Player Blog - Tom Smith
13 January 2014
Hi Everyone,
My winter hasn’t begun with Gloucestershire CCC yet as I have been living in London until last weekend! Me and my wife moved on Sunday to start our prospective jobs (if you can call cricket that), so it's very exciting times for us.
We have a month living in Bristol city centre then a two months holiday let in Portishead, before completing our West Country tour back to Bristol where we can move into our new home (finally) for the start of the season!
My first commitment of the winter was to be Ollie Rayner’s (Middlesex CCC) usher at his wedding. It was an amazing day at a stunning Sussex venue and Ollie requested that we all wear our official club ties.
I then had two minor mouth/ throat operations... don't worry nothing serious or cricket related! Bizarrely they were for snoring, so the boys can sleep easier at night knowing that for the forthcoming season whoever has to room with me might get a peaceful night's sleep!
I had two months in London before Bristol, so like previous winters with Middlesex I have coached the Middlesex Elite Spinners Program alongside Keith Dutch (ex Middlesex and Somerset).
I have always tried to coach in my winters as much as possible, as it is something that really interests me. It also provided an opportunity to run a few spin bowling sessions at Harrow School in December.
Aside from the coaching, it's my first winter where I had to go and train on my own rather than having the luxury of all the lads meeting up early in the morning for squad trainings and pushing you through the wall.
I found that part of the winter really tough and now I can't wait to get stuck in on Monday for my first full winter week with Gloucestershire.
Three hard months and the season is upon us.
Lets make it a successful one for Gloucestershire CCC!
Best Wishes
Tom
