Australian Hayden Kerr was a physiotherapist only a year ago. He now awaits his chance to make his debut in the IPL 2022.
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Australian all-rounder Hayden Kerr would not have thought about his rapid rise as a pro cricketer himself. He was working across the suburbs of Sydney last year before he decided to take a move ahead, in June 2021, to travel to the Gold Coast and play club cricket. In a span of 12 months, after a fine show for Sydney Sixers, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) stand-by player awaits his chance to make his IPL debut.
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Kerr, 25, comes from one of the most famous towns in the world — Bowral — the home of the great Don Bradman. Interestingly, the Australia great was nicknamed ‘The Boy from Bowral’ and Kerr could take some inspiration from the man himself. The rising cricketer was raised in the town and took the idea of pursuing pro cricket seriously in 2019-20 after he broke the NSW Premier Cricket record for the most runs in a T20 season.
“My childhood, I was never the best cricketer, I was always OK and played low representative cricket but nothing of higher honours, Through high school I wanted to go to university because cricket wasn’t quite at the point where you could call it a profession. The courses took five years and throughout that time I played every grade of cricket from sixth grade to first grade at Sydney University. Throughout I was just trying to get better every day (and) consistent performances in first grade started to occur and that started to get me into the Second XI side (for NSW),” Kerr told cricket.com.au.
He notched up 370 runs at a staggering average of 92 in five matches to better the previous former South Africa captain Johan Botha (346). His run caught the attention of BBL franchise Sydney Sixers who signed him as a replacement player in the ninth edition. He had played five matches in the inaugural season which helped him earn a two-year contract at the end of the season
Kerr is rubbing shoulders with some of the finest players in the shortest format in the LSG camp at IPL 2022. He has the likes of Jason Holder, Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis along his side which allows him to pick up their brains besides the likes of Andy Flower and Andy Bichel present as coaching staffs. Flower, in fact, made him share his life story in the camp as he recalled the moment. “We went from my childhood all the way through to now in a quick summary but more so about the last year to 18 months for me and what’s that looked like in terms of going to work, training, the sacrifices, moving around the country and eventually getting to the position I’m in at the moment
“That was a pretty special experience for me standing in front of those guys and them giving me the time to explain where I’ve come from and what I’ve achieved in the last season. I think they enjoyed it. It was more of an exercise for them to get to know me a bit better outside of cricket, but also the context of me as a person … most of the guys get around you a bit after that because it’s a good way to get to know people as well.”
