Ed Looks Forward To Big One-Day Summer
3 May 2013
Ed Young has more reason that most to look forward to Gloucestershire’s one-day season after a winter in Australia that he will long remember.
The Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign begins today against Leicestershire at Grace Road and will continue against the Unicorns at Wormsley on Monday.
Ed goes into it full of confidence with bat, as well as ball ater proving himself much more than an accomplished left-arm spinner during his time in Adelaide where he produced an innings Chris Gayle himself would have been proud of.
It came for his club side against Kensington in the final group match of the T20 competition and turned an amazing match, watched by new Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger.
Ed told this website: “It was the best innings of my life and the best game I’ve played in,” said Young. "Kensington is Michael’s club and he was at the ground.
“They batted first and had Greg Blewett and Andrew MacDonald in their line-up so it was always going to be tough for us to contain them.
“They scored 201 and we were 60-6 at the end of the power play, which meant we were up with the required run rate, but obviously with too many wickets down.
“I had opened the batting and watched all the wickets fall at the other end. From then on I just tried to stick to my plan and managed to clear the boundary a couple of times to get some momentum going.
“I was finally out to the fifth ball of the 19thover with the scores level. It was upsetting not to score the winning runs, but I went outside my plan for the first time and managed to lose my wicket.
“I ended up with 106 off 49 balls. It was just one of those days when everything came off for me and I made good decisions over shot selection.
“We won the game and actually made it to the final as a result because the other team challenging lost, which made it an even better day.”
Now Ed is looking to prove his all-rounder status is YB40 and Friends Life t20 games this summer.
“The innings filled me with confidence and showed me what I could do,” he said. “Getting a T20 hundred was always going to be memorable, but the circumstanced made it extra special.
“I would love to open the batting in T20 for Gloucestershire. Michael Klinger watched my innings until I was in the 40s and then had to leave the ground so hopefully I made a good impression.
“The challenge of batting high up the order in one-day cricket is one I would relish, but I’ll just set out to bat well in whatever position the club ask of me and we’ll see what happens.
“T20 has been my best format with my bowling. I really enjoy the hit and miss aspect of it and you just have to commit to everything you do.
“It is very quick and intense so you don’t have time to stop and think. If you get hit for four or six, which is inevitable, the next ball is the most important.
“The bats are bigger and the batsmen getting more adept at hitting all the time, so a spinner is always going to take some stick from time to time.
“If I can make a batsman change his decision as the ball comes down or alter the angle so he mishits it I consider I have won that particular delivery.
“Then you try to win as many balls as possible. And a win in T20 can be when you are hit for only one or two runs.
“It’s exciting that we are taking T20 to Cheltenham this year where I made my Gloucestershire debut. With good pitches, short boundaries and rowdy crowds, it won’t be easy for the bowlers, but I can’t wait for the first game there.
“Anyone who goes for six or seven runs an over at the College Ground will have done a very good job indeed.”
Ed has had to feel his way into the new season after going from one weather extreme to another.
“It was interesting coming back from 40 degree temperatures in Adelaide to a high of about zero when we played our pre-season game with Somerset at Taunton,” he said.
“Cold weather is particularly tough on a spinner because we need to keep fingers warm, but you just have to find a way of coping.
“It has been tough at the beginning of spells in such a cold Spring, but I am not looking for excuses and hope to play my part in helping Gloucestershire achieve success in all formats this summer.”
