After completing their preparations with an eight wicket loss to their neighbours Mallards, Riding Mill have named their XI for games one and two of their virtual tour down under. Andy Watson is named to skipper the side against the Burrabadine XI which is expected to provide a good opportunity for the tourists to acclimatise to the conditions on what promises to be an exciting tour consisting of ten fixtures over the next month.
For the late game against the Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI, Liam James will take over as skipper with a few players rotating out of the side. Managing the squad for a tour of this length will be a challenge and ensuring players maintain peak condition will no doubt be a priority for the visitors.
The hosts have been slowly announcing signings for the tour openers with plenty of speculation on twitter as to who the final marquee player will be. Fortunately, for those who have been busting to find out, it appears there will be an announcement made at 9:30am EST in Australia on ABC Radio in the Riverina.
There is a big announcement coming tomorrow morning. Tune in at 9.30am Aus time to hear who the last big name signing is – https://t.co/IyMgrG1sGZ ❤️🎲🏏
There is a buzz around the Riding Mill Cricket Club at the moment as they prepare to board the virtual plane Down Under for what should be a memorable month of Dice Cricket fixtures beginning early Sunday morning.
Normally the club that was originally founded in 1880 and is based in the beautiful village of Riding Mill in the Tyne Valley would be competing in the Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League but due to COVID-19 they have had to seek out other options.
Brian Watson from the club got the lads organised to play in a dice cricket tournament organised by Dice Sport and he says it has proven to be a big hit with the club.
“With regards this season due to COVID-19 we’ve had to look for other things to do due to lack of cricket, I stumbled upon a dice cricket tournament being organised by @DiceSport on twitter and thought it would be fun to enter the club. I also thought it would also be a good idea to get the players to donate to our fundraising Just Giving page whilst at the same time having a bit of fun. We are fundraising for a new practice strip and an Electronic Scoreboard. https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brian-watson?utm_term=dGA2dXZ92… All the players have taken it on board and got involved, and that’s how our love affair with #dicecricket started.”
Riding Mill’s key stats from the @dicesport T10 tournament
It was so popular in fact that Brian was keen to keep things rolling and when this was not possible locally, he put his feelers out on social media. Much to his delight, he was able to plant the seed of a virtual tour with host of the Cricket Library Podcast, Matt Ellis
“In Australia i found a fellow dice cricket nut Matt Ellis and after a few questions the idea of a Dice Cricket tour was born. I helped Matt contact a few clubs via Twitter and he has kindly done the rest”
With the home tournament now concluded, Riding Mill have a practice match scheduled on Thursday against neighbouring club Mallards. There are some players who will be using this game as an opportunity to have one last tune up before the action begins with a highly anticipated clash with the Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI.
The Cricket Library Podcast XI have already announced network seven journalist and #CricketCountdown patron Nina Stevens in their line up as well as former Adelaide Strikers & Melbourne Renegades wicketkeeper batsman Tim Ludeman.
We are also hearing whispers out of the Cricket Library that there will be one final marque player announced in the lead up to the tour opener on Sunday morning.
After some speculation, we are pleased to confirm that former Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades wicket keeper batsman Tim Ludeman will be lining up for the Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI to take on the touring Riding Mill Cricket Club in the opening game of their dice cricket virtual tour of Australia.
Ludeman was a very popular guest on the Cricket Library Podcast with his interview trending at number one on the Apple Podcasts cricket podcast charts in India.
Tim will join Nina Stevens becoming the second big name to be selected in an eleven that will comprise predominately of Cricket Library Podcast listeners.
It is expected that Ludeman will be suited to the T10 Format with his power hitting to be a feature at the top of the order. His glove work is exemplary and Riding Mill batsmen will need to be wary of his smart work behind the stumps.
With the tour now less than one week away, Riding Mill will conclude their preparations on Thursday with a friendly fixture against their neighbours Mallards before boarding the virtual plane down under.
To hear more of Tim Ludeman’s story, you can listen to his interview with Matt Ellis on the Cricket Library Podcast here.
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