Change of leadership energises Sayers to aim higher

TWO years ago, Yorkshire batsman Joe Sayers feared he might never play cricket again.

Sayers developed Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, a condition closely associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME.

At one point, Sayers was sleeping up to 15 hours a day and could barely walk up a flight of stairs.

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It was all he could do to summon the energy to carry out simple tasks – let alone think about resuming his career as a professional sportsman.

Two years on, the wheel has turned full circle for the talented left-hander.

Sayers’s health is happily restored and he is, touch wood, symptom-free.

In addition to resuming his cricket last summer, Sayers has grown increasingly content in all areas of life.

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He became a father in December when his wife, Lisa, gave birth to Sebastian and, to cap a splendid few months, Sayers has just been named Yorkshire’s vice-captain for the coming season – fitting reward for a man whose leadership qualities have long been evident.

“I feel as though it’s going well for me on all fronts,” he said. “There’s absolutely no issue at all now with regards to the symptoms of illness I experienced before and, if anything, I feel stronger than ever. I’m really enjoying fatherhood and, on top of that, I’ve been busy renovating my house during the winter.

“So, all in all, it’s been quite a hardening and strengthening few months in a variety of ways.”

Sayers has defied the odds to battle back from a condition that affects around 250,000 people in the UK. His is a heart-warming tale of steely determination.

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“I feel that, since I missed half of the 2010 season through illness, I’ve enjoyed quite a healthy progression and improvement since then,” he added. “From a personal point of view, last season seemed to get better and better and more consistent.

“Captaining the side for the last three games of the season, and winning two of those games, capped off the season really nicely for me as well and my form seemed to improve with time.

“I’ve now gone on to have a good pre-season and, hopefully, I’ll be able to produce more of the same when the real stuff starts.”

At 28, Sayers is no longer a spring chicken in a cricketing sense but neither is he what might be termed an old hand.

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Rather, he is approaching what will hopefully be the peak years of his career with welcome stability on and off the field.

“I think that becoming a consistent batsman is as much about knowing yourself as it is about knowing the game and how to hit a ball,” he said. “Towards their mid-late 20s, I think you see a lot of batsmen just start to understand themselves as sportsmen and quite often that leads to greater consistency on the field. Certainly the feedback that Martyn Moxon (Yorkshire’s director of cricket) has given me has been very much along those lines.

“He’s spoken about his own career and how he became more consistent towards his late 20s and early 30s and I hope to take a leaf out of his book.”

Sayers showed trademark tenacity to get his game back on track last year.

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Eleven first-class matches brought him 773 runs at 38.65 and there were signs, particularly towards the end of the campaign, of a man approaching his finest form.

But it was not all plain sailing as he had to fight hard for his place and was several times unfortunate to be left out of the side. It is a battling spirit he has since carried into the current pre-season, having impressed on the club’s recent trip to Barbados.

“It was a challenge at times being in-and-out of the team last year,” he reflected. “I also had the new experience of being at the top of the order in the T20 side and doing well and not being in the Championship side but, on reflection, I’ve taken a lot of confidence from the fact that I’ve continued to improve despite the instability of being in-and-out of first-class cricket.

“You certainly can’t take your place for granted and we’re all very conscious of the strength in depth we have at Yorkshire in the batting department.

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“From a personal point of view, I plan to use that as the motivation to keep on improving.”

Sayers has done a lot of work during the winter with Paul Farbrace, the county’s new second XI coach. In particular, he has worked to develop a catch-all method to his batting that will serve him well in all three formats of the game – Championship, 40-overs and T20.

“I worked with Paul Farbrace when I was in the England youth teams and it’s been great to link up with him again,” added Sayers. “We’ve been looking at trying to improve my positions at the crease and to refine and simplify my movements so there’s a common thread to my batting in all forms of the game.

“Obviously, there are different game plans and tactics in the different formats, but in terms of good positions at the crease I think there’s a common thread between a good shot in T20 cricket and a good shot in Championship cricket.

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“The idea of scoring shots just being an extension of my defensive positions is something that has really struck a chord with me and I’ve definitely felt the benefit of that.”

Now all that remains is for Sayers and his team-mates to transfer their undoubted quality into consistent performances throughout the season. He is confident Yorkshire will enjoy a successful summer backed by a new coaching set-up that has seen Farbrace join the staff along with Jason Gillespie.

“There’s a new regime and a chance to shape something new,” he said. “Naturally, any change of personnel wipes the slate clean somewhat and we’re all very excited about the forthcoming season. I’m confident we’ll get somewhere near (Championship promotion) this season if we have the right approach, if we respect the game and we respect the opposition. But we certainly can’t afford to get ahead of ourselves and think too much about where we’re going to finish.”

Sayers is anticipating more result cricket in Division Two of the Championship.

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“I think it will be a different style in the sense that, even though First Division sides are trying to win games, I think it’s something that’s perhaps more prevalent in Division Two as teams try and seek promotion,” he added. “There is no relegation, of course, and there’s perhaps more sense of ‘nothing to lose’.

“It’s difficult to say which teams will be up there challenging because it’s a while since Yorkshire were in Division Two and it’s going to be something of an unknown quantity. But I think the message from Galey (captain Andrew Gale) and the management will be very much to make sure we focus on our own game.”

Joe Sayers is ambassador for Northern Energy, a family-run supplier of heating oil and LPG in Harrogate. They are committed to backing local causes and currently support the Sadie Rose Appeal.