Trevor's Winter Diary: Part Three

Western Storm Head Coach, Trevor Griffin spent the last few months in Australia and New Zealand.

As well as working with Canterbury Cricket & Sydney Thunder, Trevor has been keeping us up to date with what’s been happening Down Under with his Big Bash Diary.

Here is the final installment:

“It’s been an amazing three months.

“It was disappointing that Sydney Thunder went out in the semi-finals, but it was a great experience. I then got the chance to spend ten days with the men’s team. It was great to see how they trained and went about things, so all in all it was a tremendous learning experience.

“In terms of the women’s game there isn’t a huge difference between the challenges that we face over here. The pitches over there are slightly quicker and bouncier, so you need to be able to bowl a bouncer and batters need to be able to deal with that. You don’t see a lot of that over here because the pitches are lower and slower.

“One of the main challenges within the women’s game is taking the pace off the ball and generating that pace as batters. That’s given me a few things to think about for Western Storm. We saw last year that as soon as the bowlers took the pace off the ball, our batters struggled a little in a couple of games, which is similar to what I experienced in Australia this winter. This will be something that we look to explore ahead of this year’s KSL.

“In my opinion, the biggest difference between the Big Bash and the KIA Super League is that the non-international players are all professional cricketers, so their skill levels are very high.

“Another key issue for the players is time management. Suzie Bates wrote a really good article recently about how she used to finish a tour with New Zealand and then go back to work, which provided her with a break from cricket. The top players don’t get that break now and that’s a new challenge for them. Trying to find the right balance between playing, traveling and resting is key but I know for a fact that the England setup look after and manage the players incredibly well.

“Although the KSL season seems a long way off now, we’ve already started winter training. There will be a total of five sessions over a nine-week period which will feature the non-international players who were contracted to us. We’ll be doing some skills work with them before they start their county season. There are some exciting young players out there who are knocking at the door and I’ll be casting my eye over them over the next few months. It will be interesting to see how they cope with county cricket over the course of the summer.

“I’ll be visiting our neighbouring counties soon in order to speak with coaches and players as well as getting back involved with our South West Regional Development Centre. I’ve also been speaking with Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr about the possibility of spending some time around him and the Somerset players, so there’s plenty to be getting on with and before we know it the KSL will be upon us!”