Story The Matt Helders Story

[ledzep]

April 17 2008

My alarm woke me up at 7:30, I then jumped out of bed and realised that this could be the day that changes the rest of my life. Because you see today is my first training session with the Sussex first eleven. I jumped into the shower and started to think about the day, I suddenly realised that it was half past eight and I had to be there by half nine so I got out of the shower and had a swift breakfast of fried egg on toast. I grabbed my kit bag and training tracksuit and jumped into my battered old ford escort and drove to the ground. Even though it is only a 15 minute drive to Hove cg I thought I better get there early to make a good impression. I drove to the car park and parked then I locked up the car and went into the academy the coach Mark Robinson found me and we got chatting.

?So you must be Matt? Sussex?s new star all rounder, well looks like you?re the first here, early bird I see. But if you want to come through to the changing rooms and wait for the rest of the lads and when they are all here we can get started.?

Mikey Yardy was the last to arrive and got a few jeers from the rest of the boys and at 10:00 the session started. Mark said he wanted me, James Kirtley, Musthaq Ahmed and Lewry to bowl to some of the boys in the nets. The session went ok; I bowled the skipper on off stump with a peach (much to the delight of the rest of the squad). We then had a bite to eat and I then whipped my pads on got to bat. I really performed today and hoped that my performance with that bat would clinch me a space. In the side. We all went back into the changing rooms and collected our stuff and found the team sheet for tomorrow?s four day game against Kent.

Sussex .V. Kent Team

1)R.Montgomerie
2)I. Ward
3)M. Goodwin
4)C.Adams ?
5)M. Yardy
6)M. Prior (WK)
7)M.Helders
8)M. Ahmed
9)J.Kirtley (1)
10)Naved-Ul-Hasen
11)J. Lewry (2)


Coach leaves Here at 8:00 be here for 7:30

I had made it! I would be batting seven which would be good so hopefully i would get a bowl and impress with my batting. The rest of the team wished me luck and told me that I was in great form today and deserved my place. I said my goodbyes and said I would see them all tomorrow and jumped in my car and went home. I got home at around 6:30 and as soon I got home I fell asleep thinking about how I am going to play tomorrow.



Will Matt Helders Make It For Sussex? Find Out in the next update!​

 

[thesweepmaster]

Fantastic start mate. I am certain that you will do well for the Sussex cause! How will you be updating this btw, 10 over updates or end of innings updates or an other one that I aren't aware of?

Fantastic reading mate, keep it up!

 

[ledzep]

Fantastic start mate. I am certain that you will do well for the Sussex cause! How will you be updating this btw, 10 over updates or end of innings updates or an other one that I aren't aware of?

Fantastic reading mate, keep it up!

I will be updating the fc matches in sessions so lunch, tea etc. One day will be every 25 overs. 20/20 will be every innings and pro 40 will be every 20 overs.

And thanks for the comment. And there will be screenshots to kepp you lot interested.

 

[Pakistani Army]

Brilliant start mate. It was a great read. Best of luck for the match tomorrow and remember.....

DON'T BE LATE!

 

[Mad Snake]

brilliant work!, looking forward to further updates

 

[Jit]

great start to the story

 

[ledzep]

April 18 2008

I arrived at the ground at around 7:20all set and ready. I went into the briefing to find Mark and the rest of the team sitting down and discussing tactics. I sat down next to Matty Prior and we started talking he started telling about his past England matches and how annoyed he was to be dropped. Mark then stood up and told us that he has spoken to Kent and because of rain fall in their area there pitch is unplayable so we agreed to play at Hove (which means we don?t have a boring coach journey ahead of us ) We then all went out into the nets and I had a bit of a bowl, it went really well actually I seemed to be bowling everything on a tight line and I will be needing that today because the Hove pitch is as flat as a pancake. The time then soon reached 10:00 and Kent arrived and we agreed for a 10:30 start, we all went up to the pavilion balcony as Chris Adams and Rob Key then went out to toss. Chris made his way back and signalled to us that we were batting so Monts and Wardy got their pads on and prepared themselves for the day ahead. The coach Mark then came in and sat us down for a team talk.

?Listen up guys it is a real flat pitch out there so we need about 350-400 on the board to give us a chance. But don?t go out there all guns blazing we need to take the singles and probably the most important is to not lose your wicket. Now if such a thing is to happen we need our middle order to build it back up, we have batting down to seven so that should be fine. Oh and one final thing good luck to Tom in his debut match. Anything else to add skipper??

?Yeah just keep your cool and don?t go to aggressive, remember we won this last year we can do it again."

The openers went out to bat and I stayed up on the balcony with Matt to see how they would get on. Both batsmen were going great Motngomerie looked in great form and played some lovely shots, including a very nice cover drive and a wonderful leg glance.

The scored ticked over to 18 with Monty on 10 and Ward on 8, but suddenly Montgomerie came down the pitch to Saggers and got clean bowled. This is not the sort of start we needed. Montgomerie came back to the changing rooms looking really annoyed that he could not make a big score.

I was starting to get worried now because we really needed a good partnership between Goodwin and Ward. Prior wasn?t feeling to good mostly because he might have to come in and near enough save the innings. But there was no need to worry because we seemed to be clawing the match back; both lads played some great shots and one in particular from Ward. Ward and Goodwin started to pull it back nicely. But Kent?s skipper Rob Kent decided to go with a bowling change so he replaced Saggers and Henderson with Ferley and Joseph, I was really impressed with Joseph and his speed. At first it didn?t start because Goodwin managed to get to his fifty.

