The pace is my weapon! I like to keep it simple
JACK Blatherwick is a promising bowler with one thing on his mind – a need for speed. The 18-year-old came through the ranks at his local side Kimberley Institute, playing his first game when he was eight and following a long line of family members who have turned out for the club.
Kimberley have previously boasted the likes of England international Samit Patel, Surrey paceman Mark Footitt, former Essex, Notts and Leicestershire batsman Will Jefferson and New Zealand bowler Andre Adams in their playing ranks. But as well as raw pace – he says he has been clocked at 83 miles per hour – Blatherwick, a regular in Notts’ second XI, insists he has got other weapons in his armoury to frighten batsmen.
“I think pace is my main weapon,” he said. “I want to bowl quickly, like every fast bowler, but I’ve got a couple of other things in my locker as well. I’m able to swing the ball at pace, and try to hit the seam. I don’t really have an in-swinger, I just hit the deck hard and then if one goes in then great.
“I keep it simple, delivering the ball and seeing what happens. Kimberley have really helped me develop – two years ago we won the youth league on the last day of the season, which was a great feeling, against Clifton.We needed seven points to win and we managed to pull it off, against a good side as well. That was definitely one of the standouts at club level.”
Of the current players in the game, Blatherwick likens himself to Yorkshire and England paceman Liam Plunkett, who regularly hits 90mph as a bowler and is an aggressive lower-order batsman.
“I’d say I model myself on someone like Plunkett,” he said. “I like running up to the crease and hitting the deck hard, and then come in near the end of an innings with the bat and whack it around, getting some handy runs for the team further down the order.”
Blatherwick is currently on a three-week tour to Dubai with the Young Lions, a selection of some of the finest cricketers in the country aged 19 or under who have been earmarked as potential England players of the future. And he is hoping the experience will enrich him as an all-round cricketer and as a person.
“I’m just looking forward to getting used to the conditions and being around the lads,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll learn from the pace bowlers in the senior Lions and the coaching there as well, giving myself the best opportunity for the season with Notts. I want to build myself as a player and a person, coming back as a better batsman as well as bowler, and maybe work on a more robust action for my bowling – so I can deliver when my moment comes.”
One aspect of his game Blatherwick is determined to improve is his concentration as a batsman.
“When I start my innings, I think it’s crucial to be on the ball, which I think I lack sometimes,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m going from ball one.”