Story Proving Grounds: The Diary Of a Young Cricketer

[Burnsy1]

Yorkshire County Cricket Club had been my home over the past year. Signed up at the beggining of last season, I had shown so much potential to make it. I batted left handed and bowled Medium Fast, playing most of the season in the 2nd XI having a good season scoring 1400 runs in all competitions and taking 69 wickets with of average of 40 and 15.43 respectively. However it is my appearences in the Friends Provident T20 where were I really shone. I was selected for 8 games in the FPT20 scoring 346 runs with an average of 69.2 and taking a handful of wickets. Performances in other 1st XI games have got people talking about me.

My Yorkshire Contract is now at an end and they don't wish to re-sign me right now so it's time to move home. I have recieved contracts from 3 different counties all of which would have advantages and disadvantages. The three offers where from:

• 
  
  Glamorgan- A good option for playing time as I would more than likely make the starting XI first game. However they aren't the strongest of teams and won't make the biggest challenge for trophies.
  
  Lancashire- One of the best teams in the Championship. The old enemy but the team has good chances of success. Would be more of a push to make the starting XI but I would be suprised if I was sat in the 2nd XI for too long.
  
  Essex- A top team that will put up a challenge in all competitions. Success here could really boost my name however with an incredibly strong first team could be very hard to get 1st team cricket in the coming season.​

​

So there's 3 offers on the table here giving me one hell of a decision to make. Glamorgan, Lancashire or Essex? All tempting in their own way this was going to take a while to decide. Which team will I choose?

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Really nice beginning sweet simple writing


I feel you will go with Essex

 

[Burnsy1]

Decision Time, But Which Club Will It Be?

My new home for the next 2 Years



The decision was made for me when I decided to take a break and go for a net at Yorkshire. I padded up walked into the net and asked Adil Rashid to work the bowling machine for me. I played all my shots and had a good practice. Halfway through batting someone familiar walked in through the door at the back. I couldn't quite but a name to the face as he stood and watched. Just to show off last ball I launched straight into the back wall net before walking out to unpad. As we came closer together I realised it was the Glamorgan captain Jamie Dalrymple. He came over shook my hand and introduced himself. After packing up my bag we went to talk.

Jamie told me how much he would like me to sign for Glamorgan. It seems I was held in high regard at Glamorgan CCC with them very keen to get my signature. It seems like signing with them pretty much guarantees first team cricket and a good chance to make a name for myself. Once he had left I knew for deffinate which team I was going to sign for. Glamorgan where the only team that had come to talk to me and I liked that. I signed the contract and started to pack up ready to move from the North of England all the way to Wales. I could really see it all opening up for me, finaly a good chance to prove I really could play this game and make my name. All that was, to me, just around the corner.

Jamie is a great Captain, I look forward to playing under his leadership​

 

[Gaurav_7]

Glamorgan is top choice really as you ought to get chances frequently and can become a regular as well. Good Luck mate, nice start.

 

[Burnsy1]

Sometimes Nets Can Be Tough Too​

So 4 days after arriving in Wales and moving into my new flat, provided for by the club , I was on my way to the first team net session of the season. The bus got me to the ground 10 minutes before training so I headed to the changing rooms and got my training gear on. There where afew of the lads in there and I introduced myself to everyone. Picking up my bag, I headed out to the stadium and chucked it down next to the nets and went off to warm up. After warming up the coach got us together and split us into the two nets.

I bowled well, showing off all my skills for the coach and captain. I picked up a few wickets of the top batsmen in my net namely Mike Powell and Tom Maynard. I showed my best while batting however. I showed off my range of shots, the highlight being smashing Robert Croft for 3 6's straight back over the stand. It wasn't all great though however as Shaun Tait was training with us already. He is our overseas player in the T20's and he scared the daylights out of me. I had faced bowling of the same speed so that wasn't the problem. It was the unpredictability that I didn't like. Despite only bowling a fraction of his pace you couldn't tell what was coming next( And I don't think Shaun did to be honest) which was hard to play.

Deadly Unpredictable Tait could be key in the T20 this year


I feel I really put my name into the coaches mind with the net session and was hopeful to make the squad for a 50 Overs friendly against Scotland and prove myself in a match before the season starts. The Captain told us he'd text those in the playing XII to let them know they where playing. However my day was slightly overcast by the announcement of this years overseas player David Warner. David netted with the team and look really impressive, hopefully he will be a great addition to the squad.

Really stole my thunder, but a top batsman will be crutial this year​

 

[Burnsy1]

A Curry, A Text And A Boatload Of Dissapointment


So after a good training session and in high spirit I sat watching a film on TV while i tucked into a Curry from the local Indian take-away. Fairly confident of playing in the warm-up against Scotland in a couple of days. I had even texted a few of my mates from back home including Adil Rashid, telling them I'd be debuting for Glamorgan first game.

I fell asleep on the sofa while watching the film for a good while. So long infact when I woke up, groggily looking at the clock, I realised it was 5 in the morning. getting up and switching the TV to SKY Sports News I looked at my phone. I had 3 text messages waiting for me. I oppened the first one which read "Hey Joe just to let you know, unfortunately you won't be playing against Scotland. Don't worry though your in the selectors plans for the CC."

I was absolutely gutted. I was looking forward to playing and getting a real chance to show I can play before the season starts. Worst of all now was admiting to Adil I wasn't even playing despite my claims. Oh the shame of it.​

 

[Varun]

Pretty nice writing there. Best of luck there!

 

[Ollie_H]

It's alright, but too small. You need more substance to your writing. If it's going to be that small you may as well add a few days together so that it will look like a more substantial post.

 

[Burnsy1]

I know pal, obviously as it progresses more will be put into updates. I didn't want to shove it all together in a couple of posts and make it seem rushed. Next update will be the Warm-up match which will have much more substance

 

[Ollie_H]

Okay, Nicely Nicely. Just got the feeling these were a bit rushed, but you're the writer! .

 

[Burnsy1]

played the match now and preparing an update hopefully will be in the next few days depending

 

[Dutchmen]

David Warner joining your team? Oh! mostly you can learn from him how to bat. A day after 'Oh shame!' and who was the guy gave you a text message? and what about the other two?

 

[Burnsy1]

sorry guys for lack of update been busy recently, but hopefully will have an update by the weekend