Edladd's Blog

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When will I learn!!

Another training session yesterday evening, and another opportunity for me to demonstrate that my long term memory don't function good :mad:. Basically I didn't eat properly during the day, didn't bring a drink with me - which resulted in me being dead on my feet for the last hour of training.

The first half went fine, I bowled well, and apart from getting bowled by a few inswingers I batted pretty decently. But, as has happened before, when I came on later to bowl again I only succeeded in serving up muck. Dire long hops followed by full tosses - all being despatched as they deserved. I was even too tired to field with any intensity!

I'm hoping that writing this in my blog for the second time will make me remember to not let it happen again. Club cricketers get little enough time to practice as it is, so it's a shame to waste half a session for something that could so easily have been avoided.

However, to look at the positives, I had good control of my line at all stages during the bowling. At one point the keeper was giving advice from behind the stumps about where to put it (using hand signals), and I was able to adjust the line easily enough. Length was an issue though, but I take this to mean that my action is moving in straight lines even when I'm tired, but my timing in releasing the ball can be off.

And with the batting, I decided to be a bit more attacking than in previous sessions, and was able to get the ball away a bit. I did get bowled 3 or 4 times, but they were good deliveries that did it - a month ago ANY straight delivery would have been more likely to bowl me than not.

p.s. cheers lads ;)
 
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Bad day yesterday. I got drafted up to the 2nds for a cup match - happy enough to do this obviously, but the 4ths had a cup game too, and I bowled well for them the previous week. I knew before the game that I wouldn't be contributing much, but that didn't make it any easier to be pretty much just an on-field spectator.

We lost the toss and were put out to field with just 9 men (one late and one cry off). I was fielding at deep third man and mid-off. I got my hands on the ball about 10 times in total, and one of them was to drop a difficult chance - driven hard at me to my right. The best I could manage was to get two fingers to it and parry it up in the air, but unfortunately didn't get close enough to catch on 2nd attempt.

Didn't get a bowl either. We had them at 120 for 9 with about 12 overs to go, with the number 10 and 11 at the crease. We should have blasted them out of it in double quick time at that stage to set up an easy win, but we allowed them to stay there for the remainder of the innings to bring the score to 151. Our bowlers kept putting it in shortish and they were fishing at it - but never connected. And when they put up a full ball it was just blocked. I was itching for a go, it looked to me that if a slower bowler like myself put the ball up on off stump they wouldn't have been able to resist having a go - especially since they couldn't get a bat on the other bowlers. It would have given a fair chance of a wicket out caught or bowled timing it wrong. The worst thing was that the skipper asked me to warm up - and then proceeded to bring himself on! Leaving me swinging my arms like a prat :mad:

The batting was pretty atrocious from most of the team. It didn't help that the skippers "rousing" team talk went along the lines of "We've already won a cup and the other teams are all in the running for theirs, I don't care if we win or lose so bat any way you want"!! :confused:

Our first 5 more or less did just that, either blocking all and sundry until they made a mistake or hitting everything in the air for a quick 15 before being caught. At 60-5 we got a partnership in of two lads that decided they did want to win the game to bring us up to 113. But once they were out it didn't take long for the rest of the team to fall. 120 ao.

I went in number 10 (of 10), and the guy at the other end had "borrowed" my bat (after I'd asked him not to :mad:) so I was using my backup (read sh*t) bat. In hindsight I should have swapped bats with him, but at the time he was the only hope of making the runs. I faced 3 balls, leaving one and defending one before down came a slow full toss on leg. I'd put away a few of these nicely on Thursday, so I had a swing. It was only as I heard the clunk that I remembered that my bat wasn't the same one I was using then, and sure enough the ball dropped harmlessly into the hands on mid off. There's no guarantee that the same wouldn't have happened with my proper bat, but there's no denying that there's a lot more power in it, and I would have had some hope.

A frustrating game for me all round, hopefully next week I'll be dropped back down the teams again to somewhere I can contribute with ball in hand. It's a little annoying that I was drafted up for no particular reason. If the captain had no intention of bowling me, why didn't he take one of the lower team players that could bat a bit?

Ah well.
 
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It's annoying getting put up the teams for no particular reason. I guess that's why a lot of our 2nd XI flat out refuse to play for the 1st XI after previous experiences.

I lent my bat to a guy and ended up coming out to bat while he was still using it a couple of weeks ago. I was ready to use the club bat (about 4lbs and dead as a dodo) but the other guy wasn't having any of it, he practically forced it into my hands!!!
 
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It's frustrating when that happens, Ed. It sounds like you were undone by your willingness to play, where others will either cry off or moan.
 
Training update

Just 7 at practice last Tuesday, so we decided to have a proper long bat each. I was very happy with my batting, I was relaxed at the crease and was hitting some of the balls where I wanted to hit them. One of the lads was very fast, and I managed to keep him out for the most part. But anyone else with reasonable speed I was happy with playing. I think I have the potential to be an OK bat - I just need a lot more time in the middle figuring out how to play.

I was also very impressed with how our new-found leggie is getting on (mentioned him a few weeks back). His accuracy has come on hugely, with only a few wayward balls late on in the session. He was getting the ball to turn on our mat, which is fairly unresponsive to most spinners. And, he was getting the ball to drift! It gave me a bit of a shock the first few times to see the ball swerve out of his hand - straighten at the stumps - and then spin away! I think there's a lot of potential there with a bit more practice and a few overs under his belt. If we'd had a full field, he certainly would have got me out a few times - even as it was he got a neat caught and bowled from one I tried to drive, but it dipped late and I half pulled out of the shot before chipping it to him low down :rolleyes:

We did make one huge error of judgement during the session - which was to have 4 bowlers going at once. For most of the session it meant that the keeper was the only fielder! Needless to say everyone was exhausted between bowling and fetching balls. As I see it - we really need an actual net - or (I'd prefer) have 2 bowlers at once for 20 balls and then swap for another 2. The non-bowlers can act as ball boys as necessary - but it would be closer to match conditions, and there would be some scope for recovery time.

For myself, I decided to make the most of the situation and force myself to concentrate 100% on every ball despite the tiredness. I mean - if you get a spell of a good few overs in a match you have to have some experience of bowling when tired. In the main it worked - in that I could still consistantly produce good line and length balls that beat the bat - though there were a few full tosses and the odd one down leg if my concentration wavered. For the most part I'm happy with my control - line is rarely an issue, and length is usually good unless I'm uncomfortable in the run-up.

I have been experimenting with trying different grips for swing in the last few weeks - but I'm still not getting anything much. A few move a bit - but I find it hard to tell as I'm following through if it worked or not. Maybe I should collar one of the other bowlers and do some bowling back and forward so we can each watch the others action and see what works.
 
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Good to read that u have started to hit right with ur batting skills.
Keep it up Ed:)
About the various grip in bowlng; if possible post a video or photo of ur bowling grip in the bowling thread.
I am sure some of us will suggest on that.
Please keep filling the photos; for eg: the last one i mistook as Church:D was very good.
 
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Very short practice yesterday, only 3 people turned up and 30 minutes in is started to lash rain :( We couldn't locate the practice balls either ... luckily, I've recently picked up a box of new balls on e-bay to practice bowling myself - so we had something to work with. They're not great balls though - very hard - so we didn't risk batting against them. We just took turns bowling from each end. As I said though, it wasn't long until we were forced to retreat by rain.

One thing that was interesting was the ridiculous amount of swing we were getting! Makes me glad I'm not a new ball bowler, I couldn't keep track of it at all!

Heading to England for the Test on Friday and Saturday - looking forward to that. Hopefully the weather will stay decent.
 
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Been away from easy computer access for the past week - but there's loads of cricket related news to go in here, including the test match, bowling for the 2nds, 5 more wickets and my career top score with the bat! I'll probably spread it over a few posts over a few days as I'm trying to catch up in work.

Added 20 hour(s), 56 minute(s) and 58 second(s) later...

Right,

Well I've played 3 games since the last time I posted, so it's probably not going to be the most interesting post, I'll post later with a summary maybe.

