Will Out To Join Big-Hitters
21 March 2013
Will Gidman is looking to add some power-hitting to his game this season as a result of working with a specialist coach.
Gloucestershire have employed Julian Wood, a coach with a background in baseball, to give the players some tips on smashing the ball out of the ground.
Will admits that is not his strong-point, but hopes to take advantage when this season’s FLt20 competition comes around.
He told this website: “I picked up a couple of good points from Julian. It’s an area of my game that I am desperate to improve.
“There is a lot of technical stuff involved, which is difficult to explain in words. Basically, he is keen to introduce to cricket some of the techniques used to hit the ball a long way in baseball.
“The way our game has gone since T20 was introduced, there is increasing importance placed on being able to hit the ball out of the ground.
“Hopefully, we have all been given some helpful hints to improve in that aspect of our play.”
Will is raring to go for the new season after a winter clocking up the miles between Bristol and the North East.
The 28-year-old former Durham all-rounder has been training with Gloucestershire, while also looking to spend time with his family at the other end of the country.
Will explained: “My partner Laura is a Geordie and wanted to be near her family. Our daughter is now 15-months-old, so it has been good to spend plenty time with her, but it has meant a lot of travelling.
“We will all be based back down here again for the summer. There is a feeling of optimism about the club because the training during the winter has been hard and, we believe, smart.
“Touch wood, I am feeling really good, but ask me again when our full pre-season is complete!
“I had a slight problem with a side strain last season, which has gone away. That was my only fitness issue and hopefully I’ll be fine for the opening games.
“I am not really one for setting targets. I just aim to play good cricket each hour, each session, each day, and see where that takes me.
“As a team, we want to use the word progression and ensure we keep moving in the right direction.
“Promotion in the Championship is certainly a realistic goal. The fact is that we finished bottom of the table last season and as a group we didn’t look to make excuses for that.
“We tailed off quite poorly at the end of the summer so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“But, with four or five games to go we were mid-table with a small sniff of going up. We played some good cricket up to that point and this time we need to keep that going through what Sir Alex Ferguson would describe as 'the business end of the season'.”
Will is eagerly anticipating the arrival of new skipper Michael Klinger, who flies to England at the beginning of April.
“None of us know a great deal about Michael,” he admitted. “We had an email from him recently and he sounds like a very nice chap.
“We are really looking forward to him arriving and bringing in some fresh ideas. I watched him playing in the Big Bash, which was covered extensively on TV in England, and he did really well.
“He looks to me like an old-fashioned batsman in terms of technique, which should stand him in good stead for English conditions.”
