Jimmy Adams: "It's Super Exciting Really!"

Tell us how you feel about being part of The Hundred with Southern Brave…

It’s super exciting – a brand new competition to be a part of. It will be interesting to figure out how we will need to adjust from T20 tactics and master the differences in the playing experience. The opportunity from a personal point of view is huge; to be involved in the set up with some really experienced coaches and be alongside international class players. In some ways it’s quite daunting but it’s obviously a fantastic opportunity and a challenge. I’m looking forward to it – it’s going to be a fascinating summer.

Southern Brave kick off the competition at Welsh Fire, should be an interesting game – especially with Archer and Smith on show…

The games featuring big homegrown talent alongside amazing overseas talent are what people are looking forward to most. It will be brilliant to watch Mitchell Starc running into David Warner, Jofra Archer running into Steve Smith and those sorts of battles taking place.

We’ve set our team up in a fairly clear way on paper. I think Mahela (Jayawardene) and Shane (Bond) have got their heads together and thought about how we want to approach the game from our end. I’m sure there is plenty of experience in the other camps as well - I’m so intrigued to see how it plays out.

Alongside the big names, who do you think are the ones to watch in the Southern Brave squad?

I’ll be fascinated to see Shadab (Khan) and see how he goes. I haven’t seen him first-hand before. On the domestic front we have a couple of the younger lads from Sussex, Delray (Rawlins) and George Garton - Mahela was keen to have some young blood and some potential for the future so it’ll be interesting to see how they go and what opportunities they get. Ollie Pope comes in, if he’s available.

There is plenty of names there. All of them will play a part at some stage. It’s probably a case of getting on a bit of roll. People talk about it a lot, but confidence in the camp I imagine will be important in a short competition. It’s good to see, from a Southern Brave point of view, that David Warner is in the runs. It would be nice to have him and Vincey (James Vince) up the top to take it to the opposition and set the game up for the guys in the middle like Andre Russell and  Ross Whiteley.

And there’s plenty of quick bowling options as well…

Yeah. It didn’t take long to work out that that (pace) was an area that the guys were quite keen to focus on in the team. The Ageas Bowl is big venue and pace can be a weapon in short formats and that was the approach that Mahela and Shane have gone with. I wouldn’t want to be netting too much if I was still involved but thankfully, I’m not! I’ll just be throwing so it’ll be nice to watch them.

How important is it to have quality spin options in the side and the local link with Liam Dawson too?

We’ve got some good spin options with Shadab and Liam (Dawson), Max Waller and Delray can bowl his left armers too so I think we’ve got lots of things covered. Daws’ record in recent years has been outstanding with the ball in the short form and he was a fairly clear pick for us after the overseas mystery spinners went early. It’s nice to have some talent there as well. We’ve got him and Vincey and there are a few Sussex lads involved so hopefully there is a connection to the regions and the supporters will come and cheer Southern Brave on.

What does a successful competition look like next year for Southern Brave?

The bookies had us as favourites not long after the draft. If everyone stays fit then I suppose we’d say we want to win it, but that’s probably the case for every team. You always want to go out and win the first competition.

More information on member’s access to tickets for The Hundred will be released shortly. For all other information visit TheHundred.com.