BBL: Sydney Thunder, Manly gun Ollie Davies makes stunning debut
Young Manly cricketer Ollie Davies asked a good mate at Sydney Thunder to do something special to help calm his nerves before his BBL debut. And it worked.
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Ollie Davies was having a ball in his BBL debut but it took until the crowd sent him off to thunderous applause for him to realise he had “played OK’’.
Long touted as a rising star of the sport after a record-breaking double century - including six sixes in an over - at an under 19 national championship, the 20-year-old from the northern beaches made a memorable debut in Sydney Thunders latest win in the BBL, chipping in 36 runs off just 22 balls against Perth Scorchers.
“I was really nervous before the game. Hanging around the hotel was all good but it really started to sink in when we started to warn-up,’’ said Davies, who plays for Manly in NSW Premier Cricket and came in as a replacement for the injured Alex Ross.
“I love to chat to people. I’m a bit of a chatterbox so when I was sitting there I asked the manager and Jason Sangha to just keep speaking to me to take my mind of it all.
“They were great. We talked about everything from the table tennis tournament at the hotel to what was going on.
“It really helped.’’
Davies, who has been away from his family for 20 days, said the crowd helped settle his nerves - and let him know when he had “stuffed up’’.
“When I was out there fielding it was pretty intimidating with Mitch Marsh just belting out balls,’’ he said,
“That was when it started to sink in and the crowd was great fun. I fumbled a couple of times and got a couple of shouts about getting a new pair of hands.
“I came off thinking I didn’t do too badly, could have been better.
“Then the crowd started to do crazy, applauding like nuts and I realised I did do the job OK.’’
Davies described his debut as “the greatest moment and my biggest achieve,meant’’ and hopes to get back on for Thunder this season.
“But as long as they keep winning, that’s what matters most,’’ he said.
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