Sharing the Gloves

Meet Adam Rouse, Academy keeper

With the excitement of three Hampshire players in the Under 19 World Cup this winter it has been all too easy to lose track of the next tier of development  – the ECB scholarship programme for the Under 18s. Hampshire’s representative in this age group is the engaging and enthusiastic Adam Rouse.

Adam is a wicketkeeper batsman who is in his fourth year with Hampshire’s Academy and is at present desperately trying to balance completing his A-levels at Peter Symonds College in Winchester with working on his cricket. He performed well last summer in the ECB’s regional Under 17 festival at Loughborough and found himself selected for the Under 18 training camps. “Initially there were 36 people” he told me, “and then it was cut down to 20 who went on a five day and then a ten day camp. After this it was cut further to the 16 who went on tour to India, which was very good.” 

So what exactly happens during these camps? Adam was happy to elaborate. “The camps have four day cycles with skill development on the first day, then pressure training, then pressure testing. For skill development we had net practising, for example concentrating on the short ball. The next day would be doing the same task under pressure, so you get people right next to you shouting abuse at you, and there are consequences to your shots too; if you’re out, you’re out. The next day it’s similar but you’re actually being tested – the outcome is recorded and counts towards your further selection. The final day is evaluating your performance.

“They also test fitness – it’s quite tough – there is a lot of fitness testing!” Having volunteered to run Southampton’s Sports Relief race with Harry the Hawk Adam knows all about fitness, but feels working with Brunchy gave him the edge over his England counterparts. “The amount of fitness that we do here is way up there – a lot of the other players weren’t at the same standard so I felt I had one up on them.”

The Under 18 training camps culminated in a trip to Bangalore in February. “We went for 16 days. For the first half of the camp we were at the M Chinnaswammy Stadium, the home of the Royal Challengers, so we stayed there and played our games at the Jain International School. It was really good and quite an insight into the culture. I’ve been to India before so it wasn’t much of a shock to me as it might have been.”

The squad also became involved in a community workshop project for the Dream a Dream Charity. Adam explained: “We had two aims; one to give something back to the community and the other to challenge ourselves in an environment we’re not really used to. Dream a Dream helps children who live in Indian shanty towns or on the street and they go to the charity for activities. We hosted a six a side Kwik Cricket tournament and did a mile run for Sport Relief, which was very successful.”

Adam Rouse (portrait by LMI Photography)

Because of coming through the Hampshire ranks so close behind Michael Bates, Adam is sometimes thought of more as a batsman than as a keeper, but he did keep wicket during the Indian tour, although he had to share the gloves. “The squad was made up of a couple of guys my age, but mainly the year younger in preparation for the next Under 19 World Cup. Because it will be their competition and not mine they had two games each and I had one, but I kept really well so I was happy with it and I played as a batsman throughout the tour.” What Adam was too modest to tell me was that he not only batted throughout the tour but top scored as well.

Due to his age Adam won’t have the chance to compete in a World Cup but does hope to wear England Under 19 colours against Australia later this year because many of the squad are contracted to the Counties and may be playing for them instead. “Of course I don’t know whether there’ll be a space for me” he told me, “but I’m hopeful. It’s all about scoring more runs, and that’s the job you’ve got to keep doing.”

Once Adam finishes his A-levels in June he will be with the Hampshire Academy full time. Tony Middleton has planned for him to have more wicketkeeping practice too; with Michael Bates having a development contract he will keep for the Second XI while Adam will bat, and Adam will keep for the Academy when Michael will bat.

Adam won’t be drawn on whether he sees himself as a batsman or a keeper first. “I’d like to think that my batting is as good as my keeping and my keeping as good as my batting. I work with Bobby Parks as my coach, but the amazing thing is with Hampshire is the interaction with the First Team and I do most of my sessions with Nic Pothas, which for a seventeen year old is a great thing.” So is Nic a role model? “It’s easy to give your role model as an international player like Mark Boucher or Adam Gilchrist but Nic’s one of the best in the game, and knowing his style and knowing how hard he works relates to my ethic too.”

Jane Cable
 

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