The name will have been familiar to Warwickshire supporters but the face probably wasn’t when James Ord made his debut in the rain-wrecked Pro40 League game against Middlesex at Edgbaston.
Ord is the grandson of the late Jimmy Ord, a former Warwickshire batsman who was a member of the side that won the County Championship in 1951.
At 21, Ord is far too young to have seen his grandfather play, but he has aspirations to emulate him by helping Warwickshire to win trophies.
“I never saw him play in a game but can remember seeing him hit a tennis ball or wind ball when he was older and I have got a few stories off my dad who used to watch him play,” Ord said.
“If I could do as well as him and play in a Championship-winning side I would be very pleased.”
Ord had to make a 400-mile round-trip to play in his debut but he touched the ball only once in the two overs that were possible before rain ended play.
He had just started his innings in a second team one-day match at Chester-le-Street’s Ropery Lane ground when Dougie Brown, Warwickshire’s Second XI coach, came out with a message that captain Ian Westwood had been taken ill and he was required to drive back to Edgbaston.
“I was kind of lucky in a way because I was playing sensibly and was about ten not out,” Ord said. “Then Dougie came on and passed me a message that I needed to set off to Edgbaston in about 20 minutes so I had a licence to swing my arms but I couldn’t get out.”
Ord then had to contend with major roadworks on the M1 and M42 motorways and only arrived at Edgbaston 50 minutes before the start of the Middlesex match.
“I got to the ground at about ten-to-four and was warming up at about four o’clock but I was pretty tired after the drive,” he said. “I didn’t have too much time to think about making my debut but I was pretty excited. With TV here it was more of a big event. I was looking forward to getting out there but it was a disappointing end with the weather.”
To complete a hectic day, Ord was then driven back to Durham after the Middlesex game to play in a three-day Second XI Championship match at the Riverside.
He was brought down to earth with a bump, bowled for nought in the first innings of that game, though that probably had more to do with the quality of the delivery than exhaustion from his exertions of the previous day.
Having had his brief taste of first team action Ord, who has just finished a degree in economics at Loughborough University, is hoping for more opportunities.
“I am trying to be consistent and to get some big scores and hopefully I can push on. Hopefully you will see me again a couple of times more this season. I’ve got a few thirties and forties for the seconds recently, so I just need a big score to kick on,” he said.
“I’ve only been back with Warwickshire since the end of June because I’ve just finished my degree. Hopefully next year I will be on a full contract and now is the first time that I have been able to concentrate fully on my cricket.”