Andrew Salter finished as Glamorgan's leading wicket-taker in the 2019 Vitality Blast, taking 14 wickets across the season as well as recording a career-best score. We caught up with him to reflect on last season, get his thoughts on what he's looking to do in 2020 and what Baffle Culture is...
The off-spinning all-rounder from Pembrokeshire took two career-bests in a tough Blast for Glamorgan, and admits it's not easy to take the positives when a side is not playing to it's potential.
"For myself it was a good campaign," said Salter. "Probably my best one yet in terms of my contributions to the team. The sour note on all that is we didn't have a great campaign, only winning that last game. It was a tough tournament for us so it's tough to celebrate my successes when that doesn't translate to winning games. I want to win those games and make my contributions match-winning.
"In T20 some of the best bowlers in the world are spinners, just watching some of the competitions around the world they have great success. For me it's about learning my trade a little bit more, different variations and trajectories, etc. Once you develop that package with field settings and learning the game more, you find more success in T20 cricket."
Off-season travelling
'Salts' normally spends his winters in warmer climates in the Southern Hemisphere, but was happy to stay in Wales this off-season to prepare for the 2020 campaign and work alongside the S&C and coaching staff to develop his skills further.
"Out of the last five winters I've spent two in New Zealand and two in Australia before that so it has been quite different being home for winter. Going out there you're playing competitive cricket throughout, it's a great opportunity to learn your game but this winter has been great to break down skills and step away from competitive action to build on skills and fitness to be ready for summer."
Baffle Culture brand
Salter was recently awarded the main prize at the PCA Futures Awards due to his work with his Baffle Culture brand. The brand has gone from strength to strength, and with the recent opening of the Baffle Haus and other plans in the pipeline, it's an exciting time for 'Salts' and Baffle Culture.
"The PCA Futures Award is something I've tried to share everywhere! I'm really proud of it. It's a PCA initiative to get guys thinking about post-cricket. I've been pretty lucky to have followed my interest and passion in motorcycling. I've been plugging it all over Instagram so it's there to be seen! It's nice to have a distraction from cricket and build some life skills for after cricket. While it is nice to have something on the side, my main focus is on the season ahead and getting back in the team."