The calm before the forecast storm was recently playing golf in Hawaii and Florida – arriving home rejuvenated by the family holiday and ready to unleash his famed fury at the Twenty20 launch.
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Simon Norvill, Tamworth cricket’s longstanding, undisputed king of carnage, will look to blast Old Boys from their funk over the next five weeks of T20 – starting with South Tamworth at Riverside 1 on Saturday.
Norvill will aim to deliver the type of pyrotechnics that saw him smash a 35-ball century in Old Boys’ major semi-final demolition of Wests last season.
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He feels good heading into the opening T20 round, having holidayed with his son, Scott, 10, his elder sister, Liz, and his mum and dad, Cath and Steve. After tasting Hawaii, they visited Norvill’s elder brother, Andrew, in Orlando. Andrew, who grow up in Tamworth, is a marketing man, and lives there with his Canadian wife.
“I've had a few weeks off cricket … so it will be good to get back into it,” Norvill said.
“I sort of try and play the same in any format,” he added. “Because, I guess, if you try and create too much stuff you can get yourself into trouble.
“I’m naturally aggressive. So I just try and play my own game in whatever format, and that seems to come off pretty quick, anyway. I feel that if I try too much in Twenty-20, I don’t bat as well.”
Old Boys are the defending T20 champions. They have already surrendered the one-day title they won last season, and are fifth on the ladder with one win. They have lost their past three matches.
The T20 final will be played on February 1. And unlike last season, the points accrued during the five rounds count towards the premiership.
“We’ve had a bit of an unorganised start to the year, just with blokes out,” Norvill said, adding: “So hopefully we can start to get a bit more settled as a team … If we can start to get our team a little bit more settled, we'll start to find some form at the right end of the season.”
Also on Saturday, Norths and Bective clash at Riverside 3, and City and Wests meet at Riverside 2.
