The right-arm pacer picked nine wickets in The Hundred.
“I tried cricket because I was terrible at other sports.”
Imagine saying that, and then going on to debut for your country a few years down the line. Playing sport at the highest level is a dream every kid goes to bed with. But for Sonny Baker, things were different. He tried a bit of football for both the schools he was a part of, and failed. He tried goalkeeping. Failed miserably again. Tag Rugby became the third try, but clearly, that didn’t go down well either. And hence, he just ‘gave cricket a go.’ Little did Baker know, what cricket was baking for him.
The decision of giving cricket a go hasn’t disappointed Sonny Baker. At the age of 17, he didn’t really think that cricket was a good option for him, because he had recently suffered a stress fracture. But he started playing for local district teams after being a part of Torquay Cricket Club. Baker later went on to represent the Somerset Academy.
The English pace-bowling sensation studied at King’s College in Taunton, when he was drafted into the Trent Rockets squad back in 2021. Surprisingly, he isn’t the only one from the college to play the tournament. Will Smeed, Jos Buttler, Tom Banton and Calvin Harrison – all attended the school at various points.
In a stunning stat, Baker is the first man to make his T20 debut in a Hundred game. It can be said that this record is to his name because of a back injury he suffered before the tournament. In fitter circumstances, he would have made an appearance in the Vitality Blast, representing Somerset.
After the 22-year-old signed a contract with Somerset in 2021, things started to turn around in his favour. In the same year, he was selected by Trent Rockets to represent them in The Hundred. Baker was drafted in as an injury replacement for speedster Wahab Riaz. He got the news soon after he completed a domestic game in England, and was left stunned to know that he would be representing a side in The Hundred.
Somerset were playing a Royal One-Day Cup match against Warwickshire. The latter needed just one run to win, when Baker bowled a no-ball full-toss to the batter. He was gutted, thinking that he had made a mess of the opportunity he had. But the Director of Cricket at Somerset had interesting news for the pacer. He was contacted by the General Manager of the Rockets, who wanted to sign Baker.
Though he did not get to play a game that season, he recollects that the experience was extremely handy and insightful. He spoke about his experience of speaking to players like Merchant de Lange, who was his teammate at Somerset. One thing that always separated Baker from the rest was his ability to keep learning and thriving under pressure. It is no surprise that he will play his first-ever match for the Three Lions on September 2.
Having said that, his career has not been without its share of setbacks. Baker was a part of England’s U19 squad in 2022. But he was ruled out even before the main tournament started, due to a stress fracture in one of the warm-up fixtures. What added to the heartbreak was the fact that he had led England’s bowling unit against the West Indies in a series before the World Cup. But the injury pulled him down.
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Preparation is Baker’s unique selling proposition (USP). The young speedster is big on preparing before a match, but is also aware about what his body requires out of him. After his injury, Baker stated that there was a time when he was only bowling on matchdays. He expressed that it had been really difficult to scrap the preparation itinerary and get to the other side, but he has clearly managed it very well.
Baker also voiced his views on the greatest Test series according to him. For Baker, there is nothing more prestigious than The Ashes, and nothing gets better than that. In the eyes of Baker, The Ashes is the pinnacle of Test cricket. Though his involvement with the game has been in its shortest format, the speedster is very much open to making it big in the red-ball format.
The 22-year-old has only played five Youth ODIs till date, and has managed to scalp 10 wickets in those. To add to that, his pace has become the talk of the town. The fact that he is able to generate serious pace despite his injury speaks volumes of the work he has put in.
England’s latest debutant wreaked havoc in The Hundred league recently. He bagged a total of nine wickets, which wasn’t very prominent. But there was a hat-trick in those nine wickets, which quickly became the talk of the town. It would be interesting to see how well Sonny Baker performs on debut. Skipper Harry Brook has expressed promising signs for the young speedster, and the cricketing world would be excited to see him run in.
ENG Playing XI: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook(c), Jos Buttler(w), Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Sonny Baker
SA Playing XI: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Wiaan Mulder, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
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