Story My Career Diary - Chapter 46

[hedger_14]

Chapter 31 (Part B) ~ The Phone Call​

Tim Nielsen answered my question immediately, “You have been selected in a 13 man squad for Australia A to play New Zealand in a 4 Day match and 5 OD matches.” "I had no idea Australia A were going to be playing New Zealand anyway". “Yeah, we kept it secret and after I call up all the players, we’re releasing it to the media. Only the ACB and New Zealand cricket know about it.” I wondered why they kept it a secret from everyone else but it didn’t matter too much. I was about to say goodbye before I remembered. “Oh, so what are the details”. “We’ll be meeting at Sydney Airport at 4 pm on Tuesday”. So that was 2 days from now. “The tour will start with the 4 day match on Friday, 8th January and then the OD series will start Sunday 17th with the first match. Then Wednesday 20th for the second, Sunday 24th for the third, Wednesday 27th for the fourth and Sunday, 31st for the final match”. Pretty packed schedule but that didn’t worry me. “Ok then.” “Well better give you some rest now. Remember to be at the airport by 4 pm as our flight will be at 6 pm.” I was no way going to miss the plane and replied, “Yep, Will see you then. Bye”. I then hanged up the phone and went back to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later and got onto the computer. I opened up cricinfo.com to see if the teams were there. Yes, they were. Hmm, George Bailey selected as captain with Paine as his vice captain. The whole side was there. Josh Hazlewood was chosen only for the 4 day match while Shaun Tait would only play in the OD series.

1. George Bailey (C) - TAS
2. Tim Paine (VC) - TAS
3. Moises Henriques - NSW
4. Daniel Christian - SA
5. Brendon Hedger - NSW
6. Adam Voges - WA
7. Shaun Marsh - WA
8. James Hopes - QLD
9. Brett Geeves - TAS
10. Jon Holland - VIC
11. John Hastings - VIC
12. Ben Laughlin - QLD
13. Josh Hazlewood - NSW / Shaun Tait - SA

 

[MaD]

The NZ International team? You'll really have to pack a punch to beat them

 

[BKB1991]

Well a good call up there, Time to really show your skills or go back to the domestic circuit. The NZ team would be a tough challenge

 

[hedger_14]

This tour is pretty much warmup for the NZ team before they play Australia.

 

[surendar]

did you mean that you woke up in the midnight to brow cricinfo? Well deserved call there for you. Hope you utilize this chance as entering into Aus main team is tougher always.

 

[Jakester1288]

Loving this twist, improves to story from Twenty20 loads. Good to see more longer forms introduced.

 

[hedger_14]

No Suren. It was like 5 am when I got the call and then I went back to sleep after that.

 

[TheGreemSim]

New Zealand to fail miserably :sarcasm

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 32 ~ Going To New Zealand​

So I was ready to leave. I had everything packed. Double checked that I had everything which I did and then gave mum and dad a call to say bye before I left. I was never so nervous in my life. I had only gone overseas once before which was for the IPL but now I was going to New Zealand for a tour. Dad said that he was busy and couldn’t come watch me play and mum just isn’t interested in cricket altogether. Anyway, I arrived at the airport at 3:30. I found the coach and he smiled to me before saying, “Hey Brendon. Pleased to see you. It’s still another half an hour before we are meeting up though so go get something to eat, have a look around, whatever you want to do around here. George should be here somewhere.” “Ok then. I might go have a look around then.” I realised I forgot something to read for the flight so I bought a few magazines from the newsagency. I had a look at some of the shops before heading back. All except Daniel Christian had showed up by 4 o’clock. Tim Nielsen started talking, “Ok. No idea who Daniel thinks he is but we got to get on with things. First of all, congratulations on making the Australia A side. Do well on this tour and you might be called up for the Australian side. Everyone will get a go. This tour should show you what International cricket is like. They will be playing this as a warm-up series but don’t worry about that. Just play like you normally would. Anyway, our flight is in about 90 minutes time and here’s your tickets.” I took my ticket from him. "I find it’s easier this way cause then people don’t lose their tickets."

We waited and waited but Daniel still didn’t show up. He finally did at about 5:45. The coach was unimpressed. Daniel looked confused, “You said we were meeting here at 6 pm, didn’t you.” Tim was not happy at all and just said, “No, 4 pm. The flight is at 6 pm.” “Oh”, the only word Dan said after that. Well everyone was here and that's what mattered. We boarded the plane. I sat next to my domestic team mate Moises Henriques. We had a conversation about how we both were looking forward to this tour. Moises wanted to do really well as he was probably on the fringe of the national side and a good performance here could get him his spot. I borrowed the paper off Moises and looked in the sports section. The New Zealand 15 man squad was named for the series against Australia A.

