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Thorpe hits football for six | |
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Around the Academy: |
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Surrey's gain was Brentford's loss
I was offered trials at Brentford Football Club at the same time as I was offered a professional contract with Surrey and I had to make a quick decision over which I was going to pursue. Watch my story in video I used to love playing football in the winter and cricket in the summer. It's a shame that you really have to make a choice these days because you can't really fit both sports in. A football career was a thought but it was extinguished pretty quickly when I joined The Oval staff at 18.
But I've never looked back and been too worried about 'what ifs'. I've had an enjoyable career out of cricket and I still enjoy football and love watching it. It just wasn't for me. I got interested in cricket through my father, who used to play local cricket, as well as my two older brothers so I used to go along with them when I was about six or seven. I probably started to play in team form when I was about eight. As for tips that I can pass on, well, often if I was struggling with the bat I was always told to be positive. If you are struggling and think you are going to fail with the bat then it is better to be positive rather than think you are just going out to bat and trying to save your neck. If I'm the next man in then I'll usually watch the action. Sometimes even before then you might like to have a look and see what the pitch is doing or if there's much movement from a particular bowler. But there are times that you have to walk away from the game because even just watching can sometimes be mentally quite tiring and you can be worn out before you get out there to bat.
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