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Jake Ball
almost in tears.That was when it really
started to sink in,” he said.
“I suppose that going back to my home
club, then it really started to feel real. I
went back to watch my brother play the
following Saturday and everyone came up
to shake my hand and say well done, it’s a
great achievement, things like that.
“It can put my home club on the map as
well. I oweWelbeck a lot. It’s where I grew
up playing cricket and learned my game; a
lot of this is down to them too.”
Welbeck isn’t only the Club that shaped
Ball’s development, a closely familial
environment which still remains today –
his brother Jonathan still turns out for
the Club.
No,Welbeck also provided one of the
highlights of his summer, and one of the
proudest, when Notts Outlaws hosted a
weekend of Royal London One-Day Cup
matches in the north of the county.
There, in familiar surroundings, Ian Bell
made a rare appearance forWarwickshire
at the height of summer, but found
himself unsettled by the pace and skill
of a certain hometown hero.
“That was the point at which I look
and think my season really kicked on.
The spell I bowled against Bell, I felt
like I was bowling well, bowling quickly,
and people were coming up to me
in the field and telling me that I was
making an international cricketer look
uncomfortable,” said Ball.
“That’s when I realised I had put on
a yard of pace and knowing that I was
keeping an international player in trouble,
what else could I go on and do? I had a
good one-day cup tournament and kicked
on with the red ball, but that weekend in
Welbeck was a real catalyst.
“In the early days I watched my Uncle
Bruce (French), who used to keep for
Notts and England, then when I thought
that playing cricket was what I wanted
to do, we had Charlie Shreck playing for
Welbeck. I got on really well with him, he
used to invite me down to watch him bowl
in the nets atWelbeck and I’d just listen to
him talk about county cricket.
“It really got my juices flowing and made
me get my head down and try to push my
way into the side.”
And push his way into the side he did.
While for a bowler it’s wickets that matter
– he took 39 County Championship scalps
– there were signs of improvement to his
game across the board.
Jeetan Patel was one such victim, the
veteran spinner being landed in the
stands aroundTrent Bridge, courtesy of
a little magic from theWelbeckWizard.
For Ball himself, that newly instilled faith
in his ability had come from feeding off
Nottinghamshire’s emerging young seam
attack, the likes of LukeWood and Brett
Hutton, who had established themselves in
the side alongside him.
“That was a lot of fun. I feel like I’ve
contributed more with the bat than I
thought I would have done all season, but
my personal highlight was hitting Chris
Jordan for six over extra cover,” he said.
“We played on the far side of the square
and worked out it was just over 100 metres
over extra cover.
“If you ask most of the lads, they’d say it
was the shot of the season…probably.
“Toward the end of the summer there was
just an air of confidence around the Club,
fuelled by the youngsters we had in the
team.
“It was a bit of naivety maybe, but we
weren’t going into games looking at our
opponents and thinking they were good
This time though, it was Jake Ball
receiving said red ball; at Lord’s in April
for Nottinghamshire’s LV= County
Championship curtain-raiser. Again, it was
Ball who received the cherry in September
during their final match of the season
against Hampshire.
He’d taken 67 wickets, signed a three-year
contract extension and earned an England
Lions callup in the months between those
matches.
All of a sudden, it’s hard not to use the
aforementioned superlatives to describe
Ball’s remarkable 2015.
In the whirlwind of it all, after being
informed of his Lions place by Mick
Newell over breakfast before heading
to Edgbaston for the third day of Notts’
match againstWarwickshire, it was a phone
call back to Mansfield during which the
extent of his progress felt real.
“I rang my mum and dad on my way to
the ground that morning and they were
“I owe Welbeck a lot.
It’s where I grew up playing
cricket and learned my
game; a lot of this is down
to them too.”