YOU don’t know what it means to me to play in this summer’s Hundred competition - and I’ll be wearing the Welsh Fire shirt with pride.

I have to admit that the call was a bit of a shock but it’s only right that a Welshman should be playing for a team called Welsh Fire - and I’m so pleased it’s me.

I got a call on Monday night telling me but was sworn to secrecy until the drafts were announced on Tuesday.

I’ll have a few people calling me now, asking for tickets and my dad’s already been on.

It’s going to be an exciting competition and one I’m really looking forward to.

In fact, I’m really enthusiastic about playing in all forms of cricket with Glamorgan this summer - although I’ll have to remember to pack three jumpers in my bag when he we start off at Headingley against Yorkshire in April. It might be a bit chilly up there.

With what has happened all over the world in the last 12 months, there’s a glimmer of hope that things may start returning to normal this summer.

I’m just desperate to start playing cricket again, taking into account what happened this time last year and the fact that I broke my foot. So effectively I’m getting ready to play red-ball cricket for the first time since 2019.

It’s like starting all over again but I’m looking forward to it and I’ve been given the extra responsibility of opening the batting this season in four-day games.

I’ve opened in one-days and T20s before but head coach, Matt Maynard, came to me and said he’d like to see me have a go up top.

It’s a challenge I readily accepted because it gives me the chance to be in the game straight from the off.

I’ve batted three, four, five and six before and, I have to admit, that I’m a dreadful watcher.

Opening the batting gives me a real purpose. I’ll hopefully get the chance to spend more time at the crease and cement my place as a regular at the start of the innings.

I’ll still be looking to score freely because that’s the way I play. Fields are more attacking early on and the new ball comes onto the bat quicker.

We’ve been training all through the winter, in groups of five and six. One group has sessions indoors and the others are in the gym. Then we switched things around.

Obviously we’ve had to be careful with sanitising etc, but it’s amazing how you get used to it and it may be strange when we try to go back to how things used to be.

We’ve been given the week off this week before things really ramp up for the month before the start of the season.

Playing Yorkshire at Headingley is a tough start for us but we’re in a tough group, playing the likes of Lancashire, Kent and Sussex.

The fans won’t be back in the grounds for the early games but by the time The Hundred gets going in July, you’d like to think there will be a lot of sell-outs.

The County Championship games only attract a couple of thousand at most but the white-ball formats draw bigger crowds and the fans love them.

I remember playing at The Oval in a T20 game and it was a sell-out - 27,000 there.

The atmosphere was brilliant but you couldn’t hear a thing in the field and the noise when someone hit a boundary or a six was electric.

Grounds like The Oval are great because it feels like the crowds are on top of you.

I’ll look forward to that big match atmosphere and I plan to thrive on it.

Taunton’s another ground I like playing at. They, too, attract big crowds although you can expect a bit of banter or even much worse from the fans when you’re fielding on the boundary edge.

The same can be said for Essex Eagles. You always get slated there, especially in Chelmsford!

Talking of big crowds and Cardiff will be strangely quiet this Saturday despite the fact that Wales are taking on England in the Six Nations.

I have to admit that I’m not a big rugby fan. Football and cricket were always my go-tos as a child.

We had to play rugby in school but I never took to it - and I think a lot of people growing up in North Wales will say exactly the same.

If my mate rings me up and says I‘ve got a couple of tickets for a Wales game, I sometimes go but I’d much rather watch a football match - and especially a Wrexham game any day of the week.

And what a time it is to be a Wrexham fan.

I’m still trying to get my head around why two Hollywood film stars in Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney would want to buy us. Why Wrexham I ask. And I think everyone else has been asking the same.

I’ve streamed all their games this season but just when you think we might do it, then they go a get a result like they did at Aldershot on Saturday.

They say it’s the hope that kills you and that’s been Wrexham’s motto in the non-league years.

It might take them a little longer than they anticipate to get back into the Football League but there’s no doubt these are exciting times for the club and the town.

I’ve watched them since I was a child, going to games with my dad and my grandma. And then when I was playing football for Borras Park, my mum would drop me off at the ground in time to watch the second half.

I’ve seen some great games - a couple of games spring to mind. A 5-0 win over Cambridge and a 3-2 win at Wigan where Hector Sam scored.

Then there was the first trip to Wembley and the FA Trophy win. What a day that was.

Sport gives you great memories and lets hope 2021 is a good one for Glamorgan, Welsh Fire and , of course, Wrexham.

In an interview with NICK HARRISON