Paddy Sadler's progress continues apace

Gary Heatly puts the spotlight on one of the 15 young National Academy players who are heading for a tour to India towards the end of the month...

It has been a busy old time for Paddy Sadler recently and it is only going to get busier, but you will not hear the teenage bowling prospect complaining.

Prior to Christmas he moved up two divisions by moving from RH Corstorphine to SNCL Premier Division outfit Watsonians. He was also named in the Eastern Academy squad.

And currently he is spending six weeks in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa at the HA Academy, run by former Poloc professional Garry Hampson and his colleague Paul Atkins, an ex-Surrey player. He was selected to attend the camp near Durban thanks to links with Atkins and former Scotland captain Craig Wright.

Sadler (pictured right, under the nose of umpire Ian Ramage) explained: “I am training with a mixture of people, there are five English players of a similar age to me over here, but we also train with various South African players who are under the wing of Paul.

“It has been a teriffic experience so far, I have been working very hard at my game and with the different coaches and different players to train with and play against it has been very good. The weather has been very hot and the cricket tough, both making it an even better learning experience.”

Sadler, who has been capped at U19 level, is playing his club cricket for Varsity CC where he started off in the seconds before he was moved up to the firsts after just one match and they are now close to winning the league.

“I think these kind of experiences are definitely good for any young player. I have been following a similar kind of programme to normal, lots of gym work and lots of training, but the element of self responsibility has been something that has been good for me. Living out here in a house with a couple of other guys means you have to do a lot for yourself, which definitely makes you grow up pretty quickly and puts you out of your comfort zone.”

The enthusiastic teenager heads home next week, the day after the end of the season in South Africa and he will be home for a week before he goes to India with some of Scotland’s other best young talents.

He explained: “There are 15 of us* going to Pune, near Mumbai, for an intensive 12-day camp. I am looking forward to getting back in amongst the lads and the Scotland youth set-up for what should be a good trip.

“Having been to India before I know how different it is and what a great country it is and it will be tough. Again these kind of experiences of different places are great for guys like us in trying to improve.”

And then - once he unpacks his bag properly for the first time in months - he will resume training with his new club team mates ahead of the new domestic season which begins on May 1.

“I am very excited about joining Watsonians and think we have a real chance to build a team and be successful. We have a young side with lots of ambitious guys in it, a lot of us want to go as far as we can in the game and that drive will hopefully see us being successful and improving as a team.

“I was very impressed when I met with president Ross Brooks about what he had to say and it was definitely something I wanted to be a part of. Corstorphine were great for me and it was a great place to play cricket as I grew up but I want to play for Scotland so feel the time is right to test myself.”

And with Scotland age-grade commitments looming and Academy and Lions honours to push for the next few months look set to continue being exciting for the Capital teenager.

* The 15 players heading for India later in March are: Calvin Burnett, Matthew Parker, Marc Petrie, Ross McLean (all Arbroath); Aiman Bailwal, Craig Wallace (Forfarshire); Matthew Cross (Aberdeenshire); Ewan Chalmers, Patrick Sadler (Watsonians); Freddie Coleman, Keith Morton (Penicuik); Ollie Hairs (Grange); Tom McBride (Dumfries); Peter Ross (Kinross); Willie Rowan (Greenock). More details of the trip will be featured soon on Cricket Scotland TV...