Off season practice

Not having bowled for a week I had an opportunity today for a bit of practice using Hockey Balls on Tarmac at the 'Chav Park' - a playground round the corner from where I live where there's a fenced in basket ball court.

Considering the balls have no seams I was able to get it to turn off the wicket quite well with my leg breaks and again the consistency and accuracy was on par with the last practice session over at Gloucester last week. This time using a Coke can as my length and line target marker and hitting it quite frequently, but generally 90% of the time the ball landing very close to it.

The Big 4

These are the variations that I'm focusing on as previously mentioned - Leg Break, Wrong Un, Black Spinning Flipper and a Top Spinning Flipper. The Leg Break was very commendable and my Wrong Un by the end of the session began to come together in a manner that I was happy with. The two Flippers were a lot less impressive, the Top Spinning Flipper over the summer had been very good in practices but I didn't bowl it much in very many matches, but for the moment my Flippers are a bit ropey, with me not being able to control the swing they produce and the ball ending up down the leg-side. I'm not that worried in the short term as I know it'll just take a couple of practice sessions and I'll have them both back under control.

I also had a look bowling from around the wicket bowling the Leg Breaks into the same target area which kind of looked potentially useful. It looked as though if you did this it may entice the bowler to to try bat against the spin into the Leg Side with possible mis-hit consequences? But It also looked useful in that you could bung a Wrong un in there which might be problematic too? I reckon it's something I'll try and in the nets in the new year.

Indoor practice with Ben and Joe.

This morning Ben, Joe and I went to the Laindon Community Centre and had a knock about trying to get them to improve their batting. Towards the end of the session I worked with Ben trying to get him to play with a front foot defensive block which he sees as being boring, preferring to swing at every ball. Even though he was pretty negative about the idea he did go along with it and I think after a while he could see the potential in the indoor games as the ball is pushed forwards into the area where there are no fielders. It looked as though if he was to apply himself he can do it.

Gloucester Park Basildon

I've been doing some work on my other blogs, they're still not quite finished as I will eventually add a lot more links to video clips and add pictures to them as well. There's a few images and links in some of them but the defining touch will be to add slow motion video footage. The intention was that the Slow Mo would have been added by now but the camera hasn't been made available. I was hoping that they'd get them in at college and I'd be able to borrow one, but the order was made but then cancelled with no plans to place another order for some time. So I may have to look into getting one myself.
Another thing I noticed was that these blogs weren't getting very many hits so I've started a campaign to get them into the Google search top 10 websites hence the links here and in each of the blogs. In addition the same links now appear in all my postings on http://www.bigcricket.com/ and within a matter of hours the LegSpin blog moved up from nowhere into the top 15 searches, so it does appear to be working. If you've not looked at them yourself click on the link and have a look.

http://spinbowling-wrongun.blogspot.com/
http://spinbowling-legbreak.blogspot.com/

http://spinbowling-flipper.blogspot.com/

Other than that because of the rain not a lot doing although I'm quite happy about that as it gives my body a rest. It also gave me the chance to go over to Gloucester Park in Basildon and photograph the New Netball facilities (See below) which have a lot of potential for off-season bowling practice using plastic Hockey Balls what with being fenced off and floodlit. As mentioned previously all the courts are very securely locked so it may be that access is tightly controlled and you might have to pay for the right to use the courts. I also thought that the courts might also double up for Tennis but the markings on the court suggest otherwise which is a shame.

The Other Picture here is the future location of the cricket pitch that will replace the one that is directly outside Murrayfields according to one of the Green Keepers. The Murrayfields pitch is to be turned over to Rugby and the pitch moved here which is better in lots of ways as this area in the summer is quite nice and they've built a brand new Car Park. I wonder if when they do complete the pitch it will come with a pavillion or changing facilities?It looks a bit dismal at the minute because of the weather, but it's quite secluded and back from the roads, so maybe a nice pitch. There did used to be a pitch here years ago which is visible as a trace from ariel shots on google earth.

Other specialist Blogs

November starts out looking more like what we'd expect of Autumn - windy and rain, but the temperature is still very warm - 16 degrees centigrade. So that's good for 'The Paddock' and the new grass that was sewn a few days ago. I also filled in some of the uneven gound at the bowlers end which I'll probably continue to do, but I haven't got an endless supply of earth so how much of an improvement I can make remains to be seen.

I was going to work on one of my other blogs - http://spinbowling-legbreak.blogspot.com/ but it's pretty much finished. I was hoping that these new blogs would be in the top 10 searches on google but as yet they've failed to make an impact so it looks as though I need to link to them as much as I can else where. I'll have a look at this one today, but I know the main thing I need to do is get a slow mo camera and shoot some more stills images of the different grips that I use to get the sub-variations. I was hoping to have a camera this Autumn via work, but the order was cancelled so it looks like I might have to buy one myself.

