Ed Young Reflects On His T20 Century In Australia
8 February 2013
Ed Young has sent the latest in his series of blogs from Down Under, keeping Gloucestershire supporters up to date with his winter in Adelaide.
Ed writes: “My final days of 2012 were spent on the east coast of Australia. I spent Christmas Day with friends and in hindsight should have stayed in Adelaide because it rained all day. That didn't stop me going for a 7.00am swim in the ocean before skyping the family to see we were sharing the same weather!
“I then went on a road trip north with three friends with destination, Brisbane. I had a couple nights camping at Diamond Head, where one day we walked down to the beach and we were met by police, ambulance and the fire brigade, because ten minutes prior there had been a shark attack!
“My swimming and snorkelling gear went straight back into my bag and then I witnessed the rescue helicopter fly in. It turned out that the incident was reported on Channel 7 news. I was sent the video and to my surprise there I was caught on camera being a stereotypical nosey Englishman!
“We had one night at the base of Mount Warning where we climbed it at 7.00 am. It was a 9km hike up and down, with the last 400m being a steep rock incline where you were only assisted by a chain. The views at the top were breathtaking; clear, soundless and a great sense of serenity.
“We spent New Year in Brisbane where there was a delightful firework display to music on the Southbank, a far more low key production compared to Sydney, but far less people, so it was not as manic.
“I returned to Adelaide to a very mild 44 degrees, which was a tad steamy! Cricket and training got back into full flow and we have had some mixed results in 2013 thus far.
“We had a great T20 game against Kensington, who had Greg Blewett and Andrew Macdonald playing for them. They got 201 batting first on a good deck and we were 60-6 at the end of the power play.
“We ended up getting the runs off the first ball of the 20th over, with the score being 204-8. Unfortunately, I was out when the scores were level, but finished with 106 off 49 balls, which was one of the best innings of my life.
“I was privileged when Greg Blewett later mentioned the innings when he was commentating on a Big Bash game. We went on to make the final of our competition due to other results and it was a great occasion with a crowd of over 1,000.
Unfortunately we didn't chase down 133 against the favourites, which was highly disappointing after having a great bowling and fielding performance.
“With only a couple of games left we are sitting in fifth place in the two-day competition with the top four making finals. And, with a win in the quarter-finals of the one-day competition against Glenelg, who had Johan Botha playing for them, we are hopefully on track to a one-day final in early March.
“I am thoroughly enjoying my time out here, but now I am into the home straight of my trip and I'm looking forward to returning home and getting on with the English season.”
