Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Still no rain

I'm not wanting the summer to come to an end and I'd much rather it was sunny right through till next spring and certainly through October when we can still get a few days where the temperature is in the 20 degrees centrigrade region. But, I need some rain for my wicket, the seeds need to germinate and for the new grass get a foothold before we're plunged into the frosty mornings of November. I've been watering it a bit over the last few days but there's still no sign of any real growth. The appearance is that the grass that was there in clumps is forcing it's way through and that perhaps with the introduction of the new nutrient rich earth it's causing dormant root systems to spread and produce shoots as well? Maybe this alone over the next few weeks if we get some rain will give us a covering of grass.

I also had a bit of a bowl tonight and that went quite well and there's a chance I may be able to get access to a high speed digital camera in the next few weeks or so and if the weather does hold out I might at last be able to record all the different wrist spin variation grips and release in action?

2 comments:

  1. Hi !

    I just wanted to thank you for all the great wrist/leg spin blogs.

    I first came across your site "The Googly Syndrome" and have explored your web of leg spin blogs from there.

    Just to let you know how/who you've helped out.

    I've been a big cricket fan since university, but hadn't played since a couple of games at school. Then about 2 years ago I found myself living opposite an army barracks with a couple of nets. I was figuring out a way to try and give myself some light exercise....... so I thought I'd see how easy it was to be Shane Warne, nipped over their fence, and used their nets.

    Not very easy it turns out.

    Anyway, I had great fun just trying to keep it on the pitch and perhaps went 3 dozen times for an hour or so just mucking about. This led, of course, to spinning it around the house all the time causing my g/friend to get terminally pissed off with random "cracks!" as I missed the catch and it fell on our hard floors.

    Then I went travelling for a year, round the world trip, and took my ball with me. I maybe bowled another 3 dozen sessions all over the world.

    Now I'm back I paced out a pitch opposite a chain link fence in a park near work, and am using the pole holding up the fence as the "wicket".

    So recently I started all over again, every dry lunchtime for 45-50min, and this time I'm taking a bit more seriously. Previously, I'd essentially worked off the Jenner video and was just having a lot of fun. I'm sticking with leg/top for now but since I got back I'm reading up a lot more and your blogs are FANTASTIC. They're really providing an invaluable resource and I really feel I am picking up a lot of stuff that obviously took you months to work out on your own.

    I'm still terrible of course, although now I spin it reliably from hand to hand with big spin (at work, at home, not yet in the car) and I'm experimenting with your various suggestions on grip etc.

    I'm hoping that, if I keep the practice up over any dry days in the winter/spring (there are tarmac courts). I might get reasonable enough not to look like an utter fool if I rock up at a club and try to give it a go (OK, maybe the summer after). In this your "advanced age" has been especially reassuring, as I now feel that if it takes a few years to get to a decent standard I'll still have a good few years play to come.

    Currently I mark out an area the size of the drains you see in the pavement of the "two drain" type.... about 60cm by 150cm..... and I do this about starting at 150cm from the crease so I'm aiming at a length 1.5-3m from the crease. The box is in line with leg stump on the leg side and so goes about 40cm outside off. Thats my target. I figure any ball in there isn't "horrific" even if it isn't great. I'm trying to use the big flick, although I get more accuracy with a "semi-cocked. semi-flick/semi straight arm 3rd finger drag" at the moment.

    I'm still only hitting that box about 50% of the time (leg-spinner) and 66% (top-spinner) with noticable deviation on the leg spinner. When I missing I'm off 25% on length and 25% on line (generally full tosses, but some dragged down)......and I'm still bowling a distressing amount of wides. I figure if I can reliably put 90% in that box, with a wide every 24 balls, and also get some control of line/length within the box then I'm probably at the stage I'd approach a club.

    That may be some way off.

    In all of this your blogs have been a great help and encouragement, and I only hope this message gives you some reward for your obviously very long and hard work on them. I don't think I'd have got more serious about it without all the information I found via your blogs. I've just got the long haul of constant practice ahead, although I certainly enjoy it and ripping out the occasional perfect ball is providing enough enjoyment to carry on for now.

    Thanks for all the advice.

    For now I'll just keep plugging away. If I ever get a 5 wicket haul, I'll try and let you know that a leg spinner you "taught" kicked some ass.

    Yours,

    TGP

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  2. Cheers TGP, that's really good to hear, thanks for all the encouragement and such good feedback it's appreciated. I don't know whether you've noticed but I am trying to construct specific blogs for each of the variations. I'm working on them on and off but the key aspect of the new blogs is that I'm trying to produce slow motion video clips of the grips and their release. There's currently a lot of discussion on the www.bigcricket.com website on this subject because my mate Jim has already got a high speed digital camera and has started to upload a load of clips already. You should go and have a look as I reckon that seeing this slow motion footage will give you/me and anyone else some idea of why some things do and don't work. Hopefully I'll be able to upload my own versions soon and link them to my blogs. So if you're looking for 1 to 1 feedback maybe join us on bigcricket.com in the wrist spin thread. Admittedly we're not usually on there till late.

    Cheers

    Dave

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