Readers Windballs

Reader Windballs We were down to our last one of these, so needed to get some more of them. We use these all the time for training and practice and they're great; a decent weight, good bounce properties, hard-wearing and because of the colour easy to find if they get lost in the bush/trees. Buy them in bulk and you'll get them at a decent price. Look out for the postage as that normally hikes up the price loads.

Double click on the image for video

I got these from   http://www.notonlybowls.com/ and paid £17.94 with free postage as long as I picked them up from my local Argos. Once they were ready I got a text/email with a code that I then presented to the staff at Argos and they handed them over.

This blog is no longer updated and new content can be found via the blogs below.

https://bowlingplans.blogspot.com/

http://theoldwristspinner.blogspot.com/

http://wristspinbowling.blogspot.com/

This is an example of some of the bowling vids on my Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBodRls5i80&t=21s

Pre-season practice and fitness at Mopsies and the Rec

Weather was fine today, a little cold at 10 degrees but dry and bright following a week of cold but generally dry weather. Not wanting to have a weekend with no cricket at all, Joe and I opted to go and have a look at Mopsies as an option for a practice, realising it probably was going to be dry enough. Normally we might have gone over to Gloucester Park, but since the 'Sporting Village' has taken it over they don't let anyone participate in sport unless you're ready to pay a premium for it and they want £70 for something that was free to all of the community a few years ago and had been for decades. Again, something I find incredulous, given that the levels obesity and the fall in sports participation in this country and the fact that the government pays lip service to the idea that it supports sports participation.

Anyway enough of a moan, at least we can drive right across town spewing hydro-carbons into the air and use Mopsies. It's a lot of aggro, but once there and setting all the stuff up it always goes quite well and ends up being worth it.

 Joe getting all the gear out of the car.

 All set up and ready to go. With no wicket keeper we put up a piece of scaffold net to prevent the majority of the balls from ending up on the boundary.

As we were packing up the sun came out, still looks nothing like spring - the trees still bare with no leaves.

We took 50 balls, Joe bowled two lots of 50 and I had one bag of 50 as Joe didn't want to bat the second time (Wanted to get home and watch Youtube or play Black Ops). He bowled really well for the most part, Joe targeted my leg-stump as he knows that's my weak zone. Looking at the video below, this is very different to facing a bowling machine and there's a few obvious things I reckon I need to do. In comparison to batting against the machine, there's very little in the way of forward movement? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing?

I reckon more work in the nets over the Easter Break trying to get forwards, maybe speed the bowling machine up, we've been working with it at 68mph at the most, maybe we should look to use it at 70mph? Maybe if I'm able to get used to that and still hit the ball, it'll be easier when it's a real bowler? It does seem to be very much a confidence thing, I've been batting so much better in the nets, hitting full tosses and generally just hitting the ball cleaner and this must be a consequence of the work done in the nets over the winter?

Double click the image below for the video.

My bowling...

What happened - The camera was set up behind the batsman and to the side at the other end to record the approach to the crease, action and follow through. I managed to get some footage of both before the battery died in the cold. I bowled 50 balls coming off of a 14’ run-up. I then got home and played the footage back through software that enabled me to view the action in slow motion. In relation to the last action plan (see here) I’ve implemented very little because of the weather and a reluctance to spend money on hiring indoor venues to practice the action. Bowled in the nets on Tuesday night, too a good wicket.

Feelings – The actual bowling seemed to go quite well and I would have had Joe bowled around his legs, caught behind wicket keeper and stumped a number of times. So that seemed okay, but felt wrong. The video once played back and looked at… That made me a little depressed as there seems to have been a big backwards step. But whilst feeling down about the current action I do feel as though it is recoverable if I’m given the chance to correct it. I reckon a couple of tweaks and I’ll be back on track.

What was good/bad – Length was too full on Sunday, took some getting used to in order to pull it back, would have been hit for plenty and in a 40 over game might have been taken off after two overs? Once settled too plenty of wicket especially stumping off of Joe trying to charge me and hit the ball before it bounced. Joe was very successful at this in the nets on Tuesday night – batted really well, but would have fallen eventually. Bad – the action; the bound looks bad, BFC was angled so bowling action was very front on with little pivot. The stride was short and the front leg collapsed at FFC.

Analysis – As alluded to above, I think the whole thing can be recovered given some proper time to practice without the use of a ball, just focusing on the bowling action. Looking at the video footage there are some glaring deficiencies. As I go into the bound there seems to be a lack of setting up in order to facilitate the getting side on aspect. Which means as I land out of the bound BFC is angled and my body is too front on and lacks the side on attributes that I should be aiming for. The stride is then pretty weak e.g. short. The rest of the action looks fairly okay other than occasionally there’s a fade to the left through the follow-through like Mushatq Ahmed. The whole thing looks as though it lacks oomph and dynamism, but I reckon it wouldn’t take a lot of work to correct it. As mentioned previously, fitness is currently an issue, the weather hasn’t been that conducive with getting out and about. In addition the last two weeks I’ve felt as though I’m on the verge of coming down with a cold or something, if you believe in biorhythms I’d say that it may be something to do with that?

