Former England cricket legend Monty Panesar has left supporters speechless after coming out of retirement to turn out for a local village cricket club.
The 43-year-old ex-Ashes hero appeared for Pelsall Cricket Club at the weekend following a cheeky approach from their first team captain.
Danny Pennell fired off a message to Monty on Instagram asking if he fancied a game with the team, which is based near Walsall in the West Midlands.
He was left completely gobsmacked when the celebrated spinner replied and accepted the invitation saying: "Yeah, why not?"
Monty made his debut for his new side in the South Staffordshire League against Wombourne on Saturday (18 April) but was unable to steer them to victory as they fell short by 48 runs.
Monty said: "Dan got in touch and asked if I fancied playing and I thought yeah, why not? I was pleased enough with my bowling. Maybe I could have got a couple more? But I am going to be 44 next week and I am still turning it, so on that front I am pretty happy. I still have a love for this."
He added: "I think this is my 28th year playing senior cricket and look, if Jimmy Anderson can keep on playing, then I am pretty sure I can at club level. I hope I can provide some new energy and some insight - on and off the field - and help the club to be successful. It's the competition really, trying to get people out, being on the field. But it's also the camaraderie, being part of a club and feeling like you are giving a bit back to the sport. I just love all of that."
Monty revealed he had harboured ambitions to feature on Celebrity Traitors before deciding to return to cricket after failing to secure a spot on the show. The former international cricketer, who now resides in Leicester, said: "People are always telling me I should be on TV more. I was trying to see if I could get on Celebrity Traitors but they had already finalised the cast. I think I'd be good at it. They would say, he's not a traitor, look how badly he did on Mastermind. Then I could fool them."
Chairman Steve Hughes said that since Monty's signing had been announced the previous weekend, officials had been inundated with messages, with many questioning whether the news was actually genuine. He added: "I've been getting calls from friends and family from all over the country asking, 'how the hell have you pulled that one off?' This is a massive deal for us. You only need to look at the numbers here to see the impact it has had. Usually there would be about 20 people here watching. Instead, we had about 100. It has generated a lot of interest."
Even some of the players required convincing that the club's new signing was legitimate. Spinner Gurshan Singh added: "I didn't believe it at first. I was like, 'is this a joke?' But it didn't feel like you were playing with a former international. He is just really down to earth. A really good guy."
A fortnight earlier, captain Danny had sent an Instagram message to the veteran of 50 Test matches, enquiring whether he might be available to play a few games. Those discussions have since resulted in Monty - who claimed more than 700 wickets throughout his professional career, including 167 in Tests - committing to the entire season.
Danny made the approach after an overseas player was held up owing to visa and border complications. He said: "We had a player who was coming from Zimbabwe but he has had visa issues. I just saw Monty scrolling through Instagram and thought why not ask him and within an hour he had replied. We only met for the first time at the weekend and he is enormously down to earth. When it rained he was there pulling the covers on and then playing darts with people in the bar after the game. It just goes to show the type of person he is - you'd get some players of a much less calibre sitting in the dressing room while it rained and he was out there helping out. We're honoured to have him here and it can inspire not only our team but all the youngsters who play."
Monty was brought into the attack 20 overs into the innings - his opening two overs were maidens and it wasn't until the end of his sixth that a wicket fell. The first delivery of his seventh over saw Matthew Uglow clean bowled, and then, three balls later, Joel Craner was trapped in front without scoring. Panesar, coming in at No.7, contributed 12 runs from 19 balls as Pelsall were dismissed for 180, falling 48 runs short.
