Napier happy with high profile
Graham Napier flays a hapless Northamptonshire in the Twenty20 quarter-final
Graham Napier is at ease with his illuminated status as he gears up for a busy winter.
Having spent last year scaling Mount Everest for the PCA Benevolent Fund, playing a bit of cricket in Hong Kong and New Zealand this winter might seem like a doddle.
But the Essex all-rounder seems to have been appointed the unofficial ambassador of English Twenty20 since he shattered the Twenty20 Cup record score with an astonishing 152 not out against Sussex in June, an innings which included an unprecedented 16 sixes.
He is no slouch with the ball either, reaching up to 80mph. And to cap it all, the polite, softly-spoken 28-year-old from Colchester remains a delight to talk to.
Napier is now relieved to have shaken off the worrying ankle injury sustained in a NatWest Pro40 game at Canterbury that curtailed his season.
“There’s no problems at all now,” Napier told ecb.co.uk. “It wasn’t as bad as first expected.
“I managed to see it on the video highlights and it looked a lot worse than it really is. I’m going in (to the winter) fully fit after lots of hard work in the gym.”
The wealth of all-rounders at Chelmsford - Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate and James Middlebrook to name just a few - meant Napier played a total of just seven LV County Championship games this season. Essex fell short of promotion from Division Two despite winning five matches.
Napier did not play a championship game until the July meeting with Glamorgan at Cardiff - and by then the Twenty20 group stages had finished.
“At the beginning of the season I struggled to get in our first team for championship cricket,” he added. “I had a small knee injury but nothing major, and I missed one or two one-day games from it.
“But I just couldn’t get in our four-day side. It gave me a chance to work on my gameplan in the second XI and keep my fitness levels up.”
Napier batted at number eight and took 3-56 at the SWALEC Stadium, but he believes the real proof of his progress came in the return championship outing at Southend-on-Sea a fortnight later.
Napier cut through Glamorgan in the second innings, with a return of 6-103 from 24.1 overs.
Napier leads the celebrations as Essex toast their promotion to NatWest Pro40 Division One at Kent
“I guess that came from the confidence of doing well in Twenty20 when I got an opportunity in the four-day format.
“Over the last two years I’ve been working hard on all aspects of my game. I just think this year it’s shown a bit more.
"I’ve maybe gained a yard more pace, a touch more on the speedgun. But I think it’s highlighted more with the way the ball swings.”
But the enduring image of Napier circa 2008 will be in coloured clothing.
He eased himself into the Twenty20 Cup with a couple of thirties, before the unbeaten 152 against Sussex, which saw him fall just short of Brendon McCullum’s record of 158 not out, made in the Indian Premier League earlier this year.
Napier achieved a clutter of individual Twenty20 honours, landing the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century in the English domestic season, his hundred at Chelmsford coming from a mere 44 deliveries.
The record 16 sixes he hit against Sussex also saw him win the Sky Sports Sixes League, and helped him secure the accolade of Twenty20 MVP, based on his performances in the competition.
His bowling should not be discounted. Napier went on to finish the season averaging under 26 with the ball in all cricket and proved particularly incisive in Twenty20, with 16 wickets at 17.62.
And though Essex lost to Kent in the Twenty20 Cup semi-final, they gained revenge by beating their near-neighbours in the Friends Provident Trophy final in August, and then securing the NatWest Pro40 Second Division title against the same opposition.
All this helps to explain why Napier will be a player to watch in the upcoming Hong Kong Sixes.
Napier was part of England’s 2004 tournament-winning squad, and knows only too well how good performances have led to full international recognition for other players.
“I’ve played in the Sixes before, when Matthew Maynard was captain. Darren Maddy, Dimitri Mascarenhas (captain this year) and Chris Tremlett all played. I’m looking forward to going out there.
“It is a shop window for all the guys who don’t quite make the England squads this year.
Napier shows off the Friends Provident Trophy after Essex's victory over Kent in August
“I suppose if there’s a player injured or something, I might get the call-up.
“But my objectives this winter are Hong Kong and then New Zealand. If England come calling then that’s fantastic and obviously I’ll do my all.”
Napier rejoins Wellington Firebirds after the Sixes, a move that coincides with the expansion of New Zealand's domestic State Twenty20 competition.
Napier spent part of last winter in New Zealand, initially playing club cricket, before being asked to cover for another Englishman, Charlie Shreck, who was called up to the England Lions squad.
“It’s a very good standard,” explains Napier. “There’s only a limited number of sides so their talent is concentrated. Even when the Test players are away, there are still ex-Test players there, and up-and-coming youngsters coming through.”
Wellington is also the domestic team of one of the most respected international captains of modern times, Stephen Fleming.
“I only played a few games with him. But it was great to pick his brain and have a chat to him about one-day cricket, and also his thought processes and how he looks at the game.
“I batted with him for only about 40 or minutes or so, but it was a valuable time at the crease.”
Napier is clearly in high demand, but does it get to him a bit?
“It’s taken me 10 years to get any recognition at all. And now it’s all come at once. For a lot of people, recognition builds up over time.
“People expect something to happen all the time and that doesn’t always happen in sport. If it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t come off.
“But I’ll certainly be trying my hardest.”
Of that, there can be little doubt.
