>Morris Dancer and Village People stand-in / Paris Troy
I’ve met loads of people in my line of work, from all walks of life but weirdly I’d never met a pro cricketer until I met Chris. Before that I’d only seen them on the telly-Flintoff, Pietersen,Botham etc-all strapping,burly, big guys. So when I wandered into a charity dinner one evening a while ago to I looked over at Chris and thought “God, they don’t half make waiters tiny these days- how’s he going to manage a tray of drinks, he might disappear.” He also looked about twelve so  I wandered over to order a beer off him, but thankfully someone introduced us before my gaffe, otherwise I might have found a cricket bat shoved where the sun don’t shine.

It was an extremely pleasant surpise to find that Chris was a lovely bloke. We chatted throughout the evening and he was so down to earth and chilled. We were fulfilling our roles that evening as “celebrity” waiters and despite the fact that Chris had never done this before, he fitted in perfectly-polite and courteous to everyone, up for a laugh and happy to muck in. This leads me to believe that, aside from the fact that he’s a first class cricketer, he’s probably a top man to have as a teammate both on and off the field.

We’ll leave Chris’ waitering skills for another time-though I did see a woman crying with a lamb shank in her beehive hairdo, and Chris looking crestfallen, so you do the maths on that one.

Chris has achieved fantastic things in his career  and aside from cricket, very few people know that he once singlehandedly defended an African village from an army of invading ants, that he’s a talented Morris dancer, and that he’s a stand in double for the policeman out of the Village People-that’s his modesty for you.

Anyway Chris, you fully deserve your benefit year. 
Congratulations and all the best for the future!

Paris Troy, Breakfast show GWR Fm.