We are hiring! Please click here to join our growing magazine delivery team in Gloucestershire!

4. Leaflets Distributed with TLA

Race trainer Fergal O’Brien will be centre stage at this year’s Cheltenham Cricket Festival

All Areas > Sport > Cricket

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Tuesday, 9th July 2019, 11:00

This year’s Cheltenham Cricket Festival gets under way on Monday 15th July This year’s Cheltenham Cricket Festival gets under way on Monday 15th July

As Gloucestershire gallop into the second half of their season it is perhaps appropriate that one of the top racing people in the county has attached his name to this year’s Cheltenham Cricket Festival.

Trainer Fergal O’Brien, who is soon to move into new stables at Withington, is the main sponsor of this year’s festival, which gets under way on Monday 15th July with a four-day county championship game against Leicestershire.

O’Brien’s business partner is Chris Coley, who has done so much for Gloucestershire cricket over the years and is operating as an unpaid ground coordinator this year.

He said that O’Brien, who is currently based at Naunton, will be at Cheltenham College as often as his racing commitments allow over the 12 days of the festival.

Coley, meanwhile, lives just a big Michael Klinger six-hit from the ground and will be there every day of course.

Now into his eighth decade, he was a very good cricketer back in the day – he played for Cheltenham at Lord’s – and is still one of the driving forces behind the Gloucestershire Gipsies, the nomadic cricket team which play some 60 friendly fixtures a year.

Coley’s love of all things cricket is very well known but what about O’Brien, what’s his cricketing pedigree?

“He’s a very enthusiastic cricketer without being the most talented,” said Coley with a chuckle. “He’s played a few games for the Gloucestershire Gipsies.”

So what are his strengths as a cricketer?

“He’s a pretty good fielder,” said Coley, warming to his theme. “He attempts to bowl a few leg breaks and googlies, he talks a good game!

“He bats quite low down the order. He likes to think of himself as a big hitter but contact is rare!”

Fortunately for O’Brien, he makes his living not from cricket but from the world of National Hunt racing and he and his staff will have a horsebox positioned close to the College chapel throughout the festival.

“We’ll try to make it fun,” said Coley. “We’ll have a horse exerciser so there will be plenty going on. We’ll have the odd jockey there as well and it would be great if we could find a new owner or two.

“The stables and new gallops are being built at Withington at the moment and we’re hoping to have some horses there in August. It won’t be finished by then but that will be a good start.”

That’s good news for O’Brien, who is among the top 20 trainers in the 2019/20 championship although it’s obviously very early days in the new season.

O’Brien’s horsebox won’t be the only attraction on the other side of the boundary rope at this year’s cricket festival because Coley has lined up a number of celebrities to give talks during the lunch and tea intervals.

As with last year they will take place in The Hub behind the main scoreboard and among the names involved are author Stephen Chalke, ex-England cricketer Fred Rumsey, author Grenville Simons, Richard Madley of Bargain Hunt, Philip Serrell, the auctioneer and TV presenter, and one-time professional footballer and cricketer Jim Cumbes.

Cheltenham Town footballer Sean Long and Kevin Dawson, now of Forest Green, will also talk about their recent coaching experiences in Sierra Leone.

This year’s Cheltenham Festival runs until Sunday 28th July.

Other Images

Fergal O’Brien

Copyright © 2024 The Local Answer Limited.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to The Local Answer Limited and thelocalanswer.co.uk with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

More articles you may be interested in...

The Local Answer. Advertise to more people in Gloucestershire
The Local Answer. More magazines through Gloucestershire doors

© 2024 The Local Answer Limited - Registered in England and Wales - Company No. 06929408
Unit H, Churchill Industrial Estate, Churchill Road, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, GL53 7EG - VAT Registration No. 975613000

Privacy Policy