The first game was on Sunday the 3rd - a late call-up to the 2nd team. I actually received the call while I was at the test match in Edgebaston on the Saturday. So I was reliably able to inform the skipper that I was going to be tired and probably hungover but was available if he was really stuck. I'm glad I was able to get this caveat in, as I was pretty much right :D I had about 3 or 4 misfields, two of which went for 4s, but I did get marginally better as the match went on. I also got to bowl 4 overs, and didn't do too badly. No wickets, but a good few chances (beating the bat and balls in the air but not near a fielder), and only conceeded 12 runs. Didn't get to bat in this match, as our top 3 did the job of chasing 147 in only 57 minutes. Number 1 and 3 both got 50s not out in double quick time (28 balls and 32 balls), with one of them hitting six 6s (three of which came in 4 balls). Quite a display all in all.

The following day was a bank holiday Monday and we had a 4ths league match. Unfortunately we lost by about 15 runs, but there were a good few positives from the performance. We bowled first and started well, keeping the rate low and taking wickets regularly enough, however, one of their openers hung around to get a 50 in about the 38th over!

I came on first change and myself and our spinner were doing well keeping a lid on the runs, with him getting 4 maidens and me getting 2. He was unlucky not to get any wickets (apparently turning it too much), but I was striking at the other end, getting 3 in the 6 over spell. Surprisingly though, the captain took us both off at this stage, with the right handed opener and a new left hander at the crease. They managed to take the game away from us a bit, and by the time I came back on with 6 overs to go they were both still there and approaching their 50s. I didn't manage to take either of their wickets, but still finished with decent figures of 9-2-22-3 (OMRW). Unfortunately they had managed to push the score on to 165 for 6, with some fast paced scoring in the last few overs. We weren't very confident in chasing this as our highest score this year was only in the 140s, and came the only previous time we managed to bat the overs!! In the end we didn't put ourselves to shame by batting the overs again for 145-8. I was (as usual) number 11 and did not bat.

One of the openers did a great job of holding an end, but unfortunately the other end wasn't able to produce enough runs to compensate. Surprisingly, the opener got a bit of stick from some of the others for not scoring fast enough - but there's plenty of evidence from our season to show that if he hadn't hung around as anchor, we would have been all out for very little. If we could follow the model of this innings in future games I can't see us losing again this season. 140 as a first innings score would almost guarantee a win at this level.

The most recent game then was last Sunday, and was a biggie in that it was the semi-final of the 4ths cup. The weather was atrocious all day Saturday, so I was expecting this to be called off - but it wasn't! The boundary had to be moving in around some exceptionally marshy areas resulting in a 15 yard boundary through fine leg at one end!

We got the "openers" out cheaply, but I suspect that they were both yound lads that were put up the order to give the other batsmen a look at our opening bowlers. Once 3 and 4 were in it became difficult to see where a wicket would come from, and they found it easy to keep rotating the strike. I was brought on for the 9th over! I've never been on earlier than 15 or so before, and the skipper gave me absolutely no notice. So I was totally unprepared mentally and hadn't warmed up - and it showed! It was probably the worst spell I'd bowled all season. I was bowling full tosses and wides for fun, and I just couldn't sort out my lines to the left and right handers as they were getting the singles too easily!

Funnily enough I was dropped no less than 3 times during this spell! They weren't the easiest chances though, coming off solid hits of bad balls mostly. After 4 overs I was unsurprised (read relieved) to be taken off, and when I came back on about 10 overs later, it went a good bit better - picking up 2 wickets and keeping a much more consistent line. It was still too expensive though due to the field that was set. The captain was giving them singles to try and stop boundaries. However, they were quite happy to milk this and as any bowler will know - it's nearly impossible to execute a plan to get a batsman out when he's rarely facing two deliveries in a row :mad: Altogether my 7 overs went for 46 runs :( and we were left chasing 148 to win.

