Practice x 2

It's 14.22 here in the UK and I've already got 2 x 3/4 hour practice sessions in using my new practice venue just outside my house. I'm beginning to think that I may let our private wicket on the field grow over and focus all my attention on getting this new practice wicket sorted because I reckon the long term prospects for it all round are so much better?

Anyway as previously written about I've been looking at My Wrong Un, The Grimmett swinging Flipper and the Top Spinner and chucking in the usual Leg Break practice. Most of it has gone really well. Very accurate same as the bowling before the Leftie yesterday. The Wrong Un is there and it turns massive when it comes out right. The only issue is confidence and the line, so I just need to bowl it more often maybe I'll have to bowl it once every 6 balls or something to get it going. The Grimmett Flipper - couldn't get it to swing and I put that down to atmospherics and my top-spinner was straight just a bit weak, so I'll have to work on that a bit as well.

Both sessions were pretty much the same, so I was more than happy with the outcome and I'm beginning to like this new venue despite the fact that it's a mess at the minute. I may even get the mower out today and cut the grass and see how uneven it really is. I noticed the bloke next door has got a big pile of clay in his backyard - might be a good source of dirt to make good the repairs. I also watered the seeds I put down a couple of days ago.

Later on........

Ben and Joe went to their practice session today with the B&PCC under 11's team. John had them working on running for singles and good communication and also getting the fielders to encourage each other. This is something Joe needs to work on but then Joe is the youngest in the team I think. Ben's better at it than Joe and he's quite good in the field with all the chat. Joe will get it in time I reckon when he feels like he's in the team a bit more. Today for instance he was seperated from all the main team players and had to train with the little kids, he didn't say anything about it, but it might impact on his sense of place in the team. Meanwhile all the key team members practiced in a seperate group away from Joe untill later when John called him over for the previously mentioned exercise.

At the end of the session when the team is then sorted for the coming Sunday both Ben and Joe weren't picked. Michelle looked at the website though and on there - Joe and Ben look as though they were lined up for the coming game? Strangely though there were no other boys at the training session that would have been there to inform that they were picked? Never mind we'll have to see how it all goes over the week. I don't think Ben and Joe quite get the idea that perhaps you get picked on the basis of performance and that in the week they need to be picking the ball and the bat up and practicing in order to secure their position in the team.

I liked the idea behind Johns drill tonight and thought that it's a technique that Joe and Ben might learn if I get this new wicket sorted because of the restrictive nature of the compound. We'll have to see how it all pans out over the next month or so? I put some more dirt down this evening and I reckon I've already made quite a big improvement on the levelness of the area in front of the stumps. With a bit of rain I reckon it could become fairly promising quite quickly. Initially I'm only going to level the area 4' either side of the stumps and 20' in front of the stumps so there'll be a nice track 8' wide and 20' long to bowl onto. Once that's established I might look at improving the whole 66' but that's a years worth of work yet to come I reckon.