Devon Cricket Board - Paceman Sale sets sights high

Paceman Sale sets sights high

Ollie Sale (centre) flanked by Andy Hurry (Somerset’s director of high performance (left) and coach Paul Tweddle (right)

By Richard Walsh

FAST bowler Ollie Sale is looking forward to a full season of cricket in 2014 when he hopes to make his debut for Somerset 2nd XI.
The 18 year old, in his final year at Sherborne School in Dorset, has nothing but praise for the Somerset Academy where he will soon be completing his second and final year.
“Being on the Somerset Academy has been just an amazing experience for me,” said Sale.
“Jason Kerr, who was the director back in 2012 spotted me out of practically nowhere and after a couple of sessions working with him invited me to join the Academy.
“It was unbelievable and I have never felt another moment like that in my life.
“From then on I have been trying to be sure that I make the most of the fantastic opportunity I had been given.
“The facilities here are fantastic and the coaches are brilliant and there is a wide range of things the Academy offers, all of which are hugely important.”
Sale said training with the Centre of Excellence meant rubbing shoulders with Somerset’s big names.
“Going from working in the nets at school to working in the Centre of Excellence is surreal because you can often find yourself working alongside Marcus Trescothick,” said Sale.
“There is sense of really hard work and dedication, which certainly fuels your hunger and desire to want to improve.”
Sale said he could feel benefits to his game from two or three days a week in the Academy.
“Technically I feel I have improved a great deal,” he said.
“I still have still got a long way to go before I get to where I want to be, but I have come a long way since I started.”
Sale spent part of last summer injured, which limited his chances to play for Exeter in the Devon Premier Division, but goes into the new campaign invigorated by his time at the Somerset Academy and also on tour in Zimbabwe with his school.
“Zimbabwe with Sherborne School was an amazing experience,” said Sale.
“We had some really competitive games and it was a great challenge for me to see where my game is before the season in England gets going.
“There are now a couple of months until the season starts and in that time I will carry on working on the technical side of my game, then focus more on the match scenario.
“School cricket will be the main focus of my cricket earlier on, but once my exams are over, from about July onwards hopefully I will get a chance to play for Somerset Seconds. I really hope I have some success at that level.
“In five years time I want to be pushing forward and have some success with Somerset, maybe opening the bowling.
“And if all goes well then progress on to the international stage.”
Sale, from Staffordshire but Devon raised near Tavistock, took up cricket aged nine and soon started making a name for himself.
“Fast bowling came naturally to me and I can remember my first game when I got two wickets with my first two balls,” said Sale.
“I played for my prep school and got involved with the Devon age groups through Ted Ashman and then with Julian Wyatt, who has been a great help to me.
“I must mention Alan Willows, my school cricket coach, because he goes beyond the call of duty to help me on my path to becoming a professional cricketer.”

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