Glen Chapple - Captaincy

Captaincy

When Stuart Law was released by Lancashire in October 2008, after the season had ended, Chapple replaced him as captain. Speaking of his appointment, Chapple said "it's a privilege to play for such a big county, and an even bigger honour to be captaining the club I've been involved with for the past 18 years. I'm a product of the Lancashire system, and I look forward to leading a very talented squad of players to future success". Despite missing five County Championship matches of the 2009 season through injury, Chapple was named Lancashire's Championship Player of the Year.

You can't really praise him enough. It's not that he takes wickets but he also creates pressure for other people because he goes at under three an over. He's bowled beautifully this year and he's also got the pressure of captaincy so he's great to have in the side. He's worked very hard physically as well to make sure he's kept himself fit and strong to do a role of strike bowler in the side, so all credit to him: he's done a great job. ... He hasn't lost pace, he's got great control, and he moves the ball all the time.

Before the start of the 2010 season, Chapple declared his intention to play in every one of Lancashire's matches. However, as he had suffered injuries over the previous three years, coach Peter Moores decided not to pick Chapple for most of Lancashire's 40-over matches and some T20s to maintain his fitness for the County Championship. Although Chapple was injured in July and missed a couple of T20 matches, he recovered quickly enough that he did not miss a fixture of the County Championship.

At the start of 2011, Lancashire were widely tipped to face relegation from the first division of the County Championship. Against Yorkshire in May, Chapple became the fifth Lancashire player to score 7,000 runs and take 700 wickets for the club. Chapple passed the landmark of 800 first-class wickets in May 2011 during a match against Warwickshire. His 800th wicket was that of batsman William Porterfield. Victory in the match sent Lancashire to the top of the County Championship. In the last match of the season, Lancashire won the County Championship first the first time since 1950 when they shared the title. In his fifth over of the match Chapple experienced pain in his right hamstring, and feared he may have torn it. He returned to the field with strapping and on the final day, when he claimed his 800th wicket for Lancashire, he produced what Michael Atherton considered to be his most threatening bowling in a decade. For his efforts in taking Lancashire to the title, Chapple was named as one of Wisden five Cricketers of the Year in 2012. He said "Personally I had a good season but that wouldn't, in itself, be enough normally to win this award. The credit has to go to the players for the way they performed last year. It was a fantastic year for Lancashire and all the lads who played so well have obviously played a big part in me receiving this award."

Lancashire's title defence began with three defeats and two draws in their first five matches of the 2012 County Championship. In a match against Warwickshire in April Chapple jarred his ankle in the field and was on pain killers, and in the return fixture left the field with a side injury but returned to the squad for the next County Championship match.