1. Daniel Vettori (C)
2. Brendon McCullum (VC)
3. Martin Guptill
4. Jesse Ryder
5. BJ Watling
6. Neil Broom
7. Grant Elliott
8. Aaron Redmond
9. Scott Styris
10. Kyle Mills
11. Shane Bond
12. Darryl Tuffey
13. Tim Southee
14. Jeetan Patel
15. Peter Fulton

We arrived at the airport and collected our luggage. After about another half an hour, we then set off to our hotel on the team bus. I was really tired as it was about 8 pm when we reached the hotel. I still hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch time but I was just too tired and after getting our rooms, I cleaned my teeth and hopped straight into bed.

 

[Prithvi]

You will have to Play well against Daniel Vettori to cement your place in Australia A.

 

[riz7khan12]

ross taylor injured then?

great updates since i last remember reading this story, gone a long way from playing for CSK to Australia A.

 

[hedger_14]

No. They're just resting a fair few of their best players.

NZL players rested are:

Ross Taylor
Jacob Oram
Chris Martin

 

[riz7khan12]

good idea to rest oram, otherwise he'll just injure himself again.

 

[hedger_14]

Would have preferred a few more comments but I'll post the next chapter today and it's back to training.

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 33 ~ Training with the Side​

I woke up pretty early the next morning and had a quick shower before putting on some clothes. I was pretty hungry and went down to the restaurant for some breakfast. A few of the guys were down there already and I went over and sat with them. ?Good morning?, I said to them. It was Shaun who replied, ?Yeah, I could get used to this. Getting up and come eat food like this. You should really try the bacon, it?s beautiful?. I just smiled before getting myself some bacon and scrambled eggs and taking a few hash browns before heading back to the table. Wow, Shaun was right. The bacon was the best I had ever had. When I was full, I had a chat with a few of the other guys before heading back up to the room. We had a training session today as well as one tomorrow before the 4 day match against New Zealand. We headed off on the team bus to the training fields. When we got there, the coach told us to go for a run 5 times around the field. We didn?t do it too badly but I still didn?t like having to do runs. Marsh and Voges, the 2 WA players were then told to go pad up and head over to the nets. The coach then told Brett and Josh to go have a bowl to them and then the rest to have a fielding training session. We had to run in and pick up the ball before quickly aiming and throwing at a small stump. James was the best at the exercise as he hit the stump the most time. I hit the stump a few times but I also missed a few.

We were then going to have a catching fielding session but the coach told me to go pad up and go have a bat in the nets. I was batting against Shaun Tait and he definitely frightened me, with speeds of around 145km/h on this day. Luckily he wasn?t going up to 160km/h though. I started off just playing defensively as I didn?t want to lose my wicket to him. Other than a few drives, I didn?t try much as it was just defensive shots or leaving the ball. I had shown my defensive qualities as I was still yet to get out but I knew I would need to show my attack and sooner was better than later.

So I decided that I was going to attack and I played a beautiful straight drive down the ground which would have definitely run away for 4. When he bowled it short outside off, I always capitalised on it cutting it away over point. I seemed to be on the top of my game. I even swept the fast bowler, I was feeling that good. Tait seemed unimpressed after failing to get me out after a fair bit of bowling to me. I was pretty happy with myself as I walked out of the nets and although he wasn?t too happy, Shaun said, ?Well batted there. Couldn?t even get you out?. I didn?t get a chance to bowl though but I didn?t mind as I was pretty tired now anyway cause it was a pretty hot day. We headed to the showers and after everyone had a shower, the coach talked to us. ?Good training session there. I?ll announce the squad for Friday?s game after tomorrow?s training session. I was impressed by most of you today and hope to see you train like that tomorrow. We?ll go back to the hotel for lunch as most of you looked like you felt the food was alright.? I was pretty happy with that, especially with the nice food at the hotel.

I had a nice lunch although not as good as breakfast but I was still pleased. A few of the guys had a swim in the pool that was at the hotel but I was still pretty tired and went and had a rest. After dinner, most of us played a game of cards and although I wasn?t too bad, I couldn?t win at all. Oh well, I knew I had to train well tomorrow and I knew losing a game of cards didn?t mean much. I decided to go to sleep just after 10. This tour could earn me a spot on the national side or it could just put me back down into the NSW side. I was going to try my hardest to get into the Aussie side and I knew it would be really tough but it didn?t mind me.