Newtown Cricket Club president Stephen Butler a standout hit at Grey Ashes. Photo:
Scoring 56 runs in his first international game against England was the highlight of the Grey Ashes tour for Newtown Cricket Club president Stephen Butler.
The in-form batsman secured a second half century in the third match too, contributing to the team’s strong performance.
“Touch wood it’s been pretty good — I haven’t dropped any catches, my fielding’s been good,” Butler said.
“I’ve been lucky and fortunate to make runs and hopefully I can just keep the form going until the end.”
Butler is one of 16 Australian representative cricket players who travelled to the UK for the over 60s Grey Ashes series.
He said his team was comprised of a “phenomenal bunch of guys.”
“We’ve played against each other in nationals but coming together as a group, we bonded really well and that’s critical for a successful tour — being able to work together.
“I think I said it in one of our postgame wrap ups — I said this is a team, it’s not a bunch of individuals, it’s a team.”
At the time of print, the side had played 14 one day games since the tour commenced on June 25, with Butler appearing in 10.
Mastering his role as the team’s middle order batter, Butler had scored 396 runs from 374 balls at a strike rate of 105.88.
Butler said the team’s depth in both batting and bowling had made them strong contenders for the Ashes.
“We’ve got a number of all-rounders in the side — guys who bat and bowl so if we do lose early wickets, we know there’s batsman in the lower order that will bring the score up for us and can make runs,” he said.
We have a few players who are quick in the field and we can restrict the runs by preventing singles or “ones” being turned into “two’s” and that’s been one of the key differences between us and the England side.
Butler is normally an allrounder too, but he said a slight shoulder injury prevented him from bowling this tournament.
He said aside from his shoulder “niggle” he was not having any trouble with fatigue or soreness and said the team had also been faring well, with no major injuries.
“It really is about maintenance of yourself as well as recovery after a game,” he said.
“Essentially just eating properly, getting hydrated but also putting electrolytes back in to combat stiffness and I’ve also just been doing some self-massage on the legs just to break down and remove any potential lactic acid build-up.
“We haven’t had too many games where we’ve played two in a row so you get a day or two days off in a row between games so it does provide an opportunity to recover.”
Butler said his pre-tournament training had been critical for his baseline fitness coming into the series.
“My training involved 4 – 5 km runs a couple of times a week and then in between doing short sprints and just a lot of stretching and momentum exercises just to keep myself flexible.
“It’s essentially just to build up endurance and I’ve been fortunate with a few country weeks where my body learned how to adapt to playing five games of cricket over six days.
This for me has been fairly easy because it hasn’t been that intense — there’s been regular breaks in between.
He said the whole tour, including the travels, grounds and hospitality had been “incredible”.
At the time of print the Grey Ashes battle is locked at two wins apiece, with the fifth and deciding One Day International scheduled on Thursday July 24, at the Royal Ascot Cricket Club.
