Raff Hussey - Australia bound [Terry Nash]
Teenage New Milton batting prospect Raff Hussey is to spend the coming winter months enhancing his skills at the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy in Adelaide.
He flies to South Australia on October 10 and will spend six months at Lehmann’s High Performance Centre in Adelaide, where he will be played with a local Grade club.
Alongside Tom Arnold, Hussey (18) was New Milton’s stand out player in a miserable Southern Premier Division relegation season for the Green & Golds.
He made 357 runs, with top scores against Havant (70), champions St Cross Symondians (66) and runners-up Burridge (55).
After spending a gap year winter in Australia, Hussey will begin a three-year Sport & Exercise Science course at Loughborough University in September 2019.
Hussey explained that Milton’s overseas player in 2016 and 2017, David Wakefield had suggested he should enrol at Lehmann’s Academy.
“I trained with him a lot over his last year in particular, and David noticed I had some potential and thought that with high-level coaching there's a chance I could do fairly well.
“He had been there in the winter of 2015 and couldn't have spoken higher of it.”
Hussey knows he’s in for a demanding winter at Lehmann’s Academy, not only physically but also mentally.
“We’ll be training every day – most of the time in blistering heat – with plenty of emphasis on personal fitness and recovery,” he explained.
“There are individual skills sessions and, with training at the Grade club thrown in, probably around a dozen net practice sessions, so it’s very intensive.
“And that’s before we play cricket twice every weekend. ….”
Hussey is conscious of the fact that he will be away from his family for six months, but appreciates that a winter abroad will be great for character building, in advance of going to Loughborough.
He naturally hopes his winter in Adelaide will have a direct spin off when he returns to play Division One cricket for New Milton next summer.
“While I'm there I hope to improve my game mentally, physically and tactically to become a better all-round player - so I can be back in the Southern Premier League soon, despite this season’s relegation,” he smiled.
He flies to South Australia on October 10 and will spend six months at Lehmann’s High Performance Centre in Adelaide, where he will be played with a local Grade club.
Alongside Tom Arnold, Hussey (18) was New Milton’s stand out player in a miserable Southern Premier Division relegation season for the Green & Golds.
He made 357 runs, with top scores against Havant (70), champions St Cross Symondians (66) and runners-up Burridge (55).
After spending a gap year winter in Australia, Hussey will begin a three-year Sport & Exercise Science course at Loughborough University in September 2019.
Hussey explained that Milton’s overseas player in 2016 and 2017, David Wakefield had suggested he should enrol at Lehmann’s Academy.
“I trained with him a lot over his last year in particular, and David noticed I had some potential and thought that with high-level coaching there's a chance I could do fairly well.
“He had been there in the winter of 2015 and couldn't have spoken higher of it.”
Hussey knows he’s in for a demanding winter at Lehmann’s Academy, not only physically but also mentally.
“We’ll be training every day – most of the time in blistering heat – with plenty of emphasis on personal fitness and recovery,” he explained.
“There are individual skills sessions and, with training at the Grade club thrown in, probably around a dozen net practice sessions, so it’s very intensive.
“And that’s before we play cricket twice every weekend. ….”
Hussey is conscious of the fact that he will be away from his family for six months, but appreciates that a winter abroad will be great for character building, in advance of going to Loughborough.
He naturally hopes his winter in Adelaide will have a direct spin off when he returns to play Division One cricket for New Milton next summer.
“While I'm there I hope to improve my game mentally, physically and tactically to become a better all-round player - so I can be back in the Southern Premier League soon, despite this season’s relegation,” he smiled.
