Father and Son Neil and Logan Curnow Both Play for Cornwall

Neil Curnow had not turned out for Cornwall in eight years. Then his phone rang at half past eleven on a Friday night.

The 44-year-old picked up to find Cornwall team manager Godfrey Furse on the line, and the conversation that followed put him alongside his 17-year-old son Logan two days later. On Sunday the pair played together for Cornwall in a National Counties T20 double-header against Dorset at St Austell. It was the first time they had done so at county level.

A late-night call

Logan had already been named in the Cornwall squad to face Dorset. Neil had not. He made his county debut back in 2000, eight years before Logan was born, and retired from Cornwall cricket in 2017. He has carried on playing and scoring heavily for St Just in the Cornwall League, but a recall was not on his mind.

Then Godfrey called.

“I wasn’t down to play, I hadn’t played for Cornwall since 2017, but Godfrey rang me about half-past eleven on Friday night, as he does, and said: ‘Are you bringing your boy to St Austell on Sunday?'”

Neil said yes, he was bringing Logan. The reply changed his weekend.

“He goes: ‘Well, lad, our two Kent boys, Alex Blake and Will MacVicar, aren’t playing and I’m thinking that we need an older head’.”

Neil pointed out he already had cricket booked for the Saturday. He agreed to play anyway.

“I was only going to play in the first game and then let a youngster play in the second, but the first game went quite well and I ended up playing both. It’s taken me until Wednesday morning to recover.”

Father and son

Neil and Logan have played together for St Just for three years in the Cornwall Premier League. They have also lined up together at senior football level for Ludgvan across two seasons. County cricket was new ground.

“It was lovely to play with Logan, it really was,” Neil said. “But this was the icing on the cake to play with him at National Counties level. I never expected that in my wildest dreams.”

There was plenty to show for it. Neil scored 41. Logan took five wickets across the day and held three catches. Cornwall won both games.

“It was nice to actually contribute because, having not played for so long, it was a bit nervy, although I shouldn’t be nervous at 44,” he said. “To get 41 was really nice, and to see Logan get five wickets in the day and three catches was incredible. To be honest I would have been a lot happier watching, but to play for the county with him was lovely.”

A short list to join

Fathers and sons turning out together at this level is unusual. Neil and Logan joined a small group that includes former Lancashire and England batter Jack Ikin and his son Michael, who played for Staffordshire, former Northamptonshire all-rounder Brian Crump and his father Stanley, also Staffordshire, and future Northamptonshire and England batter Alec Swann and his father Ray at Bedfordshire. All of them featured together in a National Counties match, the competition formerly known as the Minor Counties.

“Who’s this old boy?”

Neil had braced himself for some stick as he walked out at St Austell.

“As I walked out on Sunday I was expecting to get a barrage from Dorset, ‘who’s this old boy, this dumpy lad’, but they were absolutely fantastic,” he said. “They would have realised I was 44 because I do look my age. They had probably noticed that I wasn’t doing the warm-ups with the rest of the boys. I was putting liniment on my legs and ice spray on my ankles.”

Does the retirement still stand?

The recovery took until Wednesday. By then Godfrey had already been back in touch about the next fixture, away at Eastnor in Herefordshire this weekend. Neil has not been selected, but he has been asked to keep his kit handy.

“Godfrey came in the changing room afterwards and congratulated us and said it was a rare moment getting the opportunity to play with your lad,” Neil said. “Three days later I get the phone call from him asking if I was coming up to Herefordshire, so whether the retirement still stands, we will find out on Sunday.”