But soon after he reached his fifty Ferley dispatched Murray with a beautiful ball sending the bails flying. There had been a good partnership but it was broken and we were in deep trouble, so in came the skipper for what I was hoping to be a captain?s innings but Ferley got him again for just one. But Ward and Yardy carried on until lunch and hopefully they can guide u to a bigger score. The batsmen came back in and got their pads off and we all sat down to a lunch of Sheppard?s pie. I reflected on the day so far and hoped that I would not have to play a match saving innings in my debut!

Scorecard: 120/3

R.Montgomerie bowled M.Saggers 10
I.Ward not out 46
M.Goodwin bowled R.Ferley 54
C.Adams Bowled R.Ferley 1
M.Yardy not out 7

So will Helders have to play a match winning innings? Find out in the next udate.​

 

[Highlander999]

Good work mate. Nice to see you writing a diary. Glad to see you got the screenies working

 

[ledzep]

Yeah cheers for the advice mate, hope you liked it.

 

[Pakistani Army]

This is great work mate. Nice to see Goodwin reaching his 50. Great works mate. The detail is great. Keep up the great work!

 

[Jit]

great presentation keep it up

 

[ledzep]

April 18 2008 (second session)

We all finished our lunch and discussed the day?s play. Mike Yardy and I started to talk about the pitch and how we thought it was a belter but we had not capitalised and we needed someone to get runs badly. He was telling how the pitch was playing and what the bowlers were like. He said that it had true bounce and was coming onto the bat nicely but there was an odd ball that would pop up or spin a mile and he said I should watch out for them and really watch it and play myself in. Ten minutes before we were due to resume play the skipper Chris Adams stood up and gave us a bit of a pep talk.

?Listen up lads that was a pretty poor performance, we should really only be one wicket down at the most on this track. We need a big score from someone now and it looks as if it is going to have be Prior or Matty (me) who is going to have to get it. Just watch out there is a bit off an odd bounce but if you get past that then it is plain sailing from there. So good luck boys now get out there and score some runs.?

As Mikey and Wardy went out to bat, I decided I would have a bit of a bowl in the nets against prior. But as soon as I had bowled a ball the skipper came down and said that Ward had thrown his wicket away on 46 and he was now in. I went back upstairs and took a look at the dismissal and to be honest it was a pretty poor shot, he had tried to flick Ferley off his legs and succeeded in giving an easy catch to Saggers at mid wicket. I went up to the balcony with my pads on and as soon as I sat down Prior was out LBW to a straight one and now I was in! I walked down the stairs and out onto the pitch it was an ok crowd for a Monday afternoon what with everyone being at work and school. Yardy met me out in the middle and gave me a low down on the wicket.

?We got two decent bowlers on at the moment, so just watch out. That spinner is turning quite a way so just play yourself in and watch the ball and you should be fine.?

?We need a partnership Mikey so let?s pull this out of the bag.?

?I sure hope we can.?

He didn?t hold to his promise and was out next ball trying to cut a ball that was spinning in, he was clearly annoyed because he smashed his bat against his pads and stormed off to the pavilion.

This broughtMushy to the iwicket and once again he didn't hang around long ad was trapped in fron LBW to an aabsolute snorter of a ball. At the end of the over i thought to myself, finally i get to face my first ball in pro cricket. My heart felt like it was gonna pop out of my chest. Hall (an international bowler) came running and he pitched on a length and just outside off stump and greatfully i left for the kepper to take. The next ball was on middle stump and i thought to myself what the hell and clipped through square leg for my first runs and first boundary in professional cricket.

I survived the over and was thinking to myslef that we need to last out the overs and i need to kepp Kirtley off strike and give it to myself as much as possible. But i just need to get my eye in and then attack.

Scorecard: 129/7

R.Montgomerie bowled M.Saggers 10
I.Ward Bowled R.ferley Caught M.Saggers
M.Goodwin bowled R.Ferley 54
C.Adams Bowled R.Ferley 1
M.Yardy Bowled R.Ferley 12
M.Prior LBW R.Ferley 0
M.Helders Not Out 4
J.Kirtley Not Out 0


Can Matt SaveThe Innings?

Don't expect such quick updates i just wanted to get my ideas down.​

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Well Sussex in trouble hope you play well...great story...loving it mate ..KUTGW

 

[tonka998]

Fantastic start to the presentation side of things - not the match itself however - but im sure you will work wonders on your debut! Good luck!

Also, just a word of advice - just my opinion - I think there is a bit too much writing - starts to get draining after a while. Dunno if any1 else feels like that.

But it is a great story! I dont mean to be rude by saying that it has too much writing!

 

[ledzep]

Fantastic start to the presentation side of things - not the match itself however - but im sure you will work wonders on your debut! Good luck!

Also, just a word of advice - just my opinion - I think there is a bit too much writing - starts to get draining after a while. Dunno if any1 else feels like that.

But it is a great story! I dont mean to be rude by saying that it has too much writing!

Wll that was an interesting comment, but i know what you mean and appreciate your input i wouldn't mind to hear what everone elses views are on this.