All that aside, it is Easter and I’ve got two weeks off now to work on all of these aspects and if the last 2 weeks was the down-side of the biorhythmic pattern, the coming days should see an improvement of all things physical? One note of caution I’ve got to do some digging and labouring in the next few days, so that’s going to kill me unless I’m fitter than think, but at 56 I reckon I’ll be a bit sore after a few days of lugging around paving stones and pebbles.

Conclusion – Fitness needs to be improved, more likely if the weather gets better and enable me to get out in it. Bowling action needs to be worked on – particularly and foremost - getting side-on coming out of the bound.

Action plan – Try and practice with Joe as much as possible over the coming two weeks especially at Mopsies. Set aside specific time to work on the bowling action without the use of the ball. Film the bowling action without the ball. Start to do cardio work and leg work to build up strength and stamina with lower body specificity. Get back on the upper body work too. Reflect on progress mid-week (30^th March)?

Today 28th March after a crappy Easter weekend, the wind and rain stopped for long enough to get out and have a knock about in the street and then do some work on fitness. Joe and I took a 20 minute run/walk over to The Rec which took in the Rec hill which I negotiated with far more ease than I'd expected...

It's not all running especially at this point in the season, power-walking mixed with sprinting and running... getting the heart going and getting some strength back in my legs is the priority for me.

Short rest at the square at Langdon Hills Rec. 

Then up the hill and back home.

Our house to the Rec, up the hill and back... 20 minutes, as I get fitter I may have to go right around the field to make it a 20 minute exercise.

My other active blogs include…

https://bowlingplans.blogspot.com/

http://theoldwristspinner.blogspot.com/

http://wristspinbowling.blogspot.com/

This is an example of some of the bowling vids on my Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBodRls5i80&t=21s

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Pre-season practice/training

The wind, rain and cold weather has abated for the weekend meaning we could get out at last and have a knock about. Last week club nets was cancelled because the school were using the nets for exams and Joe's not scheduled to have his last South Essex District training till this coming Thursday. So we've been short on cricket. With the temperature at 11 degrees and the sun trying to shin through a thin veil of haze we made our way over to the Markham's Chase cage just in case it was empty. As per usual it wasn't, but to be fair we could have used it batting at the 'House' end hitting the ball towards the fields, but Joe's always reluctant to for some reason if there's people in there so we moved on to The Rec and practiced there instead.

Markham's Chase Cage, Basildon.

 Markham's Chase Cage, Basildon.

Joe trying to retrieve another lost ball from the impenetrable bushes that surround the tennis courts at the Rec.

Joe as per usual wasn't that up for it, but he came along and initially bowled, but had to do so off of a short run-up so bowled off-breaks (Finger spin). My batting seemed okay and we used a couple of balls - bouncy ones and rock-hard hockey balls which hardly bounce at all, did okay against both. I'm hitting the ball far cleaner this year, I just seem to see it these days and I noticed that I hit almost every full toss whereas full tosses previously I've struggled with. So again I have to say I'm quite optimistic about the idea of batting further up the order this season and beating my all time best score which is a paltry 16!

Then there was the bowling...

What happened - after the ropey performance at nets last week (previous post) and the comments about the run-up and movement through the crease feeling a bit odd, I committed to reinstating the run-up that I'd developed through November last year. 

Feelings - it felt promising and fairly rhythmical and as though given only a little bit of effort I felt that I'd got it pretty close to how it was going in November.

Good/Bad (Evaluation) -  Bad... There was some leg-side rubbish towards the end, where I was trying to bowl top-spinners. Good stuff, generally as mentioned before it came together fairly quickly and felt good and was obviously much faster than I was bowling last year. When the top-spinners did come out right they caused Joe some real problems with the extra bounce. 

Analysis - I definitely need to do a couple of things. During this session I wasn't consciously thinking about getting up on my toes, so I'm not sure how well I was doing that at BR (Ball release), the other aspect that may need to be looked at is the delivery stride? Other than it all felt really good and the ball was turning off the surface and was on a nice length, Joe was having to come down the crease to hit on the full and in doing so if it turned or he timed it wrong he'd have been stumped numerous times, so in a way a big improvement over the club net session where he was coming down the wicket and smashing it while it was still in the air. Legs feel (as I suspected) as if they need some work on them, upper body strength is good, press-ups and planks are seeing to that along with some other stuff I'm doing that I picked up from Cricket Strengths website. 