As I mentioned previously 140 is an almost guaranteed win at this level, but we had a few good batsmen and were in with a shout. We'd need all of them to get a score above their average though, so it was quite a blow to lose our most attacking man 2nd ball for 2 :eek: It was really downhill from there, with 12 and 13 being the teams highest scores. To be fair their opening bowler was very sharp, and apparently is new to the club and will be opening for their 1sts next weekend. It's a bit annoying that they can use a bowler 7 divisions below his level just because he's fairly new to the club, but what can you do ::)

I got in to bat in the 33rd over (of 40) with the score on 63. Obviously at that stage the win was beyond us so I treated it like a practice session. First ball I glided down to third man to pick up a 2 - doubling my season best score to date :D Myself and the number 9 both were relaxed and enjoying ourselves and it showed, as we never really looking in trouble from the bowling and put on 15 for the last wicket before he ran me out :rolleyes: in the 38th over. I wasn't too dissappointed as I'd made 6 which is a career best in league cricket. I probably could have pushed on from there for another 2 or 3, but given that the overs were nearly up I suspect that double figures would have eluded me anyway. 6 was the teams third highest score on the day though, and it brings my run tally for the season up to my catching total :thumbup1:

Also, hopefully it will give me a bit more confidence in future innings.

As I said, don't feel you have to read all of this - I guess I'm recording it for posterity, I'll put in a summary later if I get a chance. (With some pics)
 
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You're pretty lucky to get to play some cricket! The weather here has been non stop rain.

Congrats on the high score, next stop double figures?
 
At the test

The weather's been atrocious over here too, but ya, we've been very luck to get a few clear spells for long enough to squeeze a few games in.

I was at days 3 and 4 of the Edgebaston test, and we were extremely fortunate with the weather there too. There was only 1 shower of rain, which coincided with an early lunch on day 3. We were slap-bang in the middle of the Hollies stand on that day too - which is the Edgebaston encampment of the barmy army :rolleyes:. It was interesting to see how the behaviour in the stand changed over the course of the day as the level of Marstons consumption went up. The two lads beside us must have had about 14 pints each, and went from being nice polite lads at the start of the day to being out and out rebels at the end. Sticking it to the man don't ya know.

"Why should I sit down, look look ... he's standing up down there, tell him to sit down", say they to a bemused looking steward. They were harmless enough though, and it didn't take away from our enjoyment of the cricket overmuch, as there was a bit of excitement and atmosphere from the crowd whenever Flintoff or Nel were bowling.

Highlight was probably Collingwood getting his 50, everyone was so much wanting him to do well that there was really palpable tension as he approached it and a genuine outpouring of relief and joy when he got there. It's probably the first time I've seen such a reaction for a 50 - even the ovation he got for his ton wasn't quite as big.

I also really enjoyed seeing proper quick bowling in real life. It was pretty much impossible to track the ball, and I couldn't believe how far back the keeper was ... on telly it looks like about half a track-length - whereas it's about three times that! I was also well impressed with some of the fielding, with them throwing the ball in from ridiculous distances with great accuracy and no noticable effort.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the ground 2 hours before the match finished, as we had a plane to catch to get home. Luckily it was on the TV at the airport, so we didn't miss much. That was quite a display from Smith to win the match, but the conditions weren't great for the bowlers - with a flat enough track and no cloud cover.

It's an expensive day out at £55 per day :eek:, but I do think it was worth it. A premiership football match is nearly as much and about 1/5 the length. Obviously you run the risk of weather playing a big part - but if you get a full day out of it, it can't be beat. Hell, I'd nearly pay it to see Nel bowl a spell and then have to go and stand in front of the barmy army - they were giving him a bit of stick and he was loving it.

I have some pics, but they're currently lodged in the camera due to battery issues, but I'll try to get them up soon.
 
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Ed,

U did had a wonderful in the test match.Unfortunately i missed it on "Star Cricket" channel.