The other blogs


http://spinbowling-wrongun.blogspot.com/
http://spinbowling-legbreak.blogspot.com/
http://spinbowling-flipper.blogspot.com/

Today I had a sort out of all our gear ready for winter as most of it wont be getting used now till January when winter nets gets started up.

We're lucky in that we've got a garage so the stuff gets put in the garage, I know mates that live in flats and they didn't even have anywhere they could put a single bat. So their bats had to be stored indoors what with all the heating with the fact that their bats would then dry out and potentially get damaged.

Once all the stuff was laid out I was quite surprised at how much gear we've got between us!

Strewth!

Strewth it's Oct 30th and I've just had the most amazing practice session and a generally very good cricket day! The day started out well when I took yesterdays obvious batting/bowling idea to Ben and Joe and tried it out on them and sure enough they had a knock about outside the house in 'The Square' for more than an hour with total enthusiasm and it was only stopped when Michelle came back from the shops and we helped to unload the car and put all the shopping away. But the theory worked well - I bowled straight - seam up and they had to hit the ball and generally they did and in doing so they obviously enjoyed it far more than facing spin and not being able to hit the ball. So that's the obvious way forward.

That'll mean that the wicket in the paddock will have to be fairly flat and smooth so that the ball goes on straight so that'll have to be something to keep in mind.

Then this afternoon the boys went off with their Mum to somewhere with some of their mates leaving me with 3 hours on my own to either do decorating or maybe some bowling. Hmmmm - yes I went bowling. I rang a few people to see if they wanted to meet up at Chalkwell nets but they were all busy so instead I went over to Glouscester Park on the artificial wicket. I used the same wicket this time last year as well, what with the grass being too wet this is a good option. So with a bag of 40 + balls and a set of stumps and my video camera off I went.

The plan was to concentrate on my 4 variations with the primary focus being on the 2 main Leg Breaks that I bowl. A big turner and a small turner. Normally I bowl the small version because of it's accuracy, but lately I've become a lot more enamoured by my big turning sub-variation and because I've been using it more frequently the accuracy with it is increasingly better.

Last year on this wicket I noticed that there were two distinct characteristics - No bounce and no spin. So I wasn't surprised that despite the fact that I've improved a great deal since last year my small turning leg break didn't do a great deal at all and I then reverted to my big turning sub-variation. This one turned, nowhere near as much as it does off of other surfaces but enough to make me feel like I was bowling Leg breaks and to be able to call myself a Leg Break bowler.

So the practice went on and I remembered I'd got my camera in my bag and that I could video the procedures. Needless to say that when you get the camera out you then start bowling differently trying to show off and sure enough this happened a bit and the bowling went slightly awry. But the footage I was shooting was in sequences of 30 balls and generally the 30 balls were fairly decent especially as I was using my secondary version of the Leg Break and one that I don't have a great deal of control over, but it was working fairly well.

I ended up being on the wicket for the best part of 3 hours and must have bowled in the region of about 50 overs and I just got better and better. About half way through I realised that the balls that were going wrong and were ending up down the Legside were turning in across the face of the stumps and going wide of the Off-stump. So for the first time in almost 2 years I started to bowl down the Leg-side with the intention of turning the ball into the stumps and you know what it worked - again and again and again. It ended up being one of the most productive and enjoyable practice sessions ever. I also put a readers wind ball on the wicket on the length and line I bowl for my leg breaks that go away from the bat and in the end I got fed up of having to reset the ball back in it's position! All this with this new bigger turning Leg Break.

So all in all a staggeringly good practice session. I reckon my biggest issue is not quite understanding the right length to bowl, yesterday I was reading somewhere on a forum that with the tail-enders you should bowl slightly fuller as they're obviously not that good at batting, but it's the better batsmen that I have trouble with and it's understanding where to bowl to them that I want to learn. Again I have to refer to the older blokes that I've seen bowling that don't necessarily turn the ball that much but put it on an troubesome length and cause no end of problems. It's the understanding of this length aspect that I feel is one of the missing aspects of my bowling now. The other thing that probably would have seen me get at least another 5 wickets is asking for LBW's. But I'm working on that already with the kids.

