Back

 

Saturday. March 22

 

DEVON quick bowler Tom Allin has put pen to paper on a two-year summer deal with Warwickshire.

   The 20-year-old son of former Glamorgan and Devon spinner Tony Allin spent the day in the nets at Edgbaston before signing his contact.

   Allin Junior is the first signing made by Warwickshire's Ashley Giles, the ex-England spinner and Ashes winner, who was recently appointed director of cricket at Edgbaston.

   Warwickshire spotted Allin through the University Cricket Centres of Excellence programme, which is designed to highlight young talent at an early stage. Allin is at the Cardiff UCCE, where he is studying sports coaching and management.

   Dad Tony spent all day at Edgbaston with his son (pictured) yesterday, accompanying him to meetings and watching him perform in the nets. He said the contract offer came almost out of the blue as a number of counties had shown and interest in Tom, but Warwickshire hadn't been one of them.

   “The first we knew about it was the start of the week when Tom was told Warwickshire were interested in him – and it has also happened pretty quickly since,” said Allin Senior.

   “Somerset were interested in Tom for a while, but felt he was too small to make a fast bowler, and they weren't the only county to have sniffed around in the past.

   “Tom didn't need asking twice about joining Warwickshire as Allan Donald is the bowling coach and if you want to make fast bowling your trade there is no better person to learn from.

   “Warwickshire have put the speed gun on Tom and clocked him at 85mph, which he is hoping to improve on now. He wants a career in cricket and this is a good first step towards it.”

   Allin Junior started out as youngster with Bideford CC and by nine years old was playing in the Devon U11 side. He learned a lot in his early days from the Devon coaches and Somerset's former 2 nd XI manager Julian Wyatt.

   In search for more challenging cricket, Allin left Devon B Division side Bideford for the 2006 season and joined near neighbours North Devon. Last season, Allin's 33 wickets helped his new club win the league's Premier Division for the first time.

   Allin Senior had one season as a professional cricketer and was tipped for big things in the game when he surprised everyone apart from those who knew him best by packing it in and going back to his family farm near Bideford.

   The day-in, day-out grind of professional cricket wasn't for Tony, who reaped 44 First Class wickets in his solitary season.

   Tony Allin got some good batsmen out in the heatwave summer of ‘76, including Geoff Boycott, Mike Procter (twice), Viv Richards, Richard Hadlee, Lance Rowe Tony Greig, who was then the England captain, and Zaheer Abbas. He took eight for 63 in an innings against Sussex and 11 for 192 in a match against Middlesex.

   Allin senior carried on playing for Devon and the Minor Counties XI until 1996, adding some more notable scalps, including those of West Indies captain Richie Richardson and Derek Randall, to his collection. He finally retired from Devon League cricket at the end of the 2005 season.