It’s something you see fast bowlers joke about after a tough day running in all day, maybe they should just bowl spin. Well Hampshire’s Andrew Neal did just that, after two serious injuries the 6ft 5 left arm seamer decided it was time for a change. That change has seen him end up being Hampshire’s go to spinner during the One Day Cup this year and getting an extension to the end of the season, justifying the 25 year old’s decision to quit his job as a physiologist in St Albans, earlier this year to pursue going full-time.

He started his journey as a slow left armer when he went to Perth on what Neal called “a ten week cricketing holiday”. As a lot of good club pros do Neal went Down Under, and ended up playing second grade for Rockingham-Madura.

“I bowled thirteen overs for a lot of runs  and I reckon 95% of the runs went through backward point, just short drag downs and I had no idea where they were going. My teammates had no idea it was the first game I had bowled spin in, the Aussies were looking at each other going what have we bought over this lad for he is absolute junk,” Neal recalls. “I was a bit embarrassed by those performances, I was so inconsistent”.

However, he kept working a way at his craft, persuading his club captain to give him a bowl at Harpenden.

“It was a pre-season friendly at Hampstead and I was in the skipper’s ear telling him I’d been working on my spin. I took a wicket in my first over with a drag down caught on the boundary and I turned to him and said I told you, I can take wickets”.

It began to click for club side Harpenden and then he became a key part of the Hertfordshire T20 ball bowling attack in 2023 going at an economy rate of just 4 runs per over across the season.

“Going straight into t20 cricket definitely helped in the minors (counties), as a spinner you can bowl quicker, you can mix and match a little bit especially with five fielders out.” During that season Neal re-discovered his love for the game. “I really enjoyed being able to contribute with the ball and my body  felt great”

It wasn’t just his body where Neal was noticing the difference between seam bowling and spin at the top level but also the mental side.

“I used to be hot headed as a seamer so if I got hit for six, I would usually follow up with a bumper or a slower ball something vastly different. But as a spinner you have to try and outsmart the batter and stay calmer and not physically intimidate the opposition.”

He is still getting used to not opening the bowling, “In red-ball cricket as a spinner you can just do nothing for the first three sessions, especially if it’s a green seamer and that felt weird. I was chomping at the bit too bowl and its only the tenth over the ball is going all over the place, of course I’m not going to bowl. I’m definitely better now at staying calm and just going to field!”

Two seasons on, Neal wanted to give professional cricket another shot, so quit his physiologist role in St Albans and  messaged Jimmy Adams, the former Hampshire 2s coach who he had met while trialing at the county as a seamer. Adams is no longer the coach at Hants, but he was able to put the tall left armer in contact with the club. Neal impressed in his trial earning a spot in the 2s from the start of the season back in April.

Then the call came in June telling him that he had earned a contract for the One Day Cup and rest of the season. “I was just very grateful it felt like a big thank you to my family and everyone who had supported me along the way”.

Neal has always been a battler, having type 1 diabetes he used to struggle with his levels while playing at a younger age and actually said that fast bowling was good at keeping his blood sugar levels up because of the adrenaline that he would get from bowling. He now wears an apple watch, while he plays that is connected to a insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor so if he does have any issues he can wave at the 12^th man to get him some glucose tabs.

“I did used to get some funny looks from umpires when I handed them my glucose packs or saw I had a load of Haribo’s in my pocket but once it was explained they were very understanding”.

 The watch has been a game changer for Neal who while playing in the scheme at Leeds he would have to guess his blood sugar levels, as all he could do was scan a reader before he would go out for a session of play. “I used to think my level was at a 5.6 (blood sugar level) but actually I would be at an 18, which is quite a big difference and it made things difficult”

Now at Hampshire he is flying, taking 10 wickets in his first seven games for Hampshire and learning and enjoying every moment. He has been learning off fellow spinner Felix Organ down at the Utilita Bowl and is also hoping to pick the brains of Liam Dawson once he returns from the Hundred.

In the future he will be hoping to land that gold-dust multiyear deal that players on the county circuit crave but also he is just hoping to improve.

“Bowling wise, I just want to get better my action is completely self-taught so just want to work on that, and to be honest I just want to keep enjoying it. It’s soppy but over the last three years I actually have been looking forward to playing, so I’m just going to have fun and see where it takes me.”