THREE Driffield lads are enjoying their superb experience spending winter in Australia playing cricket.
All three are members of Driffield Cricket Club and Sam Drury, Ben Kohler-Cadmore and Ollie Ezard have this last week said how much they are enjoying it, for various reasons.
All three played their part in this last season’s success of Driffield cricket Club’s first team and are continuing that form 10,000 miles away, while enjoying Christmas together and seeing in the New Year together in Sydney!
Kohler-Cadmore, who is based in Albury three hours from Melbourne, said: “I am really enjoying my time. The weather is constantly above 30 degrees and apparently it’s only going to get hotter until the end of February.”
But he joked, “however living with Sam I am sure we’ll be sick of the sight of each other by the time the season for Driffield rolls round.”
They are playing a mixture of two-day games and one-day games. The two dayers are a maximum of 80 overs per side and the one dayers are only 40 overs per side.
Playing club cricket for New City Phoenix in the Cricket Albury Wodonga competition, Kohler-Cadmore and Drury’s side are top of the league having only lost one game.
They are also playing rep cricket for the CAW side and are in the quarter finals of the Sydney Cricket Ground Cup, with the final played at the famous ground. They have also got to finals day for the T20 competition which is called the Konica Minolta Cup. They will be playing that at the Manuka Oval in Canberra this month.
So far Kohler-Cadmore has scored over 300 runs, averaging over 50. He added: “The club train twice a week, which is good because we’re able to practice on anything that we think needs looking at during the week properly before every match.
“So by the time the start of our season back home we should have ironed out any problem areas for us, and we should be seeing it well. And we will be looking forward to getting back in the Driffield changing room.”
Although the Ezard is not with his Driffield team mates, they do meet up and all spent Christmas together in Melbourne with Ezard and his team mates.
Sam Drury said: “I am really enjoying my time, despite living with Cadders.
“The weather’s been spot on so far but the two days it has rained have been Saturdays so we’ve had two washed out days of cricket.
“The kind of cricket I’m playing at club level is a lot different to back home (one day and two-day games.
“Our home ground’s wicket (New City Phoenix) is pretty much as flat as they come, but at some away grounds we’ve played at tend to be slow turners.”
Like Kohler-Cadmore, Drury is also going well with the bat, scoring three 50s, with a top score of 85 and averaging over 40. Sam said: “I really want to get above 50 by the end of the season, while I have also taken seven wickets at about 15 a piece.
“I’m working hard on my bowling with the coach to improve my action and become more accurate.” But Sam admitted it can be difficult batting in warmer climbs. “Yes, it can be difficult whilst batting. I’ve been trying to bat without a helmet as much as possible, and had a couple of problems with sweat going in my eyes and also the flies out here can be pretty off putting. I’ve started to bat with insect repellant on, so although the pitches are roads, and the ball doesn’t swing about half as much as at home, there’s other problems to contend with.”
Sam said of playing with the representative team, “It includes some of the best players I’ve ever played with. I’ve played quite a few games for them and we’ve had success so far reaching the finals day of the T20.
“I’ve been up and down the batting order in the T20s but have bowled pretty well when I’ve been thrown the ball.
“And hopefully come April 1, I will be a better all round player and I’m already looking forward to playing for Driffield again and defending our cup title.”
Driffield bowler, Ezard, is playing for Royal Park Brunswick in the Victorian Turf Association.
He said: “I am really enjoying playing out here, despite it being more batsman friendly.
“The pitches are a lot slower than I expected. I thought Driffield’s was slow but these are a different kind of slow deck. The balls out here are Kookaburras and they are four-piece balls which means the seams are pretty non-existent, so all in all it’s hard graft being a seam bowler.
“The conditions are very hot and humid with strong breezes, as Melbourne is on the south east of Australia.
“We play majority of the season as two-day games with day one being played on the first Saturday (maximum 80 overs) followed by day two the following Saturday, again with a maximum of 80 overs.
“If you bat first you can obviously declare before the 80 overs, and if you bowl you can bowl a team out on day one and have a bat that same day. So basically you play the full 80 overs each week so could both end up batting twice depending on how well you bat.
“I have had a bit of success, with nine wickets so far. I am nearing full fitness after coming out here with a knee and shin injury. Thankfully my personal trainer out here is getting me into good shape and with the help of Steve Reid (Victoria seam bowler) I have been making little tweaks to my bowling action so I should add a yard or two of pace ready for next season.
“I have also been working hard with coach Graham Kinchington (former Denmark national coach and of Hampshire) on my batting. It’s been great to get in the nets and work on my batting as I just didn’t have chance last season due to work.
“But it’s good fun, I am living with four other English lads and Graham is also here too so it’s a pretty good gig I have.
“The club have been great and looked after me really well and the lads at the club are a good bunch, so it’s been easy to adjust.
“I have just had a game washed out which means I have missed more games of cricket in Australia than in England!
“But hopefully by the time I get back to England on April I will be better off for the experience playing out here, fit and raring to go again for Driffield for what is a huge season for us all.”