Spending a season playing cricket overseas is something all young cricketers must do! It allows you to stay fit, travel, meet new people and have the time of your life while playing good, competitive cricket.

About the writer: Andy Delmont played 6 Sheffield Shield and 3 one day matches for South Australia. He was contracted with the Redbacks for 2 years and put on a 100 run partnership with Darren Lehmann in his final First-class match. He has played 14 seasons of 1st-grade Premier cricket in Australia and scored 14 first grade Hundreds. In seven Premier League seasons in the UK he has amassed 4,792 runs at 53.24 including 11 hundreds across 2 seasons in Scotland Premier league with Watsonians CC and 5 seasons with Reigate Priory CC in the Surrey Premier League. 

Having been lucky enough to have spent seven seasons playing in the UK (next year will be my 8th and 6th consecutive season) I have learnt first hand the benefits of playing abroad. My time playing in the UK has taught me so much about myself and my own game. I have also been fortunate to make some very close friends and have some epic experiences, all while my game has really improved. So I’m going to discuss a few benefits of playing a season (or 8) overseas.

EXPERIENCE

When I read the article Let the batters bat, it immediately got me thinking about the benefits of playing cricket abroad as a young aspiring cricketer. The things you learn as a cricketer playing a season overseas go above and beyond anything a winter and preseason in your home country will teach you. Not only will your cricket improve but the whole experience of playing a season abroad is character building.

Something that is invaluable for any cricketer or sportsman is experience. Playing in a foreign country, where the pitches, balls, grounds, playing conditions & style of play are completely different to what you’re used to, makes players become adaptable and forces them to learn on their feet. This process fast-tracks a player’s development as they are gaining invaluable experience from playing regularly in new and often challenging conditions.

PRACTICE OR GAMES?

As an Aussie going to play a season in England for the first time I was shocked at how much cricket they play over there compared to here in Australia.

The amount of cricket played in the UK is something most young Aussies haven’t been exposed to and it is beginning to take effect in more ways than one. It seems, due to the Australian teams recent struggles, we were blindsided by the fact that standard training sessions, which often have little or no atmosphere and intensity, were better than consistent competitive games.

For any young cricketer, playing is and always will be the best way to improve. As much as a player or coach can try, no net session can ever replicate a challenging match situation which was highlighted in the article Everything wrong with Cricket Training.

For batters it may be playing on a tough wicket that is seaming around or facing high quality fast, swing or spin bowling. For bowlers it may be learning to bowl a slightly different line or length or set different fields and bowl to different plans than they are use to. Any exposure young players can get to these sorts of challenges helps their development and holds them in good stead for when they face these challenges back in their home country.

In the last few weeks, everyone has been commenting on the Australian team. From selections to the format of the Sheffield Shield, everyone has an opinion. Personally, I think people have started to noticed how crucial it is to get some overs in, especially in a match situation.

It is coming to fruition now but has Australia fallen behind countries like England, India and South Africa?

CRICKET IN UK

League cricket in the UK on a Saturday is taken very seriously and is always competitive. Every side has good players and most weeks you come up against a side with an overseas player of a similar standard to yourself. This turns into a battle between the two of you as no one wants to be outplayed by the opposition overseas player. The result of the match can often hinge on the battle between the overseas players. Learning to deal with this sort of pressure and expectation (from yourself as much as your club or teammates) is a huge part of an overseas players development and success.  

While Sunday cricket is not always the highest quality, it allows youngsters to learn and develop their game in a match situation. There’s nothing better for young players than spending time in the middle and learning to make hundreds, even if it is against a retired men or teenagers. No time in the nets can replace time in the middle.

Being an overseas player comes with responsibility. It’s this responsibility and expectations from the club that helps young cricketers grow as people on and off the cricket field. Every overseas player is expected to be a leader within their club. Whether it’s a formal leadership position or not, the ‘overseas’ holds a special place in any club and is often looked up to by others within the club. One of the more important factors of an overseas development is the coaching that you may do. Coaching is often a big part of an overseas players role and the responsibility that comes with this is a great learning curve that most players enjoy and get a lot out of.

Even playing several seasons at the same club, your challenges and the experience differ each year.  Each season there will be different expectations of an overseas player, the places you stay may change and new teams in the competition mean different wickets and grounds to become familiar with.

WHAT YOU NOTICE

Having been closely involved with a large number of young players who have spent time playing cricket abroad, the first thing you notice upon their return is how quickly they can adapt to different conditions and how good their match awareness has become. It comes back to the experiences that they have gained while playing overseas, which is something that cannot be taught in the nets.

Andy Delmont batting for the Australian Universities vs Loughborough MCCU

One question I always ask of a/the players is ‘how did you go and what did you learn and improve?’

