Cricket: man in the Middle: Easing into Kent's future
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Your support makes all the difference.IT MUST sometimes be difficult for a second-XI cricketer to convince himself that he has made the correct career choice, remaining faithful to his team-mates on the one hand, looking for a sign of injury or loss of form that could lead to a first-team opportunity on the other.
Few can have taken that opportunity with more determination than the 24-year-old Nigel Llong, of Kent. A casual observer of the first-class averages will have noticed that he has been there or thereabouts through the season, notably a month or so ago when only three Australians - Boon, Slater and Martyn - were ahead of him. Llong then had the endlessly recurring average of 66.33.
The name is unusual, seemingly over-endowed with consonants. Unless, of course, you live somewhere like Llanelli. 'Yes, there must be a Welsh connection somewhere in the ancestry,' confirms Llong, who was born in Ashford, in Kent.
He first came to notice in a match against Cambridge University in April, when having sweated overnight on 99 he went on to make his maiden first-class century. 'It was good to get the opportunity so early in the season,' he recalled. 'If you can earn the right to get a run in the first XI rather than being in and out, it builds your confidence. Someone gets injured, you might be in for a game or two. But I think I've forced my way in. I'm not saying I feel established yet, but I'm working on it.'
A sharp reminder not to feel complacent came early to Llong. From Fenner's he marched on to Lord's, featuring in a double-century stand with Mark Benson while making 116 not out, his first Championship ton. Again he grasped an opportunity. Neil Taylor had a back strain, Llong was promoted in the order and built a big innings. 'Then I was dropped] The reason was that Carl Hooper returned to the club and it was a straight swap. You've always got to expect something like that, then you're not too disappointed.'
Daryl Foster, Kent's coach, refers to Llong as an all- rounder. 'I was taken on as an off-spinner,' Llong said. 'But we had four left-armers at the time. I started batting at nine and tried to chip my way up the order. Brian Luckhurst did the same thing years ago.'
The fact that he bats left and bowls right runs in the family. 'I started in the garden with my dad and brothers. We all do the same so it's natural. I'm working on the bowling, to give me something extra. Then the team has another option, and it's a bit of insurance for me.'
Kent's spirit is good, though with injuries to both strike bowlers, Alan Igglesden and Martin McCague, Llong admits that 'there's a danger of drifting a bit'. Llong himself has drifted into the Kent batting order, into the heights of the averages and into our awareness as a stylish, composed player with a long future.
(Photograph omitted)
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