County Cricket / Frank Gregan / 11 October 2011 /

In different circumstances we may have seen Somerset's Peter Trego on our TV screens playing a very different sport altogether. And in different circumstances we may also have seen him in next year's IPL...

It's often said that sport is all about tiny margins. The dividing line between success and failure sometimes gets so thin that it needs laboratory assistance to see it. Somerset's Peter Trego knows how thin that line can be. He's been knocking on England's door for a while but the selectors are pretending nobody's at home, they've turned the lights off and are hiding behind the sofa. It looks as if his ambition to represent his country at the very highest level might not be fulfilled.

That's a shame because Trego has done some hard yards to get where he is today. He left Kent in the early noughties and changed sports, attempting to secure himself a job in professional football. He's a goalkeeper, a very good one too, and was persuaded by a friend of his who had enjoyed a decent career with Bristol City to try his luck with the bigger ball because the rewards for success were much greater.

He's from Weston Super Mare and at the time I was managing his home town club in the Conference South. He played a game or two for us but money was tight and we couldn't match what he needed to maintain the lifestyle of a professional cricketer. He ended up playing in the same division as us for a couple of seasons with Margate but despite getting rave reviews, he never made the step up from semi-pro to the Football League.

He returned to cricket and his native Somerset and has enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular, career but in recent years a cricketer's worth has greatly increased. At the top end of the scale there are huge sums of gold to be made with the Indian Premier League being cricket's Klondike.

If Peter Trego manages to secure himself a contract in India he will retire considerably richer than the majority of professional goalkeepers. Cricket is no longer the poor relation and you don't have to get to the very top of the pile in order to make serious dosh. The likes of Michael Lumb and Owais Shah both gained IPL contracts and have proven that being in the right place in the right form can be very lucrative.

Peter Trego has been in the right place to ensure that his name was remembered by the Indian franchise owners. Whilst helping Somerset to the semi-finals of the Nokia Champions League T20 in the group game against the Bangalore Royal Chargers he hit Chris Gayle, the giant of IPL4, for 24 runs in one over as he raced to an eye-catching 58 off only 38 balls. Cue that thin dividing line - his bowling figures of 0 for 50 off only three overs counter-balanced his performance with the bat.

He was given a second chance, a shop window to make Harrods look like a Tesco Express, the semi-final against the mighty Mumbai Indians. A decent knock could have been life changing but sadly, like many batsmen before him, he fell victim to a vicious yorker from Lasith Malinga and was out for a second ball duck - tragic.

Trego won't be in action on Friday for England but Alastair Cook and his men know they are in for a battle against an Indian side that look hell bent on revenge for their summer of humiliation. England in England are formidable, England in the sub-continent are fallible. It's a back-to-lay recommendation, to be laid off for a bet to nothing should the Indians take a 2-0 lead.

As for Peter Trego, I hope he gets his break, he deserves it. I remember quizzing a football director who had known him since childhood about him. "He's arrogant," he said, "he thinks he's a bit special." There's no doubt about that, anyone who hits Chris Gayle for 24 in an over is very special! He's just got to get over that thin dividing line.

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