Confessions of an Amateur Cricketer

First it was football, going up through the ranks. School 1st team, followed by captaining an all-winning youth side followed by Luton Town School of Excellence before I lost interest. Then it was tennis. Member of one of the nations top clubs, Under 17 County doubles champion at the age of 15, going places. Before I lost interest. Golf intertwined with my tennis commitments, being a member of the local club and becoming Junior Club Champion, coming from 6 shots behind on the final day to poach it by a single putt. Before I lost interest.

Cricket is different though. I started playing when I was 16, and the anticipation for each new season grows and grows each year. Interest is not waning, but increasing. This is the story of my brief time out in the middle...

I was still at school when I played in my first team. Aspen CC, created by a bunch of friends who used to play on the playing fields of Aspen Avenue in Bedford. A lot of them were established players with Bedford CC, which would be the club that would hold a place in my heart in the future. For the time being though, I was a complete novice. Sure, I could hold a bat correctly, but I wasn't much cop with it. We played in a midweek league, 16 overs per side, akin to the shorter formats you might see on the TV nowadays. The midweek game was, and still is, a game for the wily bowler and the boom boom big-hitters, and bearing in mind I am neither even now, I most certainly wasn't back then. When I got my opportunity to play, I was stuck down the order, batting at 8 or 9 and fielded in fairly uninspiring fielding positions. Even so, with the knowledge that I was playing on a Wednesday evening, I would sit at school and daydream about what the evening held. Praying that it wasn't going to rain. I distinctly remember sitting in an IT class one day, and it started raining. Proper, match-ending rain, and I felt devastated. This was the start of an obsession.

When I did get to play though, it was magnificent. My memories of my first season was reaching double figures for the first time, and taking an outrageous one-handed catch at square leg from behind the umpire. From then on, I had discovered an unflappable talent for solid catching, and had acquired a nickname. From then on, I wasn't Tom. But Mitten. Welcome to the life of Mitten! These days, the majority of my friends, especially in the sporting world, have made sure that stuck. Just like the majority of my catches.

It was a couple of years later, after slowly getting more and more opportunities in the midweek game, that I was introduced to players at Bedford Cricket Club. Their 1st team were flying high in the midst of a purple patch and doing well in the Northamptonshire Premier Division, and the 2nd team was a team made up of everyone else. I occasionally got the chance to appear for the 2nd XI when they were short of players, but once again, my unproven ability left me down the batting order and not doing much at all. I think all players go through this stage of being on the fringes when they first start playing the game. These days, we'd be labelled as the 'TFC'. The 'Thanks For Coming'. Making up the numbers. Its a case of sticking it out and waiting for your chance.

One day, playing for the 2nd XI on a horrendous pitch in Roxton, I got that chance. I was asked to bat at number 3, and I could feel my nerves jangling. They were even worse when our opening batsman got out in the 2nd over, so there I was, walking to the crease with my hideously over-oiled Kookaburra Ice bat in hand. I took my guard, (although I still had not worked out what the point of doing it was - I was just copying other people), and faced up to their opening bowler. I was nervous. So nervous, that I ended up poking at the first ball I faced and skied the easiest of return catches to the bowler, and a golden duck to my name. Our team got cleaned up for just 36, and we were home by 3pm. My first foray into the dizzy heights of the batting order had ended in hideous failure.

But from then on, I got more and more opportunities, just like the Aspen days. Filling in for absentees, batting wherever I needed to fill in the space. Sometimes it was 9, sometimes it was 4. I can't recall ever scoring a decent amount of runs, although I do remember being happy with reaching my first quarter-century, with a solid 26 over at Mowsbury Park. I was merely happy to be out there though, soaking in the sun, enjoying the sport and having a laugh, attempting to take any opportunity that came my way. Another of which came at The Bury, our home ground, and an inquiry for me to open the batting. Why not. What's more, I made a new high score of 34 before ideas of a maiden half-century got to my head and I missed a straight ball that clattered into my stumps.

