Sheridan Gumbs: Leicestershire batsman to prove himself in second XI cricket

In recent years, the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has worked with first-class counties to establish guidelines about the low-paid, high-stakes working environment that Second XI trialists face.

Before 2021, clubs had no obligation to pay trialists when they featured.

Previously the opportunity and hope that came from a game at that level was seen as enough.

An element of this still exists, players aren’t paid for the first five days of the trial – which ensures that every opportunity taken to spot new talent doesn’t have to be budgeted for.

Rich Hudson, PCA Director of Cricket Operations, described Second XI cricket as “a melting pot of different people, dynamism and excitement”.

“You’ve got a professional trying to get himself back into form or coming back from an injury, and you’ve got a young kid in the academy trying desperately to prove he deserves a contract and learning his way around and then you’ve got the Sheridan-type player who’s fighting for his life to get another contract and prove himself,” Hudson said.

“We also understand the financial pressures of the game, which means decision-makers have to make constant calls to support people in that environment which brings the natural tension between doing the right thing and high-performance success, where the first team has to perform in the Championship and T20 Blast.”

And in support of Leicestershire, Gumbs says he is once again dreaming of what he can offer as a cricketer.

“Making my Blast debut and just being in and around the boys, training in that kind of T20 environment, I 100% think I’ll have a push in white-ball cricket and I want to see how far I can go with it,” he added.

“With the red ball, I want to wear the England badge again.

“My brother always said, ‘You’re never that far away’, but I always thought the other way around and almost thought, I’m miles away.

“This contract and everything else that comes with it is big and Leicestershire has given me the belief that I might not be that far off.”