Spriegel heads down under

27 October 2009

Matthew Spriegel has signed up as the 2009/10 overseas player for Perth CC and will leave today for Australia to start his second season of the year.

Young star Spriegel had a fantastic end of the season when he made his debut first-class hundred against Glamorgan and then followed it up with a match winning innings in the final game of the season away at Leicestershire.

After a few weeks spent training with Graham Thorpe in the indoor school, Spriegel will now look to continue his good form by playing in the Western Australian grade league under Perth CC skipper Stewart Walters.

Speaking to Surrey TV recently, Spriegel said: “For me, 2009 ended very well. The last week of the season was fantastic and something I will remember for a long time. “If you look overall in the season, I played a lot of One Day cricket and with the ball, me and Schoey developed a pretty good partnership bowling in the middle overs. With the bat I didn’t feel as if I got that many opportunities to come in and show what I can do but the times I did have that chance I felt I played pretty well.”

Although he has been trialled to date as an all-rounder, Spriegel considers himself more of a batsman and is looking to spend his time in Australia scoring big runs so he can move up the order when he returns to the Brit Oval next summer. The mature young man is also relishing using his now quite substantial experience of One Day cricket to pass on tips to players of even smaller years than himself that are coming through at the Club.

“I loved the responsibility of it”, Spriegel revealed to Mark Church. “It’s brilliant that having played a year and a half of one day cricket I now see myself as one of the senior players in that form of the game. “I really enjoy it and I really love to see the other young guys come into the squad. I try to give them that little bit of experience and something they can really learn from.”

However, Spriegel is aware of the dangers of being an Englishman playing in Australia!

“Historically the Aussies have always given the English overseas players a bit of stick”, he admitted. “I went out there and played in my gap year though so I know a little bit of what to expect.”

To see the interview with Spriegel in its entirety, click on the “Play Video” icon at the top of this article.

Keep track of Spriegel and Walters progress on the official Surrey website throughout the winter.