Throughout this initial period of finding my feet at Bedford Cricket Club, I still had this amazing ability to catch any ball that came towards me. Flying one-handers, insane reflexes, and quick thinking were all my forte. I had gathered a bit of a reputation, so I began to be put in the slip cordon, snaffling any edges that came flying in my direction. A reputation that was cemented in an extraordinary game at Bedford Athletic stadium. We had been bowled out for 110, and the opposition were coasting at 81-0 before collapsing. They needed another 10 or so runs with just two wickets remaining when a batsman skied one high into the air. It was left to me to sprint back, looking at the ball drop over my shoulder, and hold on to a very tough chance. Two balls later, the number 11 batsman had edged another one, straight at me at 2nd slip, and we had won from an impossible situation. We all went mental. That was a good day.

It wasn't until the season after however where I started to reach personal milestones with the bat. I reached my first half-century against Aryans at Mowsbury Park, before playing all around the next ball I faced to depart for 50. I was batting with Walter Schlehmeyer at the time, a brilliant and comical South African man, who congratulated me profusely when he could see I was absolutely delighted with a 50. He then had a go at me when I got out next ball! That was my only score of note for the whole of that season, which was my first full season playing for Bedford CC. At the end of that season though, things at Bedford CC took a turn for the worse, with a mass exodus of players all unhappy with the management. Pretty much the whole of the 1st team went elsewhere, leaving us with just one team and not many members. We had to drop down a few divisions to be able to compete, but we set about working our way back up. For the next season, I was a solid squad member who occasionally contributed to the batting score but had also started to bowl. I bowled dibbly-dobbly medium pacers, that were hard to get away, before batsmen lost patience and gifted me wickets. In only my second ever spell as a bowler, I returned figures of 10-4-21-5 (5 wickets for 21 runs in 10 overs), which remain my best ever figures, and probably will do forever. From then on, I had found myself a regular fixture at the top of the order and opening the batting with our Saturday captain and best batsman by far, Andy Collins. We got on well, and we forged a good enough opening partnership with my defensive style complimented by Andy's pure class. We managed to set good platforms for our team mates to build on. We started to set good scores and winning games as we won our Saturday division and narrowly missed out on promotion in our first Sunday season as this new setup.

After Andy moved on to further his promising career, and Sunday captain, competitive South African, Andrew Montieth had decided to step back, I was left with a choice. Captain the sides they had left or follow Andy out. I had started to build confidence in the past year, contributing with a couple of 50s and the usual moment of fielding madness. I remember one specific game, at home vs Ampthill, where I was completely knackered from the exertions of working a night shift the night before. I scored 64 opening the batting, and then stood at 3rd slip, nearly falling asleep, before snaffling two outrageous one-handed catches. Those were strange times. I decided to stay on and captain both sides, two roles I still hold to this day. From then on, I felt an added responsibility to play well and came on leaps and bounds, securing my maiden century in a home game against Cople. Chasing just 164, I set about uncharacteristically bludgeoning the bowling attack. After I had pinged my hamstring, I ended up sitting in my crease and trying to hit everything out of the park. After pulling another short ball to the boundary, my 21st boundary, I heard a cheer and massive applause from the boundaries edge, and held my bat aloft to celebrate my first 100. I now have 4 centuries to my name, with that score of 102 not out, complimented by 119, 124 not out and 153 not out.

With Season 2014 just around the corner, and more immediate personal troubles on the horizon, (apologies for my lack of posts... Long story...), I am longing for it to begin. I miss the long weekends of sun, jokes, and the application of batting. The responsibility of bowling changes and field settings and personal milestones. The mixture of competition and pure enjoyment. This season, we have a pre-season tour to Cardiff over the Easter weekend which involves two one-day games and a Twenty20 surrounded by usual tour antics. I am quite literally counting down the days.

The season proper begins on Saturday 4th May. I can't really put into words how excited I am.

....

In 124 innings in my career, I've hit 2474 runs at an average of 24.25. They include all of my innings from back in the day when I could barely get a run! Last season, I scored 915 runs at an average of 30.88, but at the end of May, I had an average of 1.5. So not too bad! I will be aiming to better that this season, and help Bedford get promoted! Bring it on!