Ian Cockbain’s journey from England to Langwarrin and the BBL with Adelaide Strikers

From playing on synthetic wickets in Langwarrin to being one of the Big Bash League’s most successful imports, Ian Cockbain’s rise was one for the ages. Then after six matches, it was over. The English batter speaks to TIM MICHELL.

Ian Cockbain batting for the Strikers. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Ian Cockbain thought it was a done deal.

After six BBL matches with Adelaide Strikers which yielded 239 runs, it was a matter of when — not if — the English batter’s name would be called in the BBL12 draft.

Until it wasn’t.

“That was extremely tough to take. The draft kind of messed me up really,” the 36-year-old said.

“Previously they would have just signed me for the next season. But then they were like, ‘well it’s going to go to a draft. We can’t be sure who we’re getting’. I was like, ‘OK, that’s fine’.

“But I was speaking to the Strikers literally a week before the draft and it was a done deal.

“It wasn’t whether I was going to get picked or not, it was what bracket I was going to get picked in.”

Ian Cockbain blitzed the BBL for six games but hasn’t got another opportunity. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

Adelaide’s first pick was Rashid Khan, retained after an audacious bid from Melbourne Stars.

Then at pick 14, Kiwi all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme became a Striker.

Still, Adelaide had one pick left which surely would be Cockbain.

The Strikers instead opted for another English batter, Adam Hose, and Cockbain’s BBL career was over after six matches, five wins and an improbable run from last to within one ball of a final berth.

“I was thinking, ‘right, we’re home and dry here. Even if I get picked in the bronze one it doesn’t matter. I just want to come back and play again’,” he said.

“Watching the draft and I didn’t get picked, I was like ‘what has just happened?’ I could not believe it. That was obviously a big, bitter pill to swallow.”

Cockbain’s arrival coincided with the Strikers making a finals charge. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Cockbain says Strikers coach Jason Gillespie called minutes after the draft to apologise.

“They thought (Head and Carey) were going to be available and the top-order was sort of set in stone. They wanted a bit more power through the middle. As it turned out, they signed a batter who batted at four anyway. I was like, ‘you’re joking, aren’t you?’ That was a tough one.”

Cockbain had been one of the most captivating stories of the BBL11 summer.

As Covid ravaged squads including the Strikers, the veteran Englishman was plucked from Mornington Peninsula club Langwarrin to bat in Adelaide’s top-order.

His MPCA form hardly warranted elevation to the BBL.

Ian Cockbain with his wife Amy in 2020.

From seven innings, Cockbain tallied 196 runs, of which 83 came in a T20 game for Langwarrin against Skye.

“I wasn’t doing that well (for Langwarrin),” Cockbain said.

“I’d been eyeing off trying to get a gig in the Big Bash for quite a while.

“My numbers back home were pretty good over an eight-year period. It would have been up there with some of the lads who were on that franchise circuit.

“It was a bit frustrating not to get a go from the start really. But then the opportunity came about and I wasn’t going to let that opportunity go. Finally getting your foot in the door.”

Cockbain’s Gloucestershire teammate Dan Worrall was playing for the Strikers and helped seal an opportunity he had working toward for almost a decade.

Former Langwarrin teammate Chris Brittain said: “It was just like, ‘oh my god, we know a guy that’s going to be playing in the BBL’.

“We were just all rapt for him and hoped he’d do well. We didn’t expect him to do as well as he did because he hadn’t done that well for us. He absolutely nailed it.

“I think he was almost second-highest runscorer for Adelaide and he came in late. He did really well and just showed how good a player he was.

“And, it proves playing on a good flat turf wicket is a lot easier than playing on some of the carpet stuff we play on.”

Ian Cockbain during his time playing for East Torrens.

Cockbain’s scratchy start to the summer only made what happened next more remarkable.

He went from battling for runs on the Mornington Peninsula to blitzing the Big Bash.

On debut, he steered Adelaide to victory against a Scorchers attack featuring Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye and Lance Morris.

Four days later, Cockbain dominated Jackson Bird, Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis, launching 71 not out against the Sydney Sixers.

