8 Days to go.........

A couple of screw ups first.

1. There wont be any net practice tomorrow as the school is using the hall and the caretaker did tell me about it and I just forgot. So the next and last net practice is Saturday 19th May the day before the match.

2. Rod Jeanes wont be playing in the game against the Aussies and Kiwi's so we need 2 more players - The 11th Man to replace Rod and a 12th Man in the event that someone doesn't turn up on the day. Suggestions and volunteers required.

Practice - Saturday 11th May

I'll try and ring round to everyone and let you all know that the net practice has been cancelled and that we will be out on Great Berry Open Space and under the threat of rain. We're not going to be playing a game more than likely setting up the stumps somehow maybe 2 - 3 lots of stumps and all having 15 minutes of batting practice rotating while everyone else bowls and collects the balls. Everyone needs to be clear on the idea of defending the stumps and your legs until the ball goes wide and then having a go at it. This is probably our weakest point in that some of us think it's just a case of whacking it. Hopefully it wont rain. The forecast is rain over night but between 10.00 and 13.00hrs it's cloudy/bright....

This is the chart for 10.00hrs on Sat 11th May. So we may get lucky.

Other than that me and Richard went over to Welstead tonight to have a look and it looks okay. The wickets a bit green for me but the rest of you will do okay. The outfield looks a bit irregular in shape and I'm not sure what they'll be designating the boundary on the day, I'll have to ask Gavin what they normally do there.

The bar will be open till 8.30 and then we're out it's normally shut at 6pm on a Sunday but Gillian at Welstead is getting the bar staff to stay longer.

I've done some pictures and post them on here later. The pitch isn't as small as I thought it would be and it's probably similar in size to our pitch at Great Berry and similarly there are some short boundaries and long ones (Unfortunately for me the long ones are in my favourite hitting zones.

I've heard that Sports Science have been taking the mick out of my obsessive desire to get this right particularly the etiquette aspects. I think I've got the food bit sorted now for the game on Sunday, but now Gillian at Welstead has thrown a spanner in the works for the friday matches. It seems she doesn't get there till 7.30 to open the gates to the field - but Dean has got the code and the keys to the field and the changing rooms so hopefully we'll all be able to pile over there at 5.00 pm approx and he'll open up and we can start. Gillian also said that on evening games it's unlikely that there'll be a food requirement - I'll have to check with Gavin....

Having checked out the food/tea situation it looks like we're going to call on volunteers to knock up some food. We need sandwiches, cakes, sausage rolls, quiche, a bit of salad and orange/barley squash to be sorted. The tea is going to be provided by Welstead as it's the only way that they're going to make any money out of us unless of course the match finishes early and money is spent in the bar.

Harrowdrive have good link tonight if you subscribe. There's a podcast between David Hinchcliffe and some bloke called Pat Legge who's a coach. Have a listen to it while you're doing something else, it's interesting and there's some good points that may help how we play and possibly train. There's some excellent points made about commitment and the attitude of English players at all levels compared with the Aussies.
Play Better Cricket - Harrowdrive.com
Cricket coaching podcast