COVERED 2024 Winter

COVERED 22 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK Yorkshire, Freddie catching a glimpse of her as he strolls out onto the field. Mum is not usually one to cry, he says, but – on this occasion – there is no stopping the tears of a parent full of pride. Twelve balls in, however, McCann lost his opening partner Joe Clarke – he skippers’ stumps splattered. In steps fellow debutant Sammy King, who turned out to be exactly the defiant character who young Freddie needed most. “As he walked out, I said to Kingy, ‘I’m nervous’…And all he said was, ‘I’m fine’,” McCann laughs. “Then he hit three sixes in a row, we fist-bumped and said: ‘yeah – let’s just go and enjoy it, have a bit of fun and whatever happens, happens.’” Their 87-run stand – by far and away the biggest partnership of the night – set Notts on their way to their biggest total of the campaign: a match-winning score of 209/9. Neither may have got the fifties they would have thoroughly earned, but, in all honesty, that hardly mattered to McCann. “It was a special night,” he grins, “Our partnership set the game up, and once we were back in the dressing room we realised that was the most fun we’d ever had on the field together. “It’s funny – because before that game, everyone was of the opinion that T20 was my weakest format. It just showed, to myself as well as everyone, that I am just as capable.” That passage of conversation raises one clear lesson about the Papplewick youngster: to Freddie, there is no reason why not, rather only a how. He has the demeanour, the confidence and the resilience of a seasoned professional.To him, there is no limit, nor any reason not to think big - despite the fact he stands in the spotlight where his role models once did. “Nothing has sunk in yet, at all,” he admits, with a slight expression of bemusement. “At the start of April, if you told me that I’d be achieving what I have achieved in my first year, I wouldn’t have believed you.” That being a record-equallingYouth ODI innings in England blue – 174 against Sri Lanka – a hat-trick of first- team debuts for his county, and (twice) being a County Championship centurion on home turf. “It’s been a decent year,” he laughs. “I’ve still not processed anything. All the games come quickly so you don’t have time to think about it. “When I was in the Academy I always thought, ‘I could never be as good as these lot’, but a couple of years later I’m playing with them and training with them. “I’ve loved everything about being a professional. I love cricket so much that just doing it all the time is something I can’t ever complain about.The lifestyle is brilliant.” Well and truly still a Notts supporter at heart, crossing paths with the likes of Alex Hales, Steven Mullaney and Luke Fletcher – himself a Papplewick and Linby clubman – between the Sobers and Hadlee training halls has taken some serious getting used to. McCann remains very candid in admitting that he is still waiting for the instinctive pinching to cease. “BEFORE THAT GAME, EVERYONE WAS OF THE OPINION THAT T20 WAS MY WEAKEST FORMAT. IT JUST SHOWED, TO MYSELF AS WELL AS EVERYONE, THAT I AM JUST AS CAPABLE.” Freddie McCann