Udal hails Stanford honour

Twelve months ago Shaun Udal had just begun to enjoy his retirement having called time on a career with Hampshire that spanned three decades.

“It was the toughest decision of my life but it's the right one,” Udal said in September 2007.

“The over-riding factor was wanting to be remembered as a decent player instead of just hanging on.”

Today, the 39-year-old is contemplating “one of the biggest honours I’ve ever had” as he prepares to lead Middlesex in the Stanford Super Series.

To call the intervening year a ‘rollercoaster ride’ would be an understatement.

Udal had agreed to play Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire when Middlesex offered the former England off-spinner, who played in four Tests and 11 one-day internationals, a second chance.

He signed up for two more years on the county circuit, explaining: “retirement, in hindsight, was the wrong choice for me.”

Shaun Udal celebrates Middlesex's Twenty20 Cup final victory over Kent at the Rose Bolw in July

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The 2008 domestic season began steadily for the veteran who played an increasingly prominent role in the one-day game he had been considered less suited to in his Hampshire days.

Middlesex reached Twenty20 finals day for the first time, under the captaincy of Ed Joyce, and pulled off a shock by edging out Kent in the floodlit Rose Bowl final.

Victory gave the Crusaders a place in the Stanford Super Series and the Twenty20 Champions League. Suddenly Udal was forced to shelve his winter plans.

“I have shares in a company making cricket helmets and I was going to be working for them selling helmets to clubs and shops and doing a bit of after-dinner speaking," he said following the Crusaders’ triumph.

"That was the aim but that's all been put on the back burner now and we'll be having a week on a beach in Antigua which sounds great, even with my legs!”

Despite the Twenty20 triumph, Middlesex struggled during August and Joyce - filling in as skipper for the injured Ed Smith - relinquished the role which was offered to Udal.

He told ecb.co.uk: “I got asked about two days before it was announced, to be honest - ‘would you take it on?’ - things have moved on a bit with Ed (Joyce), he doesn’t want to do it anymore - ‘would I take it on and that would incorporate the winter as well?’.

“I thought about it for 24-48 hours and I thought ‘yes I did’. I think I can make things better and improve the results of the team and that’s happened in September.

“We played some very good cricket to finish on a high and finish third (in Division Two of the LV County Championship) - two wins out of three - that was brilliant so hopefully we’ll take that forward to Antigua. It didn’t take me long to say yes when I was offered it.”

Naturally, Udal is thrilled at the prospect at leading his new county against England, West Indies Twenty20 champions Trinidad & Tobago and the Stanford Superstars.

“It’s one of the biggest honours I’ve ever had to lead the side out to the West Indies and totally unexpected when I joined and totally unexpected when I was offered it.

Udal & Co are aiming for further triumphs in Antigua during the Stanford Super Series later this month

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“Obviously I will give it my best shot and hopefully - we played some great cricket in the last month of the season in the championship and finished on a high - we can take that through to Antigua.”

Middlesex will stick with the formula that proved so fruitful in the Twenty20 Cup although they will be without Owais Shah, who is in the England squad, and Dirk Nannes who has returned to Australia to play for Victoria.

In their places the Crusaders have brought in former Kent batsman Neil Dexter on a two-year contract and Warwickshire seamer Neil Carter on loan until the end of the year.

The like-for-like replacements could get their first outing in Middlesex’s distinct pink Twenty20 kit against England on October 26 before facing Trinidad & Tobago a day later and the Stanford Superstars on October 30.

“They (England) are the best players in the country so we’ll just do our job, use it as an opportunity to try to win the game, use it for a couple of experiments really and see where we go. It’s up to us to get a bit of info on Trinidad & Tobago and use the England game as a warm-up for that.”

Udal admits he never imagined he would play against his former international team-mates on such a big stage, although he did face an England XI the summer before his surprise call-up for the 2005/06 winter tours of Pakistan and India.

“I played against them in 2005 in a Hampshire one-day warm-up game and that’s been it, so it will be interesting for me to play against the guys again.

"KP’s a mate as Freddie and Harmy are, and all the other boys are in there so it will be fairly interesting to pit our wits against England, but obviously the main game for us is Trinidad & Tobago.”