The Pink Report
Back to The Pink ReportCelebrating The G Force
Two words you often hear when people talk about Graeme Aldridge are ‘heart’ and ‘consistency’. As of Friday evening, you can also add the words, ‘2011 Northern Districts Cricketer of the Year’.
Graeme’s ability to front up game after game and put it on the spot for the team saw the dedicated opening bowler edge out some hot competition for the top honour - the top order batting trio of Brad Wilson, BJ Watling and Daniel Flynn had all had a hand in record-breaking performances during the season for the Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights, but ‘G’ delivered across all three formats, knocked off an all-time New Zealand record in the process and, at 33, confirmed he’s keen to keep using his oodles of experience for another two or three seasons yet, if he has his way.
One thing about G is that you won’t have too many clues as to what’s on his mind as he lopes back to his bowling mark after each delivery. He talks with the ball - and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him rattled. That said, putting a bowler of his ilk on some of our slower home tracks is a bit like putting a diabetic in a candy store. There are times when it must be flipping frustrating, and the afternoons flipping long, as he tries to get the ball to do something. But that’s exactly when he’s shown just how tough and reliable he is.
G took 53 wickets across the season for the Knights: 12 in the HRV Cup (putting him in the top four bowlers in the country, in a format in which bowlers are treated rather brutally), 11 in the one-day comp (again in the top echelon nationally) and 30 in the Plunket Shield. That classes him in New Zealand’s top six there, as well. Neil Wagner’s 51 first-class wickets from nine games for Otago was absolutely outstanding - it’s only the third time a New Zealand bowler has broken the 50 wickets mark for a season (the only other person to have done so being spinner Stephen Boock, who did it twice). Canterbury’s Todd Astle is next on the first-class season wickets list with 37, then our own Trent Boult, who finished off his strong season with 32, one ahead of test swing bowler Chris Martin. Then it’s G and Wellington’s BLACKCAP anointee, Andy McKay, both with 30 victims for the summer. Last season he took 42 wickets, which was easily the best haul by anyone that summer: he’s backed up impressively.
I could continue on about economy and strike rates - he’s right up there in every statistical table there is, plus he got a first-class half century (and very nearly two), giving the sometimes otherwise fragile lower order some substance. But enough from me. You want to hear from G. So without further ado here’s the thoughts of the man of the moment, and season, on the Knights’ summer of 2010/11.
Me: Putting aside how the team washed up, how did this summer rate for you in terms of your own satisfaction with your game?
G: I think last season was probably my best season, but this one wasn’t too far behind. Personally I was quite consistent, plus playing all three forms of the year had been a big goal for me at the start of the season. I managed to do that, after having missed out on the Twenty20s last summer. So, being quite consistent over all three formats - that’s what was most pleasing.
And you backed up one strong season with another.
Yeah, that was nice. Hopefully that’s what selectors are looking for and you keep your name in the picture.
Of those 30 first-class wickets, which ones were your faves?
It was probably the six-for I got in the first game down in Queenstown. That was my biggest haul in one game this season, so that stands out.
And in that first innings I remember you pretty much knocked over the top order by yourself.
Yeah, I got three or four quite early. As an opening bowler it’s always pretty pleasing when you achieve that. Especially against Otago. Otago rely quite heavily on their top order with Cumming, Redmond and Broom so it’s always a good top order to knock over pretty quickly.
What were you looking for from your bowling this season - was anything on your mind in terms of technique or development, or was the focus consistency?
I work hard on trying to swing the ball. I didn’t do that consistently during the summer, it sort of came and went in patches; so that’s always a work-on. There’s not many guys around who are swinging it a lot at the moment, though. We chat about it with the guys who are bowlers in the other teams and the balls just don’t seem to be swinging as much as they used to - I don’t know whether it’s down to the balls being machine-made now or what, I’m not sure, but it’s always a key work-on. Apart from that I’m always looking to not lose any pace as I get older. That’s a focus for me so that on the flatter tracks I can still be a bit of a weapon and not just containing.
Does the Pooch tell you how fast you bowl?
