Australian all-rounder Sean Abbott, who has been doing incredibly well in the Sheffield Shield this season, feels that he would not let go of any opportunity, be it batting up the order or getting wickets with the ball if he gets a chance to play against India in the upcoming Test series.
"If there's an opportunity to bat higher up the order and the selectors and Painey [Tim Paine] think I can do that job, I won't even think twice about it. I'd definitely say... if a bowling spot came up, I'd be more in line for that one as opposed to someone who can bat at six or seven. But we'll have to wait and see,” he was quoted as saying in 7 news.
Abbott hit his maiden first-class hundred playing for New South Wales against Tasmania during the current season of the Sheffield Shield. While he is averaging 130.5 with the bat in the current season, things weren’t always smooth for the Windsor born as he had to play majorly as a Night-Watchman during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The 2019-20 Sheffield season saw his average improve drastically with Abbot consistently putting in the hard yards in the middle.
Remembering those days, Abbott said, "I don't like losing, so every time I went out there and made a duck or not a big score, it really hurt.”
“The work had always been done (but) I'd be lying if I said the motivation was always there. When I was asked to be a night watchman and batting at nine and 10, you almost just feel like going out there and start slogging so you can get to bowling,” he added.
Abbott, who is also one of the leading wicket-taker in this year’s Shield with 14 already in the kitty in just three games including a six-wicket haul, credited his team New South Wales for backing him up.
“I worked on my batting, I got better, I got some opportunities back up the order and scored some runs. I'm pretty fortunate that it worked out that way... they saw the way I was batting at training and they backed me in and believed in my ability to go back up the order," said Abbott.
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