CW PRE-SEASON IS A GO!!

We have 4 weeks, ladies, and we are talking all things pre-season!

The season creeps up on us so fast and before we know it we’re a month in already, feeling on the back foot- but so deep into the chaos that there isn’t a second to breathe and actually get on top of things.

So I have picked my four top pre-season pointers to try and help you get ahead of the game. A little pre-season planning now saves a lot of frustration later!

I’m going in hard.. you need a chat with your cricketer!

This may sound stupid but hear me out..

Everyone’s cricket season looks different to the next, and seasons can also be very different from the last. One year it may just be the two of you, the next you may have littlies in tow. One year he may play an hour away, the next round the corner. Captain one year, returning overseas the next.

At whatever stage you are in your Cricket Widow life, I do feel you massively benefit from having a quick chat about how this season is going to work for both of you. But not just work- how are you both going to be the happiest in it?

A lot of compromise happens in a cricketing relationship, but that can go both ways.

A huge thing for me is telling your cricketer what will really help you enjoy the summer of cricket. We love the season and the sunshine, but one thing we miss is that one-to-one quality time with them that becomes few and far between.

It won’t be at the start of the season- being back at the club is so fulfilling and joyous- but it will hit us all at some point. Addressing it before it happens takes away that little lull that comes with it.

It doesn’t have to be big, but just think about a small window where you prioritise each other.

For me and Tyler, we try to keep Friday nights free. The T20 season does disrupt this come May, but basically we both try not to make plans with anyone else so we actually have a slot to see each other haha!

You can’t be disappointed from assuming they know what you’re thinking.

Sit down, lay out your points of view, and come up with the best of both worlds for the season ahead.

If you haven’t already got all the dates in your diary- do it now!

And I mean everything.

Training, league matches, cup games, charity nights, BBQs, gin festivals.

You feel so much better knowing what’s coming next weekend and not finding out on Thursday night that it’s a double-header weekend.

If you know it’s a double header, you’ve already planned one day at the cricket and one with the girls before they can say they’re busy.

Planning ahead and keeping yourself busy on these days is so important. If you let those lonely-feeling days build up it doesn’t do us any good, and we start to resent it.

Keep it fresh, keep it fun, and do something you want to do too.

Don’t get me wrong- every now and again I love a pottering day. But not all the time!

Minimise the solo days.

So as well as cricket dates, take out your phone and get something different booked in for May. It might seem a long way away now.. but you will thank me later!

Book the damn holiday!

If you have even a sniff of a yes to some mid-season sunshine, do not ask again.. just book it!

Even if it’s Monday to Friday- because you’re lucky even with that! And I am very jealous.. my time will come (hopefully!)

For the rest of us… girls trip!

It doesn’t have to be a week- just a few days to get that holiday fix.

You might not feel in desperate need of some vitamin D right now and feel like you’ll be quite happy sat at the club. But the one thing that gets me every year is seeing friends and family going on holiday and wishing I had booked something.

It’s normally June, July or August.. and by that point, unless you have the most easy-going, laid-back “yes” mates there are, it’s generally too late to ask people to fork out a couple of hundred quid for a few days.

And another year passes by without a well-earned summer holiday- however short and sweet it might be.

So if this is you and you know you’ll be feeling like this in four months’ time.. sort it out.

The worst that can happen is they say no.

But you know who won’t say no?

A fellow cricket widow.

Cricket Widows unite!

All this helps, but the one thing that helps more than anything else is other cricket widows.

The understanding and emotional connection that comes from relating to someone in the same boat has an effect you simply can’t explain until you experience it.

Even for me- if someone had told me three years ago the effect you guys would have had on me, without even meeting the majority of you, I would never have believed them.

But the coming together of people going through the same thing, and the protective nature you feel to look after and support each other, is something really special.

You may be experienced in this cricket widow life, but there are always new cricket widows living those early days by themselves- and that’s where you all come into your own.

You are the front line of support at the club.

There to chat over a bottle of wine.

And I’m here as the back-up for the days where we might need that support away from the club.

So we now have our Cricket Widow Club community for you to use whenever you need it- and just know I’m not going anywhere.

So if you ever need a shoulder, don’t be a stranger.

The countdown is on!

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