No, I’ve never been measured. I might be 130kph, maybe.
It is weird about it not swinging - because I would have thought with the kind of weather we’ve had in our region this summer, so many humid warm days, that it would have been the best conditions for it.
Yeah that’s right. I talked to Chris Martin quite a bit about it and he’s got the same views: that it’s probably the balls. I’m not sure what else it could be. It gets to the point where you start to question whether you’re releasing the ball properly, whether it’s seam-up! But when you get the ball back after each delivery you can see where you’ve hit the pitch, so I’m pretty sure my seam release has been quite good for the summer. It swung some games. I guess not playing at Hamilton as often as we used to was a factor too, because it always swings for a while in Hamilton. But in theory, Whangarei should have swung quite a lot because it’s always humid up there, but it never really did.
How is the body at the end of a season?
This year’s probably the sorest and stiffest I’ve been at the end of a season. I think I’ve bowled about the same amount of overs as ever. Even though I did miss one of the games with my back, seven four-dayers in a row, that was something new for us in first-class cricket. We don’t normally do more than five in a row. So those extra two games... I’m sure a few bowlers around the country felt it. Getting through the last two games, I think the biggest factor for me was just that in between games I hadn’t been able to train as much as I would have liked to, just because the body was a bit sore. I was trying to save myself for the game. I feel like I’ve had a pretty full summer.
Well you didn’t actually have much time between games at the back end of the season, so it’s hard to do much.
I guess the earthquake squashed the games together a bit. The gaps between the games aren’t too bad in themselves, but we’ve done a lot of driving between games this year, especially between Hamilton and Whangarei. Then we bussed to Napier. Flying is not too bad because you’re only sitting down for an hour, but when you’re sitting in a car or a bus for four or five hours, I think that’s always a factor. Especially when you do it the day after a game.
Or even the night of the game, because often you guys were on the State Highway that night, after stumps in Whangarei. So what happens now - do you completely rest for a bit, or does that make it harder to get going again so you keep doing stuff anyway?
Me and BJ were talking about this just the other day, actually. We think we’ll probably get back in the gym about May. I’ll spend the next few weeks in the meantime trying to sort out some work for the winter, talking to Hamilton Boys’ High where I’ll hopefully pick up some teaching work.
When will you go back into the indoor nets then?
I’ve got to do my review with Grant Bradburn in the next few weeks, so we’ll probably plan it out then. There’s normally a bit of guesswork there: the problem with the indoor nets is that it’s just a bit limited in what you can do, especially as a bowler. And, how much do you really want to do on a concrete surface? I think it was July-August last year that we went back into the nets and it will probably be a similar plan this year. That’s when it feels like the busiest time of the year, to be honest. Winter is quite a busy time compared to summer, because all of a sudden you’re having to work like a normal person and trying to get all the fitness training and family time in as well.
Not to mention getting ready for a new addition to that family later this year! So do you end up getting up early on those dark winter mornings to fit it all in?
Yeah, I do all my gym and fitness stuff before work, so I can be in the gym at 6.30am. Then off to work, come home, spend time with the family and, come July/August, trying to fit some cricket sessions in as well. It gets real busy. It’s just something you have to do because it makes the summer easier. You just leave nothing to chance.
Did you get good feedback after breaking the NZ one-day wickets record?
I had a couple of letters from a couple of MPs in Hamilton. That was unexpected recognition, but nice. One of them mentioned it in Parliament, he said in his letter. I didn’t think it would get that far!
And the ND player of the year award was the perfect way to cap it off.
Yeah and I wasn’t really expecting it. I knew I must be up there somewhere for the bowling award, but in terms of player of the year, that was a wee bit unexpected. But it’s always nice. It was still a different feeling to last year when I’d won bowler of the year knowing my performances had helped win us a couple of titles. That’s the disappointing thing - knowing you’ve contributed quite heavily, but not heavily enough to win a title for ND. But from a personal point of view it’s always nice to get these awards after the season finishes.
