Josh Croom walks off the field after leading Glenelg to a dramatic South Australia First Grade victory.
Aspiring South Wilts teenage pace bowler Josh Croom is spending a second winter Down Under in Darren Lehman's Cricket Academy in Adelaide and has already helped his adopted South Australia Grade club Glenelg to a notable victory - with the bat !
Croom hit a vital 18 not out as Glenelg got home by one wicket chasing down Northern Districts' 271 to pull off a second win in the West End two-day premier competition.
Arriving at the crease with Glenelg 247-8, he hit two boundaries during a tension fuelled match finale before applying the finishing touch to a run chase that had been underpinned by Australia ODI star Alex Carey, who made 155.
"Batting with an International player of Alex Carey's class was something else. We only put on 13 runs for our partnership, but it certainly felt like a lot more with the amount of the two's we ran," Croom smiled.
"Alex is very quiet and calm when he bats but he made it clear to me that he’d take strike for the first four balls of the over and I’dCarey is very quiet and calm when he bats but he made it clear to me that he’d take strike for the first 4 balls of the over and I’ll face the last 2 balls.
"When Carey got out, I decided to carry on from his role with the new batters coming in that I’d look to score as many as I can for the first 4 balls of the over and I’d give the new batter the last 2 balls to block. face the last two balls.
"When he got out and we dropped to 260-9, I decided to carry on from Carey's role and got us across the line, but it was tense stuff."
Cementing
Earlier in the match Croom send down a wicketless nine overs for 31 runs, having taken two wickets in the previous weekend's defeat by Grade champions Kenilworth.
The 19-year old left-armer from Stratford-sub-Castle made quite a name for himself in Adelaide cricket over the 2020/21 winter by taking 32 wickets and, most unusually for an English cricketer, cementing a place in Aussie First Grade cricket.
Refecting on his decision to spend a second winter in Australia, Croom said: "I was determined to come back to Adelaide after the Grade semi-final heartbreak last March.
"Glenelg is a brilliant club with a very talented and experienced group of players. After how close we came in March, I’m determined to do all I can to help them win a flag this season.
"I’m doing the Darren Lehmann Academy again this year as I noticed a massive improvement in my game working with coaches that played first-class cricket in their time.
"All I want to do is keep getting better as a cricketer and the Glenelg and Darren Lehmann academy coaches helped me with that massively last winter.
Handicap
"I'm playing and training with Sheffield Shield cricketers all the time. Alex Carey has over 80 International caps and he's in the same team as me."
Despite his successes in South Australia, Croom has been unable to land a Hampshire contract - a broken foot soon after his return proving a serious handicap to his prospects.
But, on the face of it, that should be good news for South Wilts, the defending ECB Southern Premier League champions.
"We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but for the time-being I’m doing all I can to put in performances for Glenelg and enjoy my cricket," Croom added.
Discussing his batting, Croom explained his regular net practices with Tim Cowley at South Wilts had helped him get into shape.
"I did plenty of work at South Wilts with Tim Cowley before flying over to Adelaide.
"He’d always come and meet me at the nets when I had a day off training and would do drills and sidearm at me for a couple hours. I can’t thank him enough for the time he gave me."
Croom hit a vital 18 not out as Glenelg got home by one wicket chasing down Northern Districts' 271 to pull off a second win in the West End two-day premier competition.
Arriving at the crease with Glenelg 247-8, he hit two boundaries during a tension fuelled match finale before applying the finishing touch to a run chase that had been underpinned by Australia ODI star Alex Carey, who made 155.
"Batting with an International player of Alex Carey's class was something else. We only put on 13 runs for our partnership, but it certainly felt like a lot more with the amount of the two's we ran," Croom smiled.
"Alex is very quiet and calm when he bats but he made it clear to me that he’d take strike for the first four balls of the over and I’dCarey is very quiet and calm when he bats but he made it clear to me that he’d take strike for the first 4 balls of the over and I’ll face the last 2 balls.
"When Carey got out, I decided to carry on from his role with the new batters coming in that I’d look to score as many as I can for the first 4 balls of the over and I’d give the new batter the last 2 balls to block. face the last two balls.
"When he got out and we dropped to 260-9, I decided to carry on from Carey's role and got us across the line, but it was tense stuff."
Cementing
Earlier in the match Croom send down a wicketless nine overs for 31 runs, having taken two wickets in the previous weekend's defeat by Grade champions Kenilworth.
The 19-year old left-armer from Stratford-sub-Castle made quite a name for himself in Adelaide cricket over the 2020/21 winter by taking 32 wickets and, most unusually for an English cricketer, cementing a place in Aussie First Grade cricket.
Refecting on his decision to spend a second winter in Australia, Croom said: "I was determined to come back to Adelaide after the Grade semi-final heartbreak last March.
"Glenelg is a brilliant club with a very talented and experienced group of players. After how close we came in March, I’m determined to do all I can to help them win a flag this season.
"I’m doing the Darren Lehmann Academy again this year as I noticed a massive improvement in my game working with coaches that played first-class cricket in their time.
"All I want to do is keep getting better as a cricketer and the Glenelg and Darren Lehmann academy coaches helped me with that massively last winter.
Handicap
"I'm playing and training with Sheffield Shield cricketers all the time. Alex Carey has over 80 International caps and he's in the same team as me."
Despite his successes in South Australia, Croom has been unable to land a Hampshire contract - a broken foot soon after his return proving a serious handicap to his prospects.
But, on the face of it, that should be good news for South Wilts, the defending ECB Southern Premier League champions.
"We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but for the time-being I’m doing all I can to put in performances for Glenelg and enjoy my cricket," Croom added.
Discussing his batting, Croom explained his regular net practices with Tim Cowley at South Wilts had helped him get into shape.
"I did plenty of work at South Wilts with Tim Cowley before flying over to Adelaide.
"He’d always come and meet me at the nets when I had a day off training and would do drills and sidearm at me for a couple hours. I can’t thank him enough for the time he gave me."
