After a poor personal start to the season with the bat, the captain has decided to replace me with our up-and-coming keeper in the first team.
I have mixed feelings about this.
One one hand, I am delighted for the youngster. He is not 100% ready for the level, but he will learn as he has a lot of talent. You have to get these guys in early.
On the other hand, I'm sad I couldn't make a contribution on the field. I like the guys and felt part of the first team. I would have like to be playing well at the highest level and be a useful player. Yet that was always going to be tough.
Ever since I started, I have pushed to stop playing to focus on coaching. I have not practiced to allow others to get their practice in. It's no great surprise I have been below par (and par is not that high for me anyway).
Now I'm caught in the tricky situation of playing second team cricket on Saturday. The seconds are strong and although they need a keeper I'm not sure they should have only coach at the club. I will be out of touch with the first team. That's bad.
Ideally, we will have enough bodies every week that I can drop out totally and coach the firsts on Saturday. Until that happens, I'm going to have to come up with some creative ways to analyse first team performance and mentality while I'm not there. A fun challenge, and one I hope I can meet!