Ross County Cricket Club Graeme Carney excited to return to action facing Highland on Saturday
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For Ross County Cricket Club captain Graeme Carney, there will be an overwhelming sense of relief when the team takes to the field again this weekend.
A matter of weeks ago, there were serious question marks over the chances of any cricket being played in the Highlands at all this year, but if the rain stays away County will be playing their friendly of 2020 this Saturday against Highland at Castle Leod.
Other games against Northern Counties and Nairn have been lined up for the coming weeks, but with the competitive aspect removed altogether, Carney is just looking to enjoy getting back out to the middle in a match situation.
“We’ll 100 per cent just be happy to be back playing,” Carney explained.
“If we manage to win, that would be excellent.
“It’s good sides that we’re playing against, with Highland, Counties and Nairn, so if we could win then that’s great, but just being able to play some cricket is the main thing.
“We all do this for the love of the sport, and at the end of the day we’re just playing friendlies, I don’t think they will be taken too seriously.
“We get on well off the pitch with all these teams, so it should be a good-natured excuse to play.
“Then come next season, hopefully this will have all gone away and we can focus on the proper preparation to hit the ground running .”
Each match will have a bespoke set of rules agreed between the teams, with the length of matches and restrictions on batsmen and bowlers changing depending on the opponents, but in any format Carney is looking forward to them.
“It’s not the same but we’ve had a lot of practices,” he said.
“It’s far better when you get the time out in the middle, but we’ve got a new bowling machine that we’ve been practising with, so hopefully our batsmen will be in good form.
“The first couple of games back in any season are always a bit hit or miss to see how you get on, and I’m sure that will be the case when we start again on Saturday.”
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