The other thing that I noticed over at Glouscester Park is that the development is underway for the Olympic facilities. I'm not sure what the connection is with the Olympics but it's because of the Olympics that the money has been made available. Anyway - the new stuff that is already in place includes some top notch Netball courts with 20' anti-climb fencing and two courts to each bay. But the two courts together provides excellent practicing facilities for someone like me because not only is it a lovely flat area with fencing all around it but it is floodlit with massive lights! But all the courts have locks on the gates and you can't get in there. Whether there's a charge or not I don't know and I'll have to have a look into how much it is to use the courts or what the access arrangments are. I think they're also multi-use and can be used for tennis as well as that was the arrangement with the old facilities.

While I was bowling the park groundsman was mowing the wickets and I had a chat with him and he was saying that the wicket he was mowing was being given over to Rugby and that the old 3rd wicket was going to be re-instated up the other end of the park near the athletics track. I also asked about the really neglected 2nd wicket near the lake and he said that was being used last year quite a bit and that was staying too. I can't say that I saw either of the wickets get used last summer, so I was surprised that he had such an upbeat account of their use.


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Performance review and other stuff

Fast approaching November when we'd expect Frost at nights and the potential of snow and instead we've got hazy sunshine and temperatures of 19 degrees centigrade. All the doors of the house are open and we're walking around in T-Shirts.

I've just been over to the paddock and put some more topsoil down to cover the seeds that were sewn a couple of days ago. With it being fairly damp at night with heavy dew the seeds already looked as though they've had a good soaking so now getting covered and the temperatures as high as they are there's a good chance that they might germinate.

Other than that it looks like people are using the paddock for football and there is a little damage to the new grass. At the minute it doesn't look too worrying but it's something I need to keep an eye on. Looking at the state of the new grass it looks as though I'll hold off of rolling it this winter as it looks as though that may do more damage than good. I think I'll just have to be happy with the fact that I rolled it in Sept when it was still bare earth.

For Liz Wizard Have a look at this Liz, the girl in question isn't having it looked at but to me this looks as though she may have dislocated her Knee cap and it's sprung back and it may not have found it's way back quite 100%.


Another exceptionally warm day for the end of October. Today we were blessed with sunshine and at one point around about 15.00hrs the temperature was 22 degrees centigrade. We were out and about at the time and rushed home to get some cricket done before we lost the light and warmth.

With the indoor games requiring a different approach we’ve been playing in the little square outside our house and I’ve ordered a few Readers Windballs from http://www.newitts.com/ so that we’re able to play on concrete surfaces. I’ve been bowling seam up trying to bowl faster in order that it’s more like the balls that Ben and Joe face when they’re playing cricket against the kids of their age. In addition the emphasis is that they communicate with each other and run hard between the stumps. I have been trying to get them to play a front foot defensive block but they’re not that interested in listening to me, but there does seem to be an improvement in Ben’s batting. Interestingly I noted that when we all played over at Chalkwell Park yesterday that one of the things that thwarted the game was the inconsistency of the bowling and this is something I’ve noted before in several other situations. In the summer during the B&PCC fun day they followed through with their policy of allowing everyone to bowl and some completely random people were allowed to throw ahem – sorry bowl which meant that the poor kid that was batting never had a chance of getting his bat on the ball during the two overs that he faced. The same frustration I’ve noted in the games over at our Valence Way wicket where often the bowling is very wayward. It’s obvious now, but I’ve only just realized this kind of bowling is detrimental to anyone’s progress if they’re looking to learn how to bat. Similarly if you’re learning to bat and learn the basics it probably isn’t helpful to have someone bowling spin at you turning the ball away from the edge of the bat. So today I bowled seam up as I have done before and this means that Ben especially is able to get the bat on the ball and score runs and in doing so keep his enthusiasm levels high. In the summer we had a couple of days where I bowled seam up and it was with this approach that we discovered that Ben has an aptitude to play well off his legs and down the legside. So it looks like that’s what we’ll be doing in future and because of the consistency of the line and length there seems to be the potential for an increase in speed and no doubt a gradual increase in confidence and enjoyment of the game maybe?


At the end of last season Sept/Oct 2008 or perhaps running up to the start of the 2009 season I set myself some targets and Neil my captain set some as well and no looking back I reckon I did okay for the best part. My main objective was to bowl better than my mate The Wizard AKA Alex McLellan. Being a lot younger than me he’s able to play in far more games than I am and it turns out that he’s bowled almost 3 times as many overs as I have so there’s an argument potentially there that his averages are going to pan out to the detriment of his figures. I might argue that as he’s bowling a lot more than me his experience might then offset that detrimental effect? Anyway down to the figures –

My Figures were
54-12-267-21
Average 12.71
RPO 4.86
Strike Rate 15.69
Best Bowling 4-27

Wizard
154-6-896-34
Average 26.35
RPO 5.82
Strike Rate 27.16
Best Bowling 4-40

But more interesting are the bowling figures of some of the more senior players and some of the other up and coming younger players. I wont even begin to consider Neil as he is in a world of his own and holds the clubs all time record as far as I know.

