You and your wife are expecting your second child. How’s that going?

There’s five weeks to go yet. You’ll know yourself being a father that the last months probably the hardest because the wife’s wanting to get on with it. It’s come at a tricky time because I’m trying to concentrate on family life, cricket life and getting my leg back together as well. It’s going well. She’s been really great, just getting on with it and not complaining too much when I keep going out to the gym every day and working on my leg and the rest of my body so she’s been really good.

Where did you get the nickname Rat? Is that something that goes back to your school days or is it from your time withYorkshire?

It’s from cricket. They used to call me Sim at school, obviously short for Simon. It mainly comes from the way I scamper around the pitch a bit like a rat up a drainpipe around the wickets. It kind of progressed – they used to call me Fez because they used to say I looked like a ferret and then it progressed to Rat and stuck. Initially I was a bit unsure but I must admit I do like it, but it’s grown on me now and is part of my life. Whether that’s good or bad I’m not sure.

Are you frustrated that you’ve never had a really long run in the 1^st Team?

At the end of the day if anything got me down I wouldn’t be doing the job and I wouldn’t have been doing it for as long as I have. Obviously frustration does affect everybody, but it’s the way that we deal with it that’s important. I’m renowned for my bouncebackability. There was one season where things didn’t go well for me personally, that was the year I started in the 1st Team a while ago and that’s probably the only time when things haven’t gone well for me. The rest of the time I’ve been a bit unlucky. Martyn Moxon gave me my chance and then Clark came along and wanted to go with experience which was probably understandable as I was still only a young lad so I got the gloves taken off me for no fault of my own there. I was brought back in to the side and David Byas came and that’s when the first part of the season didn’t go well for me and then I brought myself back in to the side after Ishy and then Byas brought Brophy in and I had to start all over again.

So I’ve been a bit unlucky with the coaches and things like that, but I’d love to have a long opportunity. I think in the position I play in that’s the only way you can get a glimpse of what’s possible. I have had bits and bobs chances and done well when I’ve had them. I just wonder how many of the supporters remember what happened in 2004 and judge me solely on that. If you look at the way I’ve played every time I’ve come into the side I’ve played well. I averaged 25 last year which must be up there for any Yorkshire keeper since 2000. If you look around the counties Geraint Jones averaged just short of 26, so did Chris Read so I’m in there with the right kind of people.

What are your reflections on the tough time you had in 2004?

I’m the kind of person that I want to do well for everybody every single minute of the day. I feel I have to prove myself every minute of the day when I walk out on the pitch. If you speak to experienced players they’ll say they are relaxed and easy with their environment and that’s why they perform well. I haven’t had a long run in the team so I’ve found it hard to come in and relax. Every time I’ve come in I’ve been fighting to keep my place or make a place for myself and trying too hard.

That year when things didn’t go well I think that’s what it was. I wanted to do so well for everybody. It felt like I’d finally got my chance to have a long run in the team and things didn’t go well. There are a lot of variables in cricket as well which make it more difficult sometimes and the harder you try the worse things go and I think I was probably guilty of that.

In 2004 I was sat in the members seats at the rugby stand end and there was a bloke giving you regular verbals – you can’t catch Guy, bring back Blakey, etc – as a player do you hear things like that and does it get to you?

Yes, when I first got into the side. That stems back to what I said about feeling you have to prove yourself to everybody. I think now it’s about proving it to yourself and as long as you are happy with yourself then everything like that can fly over your head. It still does hurt a bit. I don’t go down to his office when he’s working on his spreadsheet and say ‘they're the worst spreadsheets I’ve ever seen you’re rubbish, now get that guy back that you sacked a week ago.’ It would be interesting to see what he thought of that if I was stood talking at him for six and a half hours a day.

The thing about wicket-keeping as well is that it’s so easy for people to sit there and criticise when they’ve never done it in their lives and have no understanding whatsoever, but find it really easy to be abusive and generally horrible. There’s no one apart from other keepers that really understand when you take a great take – you know the one where it’s pitched outside leg, spun a long way, flicked the pad but you took it cleanly and nobody around the ground utters a word. That’s why it was great to have Dick (Blakey) about as I’d come off and he’d say ‘well done mate’ and when he said that you knew he’s been there and done it and could relate to it.

You’ve made a lot of runs in the 2^nd XI but that’s not been translated into the 1^st Team apart from the final match of 2006. Is it a really big step up from 2^nd to 1^st XI cricket or is it a mental thing?

I’d say its 50:50 because some days you can walk out in a 2^nd XI game and face 2 first class opening bowlers, coming back from injury or whatever. The level of bowling is not the same because obviously in first class cricket you get past the first change and there are two more first class bowlers to replace them. It is slightly easier in the 2^nd XI but then you’ve got other things like the pitches are probably harder to score on.

On a personal thing I’ve felt when I’ve come into the side that I had to go and get fifty or a hundred or I’ve not justified my place. Some days a 30’s worth a 50 and you have to play each game on its merits. I have been getting runs in the 2^nd Team and that knock at the end of the season, I just think it’s trying to come into a side and being able to relax.

So do you think it would help to know you’ve got a run for 7 or 8 matches, which might allow you to play without fear?

