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Will still buzzing as he heads for Abu Dhabi
Two months on from hitting a match-winning 94 to help Somerset lift the Vitality Blast at Edgbaston, Will Smeed is still buzzing about the occasion.
“The Vitality Blast Finals Day was incredible and both matches were proper games of cricket. Any of the teams there could have won it on their day but fortunately it was Somerset.
“I’d say it’s the best memory that I’ve got in cricket from my career so far. The feeling of contributing to that win makes it for sure my favourite memory so far.
“It was my game in the final. In the semi it was Pepsi (Tom Kohler Cadmore) and in the quarter-final it was Dicko (Sean Dickson). We just knew that the boys needed to stand up, and I think that’s been our strength over the last few years. From one to 11 we’ve done that throughout the comps, and everybody has contributed to us winning the trophy this year.”
Having reported back with the rest of the locally based players earlier this month Will has now headed off for sunnier climes.
“I’m in Abu Dhabi for the T10 which I’m really looking forward to and then I go out to South Africa in mid-December for the SA20, which I’m also very excited about and really looking forward to.
“T10 is great fun but very quick and a good learning experience,” he said. “Different formats can be useful because it means that you keep learning new things. The standard is amazing as well and the calibre of players taking part is insane. It will be cool to play against them and hopefully put in some good performances.”
Before the start of last summer Will said that he wanted to start playing red ball cricket again and he scored an early season century for the Second XI and another in September.
“I loved playing red ball cricket again last summer,” he said. Fortunately, I got a few runs and a couple of hundreds, and it was cool to be able to do that. It was great to be able to spend a lot of time in the middle again and for the foreseeable future I want to play as much cricket as I possibly can, whatever format that is.
“My next goal is to try to break into the Somerset Championship side which I know won’t be easy because we are pretty stacked with players, but hopefully I can put in some performances in the Seconds and make my case for the First Team.
“At the moment, I’m keen to play as much cricket as I possibly can, whether that’s red ball, white ball, T20 or T10, and improve as much as I can.”
