Worcestershire keeper-batter Henry Cullen says he has reaped the benefits of spending the first half of the winter playing and training in Australia and adapting to a different environment.
Cullen heads into the festive break after scoring 452 runs in seven innings for Plenty Valley CC in the Victoria Cricket Association at an average of 75.33.
He has scored one century and four half centuries but has also combined the weekend matches with regular net practice and adhering to a strengthening and conditioning programme laid out for him by Worcestershire.
Cullen said: “How have I settled in? “It’s been brilliant, making new relationships, inside and outside of the club I’m at, experiencing a different environment, different city.
“It’s been good learning off everyone else and sort of fending for myself a little bit.
“You have that pressure and extra responsibility of being brought out here, and I’d probably have hoped to convert a few more hundreds from the fifties.
“But it has been good. It’s been better than I wished for.
“I’d say the standard is pretty similar to the league cricket back home.
“You obviously get players that come from a step above and you also get young lads trying to aspire to go to that next step.”
Cullen added: “Spending time out in the middle, but also on top of getting that training in the week and just having that freedom and experience of match practice and game scenarios, has been helpful.
“I’m tending to try and have a hit four times a week before a Saturday, and then continue with my strengthening and conditioning programme, which is three or four times a week.”
Cullen, whose family have flown out to Australia for Christmas, says he enjoyed the experience of being part of the Worcestershire squad for last summer’s Royal London Cup campaign when he made his senior debut.
He said: “It was a brilliant experience being part of the squad and in that environment, learning off the very best really.
“I would probably have liked to have made more of a bigger impact when I had my chance, but I definitely learnt a lot in that couple of months.
“You have to get used to the intensity. In the RLC, that intensity from ball one to the last ball of the innings is the biggest difference, but also the consistency of everyone else around.
“When you are asked to bat, bowl or keep, you’ve got to be at the highest level. You can’t step off the gas.”
