Steve Reeves is the heartbeat of Williamstrip Cricket Club.

The 50-year-old is their on-field captain, off-field organiser and he also prepares the square at their ground on the edge of the village.

His vice-captain Ricardo Canestra calls him “a legend” and it’s easy to see why because, for Reeves, every day is a battle.

Eight years ago he suffered what he calls “a massive stroke”.

And it was a massive stroke. He lost all the feeling in his left side and to this day he still can’t feel his left arm or left leg.

He’s also in constant pain and yet, despite everything, Reeves, who is married to Nicola, leads as normal a life as possible.

He has a full-time job – he’s a project manager for Cotswold Property – he drives a car, he enjoys going out for a beer and, of course, he still loves his cricket.

And although he remains in a lot of pain, he insists he just wants to get on with his life as best he can.

“I’m no hero,” he said. “I can cry when I’m on my own because I am in so much pain, I’m no miracle person.”

Reeves is easy to talk to and he’s happy for his story to be told.

He admits it was a “massive shock” when he suffered the stroke because it came at a time he was still very active.

As well as playing cricket for Williamstrip, he was also playing football for Hatherop.

He no longer plays football but he intends to carry on playing cricket for as long as he can.

And although he says he’s no miracle person, there’s a reason why he’s referred to by Ricardo Canestra as a legend.

Reeves isn’t looking for plaudits, but he deserves them and he is a groundbreaker.

That’s because he became the first ever patient to undergo revolutionary brain surgery in a bid to treat the chronic pain he had experienced since suffering his stroke.

The study tests whether deep brain stimulation can treat chronic pain and Reeves, a former Farmor’s School pupil who lives in Quenington, said: “They took off the top of my skull and implanted a box with wires into my brain.

“I have a headset at home  which is a bit like a bike helmet. I can change the settings to help me deal with the pain.”

Reeves says the only time he isn’t in pain is when he’s playing cricket, either  preparing to bowl a ball or face a ball when he’s batting.

That’s his only release, that’s when he’s got something to focus on.

Reeves was a very good sportsman back in the day, someone who made the last 32 for selection for England Schoolboys when he was 15 and someone who was also good enough to play age group cricket for Gloucestershire.

He was better at football than cricket although there wasn’t much in it.

“I was in Swindon Town’s youth team,” he said. “I was playing in the FA Youth Cup when I was 15 and still at school.

“I remember one year we just lost out to Crystal Palace for the South West Counties title, that was a good league with teams like Spurs and Arsenal.”

Reeves was a two-footed, creative central midfielder with an eye for goal.

He signed pro forms for Swindon before moving on to Wrexham and then Portsmouth.

“I was at Portsmouth for about eight months but then Terry Fenwick got sacked and that was the end of my football journey,” he said. “I’d have been 21, 22.

“I never played in the Football League but I played a lot of games in the reserves.”

He admits he wished he’d then got in to touch with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club after leaving Portsmouth to see if they’d offer him a trial.

Back then he was a new-ball bowler who bowled at a decent pace and he could bat too, although he says he didn’t start making big runs until his late 20s when “the penny dropped that he needed to apply himself”.

These days he bowls gentle seam-up mixed in with a few leg-spinners and the odd in-swinger, and he said: “I’ll still bowl eight overs if I have to, I still sometimes get three or four wickets.”

He’s still getting a few runs, too, but they certainly don’t come as easily as they used to.

“I used to expect to score at least one century a season,” he said.

“Now, I bat with two hands but I have to hope that my left hand stays on the bat.”

He can still play quite a few shots but he says his left hand comes off the bat if he plays a straight drive.

That didn’t prevent him making 52 not out against Cirencester 3rds last season, an innings that pleased him.

His team-mates were pleased for him as well, of course, and he has many happy memories of playing for Williamstrip for more than four decades.

“When I was eight or nine, I used to walk across the fields from my home to the ground on a Sunday and hope that somebody hadn’t turned up so that I could get a game,” he said.

“I was playing for the under-13s when I was eight or nine. I’ve played pretty much all through with Mike Godwin, we’ve both scored thousands of runs for Williamstrip.”

Godwin is just one of many who has been a big support to Reeves.

Reeves’ daughter Poppy, who is now 20, used to help him look after the ground and nowadays his dad John cuts the outfield.

George Cook, who plays for Williamstrip, helps him look after the square and Reeves said: “I enjoy it, it’s a great place to be.”

And Reeves is certainly in a better place now compared with where he was eight years ago, even though it’s a place he wouldn’t wish on anyone else.

“I had the stroke in March 2018,” he recalled. “When I woke up in hospital I couldn’t feel my left leg, but I got out of bed, managed to stand up and thought, ‘If I can stand up, I’ll probably be able to walk at some stage’.

“My eyesight was blurry and I was told I probably wouldn’t drive again but I am. I was off work for only three or four months and I even had the odd game for Williamstrip that year.

“I was lucky I had a brilliant neuro-surgeon, but I worked so hard.

“My football grounding helped me cope, I’d spent so much of my younger years being told what to do, I was very determined.

“Poppy used to throw a tennis ball at me and I’d try to catch it left-handed, we did that thousands and thousands of times.”

His family have been a huge support but he added: “Talking to someone you don’t have an emotional connection with is massive, you let out a lot more.

“You don’t want to burden your family with how you’re feeling. If my story can help anyone, then great.”