Meet the newest member of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph sports team. Enfield professional SHANE LEE is one of the hottest talents in Australian cricket. And he will be bringing you a personal account of his summer in the EW Cartons Lancashire League every week...

FIRST priority: Buy a cookbook.

I am sharing a flat with Haslingden professional and New South Wales team-mate Brad McNamara in Haslingden.

And after our first week, the cooking duties are still under discussion!

But, despite our inadequacies in the kitchen, it is good to be here with a mate.

Brad is as good a friend off the field as he is on it at home.

He was the first person I asked about Enfield and it was sold to me when 'Buzzard' said it was a competitive club with a good bunch of blokes.

I was already looking to come over here and play a league season.

After my year with Somerset and the Sheffield Shield season I was ready for something of a break.

The two of us arrived in East Lancashire last Friday after a 10-day holiday in Tenerife and Barcelona to recharge the batteries. We spent a lot of time on the beach and probably had a bit too much beer but we have been straight back into the regime at the gym, working out for a couple of hours each morning.

I don't get much chance to do weights at home and this is a good time to build some upper body strength and work on a few other areas.

On Saturday we played a friendly at Accrington, which is probably the slowest wicket I have ever played on. It was a little bit quicker at Enfield on Sunday but still nothing like I am used to at home, of course.

In that league game against Bacup I beat the bat a heck of a lot in my first spell.

Brad warned me that outswingers would not be as effective over here.

I have also realised that I have to bowl a lot fuller - compared to 'back of a length' in Australia.

For the first five overs with the bat I really struggled.

I haven't faced a medium paced bowler as slow as David Ormerod for years and had to be content to work him for ones at first.

But you do also get the loose ball and the chance to score boundaries.

I'm not one to set targets but, hopefully, I will be in the runs again this weekend, especially as we play Haslingden and a certain B McNamara tomorrow - cooking permitting!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.