Those of us who survived  miserable Somerset weather conditions back in October 2008 to watch the Great Britain national team take on a team of cricketers led by Marcus Trescothick may have been slightly disappointed when some big-name players dropped off the billing. It could have proved either a humbling or a revelatory experience for Kevin Pietersen – for instance – to switch his flat blade for a round bat, if he had made it from the original press release all the way onto the diamond.
The Bangers – as Tresco’s testimonial team was named – did, however, hold a star in the making in its line-up. That man was Craig Kieswetter, and he today smashed 143 in cricket on his full debut for England, with the South African-born basher helping himself to six 6s along the way.
This caused me to return to my scoresheet from the game. I remember that he had scattered fire for a little while on the mound and I seemed to recall hearing that he had some experience of baseball going into the exhibition match. One glance confirmed that he knew what he was doing. Batting clean-up he successfully executed a sacrifice bunt, something that would be pretty odd and highly dangerous to effect (I’m thinking broken fingers) without some training.
Good luck to him and the England cricket team.
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I did wonder whether he had played in the ‘Bangers’ game. Good to see that England’s possible new star has some baseball background to refer to!