Big year ahead for Devon's Ollie Sale at Somerset

By RICHARD WALSH

DEVONIAN Ollie Sale was back training at Cooper Associates County Ground during his holiday from Newcastle University.

The 20-year-old paceman, who made his debut in the Nat West T20 Blast last summer, said: "It's really great to be back in Taunton and catching up with everybody.

“It makes a good change from my final year at university where it's pretty hard work,” said Sale, who was a Devon age-group player and turned out for Exeter last summer.

"This is a big year for me and my workload at university has gone up quite a bit so it has been tough to manage the time between my studies and my cricket."

Ollie Sale However Sale hasn't been too busy to set up his own business as he explained: "I have been involved with putting together an app for students who are looking for accommodation.

'We do the research and spade work and get all the properties in one place - our app, which makes it easier for students to find somewhere to live.

"Its really exciting as we have only just launched that up in Newcastle so it will be very interesting to see how that goes for us."

Sale talked about how his cricket training has gone so far this winter:

"I have been fitting in three strength-and-conditioning sessions each week as well as a couple of running sessions and three bowling sessions as well, plus batting and fielding, so its been very busy for me.

"I have still been able to get in more or less the same as the boys who have been back at Taunton and I have been keeping in touch with Daz (Darren Veness) and sent him some footage back."

Reflecting on 2016 the former Academy youngster said: "Last season was a challenge for me making sure that I managed my comeback from my back injury so I did a lot of rehab work.

"The season went really well for me and any performances I achieved were a bonus for me and I have gone into this winter into a good place.

"I had a couple of good performances for the 2nd XI and made my 1st XI debut in the T20, which was a big bonus for me after my injury."

Looking ahead to the 2017 season Sale said: "This is my last year on the Somerset Scholarship so hopefully it will be a successful one for me and at the end of it I am awarded a contract.

"There is a lot of work to do. However it is very exciting and I can't wait for it to come around."