A summary of Pete Colbourne’s experience playing Cricket in England

The last 5 and a bit months at the Houghton Main cricket club have been extremely enjoyable and I have met so many new friends! The cricket season has been going great, even though unfortunately we have been washed out for about 6 games of the season! We are currently sitting second in the league and look like being promoted into the premier division next season which was the main goal for the season!
I have mainly been batting at number 3 for Houghton Main and opened the batting in a couple of games as well! I was bowling a bit more at the start of the season but was struggling with knee for a bit during the middle of the season! I’ve had a pretty consistent season with the bat scoring 4 half centuries ( 57, 98, 56, and 85) and also in the first game I opened the batting scored my first century for Houghton Main of 101no when we were chasing 173 vs Wath! With one more game to go on the weekend hopefully can add to that and finish off the season with some more runs! With the ball for the season I have picked up 13 wickets with a best of 4/24.
As well as playing cricket for houghton main on a Saturday in been playing for Mexborough in Sunday league cricket! Everyone at Mexborough has made me feel so welcome and it’s a good chance to go out and have some fun playing cricket! Before my first game at Mexborough everyone said the pressure is on you because the last 2 Aussies to play from them in previous years scored centuries in there first game, and I was lucky to keep the tradition going scoring 144 runs in my first game. These Sunday league games are only 40 overs long and a game I remember was we put on a score of 1/250 off our 40 overs with my mate Steve Honeyman making 147no and myself 100no, it was a long day for our no.4 batter padded up all day without getting a bat haha! Have also made a few more scores which included (90, 84no, 73 and 47no) it’s been great fun playing with Mexborough and we were winner of the league which was a bonus!

The off-field side of cricket is going really well and for 3 months had a part-time job at a local corner shop/supermarket which is a great way to meet new people and earn a bit of money! I have been doing a little bit of travel around which is great to just see the countryside! I enjoyed going to watch a 4-day cricket match of Yorkshire vs Durham where I got to met the Yorkshire coach Jason “dizzy” Gillespie and had a photo taken with him. I went down to Wimbledon tennis this year which was an awesome experience as I was involved with the fanatics which was so much fun and we got to met and get a photo with Australian tennis star Pat Cash! Another great experience was seeing the Tour de France with a good mate as it cycled through Yorkshire! I’ve had a few day trips to York which is one of the nicest places I’ve seen, with so many old building and castles in the area! Ive had a few Aussie mates come over to watch me play cricket which has been great and we have done a bit of travel together down to Liverpool to creamfields music festival which was awesome and also been down to London to see all the landmarks including Buckingham palace, Big Ben, London eye, Wembley stadium and my favourite was the tour at Lords cricket ground!

The clubs have been great to me and made me feel extremely welcome and have been there to help out with anything I’ve need! I’ve been coaching the juniors for Houghton Main and even though they haven’t won a game for the season all players have improved greatly and everyone has fun!
I’ve made so many mates here and it’s going to be hard and a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone on Sunday as it’s been such a big part and great experience of my life! I’m considering coming back in a couple of years time cause I’ve enjoyed myself so much and made so many good friends here! And hopefully I can get a few of them to come back to sunny Australia to visit me for a holiday!

I’ve greatly enjoyed my time in England and it’s going to be sad to leave but I look forward to getting back home to see my family and friends to share all the stories I’ve experienced!

Cheers
Pete

Pete is now on a well earned break touring Europe. we look forward to welcoming him back early in the new season.
EBCC are extremely proud of Pete and congratulate him on his seasons performances in “The old Dart” .
He continued the tradition set by Jez ,Barney, Harry and Nick during previous seasons.
Well done Pete