Any ardent Irish cricket fan will know who George Dockrell is, as will those who use frequent Cricket Betting services. They will know he is an outstanding left arm spinner of rare talent and a professional who has been at the forefront of the game for the last number of years. What they may not know, however, is that Dockrell has a long and enduring relationship with Trinity, one that stretches all the way back to 2011. Since entering a general science degree that year and being awarded a sports scholarship, Dockrell has only been able to spend one of the intervening five years in college. Every year since has had to be deferred as Dockrell’s flourishing career has taken him all over the world.
When he sat down with The University Times last week, it was abundantly clear that getting back to Trinity was a thought never far from his mind, but somehow life has always managed to get in the way. Despite planning for 2017 to be his big educational comeback, once again receiving a prestigious sports scholarship from college, for one reason or another those plans have had to be put on hold.
It would be wrong to assume that Dockrell doesn’t care about his education – in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. But as an athlete who was spotted for his talent at such a young age, Dockrell has spent his whole life trying to juggle his sporting commitments with his educational goals. It is a story told the world over amongst elite athletes – as careers take off and choices are made, sacrifices ultimately have to be borne. As he points out himself at the start of our interview: “I was in and around the Irish squads from when I was about 13. But it all really kicked off when I was 15 because I changed to bowling spin. It was pretty late to make such a big technical change, but within a year of doing that, I was onto the Irish under 18 squad and a year after that I was onto the national team. Everything just happened very quickly.”
Quickly is, if anything, an understatement. In his final year of school alone, Dockrell played in the under 19 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup qualifiers in Canada and the under 19 ICC World Cup in New Zealand a month later, all the while trying to prepare for his Leaving Cert and decide which college would top the list of his CAO choices. Life wasn’t about to get any easier, as having made such an impact at the under 19 World Cup, Dockrell was called up a month later to the full Irish Squad to play at the 2010 World Cup in the West Indies. All of this just months before his Leaving Cert exams were due to start. “I was actually very close to not playing in that World Cup, because I knew I only had two or three months left of school and then I would be finished. I think it was my uncle who actually convinced me to go saying ‘you know there’s only one World Cup in 2010 and it could be the only one you ever get to play in. You can do the Leaving Cert every year for the rest of your life if you have to, you should go and play.’” Taking on the challenge, Dockrell headed off, but as he admits, despite bringing his books with him, “he barely got any study done”. Something I don’t think any of us would find hard to imagine.
When asked if he found the whole experience overwhelming, Dockrell laughs. “I actually think I was in a really good place when it all happened. I had no expectations and I was just delighted at the opportunity to go and play with this incredible group of guys. You know obviously one day I was down playing at my club and the next I was at the World Cup aged 17 playing on TV in front of big crowds. It was a huge change but I loved it.”
In the wake of his superb performance at the World Cup and his rushed venture home to sit his Leaving Cert – which he passed and achieved the points he needed for general science, something he calls a miracle – Dockrell was attracting a lot of attention from English clubs. “After the world cup, most of the counties in England were showing interest in me, but I sat down and made a shortlist of four I thought I would want to go to. Somerset was the one that stood out to me for the best set-up in terms of coaching, facilities and support network. It just seemed like the best place for me to develop. I mean, at the time I was very raw as a player in the sense that I hadn’t done a lot of gym work or rounded my game. I was basically just raw bowling talent and so I needed to go somewhere to develop as an all-round player.”
And develop is exactly what Dockrell did. In fact, the next two years at Somerset were some of the most successful of his career. Mid-summer of his first year there he was the “highest wicket taker in England for a spinner”, which was obviously an incredible achievement. Whilst storming to success in England and playing for Ireland internationally, Dockrell was also trying to keep on top of his degree at Trinity, but after a while it became clear something would have to give. “Trinity were great at facilitating me. I didn’t sit exams at the end of my first year and in second year they let me do a year of books and exams in February. They really worked with me, but after a while it just got too busy with England. I was over in Somerset and it just became impossible to combine the two.”
Unfortunately, this was the saga of Irish cricket for many years. As Dockrell points out, “when I was younger you kind of had to go over to England as the next step”, the reason for this being that England simply offered things Ireland didn’t have, namely: better facilities, better funding and the opportunity to play test cricket. Losing some of our best talents just as they were developing into world class players undoubtedly hurt the game in Ireland for many years.
Yet as of June this year, this is all set to change. Having been awarded test status by the ICC, Ireland will now have an incentive to keep “home-grown talent here to drive the game forward”. “It’s a huge boost for the sport in Ireland, it’s absolutely fantastic. A lot of guys that went away are already making their way back to Irish shores or planning their way back home. Test status gives us more games. I mean, it’s the highest level you can play in cricket so undoubtedly it’s going to have an impact on the grass level – you know kids will be inspired by this.”
Dockrell explained that from a financial point of view, Cricket Ireland can get more sponsors and broadcast deals because of test matches, “which in turn develops the system as a whole”. “So yes, it’s a huge step for Irish cricket, but on a bigger level it’s a huge step for Irish sport. Of course it’s only the start, there’s still so much work to be done, but it’s an incredible achievement and testament to many years of hard work by so many people.”
As the interview draws to a close, I still have one question that is pressing on my mind. When will Dockrell finally make his return to the hallowed halls of Trinity? It’s no secret that despite having left Somerset in 2015, Dockrell’s life hasn’t really slowed down. Making use of his contacts across the world, he has spent the last two winters in Australia training in the “best domestic set-up in the world for cricket”, and despite having returned to Trinity in a sport-only capacity playing with Dublin University Cricket Club (DUCC) for the last two years, Dockrell has yet to make his way back into the classroom.
He laughs when I press him on this, and admits that “going back to college is still my goal, albeit one that is in the pipeline at the moment. Last year I went and did a diploma at the Open University because I wanted to get my mind back into studying. I knew it would be tough learning how to do that again; four years is a long time away from the books. But I know cricket is at best a 15 year career, so I’m keen to nail down the next stage of my life whilst I’m still playing so that when I leave the sport I’m not asking where I’m at”.
It’s not clear when we will have a definitive date for Dockrell’s return. Heading off with the Irish squad to Dubai last Saturday, with World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe just after Christmas and the start of Ireland’s test appearances in May next year, it’s safe to say Dockrell’s calendar isn’t looking too empty. But as he rightly points out, “you don’t know how long your career is going to go on for, you don’t know how long you are going to get. You’ve got to enjoy every moment of it while it lasts”.
