Adam Shantry, the local lad desperate to make an impact in First Class cricket, remains confident his chance will come with Glamorgan despite injury.
Shantry, the former Perkins and Shropshire left-arm seamer, had high hopes his close season switch to South Wales from Warwickshire would signal the start of an upturn in fortunes having received few chances to impress at Edgbaston.
But he picked up a niggling injury in Glamorgan’s opening pre-season game against Sussex at Hove, and although he then turned in some useful displays for the club’s second team, he is currently sidelined once more with a side strain.
The former Priory School pupil, who started his professional career at Northamptonshire, is doing his best to remain positive but knows he needs better luck with injuries to challenge for a place in Matthew Maynard’s first team.
“I’m pretty down because I thought this would be the year it would start happening for me,” said Shantry, no stranger to the treatment room since his First Class debut five years ago.
“I thought I would go straight into the first team and have a season in there, but I’ve just got to keep my head up and I’m still confident I can do well here.
“I had been in the gym for four hours every day during the winter and working hard on my game so I’ve now just got to get myself right now.
“As soon as I’m fit, and I hope to be back playing next week, I think one big performance for the Seconds, hopefully a five-for, and I’ll be in the first team.”
Shantry has received encouraging feedback from Maynard, revealing the ex-England batsman has been pleased with his performances and shares his frustration at his injury misfortune.
“This is really my big chance,” insisted Shantry. “I’m one of seven or eight seamers at the club but there’s not as much competition as there was at Warwickshire where there were 12 of us trying to get in the team.”
Shantry has been among the wickets in the Second XI Championship and has also impressed when he’s played for Penarth, his allocated club, in the Welsh Premier League.
But he just wants to prove himself on the first team stage and get the chance to line up alongside star names like Glamorgan’s Australian ace Jason Gillespie.
“He’s very good, a model professional,” said Shantry. “I’ve been doing some fitness sessions with him and he’s been very helpful.
“All of the boys here are brilliant, really friendly and there’s a great atmosphere at the club.
“We’ve already won more games than Glamorgan managed throughout last season, although we’ve had a couple of defeats recently.”
To add to Shantry’s woes, Bristol City, his favourite football team, missed out on promotion to the Premier League last weekend.
But he was unable to make it to Wembley, unlike his brother Jack, the Shrewsbury and Shropshire allrounder, as he was on 12th man duty for Glamorgan against Northants.
