JAKE BALL ON HIS BREAKTHROUGH 2016, IMPROVING HIS BATTING, AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS

"PROBABLY ONE OF MY BETTER MOMENTS ON A CRICKET FIELD"

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Last Friday saw the draw for 2017’s The Cricketer Village Cup take place in the iconic Lord’s Committee Room.

Gunn & Moore, the official cricket brand of the National Village Cup, arranged for England and Nottinghamshire bowler Jake Ball to draw the balls.

And afterwards he took part in a Live Q & A session with questions ranging from his Test debut to his sibling rivalry and from the family influences on his career to his focus in the nets.

The 25 year old made his Test and ODI debuts last year as well as grabbing a County Championship hat-trick against Middlesex. A feat Ball modestly calls “probably one of my better moments on a cricket field.”

The seamer is the nephew of former England wicketkeeper Bruce French while the club where it all started for him, Welbeck Colliery, also had a strong family connection: “Mum’s got five brothers who all played. Granddad was the groundsman and grandma did the tea.”

His brother too is a handy enough Nottinghamshire Premier League cricketer who Ball feels might actually have a better record than him at that level.

Ball jokingly explains that his figures may not tell the full story as his brother tends to “take a few wickets with full tosses and scrape a few runs at the back end.”

With the presence of an ex-international cricketer in the family it was perhaps inevitable that Ball would be heavily influenced by him and he admits to attempting to emulate his uncle by keeping at under-11 level. Luckily for Nottinghamshire and England he quickly realised it wasn’t for him.

(Ball on Joe Root's appointment as Test captain)

At Nottinghamshire he found a more fitting role model for his specific skill-set in Stuart Broad. Ball credits the England bowler as being a “massive influence” on his career. It was fitting then that when Ball made his Test debut in July at Lord’s he shared the new ball with his county team-mate.

Was he nervous ahead of his international bow? “The nerves weren’t too bad but once I’d finished my first spell I was standing in the middle with Stu and just took a little look around and that’s when the heart starts beating a bit faster because you realise what you’re actually doing and how many people you’re playing in front of.”

Although he has made his reputation as a fast bowler (he classifies himself as “fast-medium”), Ball has also shown glimpses of an ability to wield the willow at both county and international level.

Referring to batting as the “more frustrating” part of his game he admits to feeling he can offer a lot more although it is still a surprise to hear him say “it’s an area of my game that I work on probably more than my bowling.”

Jake Ball the allrounder. Far stranger things have happened.

Read a full interview with Jake in our April issue which hits the newsstand on March 24. For now, why not pick up our March issue...

 

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