ATTITUDE

Their responses always contain the phrases or words; consistency, long periods of time, learnt how to make hundreds, match winning knocks, pressure & tough situations. It was these comments that got me intrigued into club/league cricket in the UK and how I would like to be involved and help players go across and develop not only as a player but a person as well. (If you’re interested in a season overseas then please get in contact with me and I can assist you to find a club suitable for you.)

Playing cricket and living overseas is a huge test of a person’s character. It tests you mentally and you are often out of your comfort zone both on the cricket field and in general life. It’s these challenges where your willpower, discipline and self-belief are continually put under siege in a game situation, that help young cricketers improve. When they are then put under the same pressures upon their return, they know how to deal with these situations as they’ve done it before.

LEARN HOW TO RESPOND

It’s how you respond to these adverse positions that really help develop young players. Whether it’s negative criticism from club members (which you have probably never been exposed to before) or the challenge of getting yourself up mentally and physically for day after day of cricket, that improve young cricketers spending time playing abroad. Often these challenges force players to come out of it with an improved attitude and outlook on the game. If you can get all these little procedures and processes in place, then you will come back as a much-improved cricketer.

Skills are one thing but the head space and mental side of things is where cricket really makes you tick. Not only does playing overseas help you refine your skills in different conditions, it also makes you understand yourself and helps you develop a mindset that can handle all sorts of challenges and conditions.

There really are no negatives about playing cricket overseas and it does suit all levels. At the end of the day like anything in life you make whatever you want out of it. If you decide to commit to the club culture, coaching and generally assisting around the club then you will be welcomed with open arms and your self confidence will improve on and off the field.

So to any young cricketer who wants to fast track their game and experience while having fun in a new environment with like-minded people, I highly recommend you spend a season abroad. It may be what you need to take the next step in your career. 

If you’re interested in a season overseas then please get in contact with Andy who can help you make it happen. If you enjoy our thoughts and insight into the game then please Subscribe to get our articles straight to your inbox.

About the author : Tom Scollay

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Chris 'Bucky' Rogers batting for Somerset in one of his 554 First-class innings

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I once spoke to a former professional player who became a coach in the professional ranks and asked him whether he would change his technique during the season during his playing career. He responded in the negative.

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About the writer: Chris 'Bucky' Rogers isn't your typical cricketer. Having toiled away in First-class cricket for over 15 years, he was finally rewarded for years of dominance opening the batting in both Australia & England with selection in the Australian Test team for the 2013 Ashes in England. He went on to play 25 Test matches for Australia where he scored 2,015 runs @ 42.87 including 5 x 100s. With the amazing First-class record of 25,470 runs & 76 centuries, he has now retired from playing and transitioned into coaching, where he currently is the batting coach for Somerset CCC. 

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He said working on technique is for preseason and once he started playing, all that mattered was watching the ball.

That, I’ve discovered, is a very traditional response, handed down from father to son.

I had to stop myself from groaning out loud. “How short-sighted” I wanted to reply. I’m sure he’s not alone and these days, coaches are reluctant to challenge technical issues in young players, preferring the students to figure it out themselves. Perhaps they fear intervention will only create more problems.

NO PRE-SEASON?

What if a player never has a pre-season as, like me, he plays continuously on both sides of the world, where the seasons overlap?

Just once did I have a pre-season in Australia – and that I remember mostly for the agony of running the sand-hills at City Beach in Perth, rather than any working on technique.

Instead I was chasing an endless summer by playing 12 months of the year in England as well as home. “What is a pre-season?” was my standard jibe at teammates.

That meant technical experimentation had to be done on the job – so the standard answer to not work on your game for six months of the year seems like a waste of time and opportunity to me.

Often as a young batsman, you’ll have days when you pick up a bat and it feels like it is a natural extension of your body and other days when it feels like you’re hefting around a railway sleeper.

DAYS WHEN THINGS WEREN'T WORKING

Numerous days in grade cricket and even opening the batting for Western Australia, my swing would feel so awkward I would be trying to adjust almost every ball. I might try picking the bat up higher in my swing, other times move my hands forward in my stance and even change the width of my stance. These were just a very few of many.

In fact what would really confuse me is, somehow I’d last until the lunch break feeling like I couldn’t hit one off the square and then come out after a 40 minute sit down and feel like I was Brian Lara … well not quite but you get the drift.

What it taught me though was to keep trying to get better. I would often think to myself, and now sprout this to every kid possible, one step back to go two steps forward. Working with my dad who was my coach, I’d try all sorts of technical changes and usually, after a while, something would click and it would all fall into place. It would be like hitting at a brick wall and then all of a sudden one thing works and the rest fall over like dominoes.

PROBLEM SOLVING - DON'T GET OUT THE SAME WAY

One of the great advantages of playing in four innings matches is the chance to problem solve as a batsman between the first and second innings. I disliked … no, I hated getting out the same way or to the same bowler in the second innings as I did in the first.

After getting out I would sit down and figure out a way to combat the bowler who dismissed me first time around. It might not have just been a mental change but quite possibly a technical one.

