sports gazette

Nick Friend

Email: 172933@live.stmarys.ac.uk

Nick has spent most of his twenty-three years involved in sport in one way or another. He graduated from Durham University with a degree in Modern Languages, having spent six months as Cricket Argentina's assistant head coach as part of his year abroad.

The 23-year-old gained much of his experience in journalism as sport editor of the University’s student newspaper, Palatinate.

During his two years in the role, he sourced and ran a host of high-profile exclusive interviews, three of which rank among the most-read pieces in the website’s history. He won the university’s Hunter Davies Prize for Journalism in 2015.

Since leaving Durham, he has written for the iPaper, while contributing weekly to Sport500 – a website focused on creating concise sport opinion content. When not writing, Nick can often be heard bemoaning the fortunes of Queens Park Rangers.

Beyond the Rs, he is an ICC and ECB-qualified cricket coach and umpire, while in more delusional times, had set his sights on a career in professional cricket. He counts darts, ski jumping and snooker among his passions, with an unnecessary knowledge of all three.


Twitter: @NickFriend1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-friend-705b98b0/

Blog:

Stories by Nick

  • "I felt like the unluckiest man in the world": the remarkable tale of Ali Jawad
    As he prepares for the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Mexico City – rearranged after an earthquake struck the city in September – Nick Friend speaks to Paralympic silver-medalist Ali Jawad about a life story that few could even begin to imagine.
  • "We're at the trapdoor": Matt Bloomfield on life below the Premier League
    Matt Bloomfield signed for Wycombe Wanderers in December 2003. Fourteen years on, he remains a key figure at the club, having made his 400th appearance last year. As his fifteenth season at the club gets going, Nick Friend spoke to him about his durability, life in League Two and how footballers cope with retirement.
  • How an emphasis on local talent brought the glory days back to Chelmsford
    After a remarkable unbeaten season brought Essex an unlikely first County Championship title since a dominant spell in the 1980s and early '90s, Nick Friend spoke to former Essex wicketkeeper Neil Burns about the similarities between this year's success and that of the previous great Essex sides.
  • “We’re at the start of a journey”: Alex Hartley on her Ashes dream
    After an extraordinary year for women's cricket, Nick Friend speaks to England spinner Alex Hartley as the World Cup winners prepare for their tour of Australia.
  • Sampson debacle the latest in an unfit organisation's history of incompetence
    Mark Sampson's sacking as England women's manager was - to put it mildly - entirely predictable. The exact reasons behind it are anyone's guess, with the FA stopping short of complete transparency. What is clear, however, is that the time for reform has never been more urgent, after another calamitous year for the national game's governing body. Nick Friend looks at how it came to this.
  • The closest shave: How Buenos Aires almost halted the Afghanistan fairytale
    In January 2009, Argentina hosted the ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament. They were joined by Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, the Cayman Islands, Uganda and, fresh from promotion from Division Four, a plucky Afghanistan side, defying civil unrest and everyday danger. However, another promotion followed and, eight years on, Test cricket has a new addition. Nick Friend tells the story of how the Afghan miracle was so nearly curtailed in the most unlikely of cricketing capitals.
  • Five things we learnt from England vs West Indies
    Saturday evening’s T20 international between England and the West Indies saw a repeat of last year’s World T20 final, won so dramatically by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over.