Starting out as a junior at the age of 10 at Guiseley Cricket Club, Friday night practice was always something I looked forward to at school all week. At 6pm every Friday I would go down to the cricket club with my best mate and play windball cricket with a group of lads and just have a great time without thinking about any form of future in the game. Since then I have been lucky enough to rise through the Yorkshire School boy ranks from the under 12s all the way through to the professional squad at Yorkshire, along the way playing and training with some of the most promising young cricketers in the country as well as some greats of the game such as Darren Gough, Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard.

As a kid, cricket was something I took part in not because I was overly talented or better than anyone else but because it was fun and exciting and I found it was a great way to make friends. I remember taking part in my first game at Guiseley for the U13's as a very nervous 11 year old who was scared of the hard ball we were playing with. I remember winning the game and scoring 3 not out batting at number 11 and feeling like I had contributed. My memories of the rest of the season are rather vague but I strongly remember getting hooked on the satisfaction of getting a wicket or hitting a boundary and this is where my love of the game began.

Being sent to a Yorkshire Trial as a 12 year old was a very proud moment for me and my family. I was never a child who many people would have thought had a chance of one day being a professional cricketer. Instead I was, like many kids reading this blog, blessed with good hand eye co-ordination and was a keen learner and enthusiastic cricketer. Therefore going to the trial was a very nerve racking experience for me and the standard of some of the other boys was quite eye opening to me, having been more used to messing around in the local nets with my friends from school. I didn't think I had done myself justice at the trial and felt nerves had got the better of me. I remember crying to my Dad in the car because I felt I had let everyone down. Much to my surprise a week later I got a letter through the post confirming my selection. I was so proud pulling on the Yorkshire sweater and cap and that feeling of pride was something that never faded during my time with Yorkshire. In the u12 team that year were people who I grew close to and are now very good friends of mine, ex Yorkshire player Greg Wood and current Yorkshire professional Ben Sanderson to name two.

Representative cricket gave me the opportunity to play against some of the best young cricketers in the country at the time and also some average young cricketers who have gone on to be very successful young county professionals in the first class game. As mentioned previously I wasn't a particularly talented young cricketer. So after finishing with the Yorkshire schoolboy system when I was 16, I didn't expect to be offered scholarship terms with the Yorkshire Academy. Although it was obviously an honour to be offered such a position it was also very daunting for me. On signing the contract I was told I had to work hard on my fitness and if it didn't drastically improve over the following winter the contract would be withdrawn. That winter training with the academy and professional staff gave me an insight into what working hard actually meant!! I was now on an academy which included future Yorkshire players, Ajmal Shahzad, Adil Rashid, Adam Lyth, Steve Patterson, James Lee, Oliver Hanon-Dalby, Greg Wood, Ben Sanderson and Jonathan Bairstow. All these players had far superior levels of fitness level to me, alongside a very professional attitude towards their own game. The winter was a long hard slog for me but was also great fun working with past, current and I’m sure future England cricketers and the work I put in at the gym made me feel every inch worthy of pulling on the Yorkshire shirt the following April. As a player who has been through the system with Yorkshire I would stress to all young readers hoping to make cricket their job one day that fitness and fielding is something that will not be overlooked in the professional game. It is important that all youngsters who feel they have a chance to make it as a professional take this into account and make sure it will not stand in the way of their success.

After two successful seasons on the academy I was offered a two year professional contract with the professional staff. This was to put it mildly a dream come true! After signing my contract the hard work continued and it just got harder and harder. Longer, more intense gym sessions, more disciplined net sessions and more thinking about the mental side of the game. Pulling on a Yorkshire shirt with my name and number on the back was something I will never forget. It gave me an immense feeling of pride and a feeling that made all the hard work easily worth it.

Cricket has also been my gateway to travel and see the world, over the past 3 years I’ve been to South Africa twice, Dubai twice, India and New Zealand. All great countries with great cultures and without cricket in my life places I would most probably never have seen. These trips also led me to some great people who I consider family and allowed me to spend time with team mates and forge a close bond with them. The game has a host of great characters and some of the stories I have heard and been a part of will stay with me for life and I’m sure will still make me laugh in many years to come. The inspiration I have drawn from such trips is massive. Seeing my heroes sweating in the gym after years of commitment to the game, still working as hard as they did when they were young and then walking out onto a field and performing at the top of their game is something I will never forget and having the opportunity to share in that is something I will look back on fondly.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Even though my professional cricket career with Yorkshire is now over and was only alive for a short time I have made friends for life and have stories and memories I can tell my grandchildren about. For me, being released was quite a surreal feeling. I felt I had worked as hard as I could and that I couldn't have done any more in my pursuit of a new contract. Therefore the bitterness and hurt a lot of ex professionals seem to feel wasn’t there for me and I feel very content with my efforts whilst wearing the Yorkshire badge. It has also given me a huge hunger to get back into the professional game with another county if I can and hopefully play against all my good friends and ex teammates in an opposition shirt one day. I have seen parts of the world I never thought I would, made friends far outside the boundaries of a cricket field, played with some greats of the game but most importantly enjoyed every step of the way. In my opinion not bad from the kid who turned up every Friday night at 6pm just to have a laugh with my friends.

My message to all young readers would be enjoy the game, play as hard as you can, work even harder off the field but do it with a smile on your face because that’s why we all started to play the game in the first place.