Dan Mousley wants to build on his maiden Rothesay County Championship century and help put Warwickshire County Cricket Club in position to challenge for honours by contributing as much as he can with the bat.
The 24-year-old made a career-best 144 in the season opener against Surrey last week, helping the Bears to 544 and earning a 16-point draw at Edgbaston Stadium to start the season in a positive fashion.
He is now hoping to utilise that emotional maiden Warwickshire century as a springboard for more runs and contribute to team success.
“A lot of enjoyment came out of it, a lot of relief came out of it,” he said. “It was a very proud moment. It’s a club I love. I’ve been here since I was eight years old, so to finally get that off my back is really, really pleasing.
“It’s a lot of happiness, but also I don’t want to stop there. I want to keep on going, I want to score as many as I can and hopefully put us in a really good position at the end of the season.
“I love playing red ball cricket. I love playing for Warwickshire. I still think the pinnacle of the game is a Test Match and so doing that in the first game of the season in the Championship is really, really pleasing and long may it continue.”
The attention now turns to the away trip to Sussex on Friday, who themselves enjoyed a good start to the season with a 222-run victory against Leicestershire, and Mousley is confident the Bears can adapt to the challenge and use the momentum from the Surrey performance to compete at Hove.
“They got a good result at Leicester last week, but they’re a very dangerous team, they’re a very good team, there’s a hell of a lot of talented individuals they’ve got.
“We know it’s going to be a tough game, but our squad’s so strong and hopefully we can go there and do something positive. Let’s see how it boils down at the end of the week.
“It’s really important to continue that momentum. We played some brilliant cricket the last four days and hopefully we go down to Hove and just carry that momentum going forward. We’ve got a brilliant squad, such a dangerous batting lineup, such a strong bowling lineup. It’s a really, really exciting group and we just want to use that momentum going down south.”
Mousley is enjoying life at Edgbaston Stadium and attributes much of that happiness to the camaraderie within the group, which is both welcoming and encouraging.
“It’s a special group, it’s a special place to come to work, it’s a special place to play. The group in there is a really exciting group, everyone wants to see each other do really well. It’s a very close-knit group, which is brilliant, and everyone loves coming in and spending time with each other on and off the pitch. It’s a really exciting time to be in the Bears dressing room.
“We always really celebrate each other’s success. The boys are really excited for the season and actually how far can we go as a group. It’s something we speak about and where we want to be towards the end of the season.”