Like many people, I have been engrossed by the Ashes this Summer, where the England and Wales Cricket Board took victory over Australia. It was the fourth test in particular that grabbed my attention, when Stuart Broad put in an amazing bowling display to leave Australia all out for just 60 runs.

After that, I was keen to get to the sports centre and have a go for myself.

I met with Secretary of Ross-on-Wye Cricket Club, Jim Lewis and Chairman, Stuart Mair, who doubles up as a coach at the club. They put me through my paces and I quickly realised just how much skill is involved in cricket.

Players not only have to be a good batsman, but they also need to be a good fielder and bowler, a varied skillset that isn’t seen in too many other sports.

Stuart told me I could have as much padding as I wanted to go up against the ‘bowling machine’, to which I replied “all of it”, without too much hesitation.

The bowling machine could be set to whatever speed, spin or distance that Stuart fancied, as he placed the ball into the machine and let it do the hard work.

I faced balls at 56 mph and managed to defend my stumps in an unorthodox fashion. At this point Stuart explained that when a ball is bowled at that speed, the batsman has half a second to think about what they are going to do. Immediately he cut my thinking time further by upping the pace to 64 mph, at which point I began to struggle. Jim informed me that this pace is around what the Ross 2nd XI face in their league week in, week out.

After being embarrassed on the bowling machine, it was time for me to try bowling for myself. It was the job of 13-year-old Ollie O’Neill to stand and watch as my early attempts flew a long way either side of him. Ollie joined the club as a junior and this year made his debut for the senior 1st XI. With guidance from Stuart, I managed to bowl at the stumps and give Ollie something to hit. My early efforts must have drawn Ollie into a false sense of security, as with my final ball, I managed to bowl him out, but I have a feeling Ollie was going easy on me.

Despite being a patchy cricketer at best, everyone at the club was very supportive and gave me advice on how to improve throughout the evening. Most importantly, for a sport that I had barely considered in the past, I found it most enjoyable.

If you would like to try cricket then visit the Ross-on-Wye Cricket Club website to find out more at www.rossonwye.play-cricket.com