CRICKET: Bunbury talent Sam Whiteman says he is loving his busy off-season after earning a late call up to be part of the national performance squad’s tour of India.
Whiteman flew out for Bangalore on Monday as part of the 15-man squad which will take on Karnataka State Cricket Association team in two four-day matches this month.
The 22 year old has had a busy year playing twice for Australia A in July which included a record-breaking 174 against India A in Brisbane.
He will also play in the Champions League T20 next month.
“I’m loving playing cricket at this time of year,” he said.
“It beats running around an oval and it is an awesome opportunity to play in different conditions and to put what I’ve been working on in pre-season into practice.”
Whiteman has been praised by the likes of ex-test wicketkeeper Ian Healy for his glovework but on his third trip to India he hopes the unfamiliar conditions will help him continue his improvement behind the stumps.
“I want to test my keeping,” he said.
“It will be very different to keeping on the WACA but I’ll be trying to adapt really quickly and learn to keep on big spinning wickets.”
Whiteman finished sixth on the run scorers list in the 2013-14 Sheffield Shield season and said he’d also look to work on his game with the bat.
“What I can take away from the last time I was here, was how the Indians play,” Whiteman said.
“They hit the ball in different areas and I'll be looking to adapt my game plans as well.”
