Lewis McManus: An Insight To Winter Preparations

Words: Brad Taylor

Hampshire wicket keeper-batsman Lewis McManus is well travelled in the winter months having spent two off-seasons in South Africa and a whole winter in Melbourne in 2018. I spoke to him about his experiences playing overseas and look ahead to his plans ahead of the 2020 pre-season.

The 25-year-old, who has experienced winters both playing overseas and training here in England, outlines that there are benefits to both approaches to the off-season.

“I think there are benefits of staying here at times to work on the physical side of your game.

"Although going out and playing as much cricket as you can putting yourself in game scenarios is obviously something that you can’t do here during the winter, to be able to do both is really beneficial to improving and developing as much as I can.”

Having spent the first part of the winter at the The Ageas Bowl, McManus has mapped out his plans and preparation leading into the start of the new 2020 campaign.

“I went on holiday for a couple weeks in October after the season finished and it was nice to get away for a bit and forget about cricket for a little bit.

"By the time you come back you’ve had a chance to reflect on the season and be able to identify some areas that you can work on to help getting ready for the new season and improve as a player.”

“Now I'm planning on going to Durban to begin the year, something I’ve done before and I feel like it fits quite well to spend a little bit of time here, working with a few things with some of the coaches before going away just to get a bit of game time before the pre-season here to hopefully have a bit of a head start."

While in South Africa in recent off-seasons, the youngster has worked hard with former Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein, trying to pick his brains as much as possible.

Having been pleased with the results of those previous trips, he's hoping that another positive campaign is in the pipeline this year.

“I think that different countries have different views or slightly varied approaches to cricket and batting - although not every opinion will be right, the more coaches that you can work with pick little ideas here and there can help and you can build your own portfolio of knowledge.

"I'm looking forward to the coming months and then hitting the ground running to begin a busy summer of cricket."

The best way to catch Lewis and the rest of the Hampshire squad in action all season long this season is with a 2020 Hampshire Cricket Membership and there’s never been a better time to join or renew.

More information on each Membership offering can be found online via the link above, over the phone on 0844 847 1863 or in person at the The Ageas Bowl Ticket Office (Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm).