Fabian Cowdrey believes he has made the right decision to leave university to pursue his cricketing career with Kent.The talented 20 year old decided life at Cardiff University wasn’t for him and has returned to Kent in the past few weeks to make a go of forging out a career in the game, just like his father, uncle and grandfather.

Having made his senior debut for Kent against New Zealand in the Twenty 20 game at Canterbury on Saturday night, Cowdrey is hoping more chances to play for the side come his way between now and the end of the season:

“It’s been pretty surreal and it was nice to be in the side for the first time. It was good to get a bat and a bowl, although it had just started raining when I came on to bowl.”

“I have taken a lot from playing in that game against the likes of Martin Guptill and Brendan McCullum. You don’t get better than that in your first game and it’s given me a lot of confidence.”

“It was great to be out there and there was no real pressure on us. Who knows, maybe that will be the Kent team in a few years time?”

“I was thrilled to have pulled on the Kent shirt and hopefully between now and the end of the season I get a chance to play against some county sides and prove myself.”

“My heart wasn’t in my degree and I wanted to play cricket. I thought being at university meant I was away for over half the season and I wouldn’t have got a look in for matches like this one.”

“I reckon it is the best decision I have ever made.”

Despite giving up life at University, Cowdrey admitted there were mixed feelings at home when he announced his decision:

“My dad was 100% behind me, although my mum had a few words to say about it!”

“I believe she has realised that I made the decision for all the right reasons.”

“If I ever have to go back to university, then so be it. It was a great year and cleared my head. I lived out a bit of my youth, but now it is time for work and I’m very excited about the next few months ahead.”

Now back at Canterbury on a full-time basis, Cowdrey is hoping he will be in with a chance of impressing coach Jimmy Adams and earning a call up or two for the first team before the end of the season:

“To have seen some of the New Zealand players from a fielding position was great for me to learn things, but to be in there at the end and score some runs will be great for my cricketing education.”

“It was a fantastic opportunity for me and I will hold on to that for the rest of my career.”

With the side having performed so well last week to beat the odds and secure a dramatic last gasp win against the Sussex Sharks in the YB40, Cowdrey told KSN how the atmosphere in the dressing room couldn’t be better and they’re all looking forward to the T20 season starting on Friday:

“Confidence is high and we can’t wait to get started. I think we’ve got a really good chance with some young players who are on the brink of playing.”

“Lots of us are pushing for a couple of places with the likes of Brendan Nash, Rob Key and Mark Davies all set to come back into the side.”

“It will be interesting to see who the coach goes with.”

Finally, Cowdrey admitted he’d had to apologise to Matt Coles at the end of the game on Saturday night after confusion saw the latter run out:

“He wasn’t happy, but I thought with about fifty runs needed off something like two balls, I’d try and end up with a not out against my name!”

“Matt is a good lad, we shook hands and had a good laugh about it!”

Main picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com