Rest, not practise, is secret to Clapham’s medal win
MOST cricketers are fanatic about keeping good form and finding touch in the nets each week, but Alexander Thomson all-rounder Jack Clapham has no issues staying sharp.
The Vikings seamer doesn’t bat in the nets and only bowls “a few offies” each week as he nurses his body to the weekend.
And it’s that recipe that led him to win the Jan Nowicki Medal as the GCA3’s best player.
“I literally don’t train at all,” Clapham said. “I can’t see the ball in the AT nets so I gave up on batting halfway through last year.
“I might bowl a few offies but it’s just more about getting my body through the week.
“I had a few niggles this year and soft tissue stuff so it’s pretty much about doing as little as possible to get from Saturday to Saturday.
“I have throwdowns Saturday morning and if I hit six out of the middle I pretty much walk out.”
Clapham led the Vikings bowlers as he took 31 wickets at 14.2 to finish second on the league bowling average to Waurn Ponds-Deakin seamer Sai Dhulipudi.
And the lower order hitter’s 344 runs at 38.2 was good enough to finish seventh in the league batting average.
He comfortably won the medal count with 17 votes, ahead of Lethbridge’s Hayden Spiller on 13 votes.
His efforts helped the Vikings to finish on top of the
GCA3 ladder and claim the premiership after finals were abandoned due to coronavirus.
He said the flag was a deserved result after a consistent year from Alexander Thomson, despite the “very strange” finish to the season.
“We probably missed three games there where we could have picked up some points,” he said. “We thought we would be there and thereabouts so to finish on top was a good result.”