...and thud back to earth, second game and the first loss of the seasion against a decentish side. We had the first chance to bowl on an early season wicket but although the pitch looked awful there was nothing for any kind of bowler, again one of the opening bowlers just did not fire but thankfully it was because he had only just comeback from uni and not because of the meltdown like one guy had last week. For us spinners it was a case of adapting to a dead wicket, on a small fast outfield against wellset batsmen. During the game I thought I bowled awful but in retrospect it wasn't that bad, 7-0-31-0 with the batsmen trying to hit me but not succeeding is OK considering I was getting no turn. The protege had similar frustrations with the pitch, 9-2-43-2 doesn't look great but he bowled 2 of his overs in the last 10 (cost 20 runs) due to the aforementioned quickie bowling rubbish.
Main thing I need after this game is practice, practice and more practice. During the game I felt zero rhythm and tried to force something to happen by putting too much effort into my follow through which unfortunately meant that my bodyweight kept going to first slip while I was aiming at the stumps, I need to get the feel back so I don't let that happen again. For the protege he'll need to take on board that somedays you won't be able to make the ball talk and you just need to make the batsman believe that something is happening when it isn't.
Main thing I need after this game is practice, practice and more practice. During the game I felt zero rhythm and tried to force something to happen by putting too much effort into my follow through which unfortunately meant that my bodyweight kept going to first slip while I was aiming at the stumps, I need to get the feel back so I don't let that happen again. For the protege he'll need to take on board that somedays you won't be able to make the ball talk and you just need to make the batsman believe that something is happening when it isn't.
That pace was actually a bit slow, about 50kph even though it doesn't look like it in the video, my pace these days is about 60kph. Oh yes that pitch is great! Lots of bounce in it as well, and plenty of nip off the seam for the pace bowlers. On a good day it's good to bowl spin on, but the turn isn't very consistent as you can see. A few of those deliveries were with newish balls, but even if you bowl with the same ball on that pitch it always seems to turn a mile one ball then nearly nothing at all the next. 
I'll upload new bowling videos on the 17th, then you should see how much I've improved in one season, purely by use of deliberate and perfect practice! 100 balls a day keeps the sixes at bay is my motto
...
... My best figures were 3/10 and what a game that was
my first wicket came in my third over (after 2 maidens) a brilliant leg spinner, drifting from middle to outside off and finding the edge, our skipper taking a one handed diving catch at slip! The second wicket came against the new batsman, I bowled a backspinner (very similar to a slider but it's actually a leg break further around the loop with backspin) which straightened instead of sliding and I got his middle stump. The third wicket also came off a slider, it started outside leg and drifted to leg stump, then skidded on into the batsman's pads for an LBW. The worst game I had was when I had to bowl with a 70kph wind crosswind coming from the right! I literally had to start the ball a foot outside leg stump to land it on the pitch! I only took one wicket that game, the batsman left the ball (not expecting it to turn from the wide line to the stumps with all that drift and wind) but it ripped back just enough to clip the top of the off stump! My accuracy was spot on this season, with only 2 wides in 4 games. My aims for next season are: bowling average: 5 , economy rate: 2... Because by next season I'll (hopefully) have the flipper at my disposal
