Matt bounces back as a white-ball bowler

May 8, 2025

MATT Wareing has admitted he got ‘left behind’ as a white-ball bowler due to injury and then Covid.

The 31-year-old, who made his Suffolk debut in 2015, was laid low for two years later by a bulging disc in his lower back which turned out to be a stress fracture to his lower vertebrae.

The injury combined with Covid meant he missed three seasons of cricket, and by the time he returned to represent Suffolk white-ball had evolved.

Wareing (pictured above) has been one of the stand-out performers for Suffolk so far this season, claiming five wickets in the friendly loss to Bedfordshire, before ripping through Norfolk’s top order in the opening NCCA Trophy match.

He returned figures of 8-2-27-5 as Suffolk defeated the holders by 124 runs at Fakenham CC, and followed that up with 7-0-33-1 in the 67-run success versus Staffordshire at Bignall End CC on Bank Holiday Monday.

Wareing said: “Since it became a white-ball competition with coloured clothing, I had only played a handful of games, and my performances had not warranted more than that, to be fair.

“After missing those three years, post-Covid it was a different game the way it was being played and I had got left behind and it has taken me a while to catch up.

“If you look back through my one-day stats they are less than average, but I have been working with an online coach during the winter and changed my gym routine and it’s paying dividends.

“Both my confidence and pace have improved and I am bowling more consistently.

“That was my first five-wicket haul for Suffolk in a competitive match versus Norfolk. It was one of those spells where everything went well and there was both pace and bounce in the wicket.

“I don’t remember a spell before where I felt there was going to be a wicket every ball, and it was a nice feeling to play a significant role in defeating Norfolk.”

Wareing hailed the performance of fellow seamer Dan Shanks, who followed up his spell of 4.3-2-4-3 at Norfolk with 10-1-39-2 at Staffordshire.

“Josh Cantrell will rightly get the plaudits for his 57 not out, three wickets and direct hit run out, but Dan Shanks bowled really well at Staffordshire – stump-to-stump and didn’t give them an inch.

“He was mainly bowling to their skipper (former first-class batter) James Kettleborough, so that show you how well he bowled.”

Wareing, who had one season as a player at Sudbury in 2022 before moving to fellow Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League side Witham, is looking forward to returning to Friars Street as Suffolk face Herefordshire in their third Group 2 match on Sunday.

“We have got a very good record there. If we win on Sunday we will give ourselves a very good chance of guaranteeing qualification for the quarter-finals.”

Suffolk have named an unchanged side, with Sudbury’s Freddie Cloud as 12th man.

Suffolk: Jack Beaumont, Ollie Burle, Darren Ironside, George Rhodes, Alex Oxley, Kieran Pell, Josh Cantrell (capt), Jacob Marston (wkt), Tom Harper, Dan Shanks, Matt Wareing. 12th man: Freddie Cloud.

 

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