This was it, driving into the Yorkshire CCC car park in my brand new Yorkshire club tracksuit and polo shirt, I was about to embark on the cricket tour that was to springboard my cricket career into the international game, or so i thought. Stepping onto the bus which already seated international cricket stars, Darren Gough and Craig White I was convinced this was to be the tour where my cricket career kicked off and i was excited and nervous to arrive in Abu Dhabi and get training for the Pro Arch Cricket Challenge where 6 first class counties were to prepare for their upcoming season.

After a long journey down to Heathrow on the team coach and an even longer flight to Abu Dhabi we arrived at our hotel and were given 2 hours to unpack and get a shower before going to the ground for net practice. My roommate was David Wainwright, a good friend of mine who is now in the England 2020 squad. He, like me, was looking forward to working hard and pushing for a place in the first match of the tour against Sussex in 3 days time.

The first thing that struck me about the practice session was the strength of the sun in Abu Dhabi, something i had experienced earlier in the winter with a 2 week trip to India. Looking around me as a wet  behind the ears 17 year old it was amazing to be on tour with the cricketing hero of my youth, Darren Gough. The most striking thing about the ground was the fact it is built in the middle of the desert, the best cricketing facility i had ever seen surrounded by sand and camels, this was brilliant.

After not being selected for the first game i decided this was no bad thing and got down to training hard on all sides of my game and using the wealth of cricket experience around me to learn as much as possible. On tour i was lucky enough to talk to ex England international off spinner Shaun Udal about bowling as well as having experienced county performers and England internationals around me in my own side, having a beer with Goughy and Craig White, as a self proclaimed cricket badger this was like heaven to me!

It was soon to become apparent to me though that the life of a professional sportsman has its hardships as well as the obvious advantages. After sitting watching the lads play through the first four games of the tour i was sure the fifth and final game of the tour was to be my first team debut for Yorkshire CCC  against a Lancashire side including every Englishman's cricket hero Andrew Flintoff. As the first 7 names on the team sheet were read out i was willing my name from Martyn Moxon's lips. When the 8th name wasn't mine i was resigned to batting one slot lower than expected, as the 9th wasn't mine either i was sure i was next, "10 Goughie, 11 James Lee, Finchy 12th man" and with that the meeting was over and Martyn walked out of the room. I was crushed. A long sleepless night of self assessment and dwelling on the meeting and the tour as a whole was to come.

Waking up the next morning, match day, this was meant to be my day, my debut, my first first team wicket, but it wasn't. Warming up for the game as 12th man was the hardest thing I'd had to do in my short cricketing career so far, warming up as if i was about to play, just in case an injury occurred in the warm up but knowing deep down it wouldn't happen.

The game came and went, sat on the sidelines putting on a front that i wasn't bothered and going through the motions on a fitness drill in the interval just to be seen to be doing the right thing. At the end of the tour we had 3 days to go around Abu Dhabi  just to relax, shopping in huge shopping centres, out on the town at night with my cricket heroes who i could now call friends, however this was little consolation for the bitter taste of disappointment and failure in my mouth, a taste that would take longer than a few days to wash away.

After the long journey home, we arrived back at the Yorkshire CCC car park, the same car park which only 3 weeks ago held so much excitement for me as a young cricketer. Driving home in my now not brand new tracksuit and polo shirt with all the dreams of old crushed i had learnt a vital cricketing lesson, "its not about how you fall, but how you get up" the words of bowling coach Steve Oldham ringing through my ears....