Kent batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond will be jetting off to Australia next month to prepare for the 2014 season.
Bell-Drummond had a disappointing 2013 campaign, scoring just 466 runs at an average of 23.30 despite appearing in 13 of Kent’s 16 Championship fixtures, the 20 year-old notching four 50s but no centuries with a top score of 79.
“In November I’ll be heading out to Brisbane until the end of February, so I’ll look forward to that. I’m playing for Nashy [Brendan Nash]’s club – I’ll be playing Grade cricket out there for the winter. Calum [Haggett] and Fabian [Cowdrey] will be there as well.”
“Every top order batsman wants 1,000 runs like the three guys have got in our team. Every time you walk out to the middle, you want to hit runs. I haven’t done that well – I’d like to do better. Hopefully things go to plan this winter – I’ll be working very hard – and then come back next year stronger and better for it.”
“It’s been a tough year for me. I’ve enjoyed it quite a lot and I’ve learned a lot from it which will put me in good stead for the coming year. I haven’t done as well as I wanted to but at the same time, I’m using it all as experience. It hasn’t gone fully to plan but I’ll definitely take this season and move forward.”
The 2013 Championship season was something of a disappointment for Kent in general; the side picking up just three wins in their four-day campaign, registering 11 draws, and failing to mount much of a challenge in either the YB40 or FLt20 competitions”
“It’s a mixed feeling”, said former England under-19 batsman. “I’d say we’re probably a bit disappointed with how things have gone in general, but there have been a lot of good aspects of it and a lot of things to look forward to. There’s a lot of hope and bright stuff going forward, but at the same time, I don’t think we are 100% pleased with how we’ve gone this year but there’s a lot to look forward to and a lot of hard work to do.”
One bright point Kent’s year was Darren Stevens’ incredible knock of 205 not out to beat Lancashire on the final day of the season at Canterbury, Bell-Drummond reminiscing fondly about his teammate’s heroics.
“It was an amazing game to watch. Lancs pretty much had the game under control setting us a massive target and we didn’t get off to the best start [on the final day], losing myself and a couple of quick wickets in the morning. I’m still stunned by it now. It was just brilliance by Stevo and Adam [Ball] there – it was his first Championship fifty and the maturity he showed was just unbelievable. I just didn’t dream about getting that target – it was never in my thoughts that we would end the day winning the game.”
“Everyone kept joking about it – “all we need to do is just hit 300 more runs, it’s simple!” – but when Stevo was on 80-odd, Treddy said if he gets another hundred, we’ve won the game.”
“Everything he did just came off. He’s been brilliant this whole season, like here against Sussex, breaking records left, right and centre. Today he just showed complete maturity to finish off the game not out as well. It just shows you that anything is possible with batting. If you give yourself a chance, then any target is possible.”
“He doesn’t get too frenetic at all. He’s pretty laid back and he showed that today by not showing any signs of pressure when wickets were tumbling at the other end. He just kept his cool and kept smashing it into the gaps and into the Cowdrey stand!”
After a 2013 campaign that did not go to plan for DBD, he will be grafting hard over the winter to come back stronger than ever for the new season in April.
Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com