Buck ready for World Cup

Date: Wednesday 23 December 2009

Leicestershire teenager Nathan Buck is ready for the experience of a lifetime that he will undertake in early January.

The talented seamer is in the England under 19s squad that is going to the ICC World Cup in New Zealand and he simply cannot wait for it all to begin.

There have been plenty of hard yards put in by Buck and his teammates as they get ready to take on the world’s best young talent and that work will be extremely beneficial when the tournament gets underway.

And, although, recent preparation in Bangladesh did not go entirely to plan in terms of results with defeats in both the test and ODI series, Buck feels the side learnt enough over there for it to be deemed as a success.

He said: “Everyone learnt a lot. The batters especially learnt a lot about their game in playing spin in Bangladesh, so out in New Zealand, when the spinners do bowl, hopefully they won’t have such an effect.

“The wickets won’t help the spinners as much and our batsmen learnt a lot individually and have been working on things in the nets so we should be well-prepared.

“It was also a good experience as a bowler. I should get a lot more help in New Zealand than Bangladesh. The pitches were a lot slower and lower out there so a little more assistance will be nice! I’m told the pitches out there are similar to those we get in England so that will be good.

“The ball did a bit for two or three overs out in Bangladesh but that was about it. They were quite impatient as a batting unit so in the end it was just a case of trying to bowl dots and build pressure. That’s how I looked to get wickets, as the ball was not doing a great deal.

“As a team it didn’t go so well. Everyone wasn’t firing as a team to begin with. We had some good individual performances but it didn’t click at the start of the tour. But we talked a lot and we worked hard and we won a couple of games when we started to fire together. That is a good sign.”

Indeed, firing together – and quickly – will be critical to England’s success in New Zealand. The team has been preparing well and Buck feels that will stand them in good stead as they bid to get off and running at a good pace.

He said: “We need to start well. England has a tendency to start slowly – like we did in Bangladesh – but from ball one, we need to be on it or we might be on the next plane home.

“We have had lots of preparation and we have been in Manchester from December 15 to 23, and then fly out to New Zealand on New Year’s Day. It’s been busy but it’s all good fun – it certainly beats going to school!

“I can’t wait to go now. I’ve been putting in lots of practice and everything has been geared up for New Zealand. It’s all been about fitness and cricket skills.

“The cricket side has all been indoors but we have eight days of preparation in New Zealand which should give us enough time out there. We have two warm-up games against New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and then it’s the real thing.

“We start against Afghanistan and Hong Kong and then play India, who won it last time around. By the time we play India, we will have played four games so it should be good preparation to face such a strong side.

“There’s been a lot of team elements to practice. We went to an Army base, we have been to Cardiff and run up sand dunes and so on, so there’s been lots of variety. It’s been good.

“There’s been strength work and fitness work as well as cricket practice, so it has been a good mix. It has been good to get to know the lads and to work with our new coach Mark Robinson.”

Robinson will be the third coach that Buck has worked with since making his England under 19 debut in South Africa in January.

That may not have been the ideal scenario in a World Cup year but Buck sees working with different people who have plenty of experience of first-class cricket as a positive.

He said: “It has been good to work with all three coaches. It has been hard but also good to learn from different people.

“Andy Pick was coach and then moved on to coach in America, Mick Newell took us to Bangladesh and Mark Robinson is taking us to the World Cup.

“There have been different coaching styles but we have been working with Mark for four weeks and the more we have worked with him, the better it has been and it’s been good.

“It’s good to see the different Head Coaches from different teams in England work as Mick is at Notts and Mark is at Sussex. You pick up some new things that you might not have picked up. The more coaching styles you pick up, the more it can aid your game.

“Playing first-class cricket has also made me a lot more aware of my game and also shown me what I need to work on. We played on some flat pitches against good batsmen and it was hard work – but good fun too.

“I also got the chance to work with Tim Boon, Lloyd Tennant and all of the coaches here over the summer. Hopefully all of the experience will help when the tournament begins.

“I bowled on one really flat deck at The Oval and bowling in Bangladesh was tough too. All of these things – as well as all of the things that I have picked up – should help.”

Buck said everyone is raring to go as the World Cup approaches shortly after Christmas. He knows there will be pressure, but he always plays with a smile and will relish that challenge.

He said: “The lads have been working hard and we all want to start playing now! Some of the other lads from other countries will be playing their domestic seasons now but we can’t do anything about that have to get on with it.

“Flying out on New Year’s Day gives us time to prepare and we had plenty of cricket in Bangladesh. We haven’t really stopped so it’s a case of getting through the gears and moving on.

“Every game is important, you’re playing for your country and everyone wants to do really well. There’s big pressure playing for your country and there will be pressure for us to do well in a major tournament. but hopefully we can get out of the group and go from there.

“We fly to Wellington first and then move onto Christchurch so there’s plenty of time to settle in and get prepared. Hopefully we can set a good platform in the warm-up games, win our first two group games and that would set up the India game nicely. However, we won’t be complacent.

“India playing in New Zealand will be different for them but they are an excellent side. Who knows what will happen? That’s the beauty of a World Cup and we want to do ourselves justice. There are two televised games in the group stages so people will be following us back home too which will be good.

“If all goes to plan then I see no reason why we can’t do well. We have prepared well and are ready for the challenge so hopefully we will do well.

“I’m a bit nervous – I’ll only have one chance to do this at under 19 level, but I’ve played a fair bit now and have a little bit of experience against people from different countries so it’s all helped. Hopefully a little bit of experience will help me.”

* Everyone at Leicestershire CCC wishes Nathan all the best. You can follow his progress in the tournament on ESPN Star Sports and keep checking here at www.leicestershireccc.co.uk for reports of how Nathan and England are getting on.