Cloudy and overcast today at the minute, may clear later. Things to do this morning, we're off to Decathlon to replace the balls that were lost yesterday and buy a few other items. I've got to pay the boys club membership at their club - Basildon and Pitsea Cricket Club and then mayb this afternoon we can carry on with our game. The good news is that when I got up Joe reminded me that it was his turn to bat, so that's a good indication of how enthused he is as well, so this current format that we're practicing in and the all the work preparing the wicket in Paddock does seem to be paying off.
Noticed I had another friend added - Bigcricket.com which might see my views increase even more. If you're reading this and you're looking for links or opportunities to ask questions about cricket you should try http://www.bigcricket.com/ - sign up and started asking questions or maybe even answering other peoples questions.
Didn't get to play cricket till later and we carried on with our game. Joe was doing okay but wasn't hitting the ball cleanly so gave up after about an hours worth of batting but he did okay. Our pitch marking paint came and later in the day we painted up the crease, so now we've got a crease to work with. When Joe's bowling to Ben he often tempts Ben out of his crease and there's often a chance for a stumping, but the issue of no crease line makes the decisions disputable, hopefully tomorrow we'll have some stumpings that are given. Another ball has been lost today, so there's 4 out there now, I'm going to have to plot where they are and get in amongst the undergrowth with a rake and a machete and see if I can find them! We did notice today with the new white balls that they tended to stop quite quickly in the undergrowth and not travelled as far as we'd imagined, so that's something to consider when I have a proper look for them.
I practiced properly today and it went well, exceptionally good accuracy with the Leg-Breaks and the Wrong Uns. The back-spinning Flipper is a bit of a risky ball because it takes one or two REALLY bad balls to get the hang of it, but then it's okay, I'm still not that convinced that it's a particularly good ball though. I had a go at the 'Biggun' but it was a disaster - coming out as a wrong un rather than a Leg-Break so I gave that up, I'll have another go some other time. Overall though it was a 9 out of 10 type of practice and my bowling I would say is far better than it was last year. I've just got to wait now and see if I get a game this Sunday.
