Heroes of 2014: Recordo Gordon

We’re marking the 10th anniversary of the Bears' historic 2014 T20 Blast win by speaking to some of the players involved in that memorable campaign.

Rookie fast bowler Recordo Gordon get an unexpected call-up to the side due to an injury crisis – and he responded in style as he helped Bears reach Finals Day.

Recordo Gordon was an unlikely hero of the Bears 2014 T20 Blast winning side.

Born in Jamaica, Recordo – or Flash (Gordon) as he would become known in the Bears dressing room – moved to the UK with his family at the age of seven.

His fast bowling potential was spotted by Warwickshire coaches at Handsworth and Moseley Cricket Clubs and he signed a professional contract for the Club in 2011.

At the age of 19 he’d been working part-time in MacDonald’s. Three years later he was bowling at the death for the Bears in what turned out to be legacy-making T20 Blast games.

“Choppy (Bears captain Varun Chopra) was a brave leader,” said Recordo, “and I guess him throwing me the ball at the death in those games, entrusting me at key moments despite my inexperience, was evidence of his brave decision making.

“It was who dares wins. And if we were going to lose, we’d do it on our terms. We’d go down fighting.”

A stress fracture meant a frustrating, delayed start to Gordon’s career at Edgbaston.

He made his First Class debut in 2013 but it was in 2014 when, with injury to Boyd Rankin and Keith Barker depleting the bowling attack, he seized his opportunity to mark a mark in the senior side.

The right-arm quick made his T20 debut, age 22, on 13 June 2014 at Nottinghamshire where he claimed 2-28.

He would go on to take nine wickets in six games, including 3-18 from four overs in the win over Leicestershire that sealed North Group qualification and the wickets of Ravi Bopara and Jessie Ryder as the Bears stunned Essex in the Quarter Final.

“We weren’t in any kind of position to qualify,” added Gordon, now 32 and Chair at Handsworth CC, “but we won our last four group games to scrape into fourth place.

“Being young and naïve helped me. There was no scar tissue. That quarter final in Chelmsford, it’s a tight ground, the crowd are on top of you, a bit of a cauldron. But I had no fear. Plus being new to the team, batters didn’t know what to expect.

“I liked to think I was the king of the double bluff! I’d set a field and then bowl the opposite ball to what the batter would expect. I’d keep them guessing.

“We all had defined roles and I was Choppy’s death bowler. I would practice my death bowling skills all week. Trying to be innovative with slower balls, Yorkers and knowing when and how to bowl bumpers.

“I didn’t care about the pressure, I just wanted to play cricket. Choppy threw me the ball and I got Ravi Bopara and Jessie Ryder – these are people I grew up watching – and would have had Ryan ten Doeschate had Laurie not dropped a catch. But we won’t talk about that!

“Choppy was a leader and oozed confidence. He gave you that inner feeling of ‘I’ll run through a brick wall for him here’ and get the job done.”

But despite Gordon – who’s set to appear in Bears Den TV as part of the Club’s 2024 Vitality Blast coverage – playing a big part in helping the Bears reach finals Day, the return of Chris Woakes from England duty saw him miss out on the big stage.

“I was gutted, if I’m honest, but I understood,” he reflected. “It is what it is, as the kids say. Sitting out for likes of Woaksey, you have to accept that. To know I contributed to get the team there was a big thing.

“I was in the dug-out on Finals Day. I was a cricket fan for the day, soaking it all up, It’s hard to do that when you’re out in the middle because you’ve got to block it out.

“The Hollies was rocking that day. First we saw off the mighty Surrey who had Pieterson and Jason Roy, then the Flintoff v Woakes finale was something to behold. I remember he hit a boundary and I thought ‘oh no, where’s this going’ but he held his nerve to get us over the line.

“I think we surprised a few people that year. We weren’t known as a T20 side. We’d not won the trophy in 11 years of trying. But we had a good side and we all backed each other. Olly Hannon-Dalby and Rikki Clarke bowled well that year, Will Porterfield did well, and Jeets leading the attack.

“When I sit back and think about my career, OK I could have played more, but to be one of few to play for Warwickshire in that campaign, to have contributed to that legacy, it’s a special feeling. I’ll always look back with pride.”