I do agree with that. I did feel like every game I didn’t know if I was going to be playing next week and I felt like I had to justify myself every time. It’s hard enough to go out with that mentality for twenty minutes let alone day in day out.

Who is the hardest spinner at the club to keep to Rashid or Lawson?

Oh they’re all easy (laughs). They’re all different in their own ways, because Lawson is very technically correct and Warneyesque working with Terry Jenner, whereas Rashid is more Asian, Indian style, Anil Kumble, quick wrists, not as orthodox but gets the same rotation on the ball. I think they are both as easy and both as hard as each other in their own ways – it’s good fun though.

Is this an exciting time to be a Yorkshire player with everything that’s happened at the club of late?

I can’t honestly think of a time when it’s not exciting to be a Yorkshire player. You summed it up there, it’s Yorkshire. There are millions of people out there who want to do what we’re doing regardless of the situation at the club. It’s exciting to do what we do.

What are your personal goals for the 2007 season?

I’m not a huge person I am on target goals. I like goals and I know where I want to be and what I want to do, but as figures and numbers I don’t really set that. Ideally I’d like to be in the 1^st Team for the first game of the season. I’d like to make a good contribution with the bat in my role and also keeping as I do being nice and tidy.

Do you still have international aspirations?

I do, but you can only take one step at a time. It is nice to have long-term goals, but if you don’t do the little things right along the way then you’re not going to get there.

Does Paul Nixon getting his chance at 36 give a lot of people hope in the county game?

Possibly, Nico’s a fantastic bloke and I really like him, but I wonder where does that stand English cricket – are there not other people that could have had opportunities before him? Readie was unlucky not to get his chance at the start of the Ashes which I felt was a bit harsh and I also wonder why he hasn’t had the opportunity to start in one day cricket as well. It does give people hope that there are still opportunities at any age, I mean look at the instance with Mal Loye. Mal’s a fantastic player and I feel sorry for him that he’s not going to the World Cup as he came in and did everything they asked of him. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I did my level 3 coaching with him and he’s a lovely person with time for anyone, he’s a fantastic cricketer and the kind of person you’d want to have around. As long as you’re still performing to that standard I don’t see why age matters. With the fitness in cricket nowadays we’re full time athletes so that doesn’t really play a part.

Nixon’s known as a talker behind the stumps. Are you in similar mould?

I’ve always been encouraged to go out there and be noisy. I am chirpy, but this year I’m going to try and knock it down a little. I’m not abusive I just encourage my own players, but I think I’ve reached the maturity and age now where I don’t have to fulfil that role as much anymore. I can maybe do as much through a glance or whatever and do my own little thing now.

I asked Gerard Brophy if keepers have to be mad and he said that you were crazier than he is. Would you say he is right?

(Laughs) I wouldn’t er…yeah he’s probably right (laughs) I can’t really argue with that can I?

I asked Andrew Gale last week if he could think of a question I could ask you. He asked what characteristics you shared on and off the field with your hero Jack Russell?

One thing we don’t share is cleanliness as I’m a firm believer that cleanliness is next to godliness and I’m not sure that Jack believes that. Anything that’s compared to someone as great as Jack can only be a good thing. I was lucky enough to play against Jack a couple of times and I actually got to sit down and have a chat with him about keeping. There’s a rumour that when he drives home he drives ‘round roundabouts three times to make sure no one is following him. I think there was only one person that actually knew where he lived at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club who had gone back with him one day for tea and I think he blindfolded him on the way home.

I read that when he had his carpets done in his house he met the fitters in a lay-by, blindfolded them and drove their van to his house so they didn’t know where he lived.

(laughs) That’s probably all true you know. Any comparison to Jack Russell on the field would be absolutely fantastic really

Is he the guy you modelled your game on or are there any other role models you have?

Anyone who’s played at that level and been consistent - when I was younger I used to like Karl Krikken, Jack Russell and Keith Piper just for the fact that they were fantastic keepers who delivered a lot to the team. They were all very good stood up to the wicket and as a youngster I was always told that you are keeper when you are up to the wickets as that is where you can change the game.

And your influences at Yorkshire?

I’ve been there that long now there’s been a lot. It would be tough to pick out one. Anthony McGrath’s been great for me over the last few years, working with me on spin and that’s been a massive help. I always played spin reasonably well but now I’ve got so many more options it’s fantastic. Being around Darren Lehmann day in and day out did me nothing but good and to speak to people like Dizzy Gillespie about bowling Test match lengths is terrific. We’ve been surrounded by some fantastic players at Yorkshire it’s been great just to be around them for the time they’ve been here.

Could you ever see yourself playing for another county if it meant improving your 1^st Team or international chances?

 It’s difficult to say that as at the end of the day I’m Yorkshire through and through, but if it came to a dead end and someone else offered me the opportunity to play 1^st Team cricket then as an individual I can’t think of anybody that would rather go out of the game than stay in it. That would be the only reason for leaving. I would play for Yorkshire until I popped my clogs.

My thanks to Simon for his time and all the best over the next few weeks with the new arrival.

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Next weeks player in the spotlight is STEVE PATTERSON. Please enter any questions for Steve HERE.