Mike Stephenson (Bootsie) - Senior
45-12-152-14
Average 10.86
RPO 3.32
Strike Rate 19.63
Best Bowling 4-13

Colin Pomphrett - Senior
84-6-414-20
Average 20.70
RPO 4.90
Strike Rate 25.35
Best Bowling 4-10

Ross Fullbrook – (youth)
127-3-644-25
Average 25.76
RPO 5.08
Strike Rate 30.43
Best Bowling 3-19

Callum Sellars - Youth
166-10-892-40
Average 22.30
RPO 5.36
Strike Rate 24.96
Best Bowling 5-7
3 x 5 wicket hauls

Stat Wars - Bowling Maidens

But then if you start looking at some of the statistical details these are quite interesting. For instance although I had a tactic of attack bowling and had given up on my averages after the mauling by the Leftie at the Runwell Commoners game statistically with regards bowling Maidens I did quite well.

I was 13th in the Maidens league table but then if you look at the Maidens as a percentage of your whole bowling figures I did exceptionally well considering I’ve only been at this game for 3 years. This season of my total overs I bowled 21.85% maiden overs. Looking at the stats for this year amongst the Spinners in the team both Wrist and Finger that 21.85% is the highest percentage with Neil Samwell being the nearest with 13.68%. But then looking at all of the bowling including the quicks I come out as being the 2nd highest Maiden taker as a percentage of total bowling. Some bloke called Paul Gelder beats me with 25.1% and it could well be the case that he's been bowling for years?

Stat Wars Strike Rates

Again I don't really know how important strike rates are in the scheme of things, but I'd imagine that the quicker you get the B******s back in the sheds the less runs they're going to make so hats off to Abdul Stanikzai because he was sending blokes back to the sheds every 13.99 balls. Again I don't know who this bloke is and I assume he plays for the 1st team as probably the Paul Gelder bloke does? But collating the data again I'm surprised at how frequently and infrequently some of my contemporaries are in getting the bats back to the sheds.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you might be aware that I'm not that convinced of the affectiveness of using fast bowlers in isolation at the start of the game and some of this data goes some of the way to back this up. Hopefully the previously mentioned Abdul Stanikzai is a fast bowler and therefore the practice of using pace bowlers against openers is justified to some extent. Admittedly also - the data collected here is from a season whereby 95% of the initial bowling attack for the first 15-20 overs would have been by fast bowlers against the better batsmen from the teams and this is obviously reflected in the data. But anyway the 2nd highest Strike Rate in the team with a strike rate of 15.69 was me. My next nearest Spin contender was Mike Stephenson with 19.63 and then Neil Samwell with 24.64. My mate Wizard comes in with 27.16 with a position of 11th best Strike Rate amongst the serious bowlers. Interestingly some of the people that the Wizard and I have to watch bowling in front of us are way back in the 20's with strike rates up in the 30 + region.

Again I have to say that some of this is fairly naive and I concede that if we were put in as openers on a regular basis I'm far from sure whether we'd be able to post similar figures to the fast bowlers after a season. But then in our defence The Wizard and I are newcomers and given the years of experience some of the others have I like to think we'd give them a run for their money?

In conclusion I reckon I did pretty well and that I more than acheived what I set out to do. The big turning point was back in May when after almost 6 months of trying to work out how to overcome the Googly syndrome I eventually did and got my Leg Break back. I've spent the last year on www.bigcricket.com discussing Wrist Spin Bowling and looking at some of the more obscure Wrist Spin variations and trying them out. I'm now working out some new goals for the next season with a view to improving at a similar rate. I think the key to this happening is to now disregard a lot of the weird variations and to hone my skills with a handful of variations and get really good at those. I'm looking to go forward with 4 different variations but I'm not that convinced I even need 4, but will try it out for at least this season and maybe strip another away the following year.

A key area I do want to improve on that I failed with this year is my batting. But I think the fear of facing the ball is ever diminishing and my determination to improve is increasing and this may be helped by the fact that my son is getting bigger and stronger every day and is no doubt improving himself and therefore I should in theory be improving as he does? After Christmas I'm hoping to spend more time in the nets with my bat now that my bowling is far more accomplished and hopefully I'll beat my record this season?

