We are now at the height of the cricketing summer. Not only do we have the blockbuster England versus India test series, but also series between the West Indies and Australia, and between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. County cricket continues apace too, and Middlesex have handed a debut to young seam bowler Naavya Sharma this season. The Student spoke to him about his fortunes so far in professional cricket, along with a host of other topics.
On just his third First Class outing, away at Grace Road against Leicestershire, Sharma recorded figures of 4-43 in the first innings, an impressive return, as Middlesex romped to an innings victory. Naavya said that it was a real positive to “get going in first class cricket.”
“The first couple overs I had bowled were decent but maybe not the figures I would have wanted, but then to come away with a few wickets, especially on a better batting pitch against the top of the table, it was very nice.’ He added that he was “very well supported by the rest of the team, who kept it tight, allowing me to be quite aggressive.”
Certainly, it was a result against the run of form, with Leicestershire leading the Division Two promotion push, and Middlesex languishing towards the foot of the table.
Sharma was bullish about Middlesex’s prospects: “I think it’s just about finding that momentum and taking it to the rest of the season. I think if we look at the table closely, it’s quite packed, obviously Leicestershire is running away at the top, but the rest of the table, especially the middle through the bottom, is pretty close points wise.”
“Taking the momentum from the last game and getting on a run here could really put us in the fray for promotion. So I think that’s definitely the target.”
Despite financial difficulties in recent years, something felt by many counties, Middlesex have been able to sign Kane Williamson this year, something which will surely inspire their efforts as they look to move up the table. The Kiwi is unquestionably a modern great: “It’s someone I’ve grown up watching and idolising, so to be on the same team and share a dressing room with him is pretty surreal.”
And Williamson’s efforts are not limited to run-making. He is “always around the training, always happy to help. Obviously, [there’s] plenty of advice he has to give out as he has years of international cricket. So a great guy to have around training and games.”
Williamson’s arrival is a reminder of the pull of county cricket, but this is something increasingly under threat in a changing sport. The English summer’s schedule is constantly scrutinised, with a limited window and ever more to fit in.
Naavya spoke about the often hectic results of this: “I think at times you have a four-day game finishing and two days later, you have the Blast starting. It can be quite hard just to change modes and change formats because obviously a lot of players will play both.”
Training and preparation, then, varies greatly depending on what needs to be prepared for. For red ball cricket, “the batsmen are looking to sort of bat the entire training session without getting out as they would in the game, and the bowlers are looking to bowl one ball repeatedly, and find their consistency as if they were in a four-day game.”
T20 training can be more varied: “you might have a couple of overs you practice bowling in the power play, a couple of your slow balls, couple of Yorkers, the batsmen are now – instead of just trying to bat the whole session – almost trying to hit sixes.’ Overall, the shorter formats tend to lend themselves to “lower length, but higher intensity sessions.”
It should be acknowledged that the difficulties of scheduling are more forgivable due to the issues of playing cricket in England. “We’re not really blessed with the weather of somewhere like the sub-continent where they can fit their whole domestic game into 12 months. Here, you have to sort of squeeze it into six months where the weather allows it.”
“Obviously, it can be very crowded at times, but I think it’s the best with the cards we’re dealt, in terms of the weather down here,” he added.
Another ever-relevant subject is bowler fitness. Bowlers’ schedules are often very prescriptive – “obviously, if you overbowl yourself, you run into a lot of problems; you get injured, stress fractures are so common” – but there remains a second school of thought.
“I think another element is the good old bowling fitness. I think you can run and gym all you want, but there’s nothing like it. Nothing prepares you for bowling like bowling does, and I think you look back in the day, a lot of the bowlers would just bowl plenty of overs, and that would get them fit to bowl in games.”
The introduction of Kookaburra ball matches is also a challenge for bowlers: “You know it’s going to seam and swing less. So it’s just about acknowledging that and seeing how you can still make yourself productive. I think, often that takes the form of you might need to bowl a little bit quicker, just to sort of create the same challenges for the batter. And you know your margin for error is going to be smaller just because you haven’t got the swing or seam movement to assist you. And then occasionally you might have to use your short ball as well, just to pose different challenges to the batter, to keep them honest.”
Sharma’s desire to bowl quicker suggests the ploy is working, however he admits his feelings are “mixed”.
“The Kookaburra ball is designed for the sort of harder pictures, bouncier pitches that you get in South Africa and Australia, whereas the English pitches are much softer, which means less carry. It makes the Kookaburra ball very difficult to take wickets here.”
“You can’t really pose the same challenge as you can with the same ball in South Africa and Australia.” This suggests a plan which hasn’t entirely been thought through, however the implementation has been better this year than last.
“I think the thing they’ve done better from last year is, doing the Kookaburra games in the middle of the season rather than at the start. I think last year they played the games in the first two, three weeks, where the pitches were very soft, and you really can’t get much out of the ball. But obviously doing it in the mid-summer when we’ve had plenty of heat, pitches are a bit harder, slightly more similar to what you might get in Australia where the Kookaburra ball does work, and you can see there were a few results this week, whereas at the start of the season last year, there was almost all draws.
The interview was a fascinating discussion about some of the most pressing issues facing the sport, as well as Sharma’s own hopes and prospects moving forward. He is certainly someone to look out for as Middlesex look to finish the season strongly.
Image credits: “Lords-Cricket-Ground-Pavilion-06-08-2017” by Yorkspotter is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.