On an early English summer’s day in 1994, Matthew Mott turned up for a home game at Porthill Park Cricket Club clutching a brown cardboard box.
He’d arrived at the North Staffordshire club a month or so before as a quiet, fresh-faced Queenslander looking to enhance his fledgling cricket aspirations with a stint as an overseas professional in the UK.
Mott had quickly won the affection of his new team-mates with the manner in which he scored his runs – attritional, gritty and frequently batting through – along with a willingness to muck in with club life.
Landing a job at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s most popular bar, ensuring they all got served on a Friday night before the rest of the punters, also helped. On this particular Saturday, though, the Australian opened the box and attempted to undo a century of Porthill’s cricket history.
“For as long as anyone could remember, the club colours had been maroon and green with a tinge of gold,” explains Mott’s former Porthill team-mate David Cotton. “For some strange reason, Motty came up with the idea we should wear these incredibly bright yellow Aussie-style one-day caps.
“Porthill is a very traditional club but, despite his age, he somehow persuaded us to adopt these canary yellow caps, embroidered with the club badge. He sourced them all himself and we wore them for the whole season.”
Mott left Porthill that October, after his 21st birthday, having developed a penchant for Tia Maria and bacon-cheese oatcakes. The left-handed batter, who had also made a league-record 1,130 runs during his stay, returned down under to make his first-class debut for Queensland a month later, alongside his close friend, the late Andrew Symonds.
The cap story left an impression on Cotton, though. It reflected the personality of someone who, even at a young age, thought deeply about team culture while still carrying the weight of individual expectation.
It was the kind of gesture which would resonate with players during his head coach stints with New South Wales, Glamorgan and Australia’s women.
And it is a story that gives an insight into the man who has become England’s white-ball coach.