good as he thinks he is. He still trots out the story about how he hit Robert Croft for 3 successive 6s but its hard to believe watching him bat now. Seriously, I think the upturn in Larne's fortunes began when he agreed to become captain in 1999. |
| Best Player you played against: | Like most people I have come up against people who have played a high level but having spent almost all of my career in the lower sections I'd have to say that Ian The Doc' Doherty always used to give me plenty of problems. With the bat, there is always a collective sigh of relief when we get Davy Greenlees out (assuming he hasn't already smashed us all over the place). At a higher level we played a friendly against Bready last year and their pro Wian Smit was playing a different game to us. |
| How did you first get interested in cricket? | Back garden cricket with my Da |
| Who have been the major influences on your career to date? | No one really although Maynard Herron showed me the basics of batting when I was young i.e. when the ball is on the leg side hit it to leg, when it is straight hit it straight, and when it is on the off side hit it to off. Strangely enough I have probably stuck to these principles ever since. |
| Favourite Food: | Hard to beat a nice green salad !! |
| Favourite Drink: | A cold pint of Carlsberg from the Anchor Bar at around 10am on a Saturday in Dunmore East |
| What was the most memorable match you have played in? | Intermediate Cup final in 1996. Armagh were in the league above us and we scored 2 off the last ball to chase 206. Memorable celebrations as these were the days when we used to win bugger all |
| What was the funniest thing you have seen in a cricket match? | Too many to mention but standing at slip against Academy with Jonathan Craig bowling and the lack of a zipper fly in his whites became apparent in mid delivery. When it happened again the 2 slips and keeper nearly fell over laughing the umpire was most upset |
| What ambitions have you in cricket? | To play Section 1 cricket with Larne |
| What do you think of the current Larne side? | The strongest it has been in my lifetime |
| Name your all time Larne XI: | 1. Derek McKinley |