The 2015 BCA season commenced with the very popular T20 format. First, let me take you back to my pre-season;- the many hours in gym per week, long distant runs, and, basic batting drills all begun in the beginning of the year, with my team mate and good pal Nikolai Charles, who was our leading wicket taker last season.
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| Nikolai and I after a 5k run |
We both love to put in the necessary hard work which is required to take our careers to the next level. By the time our club nets were open, we had shaken off the rust from the off-season. So we were a bit ahead of most of the other guys, but within two weeks or so, everyone were hitting there straps.
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| Putting in some hard-work in the gym |
We had three warms up matches, we won the first two but lost the final one...but it was good for guys to get comfortable with their roles in the team before the tourney started. I scored a total of 29 runs in those games, with 27 came in the last game. I didn't have such a good time with the bat but, I was batting well, but my scores wasn't showing that. Regardless, I wasn't worried about going into the season without any decent performances under my belt.
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| Sharing some views with my good friend Chris Jordan |
Our first game was at the Trents ground, against MapleCC. One of the worst places to play any kind of cricket! Let me explain that with more detail. First, the ground is so small they play 3's & 4's, so a boundary is 3 runs and a maximum is just 4 runs. Second, the ground has about 3 to 4 grown trees on the field on one side. All the best to the fielder on that side. The wicket general keeps low, for example. Kemar Roach plays for Maple, I've never seen him get the ball above waist height, and the keeper always collects the ball dying. Yup! A batsman nightmare.
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| Guys coming together after take a wicket in our first match of the season |
Our starting XI was star stuck! Jason Holder, Kraigg Brathwaite, and Kirk Edwards were all in, but it's never easy playing cricket at Maple, ever! We lost the toss and were sent in to bat, not surprisingly as the wicket was slow and not too great for stroke play. Kraigg and I opened the innings, and before you knew it, both of us were back in the dressing room with the score at 10. We were bowled out for 85! Not really the start we were looking for at the beginning of our 2015 campaign. But, we have an awesome self belief within our team thats remarkable. To make a long story short, the game came down to 1 ball, 1 wicket, with Maple needing 1 run to win.
Our ‘go to’ spinner Chad Reifer almost did the unmanageable again like he did last season in the semi finals. Imagine this for a bit, 6 balls, 2 runs, 4 wickets in hand. The first ball they got a single, the rest was, a team panicking at it's best! The next four balls went like this ww.w, (I wasn't one bit nervous on the field. I actually had a sense of enjoyment that we had a great chance of winning this game). The last ball got smacked to the boundary from Reifer’s miss delivered ball, but no one would blame him for that after such a amazing over. We lost our first game of the season but we showed great fight and character.
Our second game brought us back home to Dayrells road, our first home game of the season, against Wildey. We were quick to bounce back from our first defeat, and we did that with some serious vengeance! Our new captain this season Deigo Stuart lost the toss again, and the opposition sent us to have first knock. We ended on 198-6. No issue with the batting this time. Kraigg and I had an opening partnership of 91, I lost my wicket in the 13th over for 44. Kraigg went 5 runs after for a well played 43. But we had set the foundation for our middle order, and our most senior batsman, Kirk Edwards did what the team needed. He made a quick fire 42 from 16 balls. And they say- he's not a T20 batsman!? RIGHT! His innings was such a joy to watch-in two separate overs 17th and 18th from Carlos Brathwaite, he did the bulk of the destruction with each over going for 16 runs.
I must also mention our overseas pro this season a fast bowler who can do a bit with the bat also, Fanie DeVillers Jr., son of the former Proteas fast bowler Fanie DeVillers. In his first game for Wanderers he smacked his first ball back over the bowlers head for a maximum!! It was fitting for the large crowd of spectators at hand. Fanie also went on to grab his first wicket for the club.
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| Great guy! Fanie DeVillers Jr. |
We won the game by 56 runs. That's a huge margin in T20 cricket. It would have been great winning both our games but we were all happy at the end of the weekend. We lost the first but we came back stronger next game. That's what's it's all about!
We have great momentum going into the next game. Another week at the training ground to sharpen our skills and fine tune our weaknesses.
However, I am currently enjoying my day off, with my feet up, while watching a few movies. So I'll catch up with you guys next week. Cheers!"
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