Stick To Cricket Episode 14: Special guest Rugby League legend Kevin Sinfield

• Vaughan, Cook, Lloyd and Tuffers joined by Kevin Sinfield

• Great Britain legend reflects on his career in rugby league

• Running for Rob Burrow, all time top 5 RL players and more

• Betfair Predicts is your guide to winter Ashes predictions

Betfair and The Overlap proudly present Stick to Cricket, a captivating new show featuring renowned England cricket legends Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, David 'Bumble' Lloyd, and Phil 'Tuffers' Tufnell. 

The weekly show offers insights and discussions, with special guests joining the cricket icons to discuss the sport's hottest topics.

In this episode, the panel welcome ex-Rugby League star and expert marathon and ultra-challenge fundraiser Kevin Sinfield talks through his life in the sport, his marathons, and challenges, and why Rob Burrows is his driving force.

Watch the episode and read a selection of Kevin's quotes below.

Kevin Sinfield: Rob Burrows is my driving force 

I don't really stop training. Rob Burrow is my driving force. Rob got diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)... He had just started his coaching career, and I was back at Leeds Rhinos. 

I thought the best way we could help him was to get our team back together and raise some money so that, whatever happened, he didn't have to worry about any financial issues or problems at home because of those who are diagnosed with MND, 50% die within two years and a third die within 12 months. None of us knew how long Rob had and he's got three kids under 10-years-old... 

We got to September 2020, and I knew we were short of the money I promised him we'd raise. I thought: "Right, I'm going to have to do something, or at least if I fall short, I need him to see me put myself through it so that he knows his mates are around him." That's when we came up with the original 7in7 idea, which by this stage, I'd run six marathons. Mainly for prostate cancer which is a charity that's particularly close to my heart... We raised £2.8million. The whole thing was just bonkers.

I don't like running but it's shining a light on MND 

This may sound crazy, but I don't even like running, but I know it's good for me. And since 2020, it's just been a great vehicle for raising money and shining a light on MND. 

I try to train every day. The pain of what comes in my head if I don't do it is worse than the pain of doing it. I'm a better guy if I've trained or gone for a run. It's addictive.

Chris Kamara is the best energy-giver

I joined Jeff Stelling's prostate cancer walk in 2013/2014, and he had a load of different sporting celebrities with him. Chris Kamara was one of them and on this one day, they'd walked something like 28 miles from somewhere in Yorkshire down to Leeds and they were finishing at Elland Road. They asked me to join the last mile, but I felt embarrassed just doing the last mile. 

I turned up and it was lashing it down. Everyone looked exhausted and shot - yet Chris Kamara had the biggest smile on his face and looked like he hadn't walked any of it. He looked so fresh and was bouncing around. In terms of an energy-giver, he was the best I've seen. He was brilliant for Jeff.

Rugby League is more technical and tactical than Union

Rugby League and Union are different. Rugby League had a history of doing very, very little bone on bone. Throughout all my career, we did very small amounts of it, whereas Union did a lot more.  

The difference in training is based on ball in play. Without being too technical here, game in play in League is about 60 minutes, whereas in Union, it's probably about 33/34 minutes in an 80-minute game. So clearly you have to train them differently.  

There's a lot more interval-type training in a League environment, whereas in Union, we work more in four-minute blocks of training. It's a lot more technical and tactical.  

My mindset for marathons and challenges comes from Rugby 

I want to say I get my mindset from Rugby. I grew up playing Rugby League in a working-class town and the values I grew up with have stayed with me. I've always been in a team, and I love it. That's the great thing about the challenges now - I'm part of a team who are trying to do something good.  

I'm probably at my best when in a tough spot and I was with my career, so to be able to use that now is something I haven't minded doing. 

Kevin Sinfield's top 5 Rugby League players of all time

Billy Boston

Ellery Hanley

Andy Farrell

Wally Lewis

Stacey Jones

Now watch Stick To Cricket Episode 13: Special guest Boycott says Australia are there for the taking in Ashes