“I am playing for a club called St Albans in Christchurch New Zealand, which has been set up through the exchange Durham share with Canterbury cricket, where ex Durham player Paul Wiseman is a coach. The club has been very welcoming and I have settled in well, although there is often the disturbance of the aftershocks from the big earthquake that happened here a little over a month ago.
“Even the little ones are enough to send me running for the doorways, like they do in the films, when everyone else just laughs, having the earth move beneath you just doesn’t happen that often in Durham!
“My first month here has been good, although I do miss the non-shaking sturdy ground of the North East! And whoever said that New Zealand was a warm place was a genuine liar, I had to wear two jumpers to play the other day….that sort of attire is usually only reserved for the windy heights of Gateshead Fell when I’m back at home.
“I spend my weeks either training or playing cricket for St Albans, or the Canterbury under 20’s team, who is captained by Tom Latham who spent the summer at Durham as part of the exchange, and so far have done reasonably well having scored 140 runs in three games, which is decent, but I am looking to make a more solid match winning performance than the fifties I have scored. I am also coaching at a local school which I really enjoy.
“My aims for the winter are to learn to construct bigger and more influential innings, to increase my fitness and also to work on technical aspects which will help me next season back at home when playing for Durham”.
Follow Ben’s progress throughout the winter by clicking the links below:
Canterbury cricket website http://www.canterburycricket.org.nz/
St Alban’s cricket website http://www.stalbanscricket.co.nz/