The Paddock Mid Sept

At last we've had some rain and it's been good in that it's happened mid week, so by the time the weekend comes it looks like there'll be a game to be had on a dry wicket again. Knowing that the rain was imminent I put down some more topsoil and seeded it and sure enough the same night and the whole of Tuesday (I think) it rained fairly heavy giving everywhere a good saturation and then that's been followed today by a whole day of sunshine. I noticed that where the grass normally grows in clumps and has been worn away by us playing on it and the fact that the clumps have been tamed by the levelling of the whole area, the existing grass and root system seems to have been activated by the introduction of the new earth that's mixed with compost. So before the new seeds even get a hold the new wicket is coming together anyway as the grass is growing from the existing root system. I'm hoping that the kids, foxes, dogs and people that cut through the paddock don't walk across the new grass as it fights to establish itself. I had a look at it tonight and it's looking to be a massive improvement on how it was when I first started to use it for bowling, so it's looking promising at the moment with regards to next summer. Incidentally Joe, Ben and I went over to the Rec this evening and had a bit of a practice and I could see that the groundsman at the Rec has top dressed the wickets at both batting ends already (Probably as a result of that rain) so that kind of suggests that my timing is right with regards getting the seed sown this week.

With regards the practice Ben batted exceptionally well tonight against my spin producing proper defensive strokes against the straight balls and only choosing to bat the balls that were wide of his stumps. I was very impressed and asked him where the sudden improvement had come from and he put it down to the fact that he didn'y have 'Cricket fatigue'. So maybe he'll come up with half decent performances once the indoor league matches start with the B&PCC lads?