Regarding ur monday match u bowled 6 overs taking 3 wickets and then was taken out by the captain as u had 3 overs left.
Did u ask him wether he wanted to preserve it for later stages or was the stage right for others to chip in as u had taken 3 wickets.
In the end it is good to see ur bowling spell of 9-2-22-3.
Keep it up :thumbup1:
 
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I don't know Virender, that may have been what he was thinking, but it don't make much sense when the pressure is on to take off the two bowlers that were creating it. Quite possibly the two batsmen that were in would have taken a liking to us and ruined our figures, but you never know. It's always easy to look back after a loss and think what should have been done differently - whereas if we'd won, then the bowling change might have looked like a great decision - such is cricket :rolleyes:
 
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Agreed Ed,

I have been in such worst case scenario wether to continue or change the bowling becoz batsmen is not able to read u and will try to block ur overs so then he can concentrate on the others bowlers.So keeping ur overs in reserve is also a gamble but it als important wether ur others bowlers are also able to keep the same pressure 'ON'.
If it happens then 'Perfect' otherwise it is a loss.
We do have such problem but then only the captain and coach has to work on it.
Every team should have 5 genuine bowlers compromising of fast bowlers and spinners (Which includes All rounders as well).
But still u bowled very well so that will be comforting to you and to your team:D
 
Anyone for Aquatic Cricket?

Given that that was quite possibly the wettest weekend ever, unsurprisingly there was no cricket played. Someone proposed a cricket/water-polo hybrid, but as it turns out, cricket balls don't float as well as you'd expect :rolleyes:

I was picked for both the 4ths on Saturday and the 3rds on Sunday, but on both occasions waterlogging was responsible for the game being called off. Annoyingly, the Sunday one wasn't called off until 30 minutes before the start, when we were all standing on the edge of the pitch/pool. If someone from the opposition had got their act together they could have checked the pitch that morning and saved me the drive from down home :mad: All I ended up doing was watching the Olympics for most of the day.

I've started doing a little batting drill by myself that I think has helped me watch the ball onto the bat. It's a bit like sock cricket, but more portable and I can do it in the middle when there's no-one else down at training. Basically, all I do is throw the ball a few feet in the air, get my foot to where it bounces, and then try and drive it down the pitch. I've also been using a stump instead of a bat to make sure I'm actually hitting it cleanly and not too far.

Last week when I tried it first I was swinging and missing nearly every time, but then I started really concentrating and watching the ball right onto the face of the bat .... er, stump. I realised in doing this that I had a tendency to watch the ball a bit and then assume I'd tracked it all the way - when in fact I'd looked up to where the ball should have ended up before I'd even hit it! This realisation made a big difference last weekend, where I was hitting the ball cleanly, and getting right behind the defensive strokes.

I'm still not at the stage where I can place the ball, but if I can strike the ball well enough for it to travel, then chances are that it will hit a gap or a fielder will misfield. At the very least, if it's hit well enough to pass the fielders, then they have to work to stop the run.

I've started adding a bit of decision making into the drill now too. If the ball is coming down nearly on top of me or right in front of me - then just defend it on the full (pre-bounce). If it's going to bounce on any sort of half-volley length - then drive it. And if it's landing further away - either get down to it and drive or get into some form of forward defensive position (if it's straight) or leave it (if wide). A good thing about this drill is that there is NO point in trying to cross-bat with a stump, so it should get some good straight-bat habits ingrained in me.


This is essentially the same stuff I'll be doing with the bowling machine once I get around to finishing it - but at the moment there is too much cricket playing and practicing to focus on it. As soon as the season ends I'll get cracking on it properly.

Also, it looks like I'll be getting involved in the cricket club committee next year, so am looking forward to that. The AGM is on near the end of September, so I'll know then if I get on/what position I'll have on the committee.
 
Looking back

I've been looking over my figures for the season so far, and was surprised to notice that I've never taken a 1-for! I've taken 2 wickets on three occasions, 3 wickets on four occasions, 4 wickets on two occasions and no wickets on the other five opportunities I've had. I can't really think why this should be the case. Maybe when I get a wicket my confidence is up and consequently I perform better and take more wickets. Certainly, the spells where I get no wickets are often very short (2 overs) and expensive; or sometimes a bit longer (4 overs) but at a few levels higher than I'm used to.

