by You may know the cricket and that you haven’t heard of Sonny Baker. The name is more jazz drummer than the quick launcher. He is 22 years old and still play in the county championship. He had only one match of the T20 explosion, for Somerset last summer before moving to Hampshire. He also has the attention of England.
Baker made its first class debut on the Lions tour in Australia earlier this year, impressive enough to catch a development contract in England, the same type of transaction as other fast young Josh Hull and John Turner, both complete international. The attraction is obvious, Baker having what England has witnessed: a flashing pace.
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Make his debut in Hampshire in November at the Global Super League in Guyana, Baker liked to see the figures on the Speed pistol. “I think I arrived at 148 km / h, which was good,” he said before honesty passes. “I act as I did not know the number. It was 148.7. I know the exact number. “
Baker has no desire to be about speed. “In any case, I want to be very unidimensional, as I only do rockets, I don’t really know where it’s okay and I have no competence at all. I don’t want to be this guy. ” But the line is at the heart of the story of a late flowering.
“I was a bit of a late developer in terms of coordination,” explains Baker, who has made his way through the Devon age group teams. “Until the age of 13, I did not really know how to move each member individually. It looked like a central-gap trying to move all his legs at the same time.” Before going to the Somerset Academy at 17, he looked at life as a biology teacher. “I thought I would really appreciate teaching, establishing relationships and trying to help people be the best possible. Why wouldn’t you want to do this? “
But Somerset attached it, a professional contract signed at 18 years old. Then, he came a few back stress fractures, an inevitability with young tears and little playing time. Most of the work on the first Baker team took place in the day’s cup. Somerset made an offer to keep him at the club but he chose to go east.
“I think some different counties were really interested,” says Baker. “The first thing I evaluated was:” Where will I learn the most? ” Because it is the most important thing. Then came where he would have the opportunity to play, with money “fundamentally out of words” in his decision. He is amazed to talk about what he will learn from Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker, eager to know how they find faults in strikers and install them. “Seeing these things in person at the time and then watching them blow up the tibia will be just … I can’t wait. I’m so excited. It’s going to be incredible.”
All this looks like something that a prospect should say, prioritizing education over everything else. But with Baker, it’s credible because it is without shame with the fast bowling, with Dale Steyn his hero. “I must have listened, I don’t know, 20 podcasts with him. Probably not 20, maybe 15 podcasts with him on it. He seems to be the most relaxed guy of all time.
“It’s the guy I want to be. I want to be the guy where people get out of the bar to look at you Bowl, as everyone does for Mark Wood.” Mitchell Johnson’s ash spells are cited like his favorites to look at, even if “it is difficult to admit” as a Englishman.
Baker also mentions his full of Intel notebooks. “I write all kinds of things,” he says. “Dimensions of the soil, ways to grasp different bullets, action things. What did I write elsewhere? Analysis on the strikers – I love my analysis on the strikers, I love having a detailed plan.”
When he was called to the hundred in 2021 as a replacement player in Trent Rockets, he looked for the old Wahab Riaz, rapid Pakistan and spoke of the inverted swing. While recovering from an injury to Somerset, he used the network of his teammates to get in touch with some of the fastest. “I went out on the phone with Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Jason Gillespie. If you don’t ask, you won’t get, right?
Andrew Flintoff, the Lions head coach, is another shipowner Baker has learned. Baker was two years old during the 2005 Ashes, but is firmly aware of what the player looked like, and he is also captivated by the coach. “I have Ashes ’05 videos on DVD. These were my cricket education – Freddie Flintoff with his arms, eyes closed. He inevitably has a lot of respect from people and hearing him really positive things about your subject is completely honest to be honest.
“He always laughs at me for my little notebook. He is always like:” Oh yeah, notebook again. “We are kidding on this subject, but he loves it.
Baker provides a check -up list for the coming months. “Let’s make the beginnings in Champo. Nemol that. Then we’re going to a block of championship matches. Nail this. Then we can worry T20 stuff.”
Then comes The Hundred with Manchester Originals and more from the championship, a recall of the treadmill of the summer. He does not mention England but their recent selection policy – two fingers shown during the Convention – means that this could also occur somewhere. Laptops will fill up quickly.
