Love of the Ball

NICK Watkins was Parramatta Cricket Club's leading first-grade run-getter last season.
He scored 650 runs and four centuries, including two in the Sydney grade competition and four all up.
The 25-year-old opener has been playing first grade since he was 16 in Brisbane, where he faced the likes of Test bowlers Andy Bichel, Mike Kasprowicz and Scott Muller and fielded and watched as Andrew Symonds hit 140.
``It was a thrill and the question you ask yourself is `Are you up for it?','' he said of facing the paceman.
He's also faced Pura Cup opening bowler Mark Cameron and now-Australian pace bowler Doug Bollinger in Sydney.
Now Watkins has been selected as a batsman-wicketkeeper in the Australian team for the World Cup in England next month.
So has his twin brother Andrew, a first-grade batsman with Balmain.
But they've had to overcome more than just opening attacks and this isn't just another Australian team.
That's because the twins were born with major hearing problems and this is the Australian deaf team.
``I've had a few run-outs,'' Watkins said, unsurprisingly, of overcoming those hearing problems at the crease.
He survives or perishes at the crease by obeying three principles ``body language, eyesight and hand signals'' and has struck a secure but soundless partnership with his fellow Parramatta opener, the experienced Alex Murphy.
Watkins isn't profoundly deaf and his disability is betrayed by a slight speech impediment which is easy to adjust to.
The disability did take some adjusting to by the young cricketer however.
The twins were discovered to have hearing problems when they were three and this led to further social problems at school.
``It was always an issue,'' he said, before adding ``it wasn't too much of a setback.''
Watkins found a way forward through sport, playing cricket from the age of eight.
``I just loved to have a ball in my hands,'' he said of cricket, soccer, tennis any ball sport as parents Wynn and Merilyn ferried the twins from game to game.
Watkins said the disability had another consequence.
``Because you can't hear much you learn to do everything practical; you rely on your eyes,'' he said.
And hands, not only for catching balls.
Watkins is a landscape gardener and has the state contract for fast-food chain Hungry Jack's. Brother Andrew is a carpenter.
``It gets pretty tiring; people wonder how I do it,'' he said of tending gardens at all the outlets, combined with the cricket.
With love, is the answer.
Now that the cricket is flourishing along with the gardens and he's one of the Sydney competitions' heavy-hitters, Watkins credits Parramatta's coaching consultant, illustrious former Test opener and Australian coach Bob Simpson.
``He's priceless, he's been a great mentor,'' Watkins said. ``He makes the job so simple and doesn't put any pressure on you. He shows you how to build an innings in a way easy to understand.''
Although nothing has come easy, Watkins isn't new to the overseas caper.
He's had a couple of stints in England and was a member of the Australian team which finished third in the 2005 World Cup in India.
``It was a hell of an experience. They love their cricket,'' he added. No more than someone who's just happy with a ball in his hands.

Excerpt from the Parramatta Sun 18/06/08