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Tales from Down Under, October 29
Chorley-based cricket star Luis Reece is currently playing for Sunshine Coast Scorchers in Australia and is sending back weekly reports of his adventures...
I've never doubted the value of my decision to play cricket in Australia, but had I done, then the chance to pit my wits against the likes of Australian internationals Andrew Symonds and Andy Bichel in front of 600 would have banished them forever.
For an 18-year-old from Clayton-le-Woods, it was a fantastic experience to play against them in the same weekend and alongside my new team-mate Ashley Noffke, who is himself an experienced first class player.
The thought of being on the same field with two internationals – and one a legend at that – was thrilling.
The toss was done and we stuck them into bat but things didn't go to plan.
It was a long time before the first wicket finally came as they reached the final session of the day on 140–1.
It seemed that the chance to see Symonds was shrinking as the crowd became restless.
However I was finally brought on to bowl and the sixth ball of my first over I got the break through as I bowled their number three.
There it was, time for the big Australian figure to make his way to the crease, with a licence to score quick runs.
Unfortunately the captain took me off after the first over – which was a wicket maiden – so my dream of getting Symonds out seemed to have been taken away from me.
After some mind-blowing drives and some luck, after being dropped twice, he made his way to 27 in no time.
Noffke was still running in hard and took things up a notch and decided to go for Symonds' head, with a series of bouncers.
Symonds decided to fight fire with fire as he attempted a hook shot, which he top edged down to fine leg, where a certain L Reece found himself fielding.
Fortunately I kept my nerve and managed to cling on to the catch, much to my team-mates' relief and the disappointment of the crowd.
Most of the 600 crowd disappeared as I then came on to bowl again and finished the day with figures of 3 for 17 after eight overs.
The way it works is the Saturday matches are played over successive Saturdays while you have a one-day game on a Sunday.
It meant that after 24 hours after the excitement of catching Symonds I was warming up to play for Brisbane Scorchers when Aussie veteran Andy Bichel arrived.
We inserted them in to bat, fortunately it didn't take too long for us to get the ex-Aussie star in.
This time I was lucky enough to bowl at him, unfortunately luck turned away from me as one of our fielders dropped the ball out on the boundary when Bichel was on 67 and then carried it over the fence. It was a truly devastating moment.
Bichel finished on 89 and I finished with figures of 2-41 off eight overs.
In reply we chased down 285.
It was a dream of a weekend and a great experience.
Luis Reece
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Weather for Leyland
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
