Burgess: “It was a very professional performance”

Michael Burgess dished out the praise to his teammates as the Bears secured a six wickets victory over Team Abu Dhabi in the Abu Dhabi Counties Super Cup.

Awarded the Player of the Match for an impressive 54* off just 26 balls, the selfless wicket-keeper was quick to name check Hamza Shaikh and George Garton as well as the whole bowling and fielding unit.

“I think you forget it’s our first run out on grass and a few lads have been in the indoor school in England for six months,” said Burgess. “This is our first time playing a competitive game of cricket for six months, so the bowlers did amazingly well. I’m really impressed with the bowlers.

“The fielding was brilliant again under lights. People have been in the indoor school, which is pretty well lit, and then coming out here under lights is a different challenge.

“I thought Hamza (Shaikh) played really nicely. I think you forget he’s 17 when you watch him bat and he’s a serious talent. It was really nice to see Hamza get off the way he did.

“It was difficult to get started out there, but when you get I think it slowly gets easier and easier to bat as most wickets do.

“Overall, it was an impressive effort, a very professional performance, and nice to start with the win.”

And a when asked about his own performance – the one that saw his team home…

“Batting in the middle order in T20 cricket your job is to get teams over the line,” added the right-handed bat. “So it was nice to do that and nice to bat with Garts who I batted with a little bit last year. He played really well as well.

“It’s one game out of a lot to come and we’ve got some seriously talented fellas in that dressing room. I’m always pushing to play, but you understand that you’re in an extremely talented squad. All you can do is perform and see if you’re selected.”