Are you sick of coming fourth after not quite getting the team rewards this summer? Do you think the team was better than fourth in any of the comps?
Twenty20, probably not. We started pretty well there, but then fizzled out. We never really got going at all in the one-dayers and I don’t think we deserved a semi-final because we were just so inconsistent. The Plunket Shield: we ended up fourth, Otago went past us, but they didn’t even have a chance to win it heading into the last game. So we were happy to have still had a chance to win it, heading into the last round, but little things in the one-dayers just dragged over into the four-dayers. We just needed consistency, but at the crucial moments, we didn’t really nail it. We dropped catches - and that was the Plunket Shield. That was it, for me.
That’s because you’re a bowler and bowlers never like dropped catches!
I’m probably wrong, but it just felt like every catch that we did drop, the guy went on to get a hundred, or he got an annoying little 50 or 60. In the last game at Rangiora, we dropped Todd Astle early on and he got 51. The big one that stands out was that first game in Queenstown where we dropped both Broom brothers: one got 200 and one got 100. That wasn’t the losing of the game, because we still drew, but it cost us the win.
It was also a season with a lot of personnel changes across the season. So I guess at the same time you’re still gelling as a team and getting used to each other.
Definitely that’s a factor and something we’re going to have a lot of in the next few years because I think Daniel Flynn, BJ Watling and even Brad Wilson are putting their hand up now for the BLACKCAPS. They might not be around to play for ND much, if they keep going like the season they’ve just had. You always want experience there and yeah, we’ve had less experience this season than we have in past seasons, possibly. And then add to that the fact that some of the more experienced guys have not had the seasons they would have wanted. That all contributes.
Several of the guys in the team, both in the batting and the bowling departments, struck midseason form wobbles and had to step out and sort it out. So there was quite a lot of change and I think that made your consistency even more valuable to the team. Did it make you feel terribly responsible? Did you feel more pressure to step up and be the backbone?
Definitely, yeah. All the guys who have been around a few years, I think we all feel the responsibility - but it’s not something that weighs us down or anything. It’s just a fact with cricket. The way it works is that the experienced guys should do most of the performing. Any performances from the inexperienced guys should be treated as a bonus, really. That’s the way I look at things and I think the rest of our squad looks at it like that, too. In the past two or three years, if you can call someone like a Kane Williamson one of our inexperienced guys, they’ve actually done a lot of performing for us. That, in conjunction with the experienced guys, was a big factor in us winning the Plunket Shield last year. I think you can also say that about BJ and Flynny - they’ve been around a few years, but you forget that they’re only in their 20s, well ahead of their experience in terms of performances. They haven’t played a whole lot of cricket yet.
You’ve got an apprentice in the squad now. What was that like for you, seeing James Baker come in and perform?
It’s always good to know there’s a bit of back-up there. There’s Jimmy, Andy Mathieson and another couple of guys in the As coming through, but Jimmy was probably the one who took his opportunity the most. He just needs to get a bit more strength and fitness into him during the winter now, now that he knows what to expect. He comes across as being very hungry for it, as well. Hopefully he’ll be fighting for my place, which is a healthy thing. He’ll be one I’ll be ringing to try to get into the gym at six in the winter mornings.
And right at the end of the season we had a promising 18-year-old spinner come in for his debut. Whom you have taught at Hamilton Boys’ High.
Yeah I’ve had him a couple of times, just as a reliever. I’ve had him for building construction before. He’s not actually at school that much, to be honest!
Did he have to get time off school to play in Rangiora?
Yeah he did. He’s a second-year seventh - he was a young seventh former last year, so he’s gone back this year. I think he helps out a few teachers in classrooms himself. He’s another one that got given a chance and is obviously very young still and hasn’t played a whole lot of cricket, but he’d definitely one that ND’s got their eye on and he’ll push Jono Boult and Jason Donnelly quite hard in the spin bowling for, firstly, a contract for next year and then positions in the team. So that’s healthy competition as well.
I’ve heard he gives it a good rip.
