Opener’s sacrifices are paying off

When Andrew Fletcher started his ‘other’ career, he quickly discovered what his holidays would entail.

The Wellington Firebirds opener, who has made a sensational start to his domestic representative Ford Trophy career, works part-time for accounting software firm Xero.

‘‘I finished my degree at the end of 2016 and when I started I let them know I would have quite a lot of A cricket coming up and they said ‘that’s fine, just take your annual leave for it’.

‘‘Which stung but it had to be done,’’ Fletcher said. ‘‘A lot of my mates thought I was nuts – it’s the sort of sacrifices you have to make.’’

Fletcher said his ‘opening partnership’ with his employers has been amazing.

‘‘They’re all big fans – when I walked in after my performances they’ve given me big rounds of applause and made me feel very, very embarrassed in the workplace.’’

The 25-year-old has given his colleagues good reason to cheer – in four one-day innings, Fletcher has made two centuries and tallied 357 runs at an average of 119. Not only does he have more than 100 runs than the next-best trophy batsman, he’s on track to break the record for most runs in a NZ List A campaign.

Some effort from a guy who wondered if his chance of playing for Wellington had passed.

‘‘Those thoughts definitely go through your mind,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s been times when I thought about maybe hanging up the boots and pursuing my other career, but it’s been a dream of mine since I was very young so I’m grateful I had the presence of mind to stick with it.’’

Fletcher is quick to disassociate himself from individual praise however.

‘‘It’s been good to get off to a winning start with the team – I’m pretty thankful to be able to contribute where I can.

‘‘My initial goal was to try my best to put in my performances so we could win. I didn’t put too many figures in my mind – just to contribute in any way I can; that goes with the team values of the Wellington Firebirds.’’

He acknowledged the nerves when he faced the first ball of his Wellington one-day career against Canterbury and Black Caps paceman Matt Henry, but quickly calmed down on the way to a maiden ton, ending unbeaten on 132.

"It gave me quite a lot of confidence, made me feel more comfortable at this standard. When you go into a season, you have doubts, like any cricketer or any professional does when they go into a new job.’’

Now he’s working on not getting ahead of himself.

‘‘It’s about staying level and keeping with the team goals – if I can stick with my processes and work hard like I am, hopefully things will go my way. I’m not going to change anything.

‘‘People having more of a look at my footage and seeing the way that I play – that’s to be expected. Some of the senior boys let me know after I did well in that first game that people were going to be scouting me, so it’s important I keep my head down, work on my game and adjust to other game plans that bowlers may be working on.’’

The right-hander says he has a simple approach to his craft.

‘‘I try to breathe, watch the ball, hit the ball when it comes.

‘‘I have some good areas where I like to score – at the start it’s mainly on the off-side. Any other ball I’m looking to score off and rotate the strike as much as I can but keeping in my mind if the bowler bowls well, you’ve got to give it to them. It’s all about the ebbs and flows of batting.’’