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Alastair Hignell

ALASTAIR Hignell is in two minds as to whether he would have liked to have played in the modern professional era.

The former England and Bristol full back was present at Haileybury recently.

Having played in the amateur era, Hignell, 60, would like to have played against the players of today.

He considered that he had more of a balanced life reading for his degree at Cambridge University and then going into teaching while playing rugby.  

Hignell said: “I would like to have had the chance to have played against the best players [the current generation]. It is about measuring yourself against the quickest and the best.

“One part of me thinks I would get bored if I did it now. When I played there was also the studying or the teaching. You trained twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. For internationals you would meet up two days before.”

He added: “Then the players were teachers, doctors or bank clerks.

“Kicking at goal then was not as important as it is now. It was a case of who was going to kick at goal.”

Hignell’s views on sport and its operation are fairly rare in that he played sport at a high level on both an amateur and professional basis.

“Then you did not have to specialise and I played cricket with men [club cricket] at 14 whereas now I would have been put into an academy,” he said. 

He played first class cricket for Cambridge University and played professionally for Gloucestershire until he retired at the end of the 1983 season.

Hignell was a solid county batsman, taking failures and successes in his stride. Unlike other sports, you only get one chance as a batsman.

Hignell said:  “That is part of its charm. A lot of time you were playing. There was not so much time for practice.”

His first ton for Gloucestershire came when he scored 119 against the touring West Indies in 1976, before his first three figure score in the County Championship against Yorkshire at Cheltenham three years later.

I was fortunate enough to be there to see it and remember a stroke of luck he enjoyed in the early part of his innings.

When on seven, he played onto his stumps off a ball from off-spinner Geoff Cope, but no bail was removed.

Chuckling, Hignell recalled: “I had three ducks from the previous six innings. The ball hit my stumps but luckily the bails did not come off.” 

 

David Rimmer

Originally Written: 12-Oct-2015 10:24, Last Updated: 12-Oct-2015 11:24