County cricketers find some obscure ways to pass their close seasons. Christopher Lyles speaks to a few who shun the winter sun for a spot of tree surgery or waste management...

"Very superstitious, writing's on the wall,
Very superstitious, ladders 'bout to fall…"

What's that about? Possibly something to do with the bad luck that might befall England's cricketers if they wander around Colombo market searching for a magician to bring Murali's sorcery to an end? Hopefully not. It is just Warwickshire bowler Charlie Dagnall – or Thelonious Phonq as his adoring winter public know him better – pounding out the words of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" in front of hundreds of baying fans at another sell-out gig performed by the nine-piece soul-funk band, Frisco Crabbe and the Atlantic Frantics.

Dagnall, whose long hair and thick sideburns could have been lifted straight from the football pitches of the early '70s, is one of a happy band of cricketers who are delighted to banish all thoughts of leather and willow during the winter months. Periodic fitness work in the gym maybe, but not for them playing or coaching in sunnier climes, or indeed sitting at home on their posteriors. This eclectic bunch want to keep the grey matter ticking over – at least some of them do – as well as laying possible foundation stones for a career after cricket. And for an unfortunate few, the day of reckoning can arrive all too quickly.

"I don't think there will be many people doing what I'm doing this winter," says Dagnall. No kidding, Daggers. In addition to honing his musical talents, he has been a television presenter on Sky Digital's shopping channel, Shop! while also launching a modelling career with Toni and Guy hairdressers in Solihull.

Dougie Brown Photo Paul McGregor

Warwickshire colleague Dougie Brown, who is spending the off-season as a locum PE teacher, is suitably unimpressed with his team mate. "Modelling?" questions the sceptical Scottish all-rounder. "I think he actually believes he's good looking but he really has to get a haircut and sort himself out. He must be modelling socks. You know the sort of thing, when they cut off the photo in the middle of the calves and you just see the socks and the lower legs."

Dagnall retorts: "I think he must be jealous because his nose wouldn't fit on camera. If it was between the two of us, I know who would break the lens first. Mind you, I think Warwickshire look at me with some sort of weird fascination and I could totally understand it if the members wondered what era I came from."

Modelling assignments, presenting consumer programmes and strutting his funky stuff as an able deputy for Frisco Crabbe (or, more precisely, his brother John) may sound like fun but there is also a serious aspect to Dagnall's winter exertions. All too often, players take their leave of the game with no idea of their next step and that is something the Professional Cricketers' Association is trying to alleviate with an ongoing programme of career-planning for the legions of the undecided.

"I'm young and I'm having fun," says the 24-year-old swing bowler. "Cricket is all I ever wanted to do and, yes, I would be devastated if something like a knee injury forced me to quit, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. At the moment I am gaining experience and formulating ideas of what I might want to do when I pack up cricket. I would certainly like to pursue a media career and I think radio would be sensational. I like talking and I love music. Dougie Brown would probably think I've got the perfect face for radio."

Career-threatening injuries have been concentrating the mind of Worcestershire's 26-year-old batsman Reuben Spiring, who has undergone seven operations on his right knee in the last few years. If it had not been for such circumstances he might not now be the proud owner of a private pilot's licence to fly helicopters. And he certainly would not have been dedicating this winter to obtaining a commercial licence.

"Life was a breeze," he says. "When you can spend the winter coaching in places like Australia you just don't look for anything else. It might sound ridiculous but in a way I am sort of glad it has worked out this way. After the second or third operation I started to realise I might not be able to carry on playing cricket. I was hooked on helicopters from my first lesson but I did a lot of research before embarking on the 40 hours of flying that is required for a private licence. For instance, what would the eventual job prospects be like?

"At £235 for an hour with an instructor I couldn't really afford to do it as a hobby. From start to finish it will probably cost about £50,000 for the commercial licence but why not go for it while I am still getting paid? It is very much an investment towards a future career and I'm sure I'll look back and think of it as the best money I ever spent."

Spiring is now building up towards the requisite 155 flying hours before sitting his first set of commercial exams in February. With more exams to negotiate in the autumn followed by a flight course and ensuing test, he should gain his commercial licence in January 2002. And then he will be able to pull in some welcome dosh from all and sundry if they fancy a quick spin.

Talking of spin, Middlesex's Phil Tufnell has embarked on a series of question and answer sessions at "sportsman's lunches" up and down the country. "It was a little bit nerve-wracking at first but I've really enjoyed it," he says. "Not a lot of people are aware of it but I do actually know a bit about cricket and I also enjoy recounting a few of the old stories. After all, I seem to have found myself in a few funny positions over the years, literally." And could he make a career out of it? "Well, I think brain surgery is out of the question."

