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A young English cricketer has embarked on an exciting journey to Anglesea this summer and the season began in fine style in the opening round. Justin Flynn spoke to promising all-rounder Tabby Rimmer about her decision to head Down Under during her gap year.
For 21-year-old Tabby Rimmer, avoiding a miserable English winter to spend summer Down Under playing cricket during her gap year sounded like a pretty good idea.
Having just completed her medicinal chemistry degree at University of Exeter, Tabby uploaded her profile onto Cricketer Exchange, which helps players find opportunities to play overseas.
Anglesea Cricket Club women’s coach Mark Appleford and captain Janet Lister got in touch and the seeds were sown for Tabby to head to Ellimatta Reserve.
“He (Appleford) dropped me a message on there, told me a little bit about the club and just asked if I wanted to have a chat about it,” she said.
“Then we had a call and he told me about the club and where it was and the history of the club. And then I had a call with Janet as well, who’s the women’s captain, and they basically just offered for me to come over for the summer at Anglesea.”
Back home, the seam bowler plays for Blackheath in Surrey and also for University of Exeter.
“I just came out for some fun, nice summer out here, good vibes,” she said.
“It’s going well so far.”
It didn’t take long for Tabby to make an impact on the field either. She took 5/14 in Anglesea’s opening round win against North Geelong in the B Grade women’s competition and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick.
The hat-trick delivery didn’t quite come out the way Tabby wanted it to, dropping a bit shorter than she would have liked, but it almost took off stump out.
“I was a bit annoyed that ball was short, but the batter swung at it and it was so close,” she said.
“But unfortunately, it didn’t go my way, but it’s okay. There was a lot of pressure going into today and I felt a bit nervous.
“But clearly things went right for me today, which was nice and it definitely helps having such a supportive team behind me – they’re so welcoming and friendly.”
Tabby is also a skilled batter although with Anglesea winning so convincingly, making 1/130 in reply to North Geelong’s 9/90, she will need to wait before taking guard for her first knock.
While the game was at North Geelong’s Osborne Park turf wicket, Tabby will need to adjust to the synthetic pitch of her home club. Barrabool, Queenscliff and Portarlington also play home matches on synthetic wickets in the B Grade competition.
“We had a practice match last week at Anglesea and that’s on synthetic so it’s definitely a bit of an adjustment for me because we play on grass wickets back in the UK,” she said.
“But I mean it’s kind of good because it means I can adapt my style a little bit, pitch it a little bit fuller and just learn to sort of adapt how to play on the hard wicket.
“I definitely don’t dislike it. It’s just something new. Because also I’m used to wearing spikes a lot, and they’re metal spikes, so you can’t really wear them on the harder wickets.
“I think one of the main adjustments is I’ll need to get a pair of rubber spikes.”
Southern Victoria’s notorious spring weather was at its worst during the opening round last Sunday. In time Tabby may get used to the daily changes in weather, especially on the Surf Coast.
“It was very windy,” Tabby said.
“You couldn’t hear any of your teammates. We were all sort of shouting across the pitch – couldn’t hear a thing anyone was saying.”
Tabby, who is living at Mt Duneed, will celebrate her 22nd birthday next month and has plans to explore the area when she’s not playing cricket.
“I definitely want to explore this area of Australia a little bit more,” she said.
“I’ve been to Melbourne once, but I’d definitely be keen to go back for a few days. I’m going to go to the Ashes as well, which I’m really excited for.
“And then I’ve actually got a couple of friends in Adelaide, so I might do the Great Ocean Road and then head up to see them.”
So far the Anglesea cricket family has helped Tabby settle in and she knows she made the right choice.
“I’m honestly loving it,” she said.
“It’s such a lovely club and just the community vibes and the friendliness of everyone has been so great. I’ve only been here just under two weeks so I’m very new to the area, it’s a lovely club. Everyone’s so welcoming as well.”
