Pre match practice

Listened to the cricket on the radio (The Ashes) and gave up around about 5pm as it was obviously going down the pan and I thought I'd save the awful truth till later when the highlights are shown on Channel 5 (TV). 8pm and laden with despair at Englands predicament I went across to my practice wicket and threw some balls.

Having been away for over two weeks I was pleased to see that the seeds I'd sewn had actually taken and are growing, so the bare earth where I'd done the repairs a few weeks ago are no longer and the process of repair is underway. It's still fairly uneven but definitely improved and this evening after my bowling session I got out the 'Round-up' (Weedkiller) and treated the Plantain. Coming home on Friday night I went via the field where our summer wicket is and it's still obviously there, but needs to be cut. I noted that where I'd treated that a few weeks back with the Round-up there were loads of circular marks where I'd sprayed and it had not only killed the weeds but the grass too, so it is really potent and effective stuff.

Anyway to the bowling. I bowled this morning and that was okay, but this evening I bowled the equivalent of 8 overs and it went well. One thing I'm having issues with at the moment is whether I'm getting the ball to turn enough. Over the holiday as I mentioned I'd been putting in the hours trying to get The Biggun sussed, this is the Leg Break with the big flick backwards that produces the ball with the potential to turn like Warnes ball of the century if it hits an area of uneveness on a wicket. As part of the process I've been slightly disillusioned by the fact that my spinning ball no matter what I do doesn't 'Fizz' through the air in the way that Grimmett and Warnes did in flight. Because my bowling's pretty sound at the moment I've not been that fussed, but the last couple of days I've been reading Philpotts 'The Art of Wrist Spin Bowling" and re-reading the insistance that massive amounts of spin are a pre-requisite to calling yourself a Wrist Spinner. This coupled with the fact that I'm compiling a new series of blogs http://spinbowling-legbreak.blogspot.com/with specific titles and giving this advice to the people reading the new blog, I'm feeling like a bit of a charlatan because I can't bowl The Biggun. But then I watch the Ashes and hear the commentators saying that Graeme Swann is getting the ball to spin big and I'm looking at it thinking well - if that's big I turn mine massively then! I suppose all that matters is that I take the wickets in the matches and should forget about my apparent lack of spin when compared to Philpotts teachings!

So all in all the practice went well, good line and length, good Wrong Uns and Good 'Grimmett Flippers'. These Grimmett Flippers need a name I reckon.