During the week Jon Burnett is busy mowing fairways and greens but at weekends he enjoys cutting opposition batters down to size.
The 28-year-old greenkeeper has been a revelation having joined Stoneywood-Dyce this summer.
In three outings in the North-East Championship, Burnett has taken 11 wickets at an average of just seven – which makes him the most prolific bowler in the division at the moment.
Burnett previously worked at Trump International and Gleneagles and played his cricket for Arbroath United.
But making the move back to the north-east for work has led him to People’s Park.
He explained: “I relocated to Aberdeen last year to work at Cruden Bay Golf Club.
“I got in touch with Mark Lambley, the president of Stoneywood-Dyce, who I know from playing against him and asked if I could join.
“Rather than travelling down to Arbroath one night a week, I thought it would be better to train twice a week with Stoneywood-Dyce and hopefully play every week.
“I’ve been made very welcome, it’s a really good club and I’m really enjoying playing for Stoneywood-Dyce.”
Strong start with new club
Burnett is hopeful he can remain among the leading wicket-takers in the North-East Championship to help fuel Stoneywood-Dyce’s promotion push.
They were relegated from the Eastern Premier League last year, but have won three of their five league games so far this season ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Dundee HSFPs.
Reflecting on his start to the season, Burnett added: “As a bowler, it can’t really go much better. I’m fortunate to have had such a good start.
“But I’m more pleased that we’ve managed to win the last three league games rather than my wickets, because if you take five wickets and don’t win, it doesn’t really matter.
“I would like to keep building on the start we’ve had and keep myself up there in the wicket-takers list.
“If I can keep bowling as I have been, then I should keep taking wickets.
“Hopefully as a team we’ll win more games than we lose and try to put in a challenge for the league and get back to the top league.
“I’d settle for my current average at the end of the season, but it will be tough to keep it there!
“There’s another 13 league games left, and hopefully I’ll be able to play most of them and if I could get to 35 or 40 wickets I’d be very happy.”
Mixing business with pleasure
Given his job and his hobby, Burnett is a lover of both cricket and golf.
Although there isn’t much crossover between the two, there are some days when he’s busy on both fronts, such as a fortnight ago when he took 5-23 against Forfarshire 2.
“I was up at 4.45am that day and started work at 5.30am and worked until 9am,” he said. “Then I went home for a while and then headed to the club for the game.
“Your cricket action and golf action are different – although if you see me batting it maybe does look a bit like a golf swing!
“If I hit the ball it usually goes, but it probably doesn’t pay off too often, hence why I’m batting at number nine.”
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