Grace Ballinger column: Away day diary of a professional cricketer

What day of the week is it again?

Recently, my days have unfolded through coach windows, hotel corridors and service stations. A familiar story for many players, coaching staff and travelling fans around the country.

The average professional’s cricket season is a summer spent in transit.

It is a time where what day it is simply doesn’t matter, your life dictated by fixtures and scheduling.

Part and parcel of the occupation is regularly travelling around the country to play. And with this comes some excellent away days, one the entire team look forward to.

Other trips, maybe less so.

Life on the road can be a really good time. You are constantly spending time with your team-mates and travelling to varying corners of the country. It can be especially good if your team is performing and so are you.

However, it can sometimes be a difficult time, and often quite intense.

Last summer, for example, my side had an evening game at The Kia Oval, followed by a travel day home the next day.

The following morning, we travelled to Durham to play that day – opposite ends of the country in 48 hours!

Obviously, this is what we sign up for, and this is by no means a complaint about travelling. We are usually well looked after and using coaches means less driving.

It can still take it out of you, and makes planning your life around cricket more difficult than in the winter, where training takes a more nine to five Monday to Friday nature.

Games are frequently on the weekend, sometimes midweek and often both.

Downtime is occasionally sparse, but also can be plentiful, but what day(s) of the week you get free are completely random.

There are some long trips on the coach, and during these times I feel incredibly grateful to be playing for a Midlands-based side.