INTERNATIONAL cricket comes to Anston tomorrow in the form of New Zealand pace bowler Iain O'Brien.
Fresh from doing battle with England in the summer test series, the 32-year-old will feature as Anston's not-so-secret weapon for their next two matches, and the club's first team captain is rubbing his hands in anticipation of tumbling wickets.
A
ndy Forster jumped at the chance to secure O'Brien's services when he saw the player advertise himself on the internet.
The skipper explained: "All clubs in our league have an overseas professional but ours was finishing on 25th July."
"I saw on an internet forum that we all go on that Iain was free for two weeks. I got in touch with him and arranged it all very quickly."
Forster managed to get sponsors in place to cover the cost of fielding the Wellington native, who took eight wickets in the npower Test Series between New Zealand and England this summer.
Anston's captain called his signing a 'coup' for the club.
Forster said: "He's very, very quick."
"I'm not going to be unhappy to throw him the new ball on Saturday."
"It's a major coup for us, it's introduced us to some new sponsors and we'll hopefully get a lot of young kids coming down to watch and maybe it'll generate interest in the club."
Anston have had new shirts made up specially for the occasion and tomorrow's fixture with Caythorpe II at Ryton Road in North Anston is expected to draw a much bigger attendance than normal.
The game would already have been a tense affair, given Anston's league position – third, behind second-place Caythorpe II – but O'Brien will add extra spice.
Forster joked: "I haven't had one yet, but I'm expecting an abusive phone call from Caythorpe's captain about this."
O'Brien has tasted Bassetlaw League action before, bowling for Glapwell for three years, and aside from his wicket-taking abilities, Forster hopes there could be a long-term benefit for Anston.
"He'll hopefully go back to New Zealand and look out for an 18 or 19-year-old to be our full-time professional."
Anston's Bassetlaw Division One fixture with Caythorpe II will begin at 2pm tomorrow at the Ryton Road ground, North Anston.
The full article contains 379 words and appears in Dinnington Guardian newspaper.