Stuart Clark once dismissed me for a duck with a perfect ball that pitched on off stump line and nipped away but instead of just accepting he’d bowled me a jaffa, I checked out the footage and saw my hands were not coming down straight in my swing pattern and caused everything - my hands and bat - to go towards mid on. So my bat actually was inside the line, hence the ball found my outside edge.

Second innings, my focus was trying to get my hands to go towards mid-off while playing with the inside half of my bat to counter the away movement. Yes I know this is a bit more than ‘Batting 101’ but I only started to understand my own batting by constantly tinkering – even to the extent of working out what doesn’t work, to find out what does.

PLAYING TO COACHING

As I moved from player to become a coach, a surprise first-up piece of advice from other coaches was to be careful about the level of input you try to pass on. Yes, that makes sense and it would be ignorant to not listen to advice from people who have spent a long time coaching. However, it will need to be balanced against my long-held belief that the best players in the world never stop seeking improvement.

My first club-coaching role came via former Australian player and teammate Bob Quiney to help out at his beloved St Kilda Cricket Club, where the players have an average age younger than ever and a thirst for learning.

I was wary of saying too much early, but when one player said, “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do Buck”, my tinkering instincts took over.

“One step back to go two steps forward”, I reasoned.

The first player asked me how to play slow medium pace bowlers as he had nicked off to one the previous Saturday. I told him to be positive and proactive. Walk at the bowler or walk into his line … a la Steve Smith … and whip him through the leg side if the bowler went for the stumps. The next Saturday he was in the same position and ended up, he said, with too much going through his mind and being neither proactive nor defensive. He nicked off again. But he had learnt from his mistake and knew what he’d do the next time and since has had some success.

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 Bucky passing on some knowledge during a batting masterclass for Cricket Mentoring in Perth

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INDOOR NETS SYNDROME

Another had what I call ‘indoor nets syndrome’ and had developed a swing where he just jabbed at balls that would race off his bat on the true synthetic surface, but had difficulty with the natural variation of turf wickets. His hands would go towards the leg side in his swing but the ball would slice to cover or more likely the slips. I was wary of trying to reshape his whole swing but then thought “Why not?” I’ll show him what I think works and he can figure the end result out for himself”. He was quite difficult to adjust and we even experimented with grip changes, not something I’d usually recommend.

After an hour’s work he was starting to get the basic principles and enjoying it. He had a far better understanding of a swing after trying something new and that can only benefit him. He can always go back to what he was doing but at least he’d tinkered and thought about it. Afterwards he seemed genuinely excited at the change and the understanding.

Yet there have been plenty of times where my coaching hasn’t worked. I tried to help Peter Siddle with his batting but made it worse. Eventually he figured a few things out himself and is still getting better – so maybe my “one-step-backwards” theory helped!

CHANGE TAKES TIME

With most things, change takes time to feel natural and this principle needs to be stressed and I’m wary of trying to change players into playing like me but sometimes certain things need to be tried.  I’m amazed when I see any tall player stand with his feet close together in his stance when Kevin Pietersen is ‘Example A’ of how to succeed as a tall batsman.

I firmly believe all the best players in the world are tinkerers and never stop trying to improve. Just ask Marcus Trescothick, who at age 41 was still telling everyone how he’s trying to fix things. That and his saying that ‘form hides in mysterious places’ were my two favourite things I got from him.

At the moment the county season has just started and he’s still working on his game plan against different kind of bowling. You’d think he’d have it all sorted by now but no, he’s using every opportunity to improve as we all should.

SUCCEEDING AT THE AGE OF 38

When asking me to write this article, Scolls (Tom Scollay) asked that I write a little about my own journey and how I managed to play well in the 2015 Ashes at age 38.

Like Trescothick, I had a thirst for perfection. Grit and determination was only a part of it. So many years of 12-months-playing of four-day cricket meant I had a very good understanding of my own game, with all its strengths and weaknesses, and to have some success against James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and Steve Finn in bowler-friendly conditions was only possible with an in depth, intimate knowledge of my swing and my game.

For different bowlers and conditions, I would have different triggers. On the wickets that provided more bounce and seam I would have a back and across trigger while at other times, particularly against Anderson’s swing, I would push forward to try and cover the movement.

This skill only comes from trial and error and experimentation and willingness to learn. If every time I tried something, had initial failure and not persevered, my game would have been very one dimensional and limited.

Growing up I often watched in awe some of the bigger kids who seemed to make batting look easy but then fell away when they had to play against adults who matched them in size and strength. I believe it was because these kids had got it so easy early on, that they hadn’t learned to work at their game to try to understand it better.

ALL THE BEST ARE ALWAYS CHASING IMPROVEMENT

Of course, there are plenty of examples to disprove the mould but of all the best batsmen I have seen, the one consistent attribute they possess is a desire to never be satisfied and to chase improvement.

They tinker to learn … and then comes improvement.

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