EVERYONE, in whatever walk of life, has their bad days at the office. The trouble with professional sport (and, yes, I know it’s a privilege to be playing cricket for a living) is that ours are frequently witnessed by thousands of people!
It would be pointless, and downright dishonest, to deny that our start to this season’s Vitality Blast campaign was anything other than very disappointing.
Nothing seemed to go our way in the first three matches and it was especially galling to lose the opening two games in front of our own supporters at Wantage Road.
The County Ground may not be the biggest venue on the planet but with a good crowd in the atmosphere is terrific. The whole idea behind T20, when it was introduced 15 years ago, was to fill the grounds and already this season attendances have been healthy nationwide. Good weather helps, of course!
But our cricket at the start of the competition was poor. Admittedly we were undone by an extraordinary innings from Nottinghamshire’s Dan Christian who hit 113 not out off just 40 balls. But we have matchwinners of our own in the Steelbacks squad and I firmly believe it’s only a matter of time before they ‘fire’ and earn us some victories in a format we’ve enjoyed so much success in over recent years.
Ben Duckett has already offered a taste of his tremendous talent in the Blast of 2018. He followed 96 from 54 deliveries against Leicestershire with 88 (45 balls) off the Notts attack, and now it’s up to the rest of us to give him the support he deserves.
Ben made national headlines with his batting performances in 2016 which earned him England selection. He’s endured a few difficult times since then and some critics (in the press box, the stands and on social media) have questioned his ability to bounce back. Well, just ask the bowlers he’s already taken to the cleaners this season what THEY think…
As skipper it’s part of my job to sustain dressing room morale even when things are not exactly following Plan A. If any extra inspiration was required it surely came in the shape of England’s superb run to the semi-finals of the football World Cup under Gareth Southgate.
With a young squad largely ignored by the pundits worldwide, he demonstrated the value of belief, hard work and team spirit. We all followed their progress and, like the rest of the country, were gutted by the defeat against Croatia. But full of pride too, and looking forward to their future challenges.
And, by way of a parting thought – back in 2015 we lost our first three games in the T20. Some were writing us off then but we roared back to reach another finals day, just missing out to Lancashire in the trophy decider.
Everyone in a Steelbacks shirt will be going flat out to engineer a repeat performance. Except losing in the final, of course! And your continued support will make our task that much easier.
Alex Wakely, Club Captain.