So it looks like the key for me will be mental preperation. If I can get myself into the post-first-wicket state of mind at the start of my spells, then I can be relaxed and more likely to take a few wickets. Looking in more detail at my worst spells backs this idea up.

19th April 08 - 0 for 15 off 2 overs. This was my first spell of bowling this year on a very cold day. My first few deliveries were pure muck due to me not warming up - and after that I just tensed up and kept getting worse.

26th June 08 - 0 for 22 off 2 overs. I came on to bowl at a guy that had just hit 2 sixes, and he had a field day with me. It was clear from the way he played that anything short was going over the pavillion, but despite knowing this, short seemed to be all I could bowl. Again, after a bad start, tension took over and it was all downhill.

10th August 08 - 2 for 46 off 7 overs. A bit of a tale of 2 spells here. The 2nd spell of 3 overs being fairly economical and containing the 2 wickets. My first spell was awful for a number of reasons, the slippery conditions due to rain being one. Mostly though, it was because I came on to bowl much earlier than usual (8th over instead of 15th +) and so wasn't in my comfort zone. Obviously that shouldn't matter, but coming on so early took me by surprise (didn't get notice to warm up either) and I couldn't settle. So, again, I felt tense and consequently bowled poorly.

Next time I get a bowl I'll try to imagine I've just bowled an over with a wicket in it, and see how I get on. Or if I tense up, try to be aware of the fact and make myself relax.

These spells have far from ruined my season (still managed 26 wickets at an average of 11.07), and I'm not fixating on them or anything. I do believe though that you have to analyze problems and learn from them, or else the experience is totally wasted. And we can't be having that now, can we ;)
 
Another cancellation ::)

Hmmm, very lean month in terms of games played by the club. Tomorrow's been cancelled due to the pitch being unplayable, which is weird since it hasn't rained much over the last few days. Though I had heard a rumour that the place was recently soaked by someone dumping the contents of a swimming pool onto it :eek: I've only managed to get three games this month so far, one of which should have been rained off.

Myself and a housemate comandeered the use of the tennis courts in our estate to get in a bit of tennis ball cricket yesterday evening, seeing as the weather was so fine. It was good enough fun, though I didn't enjoy being clean bowled by him third ball :mad: especially since he doesn't play cricket. He has a great eye with a bat though. It's the usual thing - he's one of those guys that thinks cricket looks easy, so he cross bats all and sundry and somehow gets away with it :mad:

I didn't mind too much though, I was bowling a bit short, and it being an old tennis ball was sitting up in front of him begging to be pulled away with disdain. I fairly quickly learned my lesson and started pitching it up a bit further, and it seemed to do the trick, in that I managed to bowl him a few times, and get him plumb lbw once. He's still a better bat than I am, and with a bit of practice to give him a drive as a shot option he could be very useful. I might have to redouble my efforts to recruit him next season. :sneaky:

Speaking of next season, as things stand I'm likely to be taking on the role of secretaty of the club ... unless someone else decides they want to do it. If this does happen, then the holder of the position will be decided in a fight to the death with a piece of cricket paraphenalia. I'm thinking about using a stump - it's lighter than a bat and it has the added advantage of a pointy end. :)

We've also got training this evening to make up for the fact that we've had none all week. Our pitch is in a public park which is sometimes used for music gigs. In the past two weeks it was taken over by no less than 6 artists/bands co-inciding with training days. I just hope that none of the stage equipment was hauled away over our pitch - last year a truch got bogged down on the outfield and had to be hauled away by a tractor. I get a headache even now thinking about the mess the ground was in. :(

Hopefully it's survived intact this time.

I've added some pictures to my blog entries from the past few weeks. It seems I was too late to add them here, as the "edit" option has dissappeared. If anyone wants to have a look, check out this blog on Blogger
 
Missed matches and better batting

Well, as it turned out, during Saturday I got the offer to play on Sunday for the 3rds. Unfortunately, by then I had plans and had to turn it down. In some ways I'm glad I didn't play, I've been pretty much exhausted the past few weeks and I don't really know why! I've been getting plenty of early nights, but I just can't wake up of a morning and I'm knackered all day!

