A Perth quick goes to Yorkshire

In April and May every year hundreds of cricketers from across the world descend on the United Kingdom and rendezvous with the league clubs they have signed on with for the summer. Some are professional players or gun club cricketers getting paid a handsome fee, others are just budding young talents wanting to prove themselves and gain some life experience along the way.

It is a journey I made three times - to Yorkshire, Northumberland, and Leicestershire - from Perth, Western Australia.

Having grown up in Australia's grade cricket system (now called Premier cricket), I had many team-mates who had played in England, and a few Saturdays were spent hearing their stories of league cricket in the UK. I was inspired.

After breaking through into 1st Grade cricket in Perth and coming up against the likes of Simon Katich and Marcus North, I was ready to take on the world, so I signed on for my first overseas stint with a club in Yorkshire - the heartland of English cricket and God's own country (or so all my Yorkshire friends told me on a weekly basis).

I didn't know what to expect, other than some cold weather, and boy did I get it! My first game in England was a pre-season friendly at a small village club that played in a lower league. The predicted maximum was seven degrees. I was more used to playing in about 37, and all I had to keep me warm was an old WACA woollen sweater given to me by an old coach, and a sleeveless compression top. Needless to say, I was frozen through.

The shock to my system continued when I saw the ground itself. Set in a farmer's field, the ground was little more than a paddock with a (barely) rolled wet strip of mud for a pitch. The cows just beyond the 30-metre cover fence outnumbered the spectators two to one.

Despite the high standard of Premier cricket in Australia, it gets little to no media coverage, and there are very few spectators at your average Saturday afternoon of cricket. In my experience, the clubs aren't really supported by the local community and neighbourhood. In contrast, local cricket in England seems to be quite popular. Certainly at some clubs a crowd would gather if the weather was kind, and there was always media coverage in the local newspaper. A lot of it probably had to do with tradition, and part of the excitement was about seeing the star players in action, whether they were former county pros or the team's new overseas signing.

In my first league game we took on our local rivals at their home ground. The unusually pleasant April weather had the social club bustling and there were at least a hundred spectators around the ground to watch the local derby start the season.

We were bowling first: my time to shine. The local paper had said that a fast bowler from Perth had been signed and that he could be the difference. I was excited, and I think my team-mates were anxious to see what I could do.

I started off with a "Harmy", the brand new Dukes ball swinging straight to the slip cordon. Though I had made a mental note that the ball would swing a lot more than the Kookaburra I was used to, the second delivery wasn't much better either. But I eventually settled in and found my rhythm to claim 6 for 41 on debut. Though we went on to lose the game, I could sense that my team was happy to have me there and thought I could play a part in any success we might have that season.

Being an overseas player comes with a lot more pressure than when you're playing at home. You're expected to be a success. If the club does well, you're a hero; if they fail, you're right up there on the blame list, regardless of your individual stats. The overseas player is usually a big investment for the English clubs, and they expect a handsome return on their investment.

As for the opposition, I played against a few who were not keen on pace, but more enjoyably, there were some who wanted to show they could take down the overseas player. I remember the time a batsman took me on without a helmet and I targeted him with a barrage of short balls. Despite the heated nature of the contest, there was great respect shown afterwards - he bought me a beer and showed me his bruises.

As an overseas player you are also targeted verbally by the opposition. You are the big fish and they want to get you out or score runs off your bowling. The Ashes rivalry has a bit to do with that, as English players don't get an easy ride playing in Australia either. While we live up to our reputation down under for enjoying a chat, I can't say there were too many backwards steps in the sledging department from my English opponents, and even other overseas players in the league. No Englishman likes being beaten by an Australian, and they do their best to get in your head and welcome you to their land.

The most challenging aspect of playing in England was definitely the conditions, and the differences in culture and attitude. As a fast bowler I've been spoilt growing up on hard pitches in Perth, where most grade-cricket decks offer some pace and bounce. I did expect the pitches in England to be slower, and quite green, but I was surprised by just how much slower and softer they really were.

You can't change the conditions, so you have to adapt your game to them and pick up a few new tricks along the way. I had to learn a few things about swing, particularly how to control it. I have never been a big swinger of the ball when playing in Australia, and when I did swing it, I tended to bring it back into the right-hander. So I was surprised, somewhat pleasantly, when I managed to get the Dukes ball going the other way prodigiously. Learning how to harness that swing, and use it as a weapon, in contrast to my skiddy, hit-the-deck style back home, was something I grappled with for three seasons with varying degrees of success. It gave me an extra weapon or two when I returned home, although the Kookaburra ball and Perth summer weather don't offer quite the same assistance.

I found it difficult to adapt to the lack of structure in training and team selection in England. The Australian grade cricket system is all about structure: you train hard at least a couple of times a week, and then if you perform on the weekend, you are rewarded. This is something I think the English league system could learn from. Of the three teams I played for, all operating at a high standard, only one had a set training time during the week, and even that turned into more of a social event as the season went on. To be fair to the other two sides, they did play mid-week cricket, and one of those teams played up to three games mid-week, which definitely did keep players sharp. The mid-week T20 cricket is something I wish we could have in Perth. Unfortunately we don't have the daylight hours (or daylight savings) to be able to start games at 6pm on summer evenings.

Having played in three top leagues in England, and across the grades in Premier cricket in Perth, I can say there is no shortage of talent in both systems, but it is likely the lack of real training and coaching that prevents players in England who have the talent to play 1st Grade in Australia from achieving their full potential.

Consistent training and a coaching structure also add more depth to the Australian grade cricket system, while English teams tend to rely on a core of very talented players, in my experience. Due to this lack of depth, partly because there are so many clubs and leagues, it is rare for a side to not have an overseas player who fills an important role in the team. Grade clubs in Perth do recruit county professionals from England, but it is also normal for them to go without and focus on development from within their own squad.

While English league cricket was different to the Australian way, it was an experience I enjoyed immensely and learnt a lot from. There is no doubt England is the home of cricket, with the local game steeped in history and tradition, and that was part of the lure for me to go and play there. Some of the clubs I played at have been around for two centuries with little to no changes to their grand old pavilions.

Both countries have their own club cricket systems, and will continue to produce future stars for teams higher up in their cricket structures in their own unique ways. I'm glad to have experienced two fascinating and contrasting cricketing cultures.