Bears Around the World – Dan Mousley in Sri Lanka

Warwickshire batter Dan Mousley is in the fourth week of a five-week stay in Sri Lanka where he is playing or Burgher Recreation Club in the domestic one-day competition. Here in an exclusive blog for the Bears fans, Dan reveals how his time on the subcontinent has been great for his bowling in particular - but he has become a bit of expert on...rain!

Hello to all Bears fans. I hope you are keeping safe and well and already looking forward to next season. The lads did brilliantly to win the championship and then add the Bob Willis Trophy to it and I was gutted not to be able to contribute due to injuries. It was because I missed so much cricket last season with my broken fingers that I was really looking forward to getting out here to Sri Lanka.

I arrived on October 24 and will return next week and it has been a really enjoyable trip. There’s been just one snag…it has rained and rained…not just drizzle, but smashing it down, day after day.  Thunderstorms too – the sort of serous ones that wake you up in the night.

To be fair, it is the rainy season and the Sri Lankan players were a little bit surprised that the tournament was fixed for this time of year. It has certainly turned out to be a very rainy season. We have 12 fixtures scheduled in the competition and, of the first 11, we played just four with seven washed out without a ball bowled. At one point we went three weeks without a match.

When we have squeezed in some cricket, I have really enjoyed it and it has been great experience, especially in terms of bowling. In my first net out here they asked me ‘do you bowl?’ and I said,  ‘yes, a bit’ and I bowled eight overs in the first game next day and have bowled a full allocation in all the other games.

I have loved the challenge of bowling to batsmen who are used to these conditions and to playing spin and have been really pleased with some of my figures. Being tested like that can only make me a better bowler for the Bears.

Batting-wise, I have only had four innings and haven’t done too much, just a couple of twenties. That is a bit disappointing but all our games have been low-scoring on slow pitches with sodden outfield which don’t give value for your shots. It would have been great to get more batting in, especially as I have only played four List A games for the Bears since June, so I just can’t wait to get bat in hand back at the Indoor Centre at Edgbaston…and then of course next season!

Off the field this has been a great experience. It is my first time away from home looking after myself and it’s been amazing – despite all the rain. My housemate is the other overseas player Hitesh Solanki and he is older and more experienced than me and has told me a lot about cricket in India which has been really valuable. Everybody here has been brilliant and really welcoming and travelling to and from games in a tuk tuk is fun…you don’t see that in Pershore Road. Just such a shame about all that rain!

It has been a great experience, but I must admit I am looking forward to getting home and back among the Bears at Edgbaston. Then bring on 2022…after those injuries I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for!