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Bay Players overseas

Catching up the the Bay Players

We recently caught up with three Bay players who are plying their trade in England during the New Zealand winter. Cam Neal, Tom MacRury and Chris Atkinson are all first timers on the annual migration to the home of cricket.

The northern migration goes back a long time, with the likes of Peter White and Murray Jarvis amongst the many, to experience northern hemisphere cricket over the years. Plenty of the current Bay players have immersed themselves in the hotbed of northern hemisphere club cricket in recent times.

The beauty of the northern journey, is that the English cricket caters for all abilities from run of the mill club payers to our best batsmen and bowlers.

The trio, who responded to an email from Tai Bridgman-Raison, have all worn the Bay of Plenty representative uniform in the last twelve months and will come home better players for the knowledge, gained on the other side of the world.

Tai’s Questions

Where and who are you playing for?

Cam Neal –  Huddersfield Drake League for Lepton Highlanders

Tom MacRury – Scholes Cricket Club in the Huddersfield Drake League
Chris Atkinson - Hall Bower Cricket Club
 

What are your best performances/statistics to date?

Cam - 110 not out off 69 balls, 94no in T20 off 34 balls and a few 50’s as well

Tom -  540 runs at average of 46 – best of 111. 18 wickets with best of 5/43.

Chris – Best performance of 6/30 and 13 wickets all up. 115 runs with top of 48 being best score.

How is your team going?

Cam – Our first team is doing well currently sitting in fifth position, but could be sitting a lot higher due to weather affecting a few games. Hopefully we can get a few more wins under our belt and earn promotion.

Tom – Sitting sixth out of 14 teams in the league. A bit of  a logjam, so a few wins will get us right back in the mix. We are in the semi-finals of the Heavy Woolen Cup which is one of the big Knockout Cups in the region.

Chris – Sitting eighth in the League and into the second round of the T20 Knockout competition.

Have you played against anyone from back home or any international players?

Cam – Played against Chris Atkinson. There is an overseas player in most teams that are quality cricketers, so you get to play against plenty of other nationalities.
Tom – Played against Henry Cooper from Northland a couple of weeks ago at Broad Oak. He is going well as their overseas player.

Chris – Have played against Cam early on and also Jake Gibson and Chris Swanson from Northern Districts. There are a couple of Australians in the League, as well as Nasir Hussain who is a first-class player from Pakistan, who is the leading the bowlers tally with thirty-odd wickets.
 

Favorite part of your experience so far?

Cam – Playing against new teams and players. Meeting new people along the way that have the same passion and love of the game of cricket. Also exploring and trying new experiences.

Tom – Club culture is like nothing that I have ever experienced before – big crowds and the huge amount of interest in cricket from the locals is unbelieveable. Working on one of the members farms with a couple of the boys always provides good entertainment.

Chris – New conditions and different players

Worst Things about the UK?

Cam – The weather is shocking, - it’s always raining which doesn’t help as there have been a few games that have been rain affected. Definitely cooking my own meals.

Tom – The 30 hour flight to get here and the weather.

Chris – Shocking weather – have almost forgotten what the sun looks like.

Best Things about the UK?

Cam – Countries are so close and if you want to travel you can. Catching up with the other Bay lads each week. Cricket is so different, which is a challenge for my game and ability which tests you out each game. Meeting new people and making life-long friends.

Tom – Cricket and travelling.

Chris – Support for club cricket is outstanding with first grade generating a decent amount of spectators.

How has it been since Brexit and England losing to Iceland?

Cam – When a conversation comes up about the football you make sure that you don’t laugh or take the piss out of them, as they can get upset about the devastating losses.

Tom – Out of Europe twice in a week.

Chris – Brexit is good for us kiwi’s - with the dollar crashing it gives us more bang for our bucks.

Do you intend to do any travelling – if so to where?

Cam – Of course - the bonus side of being in the UK is there are so many countries within easy travelling distance. Already been to Paris and are looking to go to Ireland, Greece and possibly Rome if I get the chance.

Tom – Will be having a look around Europe at the end of my time here and are really looking forward to travelling around a bit.

Chris – Cam, Shane Wineti and I went to Paris about a month ago. It was good med-week boredom breaker and only 52 pounds return. One more trip is on the cards and is  a case of where the cheapest flight takes us.