An overly enthusiastic park cricketer’s early start to pre-season training has been shouted down.
After finishing a horrible Queensland Sub-District Cricket season last Saturday (five wins from 14 games), the majority of the Morningside Magpies D4 team were happy to forget about cricket until pre-season training starts in August.
Well, almost the majority…
Leg spinner Andrew (25), keen to keep bowling, hit up the team’s Messenger group chat asking if they’d like to have a mass training session at the club nets this coming Saturday, to “get a jump on the new season.”
Unsurprisingly nobody accepted, with most of his team-mates jokingly telling him to “chill out, it’s only D grade” and not to think about cricket for a few months.
“Andrew’s obsession with cricket makes Marnus and Steve Smith look lazy!” said Benny, the D4 captain. “The guy bowled 20 overs last Saturday and took three wickets. Pretty sure he can have a rest for a while. Fair dinkum. He’s a good bowler, but he really needs a hobby or a root. Maybe both.”
Rather than have a rest, Andrew is determined to make the most of the break. Not only will he ‘net’ by himself on Saturday, but he’s starting indoor cricket at his local centre the following Wednesday night.
”Come the first training session in August, I’ll be fit and ready to go, while all the other D graders will need a few nets to overcome five months of sitting around watching the NRL and getting pissed. I love the guys, but they need to get their priorities straight.”
The Gurgler presents stories of the Park Cricketer, where we explore the lower reaches of the great game of cricket from the suburban ovals to the rural grounds across Australia.