Grace Ballinger column: On the road again with an away day diary

Grace Ballinger, The Blaze's left-arm seamer, uses her latest column to talk us through life on the road, playing away fixtures as a professional cricketer.

What day of the week is it again?

Recently, my days have unfolded through coach windows, hotel corridors and service stations. A familiar story for many players, coaching staff and travelling fans around the country.

The average professional's cricket season is a summer spent in transit.

It is a time where what day it is simply doesn't matter, your life dictated by fixtures and scheduling.

Part and parcel of the occupation is regularly travelling around the country to play. And with this comes some excellent away days, one the entire team look forward to.

Other trips, maybe less so.

Life on the road can be a really good time. You are constantly spending time with your team-mates and travelling to varying corners of the country. It can be especially good if your team is performing and so are you.

However, it can sometimes be a difficult time, and often quite intense.

Last summer, for example, my side had an evening game at The Kia Oval, followed by a travel day home the next day.

The following morning, we travelled to Durham to play that day - opposite ends of the country in 48 hours!

Obviously, this is what we sign up for, and this is by no means a complaint about travelling. We are usually well looked after and using coaches means less driving.

It can still take it out of you, and makes planning your life around cricket more difficult than in the winter, where training takes a more nine to five Monday to Friday nature.

Games are frequently on the weekend, sometimes midweek and often both.

Downtime is occasionally sparse, but also can be plentiful, but what day(s) of the week you get free are completely random.

There are some long trips on the coach, and during these times I feel incredibly grateful to be playing for a Midlands-based side.

As a bowler, I do have some grounds I naturally favour going to than others. I have always loved bowling at Chester-le-street, as their pitches (and also the weather up north) are often conducive to seam bowling.

The Oval is equally a favourite of mine. It is undoubtedly a beautiful ground, and whilst it is often high scoring, it normally has some decent carry in it, and I think it can favour consistent bowling.

At the other end of the spectrum is Kent's outground, Beckenham (which has frequently hosted Surrey women's fixtures over recent years).

Whilst it is a nice enough place to play cricket, is a nightmare to travel to, and worse still, it is a nightmare for bowlers!

Last season, I played in a tied game against Surrey there, where both sides managed to score 346 runs off their 50 overs (I returned figures of 2-76 from my 10 overs).

One of the benefits of the rapid development of the female game is the frequency we get to play at world-class grounds. Of all 18 first-class county grounds, the only one I am yet to play at is Hove.

Whilst I love playing at these historic venues, I equally embrace the opportunity to play at out-grounds.

We occasionally play on out-grounds in the 50-over cup, and over the past two years, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing at a number of cricket clubs.

At The Blaze, we often play at Chesterfield (situated in Derbyshire, although it is a home ground). It is a beautiful place situated in a park, and is especially vibrant during their annual cricket festival.

I have also had the pleasure of playing at Scarborough Cricket Club, and more recently, Exmouth Cricket Club, and although both days were bitterly cold and windy, they both produced decent crowds and good games of cricket.

In a couple of weeks, I will be making the trip to Blackpool Cricket Club, to face Lancashire in the 50-over competition.

I hold fond memories of Blackpool, having gone there every summer with my family as a child, and I am very much looking forward to a return!

Aside from the cricket, the location of the away day can admittedly have an influence on how enjoyable of a trip it is.

A few days ago, we took the trip (a mere two hours) up to Manchester for a T20 double header. We stayed over on the bank holiday Sunday, and could embrace a bustling Manchester on a 30C scorcher!

It was a proud day for me personally, reaching 100 caps for the club, and we came away with a convincing victory. Days like that certainly influence your bias for how you feel about returning to certain grounds.

My summer is a busy one, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to call my favourite hobby my job, and fully embrace the travelling opportunities that come with it.

I just wish that there was an extra lane on the M42 and slightly less traffic on the M6.