He’s known around the traps for giving it a good rip. He bowls at us in the nets a lot and he definitely turns the ball a lot. JD and Jono are not as known for turning the ball, they’ve got different skill sets that they use. That’s where Joe may stand out from the crowd.
It must have been quite cool for you to be there seeing him make that big step?
Yeah definitely. He’s good mates with Brook Hatwell too, playing in Hamilton, so he fitted in fine. He’s sort of a bubbly, cheery young man, so no problem.
I heard it was a wee bit brisk down in Rangiora though... not cricket weather, exactly.
It was freezing! Especially when it was raining and windy. When the sun was out, it wasn’t too bad, but it’s not ideal playing cricket down in the South Island this late, after daylight saving has finished.
Had you worked more on your batting coming into this season?
I generally do quite a bit of work leading into the season and then, as the season gets going, it does slip away a little bit, in terms of the training, because my focus is definitely bowling, first and foremost. If anything, I get a little bit lazy with my batting, to be honest, with the training that needs to be done. I enjoy my batting - but I prefer the batters to get most of the runs rather than me having to do it.
A high percentage of your runs came from boundaries. I reckon that’s because you do enough running with your run-up!
Yeah (laughs). I think it’s the way we’re trying to play, as well. Especially in four-day cricket. I don’t see the point in a lower order batter not scoring runs and just batting out, you’re just taking time out of the game. So it’s more a sign of the way the team wants to play the game, as well.
When your back went bung in Whangarei, were you quite worried at the time? How concerned were you?
Oh, you always worry, as a bowler, when your back is sore. Shane (Derry, team physiotherapist) was pretty confident from the start that it was just a workload issue, the muscles around the joint just fatigued out due to a busy summer. It did take a while to settle down. It flared up again in Hamilton in the second-to-last round, but then it settled down pretty quickly again before Rangiora. It’s was almost like a wear-and-tear injury in the end - I just needed a week off and I was away again.
Don’t you just love the style of tracks that you get bowl on in your home region, though. Did you feel yourself getting weary at times just from long afternoons bowling on a road?
Yeah, especially in Whangarei. Hamilton offers a little bit for a couple of hours, but then the pitches there turn out to be quite slow and flat as well. You do sometimes wonder, during the game when you’re bowling, how you’re going to get a wicket. I guess you just change your approach - it’s just a different mentality in that you’re trying to stop them from scoring too quickly so they don’t get away on you and then hopefully there’s a time when you will pick up a few wickets, as they come. Between myself, Trent and B.A., we all struggled at times on the slow ones. That’s what we hate the most - when they’re slow. We don’t care of they’re flat and have a bit of bounce in them, just when they’re slow. It makes it very tough.
Keeping yourself mentally up through the long afternoons must be a skill in itself.
I guess what helps me is that I’m still very passionate about bowling, I love playing the game so I’ve got that to fall back on to help overcome it. I think it was a valuable lesson for Trent, as a younger guy going through that this season - this was his first real full season playing for us, without injury. And he came through with flying colours having been the top wicket-taker for us in the Plunket Shield. He’s got a bright future and hopefully in the next couple of years he’ll be in the BLACKCAPS as well. Mentally I think he coped with it pretty well, in the end.
Do you think we’ll see Trent continue as a shock bowler, or start building up longer spells as he gets stronger?
I’d like to see him just keep to short spells for now. He has got the ability to bowl longer spells, but we like to use him as a strike weapon - he’s that little bit quicker than myself and B.A. I think at times he wants the ball for longer, but there’s also the issue with his back - it’s been his first season back after a fairly serious back injury, so there’s balancing to be done there, as well. So yeah, I’d like to see him continue being just a real attacking left-armer in the shorter spells.
OK then, sum it all up: what’s the joy of bowling?
The joy of bowling... I guess taking a wicket, getting good batsmen out, is a big part of it. Just being able to contribute to winning the game. That’s pretty much it. Sometimes there’s not much joy in it at all! But you can enjoy it at the end of the day if you’ve put in a good performance and helped the team cause - whether you’ve got results personally or not. It’s just like any other job really, isn’t it?