Brain surgery may not be on the agenda of Dominic Hewson either, but tree surgery certainly is. After completing a City and Guilds course 12 months ago, the Gloucestershire opening batsman has been working for Treework Services near Bristol and, with the West Country being regularly buffeted by storms, he could scarcely have chosen a busier winter in which to bring his arboreal expertise to the fore. Thinning, pruning, felling, disease diagnosis... You name it, he knows about it and does not rule out the possibility of branching out to set up his own business at a later date.

Reggie Williams, his Gloucestershire colleague and understudy to Jack Russell behind the stumps, has been using his loaf to gain winter employment by selling sandwiches, cakes and other edible delights to offices and factories in the Bristol area. "A few have slipped between the webbing and gone to ground," he admits. "But nothing as embarrassing as the time I dropped an overhead projector when I was working in a hotel a few years ago." (No letters, thank you, about Gloucestershire wicket-keepers being a sandwich short of a full picnic).

Another of the 'Glorious Glosters', batsman Matt Windows, has joined Somerset wicket-keeper Rob Turner in the employ of Bristol stockbroker Rowan Dartington, although Turner works from the Weston-super-Mare office, so any inter-county feuding is largely contained. Much to Windows' chagrin, there is a touch more backing for the Cider County within the company but doubtless the Somerset-supporting board members will forgive him everything if he passes his Stock Exchange exams in February. Then, the man who boasts a world ranking of number seven at racquets would be able to trade equities and offer advice to clients, perhaps even to Somerset fans who want to know what it's like to win a one-day trophy.

In fact, a number of Somerset players have stayed at home to experience the delights of an English winter. Seamer Jamie Grove has been sampling the pleasures of waste management, while England Under-19 all-rounder Peter Trego has been making architraves, door frames and skirting boards for loft conversions.

Keith Parsons has been balancing the books in the credit control department of Taunton-based recruitment agency Set Square Recruitment and Peter Bowler is aiming for a diploma in legal practice from Nottingham Trent University after gaining an external law degree from the same establishment in 1998. The 37-year-old former Somerset captain may be approaching the twilight of his cricket career but a new dawn beckons elsewhere. He has already arranged a training contract for next winter with Osborne Clarke OWA, the firm of solicitors who underpin the sports management agency set up by Bowler and his former Derbyshire team mate, Tiger Moth aficionado John Morris, last year.

"Who knows where I'll be in three or four years?" declares Bowler. "I hope I'll become a qualified solicitor, although whether I work in the legal profession all my life, I don't know. But, regardless of that, my degree and my training will have been useful preparation for business and for life. The sports management side is an adventure and business is burgeoning. There has to be a market to do a job in the best interests of sportsmen. If we stick to that rigidly, from a moral aspect, we are going to build a business and a reputation."

Given the lack of money in the game, it is no great surprise that cricket is fairly incidental to the business and Bowler hopes eventually to expand into golf and tennis. But football has hitherto provided the most progress and that is the sector in which Nottinghamshire's Darren Bicknell has been busying himself. Not at his beloved West Ham but at Nottingham Forest's City Ground, where he has been acting as a public relations officer. He has been closely involved with player projects in the community as well as selling corporate hospitality. And he confesses to developing 'a bit of a soft spot' for Forest, although that is not to be disclosed in the vicinity of Upton Park.

At nearby Pride Park, the home of Derby County, the Derbyshire left-arm seamer Kevin Dean has been looking after Ladbrokes' interests. A cricketer and betting rearing their heads in the same sentence? Now there's a first. Fortunately Dean is above suspicion as indeed must be the majority of the Derby fans who regularly have a punt on a home win. With 10 booths taking a total of 2,000 betting slips at every home game, the Rams-mad Dean is certainly kept busy around match days but he also finds time to work in Ladbrokes' on-course shop at Uttoxeter races. "I'm one of those sad people who gets up at some unearthly hour to study the form in the Racing Post," he confesses.

And what of some of the others? His county colleague Paul Aldred has been continuing his odyssey to teach himself to play the guitar. He admits he finds it a good distraction playing songs like Brown Eyed Girl and Father and Son if things are not going too well on the pitch for Derbyshire, but firmly denies that he wore out several plectrums last summer. Rob Bailey, who joined Derbyshire last year, has been running his promotional ceramics business once again, while Essex's Paul Grayson has been employed by Ridley's Brewery as a sales representative around his trips to Kenya and Pakistan. Hampshire's Will Kendall has been trekking around Nepal with his girlfriend – always refreshing to see a batsman who walks – while fellow West Ender John Stephenson, having passed his stockbroking exams last March, has been gaining experience with Durlachers in Southampton.

All in all, a miscellany of ways to pass the winter months. But not long to go now before pre-season training, with Sergeant Woolmer of Warwickshire yelling: "Come on Thelonious, you're not on stage now. There are trophies to be won this season."

© The Cricketer Magazine