Chalkwell Park Cricket Nets

28th of Oct 3 days from November and the temperature in overcast conditions is still 17.5 degrees centigrade. This time last year the day time temp was 6 degrees and it was snowing! Over night it was -3 degrees and at the minute the night temp is 13 degrees! Needless to say good weather for some cricket so a few phone calls and some Face Booking and we joined up with Boffa and his two kids Ellie and Robbie and met them over at Chalkwell Park Nets.

Also in attendance was Harry and Ami and my two lads (in the image above) Ben and Joe. Me and Boffa bowled and batted, so it was good for me to face some balls of a faster nature and once I got my eye in Boffa commented that I batted okay. My bowling was alright - but you know my opinion of bowling in the nets so however I bowled it doesn't reall account for much at all.

The two other kids Ami and Harry - it was Ami that was the better - especially with her bowling and she was saying that Harry never listens to anyone and as a result throws the ball. They enjoyed it as well. My mate Boffas son Robbie played well, my kids said that he was a good batsman and his bowling action was pretty good too. All in all it was a good afternoon, before we'd gone out Ben had shown no inclination to get involved and wasn't at all enthusiastic, but as we'd left he said that he'd really enjoyed himself. Boffa was saying that during the summer he like me mows the green outside his house and makes a wicket for the kids and that sometimes they have as many as 20 kids all playing cricket out there, so I've said we'll go over there this summer and join in. So that'll be something to look forward to.

The Paddock

I had a quick look at the paddock this morning after sewing a few more seeds in the patchy areas and the rough bit nearer the bowler. I'll probably put down some more top soil and cover the seeds to increase their growing potential. At the minute with the weather being so mild the seeds may still have some chance of germinating hence the reason I gave it a go. Fingers crossed we wont get any really cold weather for another 4 weeks in which time the grass will sprout and get established and survive. It's a bit of a long shot but it may work out and therefore worth a go.

I'm also looking again at the potential to extend the levelling further down the wicket and maybe level the bowlers end as well as that seems to have been levelled to some extent inadvertently just by being walked/bowled on. In fact the bowlers end as it's in the middle of the paddock somewhat and away from any trees is subjected to more sunshine and is pure clay whereas the current batting end as it's in close proximity to the trees has been subjected to leaf droppings and therefore is a mixture to some extent of loam and clay? I'll see how the weather goes over the next few weeks and may be add more earth when the grounds wet?

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Blog hit count 13947 which is wrong as the counter screwed up months ago, it's probably more like 20,000 by now.

Personal development

Because I've now got a whole bagful of variations - Leg Break, Wrong Un, 4 x Flippers (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egstYb4Oz70 ), Slider & Top-Spinner the only thing I need to do is drop some of them and focus on a handful maybe as many as 4 that I can perfect and use in matches. So at the minute the ones that I'm looking at are -

Leg Break as my Stock Ball
Conventional Back-Spinning Flipper
Wrong Un
Top-Spinner

There's a couple of issues within the list - for instance my Leg Break has a couple of sub-variations......

1. My main leg break which is a very accurate ball bowled on the off-side that spins away from the edge of the bat, it turns but the turn isn't enormous http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3VxsgKTKw&feature=player_profilepage

2. A variation where the ball is gripped differently (lower in the hand) and is less accurate but spins a lot more.

3. A similar ball to No.2 but more flight and slower.

But the thing I need to work on is the Big Leg break with the big flick, so this will be the main thing I'll work on and at the moment I'm kind of working with the flick in the house and gradually aclimatising my wrist and fingers to having the flick action smooth and natutal. Later in the winter I'll get outside and give it a go and see how it works out.

The other area is the Top Spinner at the moment I have 2 variations of the Top-Spinner, the normal wrist spin type with the big flick and the obscure Flipper variation which was used by Clarrie Grimmett in the 1930's and 40's and is arguably the 'Original Flipper'. The idea is that I'll re-instate the normal variation and see how it works alongside the Flipper Top-Spinner and try them out in the nets come February and then stick with the one that gets the best results. I'm kind of hoping for the Flipper type as I already bowl that well at the minute.


Run up

Another thing I've looked at this week and considered is changing my run up. Earlier in the year my older son Ben had to work on his own run up as he was taking off on the wrong foot and everyone said 'He needs to address this sooner than later as if he sticks with what he's doing for much longer he'll really have difficulty correcting it. So I video'd a bloke at nets bowling properly and Ben and showed him what he was doing. I watched it and sussed out what I needed Ben to do e.g. launch off his left foot and ended up doing it myself in order to show him. At the time I was kind of impressed by the feel of the technique and then really impressed at how quickly Ben got it and modified his own bowling.

Recently I've been looking at it again with a view to considering trying to modify my own run up as I do this little shuffle that everyone notices and reckons slows my speed down. So I may give it a go and see if it has any benefits?