Olly Hannon-Dalby surged past 500 wickets for Warwickshire with a standout performance against Kent – and says his appetite for more is stronger than ever.
The 6ft 8ins seamer added nine more scalps to his tally in the innings victory over Kent and sets him on course to take 50-plus County Championship wickets for the third consecutive season.
That performance put him top of the Division One leading wicket takers list with 43, having bagged 53 and 54, respectively, in 2022 and 2023.
Hannon-Dalby believes he’s bowling as well as any stage in his career and puts his success in recent seasons down to experience and an enhanced skills bank.
He said: “Nothing has changed in terms of my action, I’ve probably just added a few more skills and am now experienced in most situations.
“One of my coaches growing up, a brilliant coach called Steve Oldham, said to me when I was 16 “you won’t be a bowler till you’re 28”.
“At the time I was thinking I’ll be a good bowler long before then. You think you’ve got it sussed at 20 but you haven’t got a clue really! He was dead right.
“It’s not until later that you’re comfortable bowling in most situations. With the new ball, old ball, to right and left handers, at the death, in the middle of a one day game, to a big boundary or short boundary. There are loads of scenarios that until you’re exposed to them you don’t know how you’ll perform.
“It also helps being established in the side. I spent a lot of my career being in and out of the side because we had such a brilliant bowling attack. Keith Barker, Chris Wright, Boyd Rankin, Chris Woakes.
“I was the fill-in guy a lot of the time, stepping in for the odd game. When you’re doing that there’s extra pressure, you don’t want to mess up, you want to do a good job. And you’re scared to experiment in case it goes wrong. You play with less freedom. I was probably a bit timid as a cricketer in my early career, but now I’m not so scared to try things.”
And though Hannon-Dalby grabbed the headlines against Kent – in the visitors’ second innings he was on course for a full house having taken the first six wickets – he was quick to praise his fellow seamers.
“We’ve got a seam attack with good complementary skills,” added the 35-year-old.
“We all know with bowling sometimes you get your rewards, sometimes you don’t. As a group I thought we all bowled well against Kent.
“Boothy with pace, three brilliant wickets in their first innings at a crucial time; Rushy has great skill and builds pressure, Barney the same, and Razor (Michael Rae) bowls with heavy pace with some frightening, quick bouncers that the rest of us probably can’t muster.
“Reaching 50 wickets again for a season is definitely a goal of mine but there’s a way to go and I won’t be celebrating too soon.
“Milestones are nice but I’m enjoying the moment; I won’t look too far ahead. It’s lovely to think I’ve taken more than 500 wickets for Warwickshire (now 506) but our attention quickly goes to the Blast Quarter Final on Friday, followed by the next four-day game at Worcester who of course are our big local rivals.
“I’m by no means thinking of retiring in the next year or two. Hopefully there are lots more wickets to come. I’m loving playing, loving running in at Edgbaston so want to do it for many more years.”
Over 13,500 tickets sold for T20 quarter-final
For a third year in a row, Bears have secured a home Vitality Blast quarter-final against Gloucestershire on Friday 6 September. And tickets are going fast!
Over 13,500 tickets have already been sold. Adults tickets are available for only £20, if purchased in advance, while U16s are £5.
