Cameron Ready For New Challenge
8 April 2014
Cameron Herring is ready for the challenge if needed to keep wicket in Gloucestershire’s opening LV=County Championship game against Hampshire at Bristol, starting on Sunday.
The 19-year-old wicketkeeper is set to start the season in the first team for the second successive year should Gareth Roderick not recover in time from the fractured finger he sustained while warming up for the friendly against Somerset on Friday.
Cameron, who spent part of the build-up to the new season in Spain with a Tom Maynard Academy squad, says his preparations have gone well and can’t wait for a chance to show how his game is developing.
He told this website: “Training has been very competitive and everyone is up for the challenge of the new season, so we are looking forward to it.
“Personally, I feel ready. Gareth and I both performed well in pre-season and I was expecting it to be a close call between us when it came to selection for the first games.
“We knew that whoever was left out would only have been one injury away from getting into the team and it was also unlikely that one of us would play every game in all competitions.
“I would like to get some limited overs games in this season, having not played in one last season. That is one of the challenges for me this summer.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my taste of Championship cricket and look forward to building on those performances.”
Gareth contributed some big scores in his first season with Gloucestershire last year and Cameron accepts that he needs to improve his own run scoring.
He said: “I feel good about my batting. At the end of last season I started to score runs in the second XI and I am happy with a small change of technique I have made during the winter.
“Nets have gone well an it is now all about transferring the work I have put in onto the field.
“With my small build, I am never going to be one to clear the ropes massively in one-day cricket.
“Rotating the strike will be important if I find myself ball with the bigger hitters in the team. There is no point in trying to copy Alex Gidman. I have to find my own ways of collecting boundaries and moving the field around.
“I have worked on new shots with the white ball and my one-day game is developing all the time.”
Whatever his own fortunes, Cameron believes Gloucestershire are well prepared to be a force this summer in four-day cricket, the Royal London 50-over Cup and the NatWest T20 Blast.
He said: With the competition we now have for places, I believe we will be pushing for promotion in the Championship.
“We have also worked hard on our one-day skills. It will be tough starting with a two-point deficit in the T20 competition, but if we can string a few wins together, who knows? I expect us to be competitive in all formats.”
