Twenty20 Cricket and Settled in at home

After a busy few weeks I have had the opportunity to take some time off and relax as well as make home feel like home.

The last few months have been an extremely busy time with work and my own cricket, but coming back from the Centre of Excellence over a week ago has given me the opportunity to have a few days off and organise a few things with the house.

Chris has been away a fair bit playing for the Victorian Bushrangers so we seem to pass each other literally in the airport lounges, so to get some time to tidy up and unpack a few box's has been fantastic.

As well as my time off from work I also experienced twenty20 cricket Victorian style when I was picked in the 1st grade Prahran side to take on the Campbwell Magpies at their home ground. The game was a 5.15pm start and by half way through the game there was at least 500 spectators watching some exciting cricket and some big hitting. The Magpies had a guest star player as part of their promotion to get a strong crowd with Saint Kilda AFL 113 game player in Brendon Goddard, he took two wickets and scored 10 runs in their win over us last Wednesday night.

Our second game of the Primary Edge Twenty20 is this Wednesday at home to Saint Kilda.

I have attached some pictures that I have taken of the house, hope you like and of course any family and friends are more than welcome anytime.

PNG attend Centre of Excellence

Papua New Guinea arrived safely on Sunday morning and were greeted by at least twenty 'wontoks' which is a word they use for family/friends/fellow villagers who now reside in Australia.

The week was extremely encouraging as the team beat a strong invitation side in both games on Tuesday and Thursday. The side spent the week at the Centre of Excellence as part of their preparation for the World Cricket League Division 3 in January 2009. The squad of 18 players and coach had a similar schedule to the first week when the East Asia-Pacific squad attended.

The PNG boys are a terrific bunch of guys who have a massive love and passion for the game. The work ethic and the way they throw themselves around the field is amazing.

On Friday Ian Healey came along for a few hours to interview a few of the players and do a small story on PNG cricket for the Cricket Show which is aired during the lunch interval of Australia's test match's at home.

The week also showed how much they are improving as a cricketing country in their development, their structures are in place now and they will have their best crack at a World Cup berth.

Rarua who is the captain of the national side was selected to represent a Indigenous X1 v a ACA X1 which had several ex Australian players, he smashed 65 including a few big six's. This is not only great for him but also great for the continued awareness of the ICCs development program.

I flew home on Friday night when the rest of the boys went to the All Star twenty20 game at the GABBA. This gave me sometime to get a few hours sleep before travelling down to Geelong for a second grade match.

Centre Of Excellence

Well the first of the two camps my region runs at the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence has come to an end in style with a 100 run win over Australian Sports gateway X1 at Allan Border field on Friday.

The week has been excellent apart from a day of rain on the Wednesday where we had to go indoors all day at the GABBA. But this gave the players an opportunity to see a world class stadium and a change of scenery.

The week for the players consists of general training, fitness testing, two games of which we won 1 and lost one, specialist fielding coaching from Mike Young who is the former Australian Baseball coach and now Australian Cricket Team fielding coach.

For some of the players it is their first time to Australia and for some even the first time they have played on turf pitches. The ages range from a young boy from Indonesia who is 16 all the way to a 28 year old Fijian player. This is a important program in our high performance calander and a chance for us to select the better players to then represent the region at the Australian Country Cricket Championships which is in January 2009.

The highlight for me during the week long camp was how well the guys played in Fridays game and winning a rare game for the region. The boys played against a academy side that features world cup players from Bermuda, scottish under 19s players and some 1st Grade cricketers from Brisbane. Just the way the players delivered what we had discussed after our dissapointing and non competitive game on Tuesday against the same side.

Today I have had the chance for a bit of time to relax and time to myself, the week for me is very exhausting with a lot of coaching during the day with its challenges of languages and general cricket culture. In the evenings Im organising their allowances or driving them back down for dinner at the Centre of Excellence.

Now it is time to welcome the PNG cricket team who are preparing for the world Cricket League Division 3 on their way to a hopeful berth in the next world cup in 2011.

The squad is coached by Martin Gleeson who was formerly in my current position and now works at Cricket Australia, this is great for me as it allows me to take a back seat role and also work with someone I have worked with for sometime over a number of years in different roles.

PNG arrive into Brisbane and then Depart next Saturday, I will also depart for melbourne on Saturday and step straight onto the cricket field and play for Prahran.

Perth to Darwin to Melbourne to Brisbane

Well one thing is for sure is that I have now got very used to flying, packing, sleeping at weird times and changing the time on my phone.

Once again I had a lot of travel over a short space of time, 4 long flights over 5 days which took me from the furthest western part, then northern and now eastern part of Australia.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to go home for a few days and visit family as well as have a partnership meeting with the WACA. Perth will always be home whether or not I have family there, it is so familiar and just feels like home and somewhere I feel I belong.

I spent 3 full days and saw the whole family including a night at my Brothers staying in Davis's bed.... has been a few years since I was in a bunk bed.

After Perth it was a 4 hour flight to Darwin to meet with the guys from NT cricket as part of their partnership with the ICC. The top end has had a massive increased interest in cricket mainly because Australia has now scheduled matches there every year for the last 4 or so years. It is a great place to play during the southern winter as it is warm and the grounds are outstanding.

Then a 1am flight to Melbourne to finally see my new place I'm living in with a mate from Perth in Chris Rogers. Chris moved over to Vic for cricket and we have a great little joint in Prahran just near commercial road.

So after a day of running around to Ikea and cleaning the place up it was time to head out for dinner with Chris and Joanna to celebrate the new place. Was also a chance for Chris and I to finally have a few drinks together which we have not really done in Melbourne so far.

Saturday morning..... 7am OUCH alarm goes and I'm now required to get dressed and ready for my flight to Brisbane to attend the Centre of Excellence for the next two weeks. Chris was also heading to the airport as he had a one day game against NSW, we decided to share a cab but when the cab arrived and we both had two big cricket bags we soon realised this was not going to happen. Not even a paper, scissors rocks and I allowed Chris the first cab.

So all settled in now and all the players from my region have arrived safely in what has been a full on few days with several visits to the airport to collect the players who started arriving Saturday morning.

The hotel is fairly basic but great for the players as it is only a short stroll to the complex at Allan Border field where the academy is based. The academy used to be based in Adelaide for its first ten years but due to the excellent weather conditions it has now relocated and is one of the best facilities in the world.

The players from my region are really excited and are amazed they are using the same equipment and grounds that the Australian players will be using in about 3 weeks time when they get home from India and prepare for the Australian summer.

Tomorrow we have our first game against a overseas academy side mainly consisting of English minor and second X1 county players. The team we have selected for tomorrow is not our strongest as I really want some of our new players to get straight into things and it also allows them a chance to prove how much they deserve their selection.

The squad consists of 14 players from Fiji, japan, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa. No PNG players this week as they are attending next week for their preparation for World cricket league next year.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from today, they are of the squad this morning before leaving the hotel and then some of the players doing the yo yo test and also in the nets.