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Leverock puts career before Cup Match

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Kamau Leverock is in the UK pursuing a dream of turning pro.

Challengers Somerset could be without one of their biggest stars during this year’s Cup Match in the West End.All-rounder Kamau Leverock has committed himself to playing in the Surrey Championship League with Dorking Cricket Club which could rule out any plans of representing Somerset in August’s two-day classic at Somerset Cricket Club.“It’s a possibility I could miss Cup Match,” Leverock said, speaking from the UK. “Of course, it would be a miss because it’s always nice to play in Cup Match.”The nephew of former West Indies batsman Alvin Greenidge and 2007 World Cup veteran Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock transferred from relegated PHC to Southampton Rangers during the off season. However, his debut for Rangers may also be placed on the back burner.“I’m most likely going to be in England for the whole summer,” he said.The teenager moved to England last year to pursue a dream of playing professional cricket.“I’m out here in England chasing my dream and I have to keep my dream in mind,” Leverock said. “And I’m very excited because Dorking have ties with County teams so if I do good in the Championship then County teams start to look at you. I’m really looking to do good in the first couple of games.”Leverock is currently living with compatriot Jonte Smith who signed a professional football contract with League Two club Crawley Town last week.He said his room-mate has reinforced his belief that anything is possible if you are willing to bend your back.“Jonte has really motivated me a lot,” he said. “He’s proven that anything is possible with hard work and I wish him all the best.”Since his arrival in the UK, Leverock, who represented Bermuda at this year’s ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers in Dubai, has placed a lot of emphasis on refining his batting and bowling.“I’ve been working on tactical work such as trigger movements and footwork for my batting,” he added. “For my bowling I’ve been working on my action so I can have a more accurate line and length.”Leverock reckoned he’s made steady progress since arriving in England.“When I came here last year it was a bit hard,” he said, “but I made a quick transition to the conditions.“I was in pretty good nick with the bat when I came here but I had to get used to the bounce and pace of the wickets that are a lot slower out here. I was playing in front of the ball instead of waiting on it a lot more.”So far Leverock has reaped more success with the ball than the bat in the UK.“I take the new ball we play with in the Championship which is a different type of ball that is a bit harder to swing,” he said. “But I do get a bit of movement and reverse swing.“I played three games last year and took a couple of wickets but didn’t make too many runs. I had a slight injury at the time.”Leverock said he had been well received at his new club.“I actually fitted right in as soon as I arrived here and the players have been very receptive of me,” he added. “The standard is very high in the Surrey Championship because there are a lot of very competitive teams.”

Photo by Tamell Simons Kamau Leverock: Wants to be bigger than uncle Dwayne, but only in the cricketing sense. A raw talent, his first Cup Match might be an eye-opener for him.