IF SUNDAY'S NatWest T20 Blast game was all about the professional return of former England all-rounder Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, Reigate Priory's Richie Oliver forgot to read the script – hitting the Lancashire star for a four and a six off his first two balls.
Oliver only signed his first professional cricket contract last month at the age of 24, having been given a game by the Worcestershire second team and impressing enough to be handed a first team place with the Rapids.
And having looked up to Flintoff as a child, the Llamas batsman admits he felt "a bit guilty" hitting the England legend for six in the match, which Lancashire eventually won by 50 runs.
After the game, 36-year-old Flintoff joked on Twitter he had enjoyed the comeback "apart from getting donged for two sixes by a couple of cheeky kids".
"The fact that it was Freddie made me feel a bit guilty," Oliver said. "It's not often you get to play against someone you pretended to be as a kid, bowling balls in the garden, let alone hit a six against them in competitive game. It's just a shame about the result."
At the start of the summer, Oliver was expecting a summer of playing and coaching at the Llamas while captaining minor counties side Shropshire, but things have got even busier since he turned professional.
Having slept in his car while on trial with Worcestershire, Oliver is currently looking at slightly more permanent, but no less eccentric, accommodation options now he's under contract, but is taking the rapid career progression in his stride.
"I've never really been one to stick to the script, things like this just happen in my life," Oliver admitted. "When I first turned up at Reigate Priory it was in a three-wheeled van and then a couple of weeks later, Andy Delmont and I helped stop a thief. Unexpected things tend to happen to me, but I wouldn't want it any other way.
"I'm really loving it at Worcestershire. I've come in not knowing them and I'm a bit unusual in the way I play cricket but they have made me feel so welcome, that's the magic part of it.
"The only difficult bit is with all the travelling between Reigate and Worcestershire, I'm never in the same bed for more than one night.
"I'm still looking for somewhere to stay in Worcestershire. No one wants to rent somewhere to me for two months but I'm thinking of buying a caravan – I'm going to view some this week."
