Happy New Year and greetings from Melbourne.
Having had a few weeks off from cricket, due to the Christmas break, I have had a good opportunity to reflect on my trip so far. I have travelled to Melbourne to play and coach cricket in Balwyn Cricket Club, in the Eastern Suburbs. We play in the Sub-District competition which is just below district cricket and is seen as a stepping stone to district (grade) cricket.
I have been playing 1st grade with Balwyn and haven’t gone quite as well as I would have hoped with the bat, but surprisingly have had some luck with the ball on some favourable early season pitches. The weather has really picked up over Christmas, so with some flatter decks, I am very hopeful that my batting will pick up and I will no longer be asked to roll the arm over!! As a team, we have had an extremely positive start to the season, winning 6 out of our 7 outings and sitting 2nd in the ladder. Two-day cricket has been a very strange concept to get used to but the longer format really makes you value your wicket and bat long, which is something I am really enjoying doing. After a lovely two-week break from cricket, including trips to the MCG and SCG for the Tests v Pakistan, our first game back is this Saturday (7th January) against Mount Waverly in a one-day match.
As mentioned above, I am also coaching while here in Melbourne, which was a big reason for my trip. Since starting as coach within the Leinster Youth Programme, it has always been a passion of mine and spending a season in Melbourne was a fantastic opportunity to further myself as a coach. My main coaching role has been in Balwyn CC, coaching the youth’s teams in the Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) competitions. The ECA alone has 240 youth teams competing in their competitions and they are one of about 10 associations in Melbourne. This position has given me a chance to build on what I learnt at Pembroke CC, where I had a similar role.
The 2nd coaching role I obtained, is coaching the U16 representative team for the ECA. This has involved picking a team from the clubs within the ECA from training sessions and trial matches and training them toward a carnival (similar to our own interprovincial series) which start next week around Melbourne. We play five games over two weeks, which will hopefully lead to a semi-final and final. It has been really good to work with some really talented local cricketers in both skill-based and tactical based sessions and building them toward a tournament of cricket which will test our development as a squad over the season.
The trip so far has been incredibly enjoyable both on and off the pitch. I am hopeful that the batting will come good and I can really take advantage of the opportunity I have playing cricket all year round.
Robert Forrest
Clontarf CC/Balwyn CC