We're really excited for this summer. Probably over excited and heading for a fall
After outstanding progress last year, Ollie's set his sights even higher this year. Having met, and played against, many county age group players last year Ollie has decided he has nothing to fear from them. He thinks he has a good chance to usurp the current age group wicket keeper. To support Ollie, we have- for the first time- spent what feels like an excessive amount of money paying for high quality 1 to 1 coaching through the winter. He has shown a lot of application and seems to have improved significantly. To be honest, it's not being done with any serious expectations of a professional career, but more to keep him learning, working and seeing the improvements as a result. The club pro (also a wicket keeper) was due to arrive this week, but the flight from Dubai has been cancelled. We have been assured he will be offering further coaching over the summer. In addition to his improved technical skill, he has continued to grow and get stronger as a 14 year old compared to a 13 year old last year.
Ollie was top run scorer for the league champion 3rds last year with 220 runs at an average of 22. Obviously decent (3rd top scorer in the league), but room for improvement. Batting for the seconds was hard work- but the team really supported him- ensuring he got plenty of opportunity to bat and never pressuring him for more runs. He scored 80 runs at an average of 9. He also made hard work of batting with the interleague scoring 93 at an average of 16 despite looking like he was going to score a century every game. What was clear last year was inexperience and a lack of technique was causing errors against higher quality bowling. A years experience in both seniors and interleague will help him, and he is expecting to do well. He will be playing U15s this year, but it is very much a secondary consideration- it will be a good chance for him to develop his leadership skills and think about the game.
Targets:
A century for the 3XI
50 for the 2nd XI
Average 30+ in the 3rds
Average 20* in the 2nds.
500 runs in total in senior cricket.
These are pretty arbitrary, but should be a challenge without being unreasonable. If he achieves them, then I think we can look back at the season as showing continuing progress.
I might then be able to persuade his mum that £45 ph for coaching is worthwhile for another winter
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Topic: Your 2024 season (Read 884 times)