Cowdrey brothers’ double act is big hit

Colin Cowdrey in full flow was often described as watching poetry in motion. Little surprise, then, that almost 70 years on from his Kent debut, the latest chips off English cricket’s most famous block are operating in complete harmony in two very different industries.

Fabian and Julius Cowdrey, grandsons of Colin and twin sons of Chris, are both busy forging careers in the family’s very best traditions but while the former is following the well-worn sporting route, the latter is following in his mother’s, rather than father’s, footsteps.

Julius released his first album, “Shout Out To Me”, last August with a little help from his brother, who wrote many of his lyrics.

Now, fresh from two half-centuries in Kent’s season opener against Loughborough MCCU last week, Fabian is hoping that a twin breakthrough awaits. “If he does well then I’m looking forward to a cut of the royalties,” he says. “A free trip to Antigua would be nice.”

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Fabian will make his first County Championship appearance of the season against Essex at Chelmsford today. Julius will be in the crowd “having a Pimms or two”.

“A couple of years back, dad and I went to Wales to watch him,” says Julius. “It was rained off on the first day, the next day he was out in the dirt for a long day in the field. On the third day he got a second-baller. That’s cricket, it can be over in a heartbeat or you can get a double hundred, you just never know.”

There are no guarantees in the music industry either but they have no regrets at the paths their respective careers are taking. “I was pretty musical growing up, I used to do a lot of singing with my mother, who was a jazz singer,” says Fabian.

“I think that’s where the musical genes come through, despite what my dad might tell you. She would put on Ella Fitzgerald and all of that but we would listen to everything and anything – from classical down to dubstep, both ends of the spectrum.

“At the age of seven onwards we were shunted into the school choir and would be singing all the time. It got a little bit too much by the age of 13 or 14 because I was missing out on cricket practice. Julius has obviously kept it going and has really turned himself into a pretty unique artist.”

Julius, himself a more than useful cricketer for Sevenoaks Vine in the Kent Premier League, says that the brotherly bond makes the musical process appear as natural as one of their grandfather’s cover drives.

“He’s so good [at writing lyrics],” he says. “Very rarely I’ll tell him I’m not too sure about something he has written – occasionally there will be a word that is a bit cringe or a phrase that doesn’t work but we try to let each other get on with it really – he does the words and I do the music.

“Funnily enough, there’s a song I wrote called ‘I Cried’ which I wrote when Fabian was playing cricket Down Under last winter. He hated that I wrote the lyrics but now it’s one of my best songs. He won’t be best pleased when the royalties for that one come in!

“Sometimes we’ll be in the same room and he’ll write a song and then other times he’ll send me some lyrics through at midnight and say ‘have a go at this’. We’ve done it over Skype too. There’s no set way of working.”

“Ultimately, it’s just the enjoyment for writing I’ve got,” Fabian says. “I’m not always sure where the inspiration comes from. Sometimes it’s just a case of putting pen to paper and the song just writes itself.

“The whole thing about writing is that it’s a great way to get away from the game. You can relate to a song when you really listen in and understand the lyrics. I don’t think One Direction have too many songs where the lyrics are particularly important but for artists like U2 they most definitely are.”

The family name brings added pressures, of course. Chris followed in his father’s footsteps when captaining England for a single Test match in a truly dismal summer in 1988 and their uncle, Graham, was also part of the Kent furniture for 13 seasons from 1984-97.

There are clear signs, though, that Fabian is comfortable with the levels of expectation that have followed him since he broke his grandfather’s scoring records at Tonbridge as a schoolboy. “The only pressure [the name brings] really is the pressure that I’ve created myself,” he says. “Pressure can build up in your head but it’s all in your hands.

“I don’t really think about it. I work hard on my game so that when it comes to crunch and important moments of the game I can stand up just like anyone. It’s becoming less and less prominent in my thoughts as I move on with my career.”

For Julius, it’s music rather than cricket that will always be No 1. “It’s funny, I would always say that if I wasn’t a singer then I would like to be a cricketer and Fabian would say the opposite,” he says. “I suppose things are working out quite nicely for both of us.”

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Liam Gough, the 20-year-old son of Darren, has signed a short-term deal at Essex after impressing for the Second XI at the end of last season when he scored 62 and 82.

Billy Root, 22, younger brother of Joe, has been awarded a performance contract at Nottinghamshire after scoring heavily for the Second XI last year – he hit a double hundred against Derbyshire, just days before Joe scored 200 for England against Sri Lanka. He took four wickets and scored 46 for Leeds/Bradford MCCU against Lancashire last week.

For more information, visit www.juliuscowdrey.com