Freezing cold practice

Cold today 6 degrees centigrade and Joe and I went out and had a practice. Initially we went to see if we could get into the cage at Markhams Chase, but there were some kinds in there despite the fact that it was so cold, so we went over to the neglected tennis courts at The Recreation Ground, Langdon Hills again, there's just nowhere you can go around here to practice, everywhere you look despite the concerns about obesity and the declining fitness levels, the facilities are either pay only or in a state of dilapidation - like the tennis courts at the Rec.

Despite the fact that the Rec is wrecked we persevered again as did a couple of women who were practicing netball and couple of other kids who were practicing basketball at the same time. We spent about an hour and half and it went nowhere near as well as last week and I couldn't figure it out, until I got back in the car and realised actually I might still be a little fuzzy in the head from last nights night out at a wedding? I'm using that as an excuse.

I had a bowl and that went okay. I think I need to do some of the practice again outside my house with grooving the run up a bit, as I was stuttering a little sometimes and needed to focus on the new run-up approach in order for it to be smooth and functioning properly.

I worked on getting on the toes a little as that's something I don't do well enough and when I do, do it the ball turns far more. The lifting on the toes at the moment feels a little unnatural and I need to bring it together with the rest of the new action before nets start. With that in mind I also need to be working on my Achilles but I've been warned about the potential for injury based on the fact that I generally practice on hard surfaces. Apparently if you practice consistently on a hard surface this affects the way your Achilles functions, and then when you start practicing on a flexible/soft surface such as grass early in the season, this massively increases the chance of sustaining injury. See the link below...

http://cricketstrength.com/?s=achilles

More practice - Pre nets

Langdon Hills Recreation Ground - Tennis courts

Was the venue for a practice today for Joe and I

This is a vid from a few years ago when the place was in a fairly good condition when the fences were sound and the tarmac in reasonable condition. In the last few years Basildon Council have seemingly let it fall into a state of disrepair which is a real shame as there's very few places in the area where you can play ball games within a fairly large area and contain the ball. It seems really daft when the government are aware that the population is increasingly sedentary and inactive and obesity and the likes means the NHS pick up the cost - that's paid through taxes. But, how is anyone going to engage in sport if the facilities are not there?

Anyway that aside - what with the surface being so rough I thought it might be a challenge to try and bat on it and sure enough it was. The surface is badly damaged by frost and is ROUGH so with Joe bowling Off-Breaks using relatively bouncy Bola balls (Red ones) I had problems. Right Arm Off-Spin is one of the things I come across a lot as a tail ender and is one of the things I really struggle with so this challenge is one of the key ones I need to come up with solutions to. In the end I came up with a couple of solutions...

(1). Standing right on the edge of the crease if not just out of it which is risky, but I seemed to be pulling it off the majority of the time by giving myself a far better chance of getting to the pitch of the ball and either hitting it cleanly or just smothering it.

(2). Again - staying with the same stance and position just outside of the crease - creep forwards a touch encouraging the bowler to bowl fuller and then hitting on the full with a drive or stepping back if it was short and cutting it off the back foot.

As I said for the most part it worked and I was probably successful 19 out of 20 times during which I was hitting the ball effectively - meaning that I'd be making runs and getting off of strike, all of which is a massive improvement on previous years. I'm definitely hitting the ball exponentially more than I have ever done and doing so with far more confidence so I'm really looking forward to May when the season starts.

Pre nets practice

I've not bowled for months now having given myself a rest and focused for once on my batting. The nets that we go to once a fortnight are rammed solid at the weekend and booked up, so this weekend we're not going. Last weekend we practiced at a local 'Cage' and it proved to be a decent place to practice, so we went again today and did some work with batting and bowling for once.

Batting went okay, although Joe was a bit of a pain as he came along with attitude and didn't seem to do anything with any effort or conviction. He's 14, nearly 15, so has a bit of an attitude issue when you drag him away from Youtube! Similar to last week I was practicing moving my feet - getting to the pitch of the ball, driving the ball and paddle sweeps. All of which I'm doing with far more assuredness and success.

The bowling was reasonable, but I've already identified what I need to focus on and it's exactly what Tony M was recommending when I last bowled at Writtle... focusing on getting up on the toes in the delivery. There's a weeks holiday coming up soon for me (Lecturer) which means I can focus on this and practice with a lot more conviction and maybe get the video recording going and record my progress. What is good though is the fact that the 'New run-up' seems to be feeling pretty natural and the ball is coming out okay despite not bowling properly since late October early November.