“I have been doing it for a long time. At the time it would have probably been my ninth season of professional cricket and mainly playing Twenty20,” Cockbain said.

“I probably had 100 games under my belt already back home. Having that experience, then also finally getting my foot in the door and getting a chance to try and prove it on the franchise stage was quite nice.

“It kind of helps playing at Adelaide Oval as well, the wicket is so flat.”

Cockbain had played for Melbourne clubs Beaumaris, Bonbeach and Buckley Ridges and spent a season playing in Sale in country Victoria.

He had also turned out for East Torrens and St Kilda in grade cricket, marrying an Australian (his wife Amy) and spending most summers down under.

“My agents had always shopped me around (to BBL clubs) but they tended to overlook the numbers and just go for the big names,” Cockbain said.

“Quite a lot of feedback I had was, ‘ultimately they’re trying to get bums on seats. Whether it be a Test cricketer who’s Twenty20 numbers aren’t overly great, but they’re box office if you like. They bring the crowd in’.

“It’s a bit frustrating to get overlooked from that respect. Your numbers are better than most but you don’t have that big name of playing international cricket so you get overlooked quite easily.”

6 matches, 239 runs - averaging 59.75 🤯@ian_cockbain was a late addition for the @StrikersBBL last summer, but played a huge part in their finals campaign and ended the season as their fourth-highest run scorer 💥

Should the Strikers retain him in the #BBL12Draft? pic.twitter.com/U8ODej15OD

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) July 30, 2022

After waiting almost 10 years for a chance on the T20 circuit, Cockbain incredibly received two offers on the same day.

Hours after the Strikers made in contact, he fielded interest from the Pakistan Super League.

He would eventually head to Karachi Kings, but only after spearheading an unlikely BBL title push.

“When I joined up with the Strikers, it was funny, we were literally like bottom of the league,” he said.

“Didn’t have any chance of qualifying for finals. So I said to the team in Pakistan, ‘I’ll be there, I’ll miss the first two games but then I’ll be over straight away. We’ve got no chance’. “Then I had to keep ringing them up saying, ‘you know what? We’ve won again, so I’m going to have to delay my trip over to Pakistan by another week’.

“I think I missed four or five games instead of the first two.”

Ian Cockbain has made 77 runs in four hits this season playing club cricket on synthetic strips for Langwarrin. And tonight he goes out for the Strikers in the Big Bash and cracks 71no.

— Paul Amy (@PaulAmy375) January 17, 2022

Wow Strikers on the charge. Ian Cockbain has been a great addition 👏 experience & class. So pleased for @petersiddle403 whose done the hard yards in charge 🏏👏👏

— Darren Berry (@ChuckBerry1969) January 17, 2022

Cockbain hasn’t given up on playing BBL again, but concedes the call is unlikely to come in the twilight of his career.

“That would be nice, but my career is pretty much done now,” he said.

“I haven’t got a contract back home anymore. I just took the decision, I don’t want to go chasing it really.

“I’ve been in the game 12 years. If an opportunity pops up, then fantastic. If it doesn’t, I’m done.

“If someone falls over mid-season and they’re looking for a quick replacement, I am here and I am ready to play. That is always a worst-case scenario, if you like. But if nothing comes up, I’m also at peace with that as well.”

Cockbain returned to Langwarrin last summer with a chip on his shoulder and took his BBL frustration out on MPCA bowlers.

He plundered almost 800 runs, scored two centuries and showcased the experience which comes from more than 50 first-class matches and 150 career T20s.

Most BBL fans will remember Cockbain as a bolter from the peninsula, when in reality he was one of the most experienced internationals to feature in Australia’s T20 competition.

Not that he didn’t enjoy making the most of his new-found notoriety.

“It was quite funny, I sort of played with it a little bit,” he said.

“You’d get media ringing you saying, ‘how did it come about? How did you get picked from Langwarrin?’ I was like, ‘it was bizarre really, couldn’t get a run and then all of a sudden I’m here’.

“Just Google, you could find in 20 seconds I’d played 100 professional games already.”

Originally published as Ian Cockbain’s journey from England to Langwarrin and the BBL with Adelaide Strikers