Steve Kirby was a flame-haired fast bowler, with a fiery temperament to match, when I first encountered him at the 2001 Bath Cricket Festival.
It was only his second first class appearance for Yorkshire. Yet this then 23-year-old upstart grabbed everyone’s attention by following through after most deliveries to eyeball experienced Somerset batsmen like Jamie Cox and Mike Burns.
Not content with that, Kirby wasn’t averse to sledging his opponents from point blank range, particularly when they played and missed without getting an edge.
Those occasions were rare. On a typically slow Bath pitch, Cox made 95, Burns 221 and Mark Lathwell 95 not out in a Somerset total of 553 for five declared, Steve finishing with one for 79 from 23 overs.
In search of a story at the close of play, I made a point of asking the batsmen what the brash newcomer had been saying to them, fully expecting unanimous condemnation of his behaviour. Instead, to a man they insisted Kirby never overstepped the mark and reacted with only smiles to his outbursts.
Little did I know then that we were discussing a cricketer who would go on to earn the rare distinction of becoming equally popular with Somerset and Gloucestershire fans alike.
These days, Steve, a Lancastrian by birth, considers himself and adopted West Countryman, having served both our counties with distinction, and lived in the area since joining Gloucestershire as a player in 2005.
When I asked Somerset’s bowling coach to reflect on his colourful career, 21 years on from that game at Bath, memories of it were still clear in his mind.
“It came on the back of my dream debut for Yorkshire and suddenly I found myself bowling on this featherbed of a pitch and being hit all around the park,” he laughed. “Getting in the batsmen’s faces was part of the way I played my cricket. I remember one of the umpires warning me for running on the pitch - at the opposite end from where I was bowling!”
Kirby was awarded his first professional contract by Leicestershire as a 17-year-old, but a serious back condition threatened to end his career before it had started and led to his release.
Rather than give up hope, Steve got himself fit and started applying for trials around the country. After several second XI appearances for Yorkshire, while working for a flooring company in Leicestershire, he received a phone call that changed his life.
It was a request to replace Matthew Hoggard, who had been called up unexpectedly by England, in an ongoing County Championship match against Kent the next day.
Kirby took seven for 50, the best figures by a Yorkshire player on Championship debut, in the second innings to win the game and the rest, as they say, is history. He went on claim 182 first class wickets for the white rose county and earn selection for an England A tour before more back problems saw him released at his own request in 2004.
A move to Gloucestershire for the start of the 2005 season proved another life-changing experience. He and his family have lived at the same home between Bristol and Bath ever since and both his children were born locally.
“It’s funny because people hear me speaking with a pronounced Northern accent, while my daughter talks the most broad Bristolian you could ever hear,” he said. “My wife and I loved the West Country from the start and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Gloucestershire.
“Who wouldn’t with guys like Mark Alleyne to learn from? He was a fantastic tactician and had led the club to be kings of one-day cricket. The Glory Days ended when Kirby arrived! But I loved playing alongside a bowler like Jon Lewis.
“We were really competitive with one another when I started. But he ended up taking me under his wing and I learned so much professionalism from him.
“We made a decent new ball partnership. He always claimed he bowled a bit quicker than me, but that didn’t stop us becoming really close mates.”
Kirby added 264 first class wickets to his tally in six seasons with Gloucestershire, along with 71 in List A games and 40 in T20 cricket.
“I was actually awarded a benefit year by the club, which still makes me feel proud,” he told me. “I turned it down because I was desperate to prove myself in the First Division of the County Championship and play for England.
"Somerset had come in with an offer. I got lynched my some of my mates at Gloucestershire for moving, but others supported me and I will always be grateful for that.”
Steve was part of the Somerset squad who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2011, having played for the county in the finals of the domestic T20 and 40-over competitions.
“That was great. Suddenly I was in the same team as Marcus Trescothick, who had carted me everywhere when I played against him.
“Marcus always used to pick my slower ball. I would scratch a certain part of my body as a signal to the wicketkeeper and he noticed, so he would come dancing down the pitch and smash me. I finally twigged this and one day, playing for Gloucestershire, I pretended to do the signal and then yorked him when he advanced towards me. We still laugh about that.”
With a further 103 first class wickets to his name after four years at Taunton, Kirby was forced to retire from playing by a recurrent shoulder injury in 2014. He returned to Somerset as bowling coach in 2020 after a period working outside the game for a recruitment company followed by coaching roles with the MCC and Derbyshire.
“I am loving it, working with really good people,” he said. “As a player, I had a massive ego, but you cannot have that as a coach if you want to be effective.
“The best coaches I ever worked with, I trusted because I knew they cared about me. That’s how I want the Somerset players to feel.”
Whatever role he fills, Kirby remains a larger-than-life character who talks cricket with massive enthusiasm and no little humour.
During this season’s T20 West Country derbies, he could be spotted sharing a joke with players, staff and supporters in both camps.
Was it true, I asked, that after dismissing Mike Atherton for the second time in the former England captain’s final Championship match, he remarked: “I’ve seen better batters in my fish and chip shop”?
“I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,” Steve replied unconvincingly. “And Mike just laughed about it at the time. Anyway, sledging didn’t always work for me. When bowling at Headingley one day, I told the opposing batsman that I was switching to around the wicket and he had better call an ambulance.
“His response was to smack my next ball into the West Stand where it hit a Yorkshire member, from Barnsley, who was enjoying a corn beef sandwich. He was the one carted off to hospital!”
