Solomon George Budinger
Sol Budinger signed his first contract with the Club in October 2019. Born in Colchester, Essex 0n 21 August 1999, he moved with his family to Australia at the age of six.
Budinger made eight appearances for Queensland in the Australian Under-19 Championship in 2016-17. In addition, he played two matches for Sussex Second XI in 2016 and another two in the following season, along with three games for Brighton and Hove in the Sussex Premier League in 2017. In 2018 he returned to England quickly finding himself playing Nottinghamshire Second XI and Academy matches after being recommended to Ant Botha.
His performances in the short form game earned Budinger a call-up to the first team squad for the Vitality Blast games versus Northants and Derby in 2020 but an injury ruled him out for the rest of the season without a first XI appearance.
That was remedied in 2021 when the 50-over Royal London Cup was re-packaged as a ‘development’ competition and Budinger was one of several promising young players to get a run in the first team.
He played in eight Royal London Cup with a top score of 71 off 63 balls with seven fours and four sixes against Yorkshire at Clifton Park, York. Sol also made five Vitality Blast appearances, his best innings being 21 against Derbyshire at the Incora Ground.
Known for his aggressive batting style, the left-hander, occasional wicket-keeper and even more occasional off-break bowler, made progress despite the truncated season of the Covid-hit summers and was a regular in the T20 Blast and 50-over sides of 2022, making useful runs at the top of the order, the best being 89 against Gloucestershire at Bristol.
As the County Championship of 2022 reached its final stage, it was announced that Sol would be joining near neighbours Leicestershire - initially on loan to see out the season - in the hopes of securing a regular First XI place.
September 2022