No holding back, vows Bears star
BIRMINGHAM Bears paceman Olly Stone has been released to play in at least the next two Vitality Blast fixtures.
Stone, who made his England Test debut against Ireland and was part of the squad for the opening Test of the Ashes series against Australia, is available for the matches against Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road and the Notts Outlaws fixture at Edgbaston on Friday.
If selected for the second Test squad, Stone will miss Sunday’s match at home to Lancashire Lightning, and head to Lord’s.
In the meantime, he can’t wait to lead the Bears’ attack again in this year’s competition.
Opposing batsmen, be warned: There will be no holding back from the England pace ace.
“As a bowler you always want to take wickets and in T20, especially up front, you always need to try to do that,” he said.
“You have to attack the batsman as much as you can and threaten his wicket.
“There might be times during a game when a captain says to you ‘look, we just need a tight over here’ but primarily it’s about taking wickets – and, for me, that’s bowling fast.”
Stone had heard all about the unique atmosphere of Vitality
Blast Finals day before experiencing it for the first time on September 2, 2017.
And he rose to the occasion, as Glamorgan’s batsmen can testify.
The Bears faced the Dragons in the semi-finals and made 175 for nine, thanks to a dazzling 50 from Ed Pollock.
Stone’s impact with the ball was spectacular as he claimed match-winning figures of 4-0-29-3.
“It went really well in the semi-final for me and it was just an amazing atmosphere,” he said.
“It is always fantastic to play in front of 10,000 in the group games at Edgbaston so to play in front of 25,000, with loads of them Bears fans cheering you on, on Finals Day, you just can’t beat that.
“It didn’t go so well for me in the final and unfortunately Notts edged us out – but it was a brilliant day all the same.”