Had a training session last Friday, and my worst fears came true with regard to the state of the pitch :mad: There are deep tyre tracks all over the outfield and one section where a bus or something got stuck so it was towed out by a tractor, with lots of bits of wood and sand thrown in under the tyres for grip. This left one MIGHTY big mess behind it. Luckily this was outside the boundary, but it is right in front of the changing rooms and so it would be embaressing to bring other teams to the ground with it in this state.

The 1sts home game was cancelled on Sunday, so we'll have to see if we can flatten the field somehow before next weekend if we're to have any hope of getting games in before the end of the season.

We still went ahead with the training session, making sure not to run too hard near the dug-up sections. Went pretty well, there were around 7 of us there, so everyone got to bat for around 20 minutes, and we all bowled a good few balls.

My bowling wasn't too bad, but it didn't trouble anybody too much. I've mentioned before that my bowling doesn't look up to much outside of match situations, as there isn't enough swing or seam to force wickets. Just line and length that people tend to get themselves out to. To back this up, when we set targets for the batsman near the end of his time, like 20 runs from 8 balls (with liberal scoring ;)) - the batsmen found it more difficult to get the ball away.

I was very happy with my batting though. I think my solo practice getting my eye in is starting to pay off, as I found it easy enough to connect with the ball. Previously I could just about stop a ball that was coming straight at me, but now I'm able to get it off the square fairly regularly. Probably about 30% would have gone straight to Mid-off, but when I'm happy that I can hit the ball, I'll start worrying about placing it.

One ball that is still giving me a lot of trouble is the one down leg, or on my pads. Up until now I was happy to leave it, or step inside it (I bat outside leg so unlikely to get bowled around legs). But it happens so often that it feels like an opportunity missed. I think I should be playing it with a leg glance, but I never seem to have enough time to play the shot. Most of the time, I ended up swivelling on my back foot and playing across it - which is a recipe for disaster. Some time I will manage to connect and it will either be a leading edge or a tickle to the keeper :mad: From the Bob Woolmer videos on Youtube, I think I should be playing it kinda like a back foot drive - as in with the full face of the bat, and then turn the wrists on contact. I have been able to do this on the front foot to a shorter ball in the past - where I get the bat out in front of the pad as if to defend and then turn the wrists. I'll have to get someone to feed me throwdowns on my pads to see if I can figure it out.

I'm not sure at the moment if we have nets tomorrow, our ladies team are supposed to be playing, but with the pitch in the state it is I'm not sure it will happen.
 
Busy Schedule

I've just read through some of my recent posts - and I'm not impressed with some of my spelling! It's the kind of thing that bugs me when I'm reading - and there I go messing it up myself :rolleyes:. I must start proof-reading these things before posting them. I wonder is there any such thing as a spell-checker app for Firefox?

Never mind. Potentially a very crickety couple of days coming up. Tomorrow we should have the usual indoor cricket session at lunchtime, followed by nets after work. Both of these have been sporadic over the past few weeks due to holidays and weather, so tomorrow will be the first time in about a month that I've managed to do both of them - if I do of course.

Friday then, we have a league fixture against a team that we've played twice before this year. The first time, they bowled us out for 60 :embarrassed:, but then a few weeks later we bowled them out for 40 :biggrin. I'm hoping for a performance similar to the latter.

Saturday, nothing at the moment. But there are games on, and it seems to be difficult to get people, so there's still a chance of a call-up.

And finally on Sunday, we have our last Taverners game of the year. RTÉ vs the Theatrical Cavaliers!! Basically the team from the national broadcaster versus a selection of Irish stage actors :) Apparently, there's a bit of history in this game, so it should be fun :D

Regarding the committee position thing, I've received clarification of the rules wrt the fight to the death. Cricket "paraphernalia" also covers ground maintenance equipment, which opens an entirely new can of worms. I still like the stump option, but perhaps a spade or fork might be more effective ... or a lawnmower maybe :confused:. Hopefully I'll be uncontested so the issue won't come up.
:rolleyes:
 
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