Conclusion - things look to be on track with Easter break coming up and two weeks off. I need to start working on leg strength and stamina, although stamina-wise I'm pretty good usually, but I definitely need to do aerobic work as my recovery rate at the minute is probably not that good. 

Action Plan - Try and have another session tomorrow, take a camera and record the bowling action and have a look at how it's coming together. Start  incorporating leg strengthening exercises and start doing some power-walking/running training for 20 minutes a day if the weather permits or every other day at the start to allow recovery. 


So, hopefully we'll have another fine early spring day tomorrow and with a bit of luck we might get out early and perhaps get in the cage at Markham's Chase for a session?

Training SEDCB - Joe Thompson

Another good session tonight at the freezing cold Fitzwymarc school sports hall. Again another very low turn out. Tonight they set the boys another one of those scenarios in the nets. T20 game; six of the boys were batting and six were bowling. They had two nets and the bowlers were being used in spells with one boy acting as the captain. The spare bowlers were in a third net doing throw-downs with the 'Yet to go in batsmen'. When you were out you rotated with batsmen in the 3rd net.

Captain kid chose Joe to open and Joe bowled well from the outset bowling an off-stump line or in the corridor or uncertainty area. Joe set a field with fine leg and no third man and after a couple of balls, the batsmen were guiding the ball through the 3rd man region so the coach suggested a re-think on his field positions and they came up with the field setting below...

The idea being that he was looking to get the batsman to drive through the space between point and extra cover and get an edge through to 2,3,4 or 5 with the protection of 3rd man at 6 for balls that get through. He bowled well and came away with 3 wickets, all of them going through to slips or the wicket keeper as planned.

At the end the trainers spoke to the boys as a collective. The bats had all been aware of the field positions and were asked why their batting figures were so low and they admitted that the bowling was good "They bowled a good line and length", the coach came back with 'Who bowled a good line and length and bowled to their plan'? A number of the bats nodded towards and said "Joe". Which is really helpful, as that would have massively encouraged Joe, that they had acknowledged his bowling with little encouragement and that'll now make Joe feel as though he has some function in the team, as the group dynamic is still a little cliquey and fractured as far as I can make out. So bit by bit I reckon Joe is feeling a part of the team and as though people are recognising his contribution, which is essential if he's going to do well, he needs to feel as though people believe in his abilities and want him to do well and expect him to do well. So again, another really good session for Joe. 

 Joe discussing the field settings with one of the Essex coaches (Scott).

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.

SEDBC training Joe

As per usual Joe didn't seem to be that up for going training - freezing cold night and the drive to Fitzwymarc school straight after dinner. "I'd rather go to sleep". We arrived with Mo and his Dad Naeem and saw that most of the other lads must have been of the same opinion as Joe and had stayed at home. The bloke Scott led the session talking about the need for strategies and plans then handing out written down game scenarios, saying to the lads, that's where you are in the game - think about your strategy and set your field. The boys were put in random groups of 4 and told to discuss it amongst themselves and come up with a plan and field. Quite a tough task if you're not a cricket obsessive with any desire to be a captain I'd say.

Obviously though, it was also a strategy to see who would take control of the groups, as these boys would be potential candidates  for the captains role. Joe's group only had 3 and one lad 'AB' took control from the start with Joe and the other kid chipping in. It looked though as the AB kid then having started the plan - handed it over to Joe and the other kid and said... you decide where the remaining leg-side players should be.  Which I thought was clever.

 

 

 

Their scenario was the first ball of the game as far as I could make out and they came up with this...

Joe had one other kid in his lane and using this field they both took a wicket each in the first over, nicking it to slips. Both of then bowled a pretty good line and length preventing the batsmen from scoring runs. The first 4 overs they'd gone for 14 runs, most of runs coming from balls being struck through the dark green zone.

After the four overs the bloke Scott got them to review the situation and the field was adapted to this...

Eleven was move around and 9 taken out and put in slips to cut off the runs and sure enough it had the desired affect.

 

Joe bowled really well, not once did he stray down the legside - leaving that to the other 2 kids bowling with him. Some of the balls were a little short and near the end he bowled a lovely slow ball which had the batsman all at sea. Joe came away from the session having really enjoyed it and I think he also came away feeling as though he'd learnt something really useful that would enable him to have the confidence to put the plan into place in a game scenario. As far as Joe was concerned this was his best session so far and the most useful.

 

Overall though it was observed that they're all a bit quiet still and they were encouraged to speak up and suggest things and have discussions openly about what had happened. But I still think they're all still unsure of each other and not comfortable in their roles and places in the team set-up. Joe this week probably buoyed by the session and having his confidence boosted was far more comfortable with the kids in his net and vice versa. 

Leg Spin bowling practice - Gibbs Reflective Practice in Sport (4th May)

What Happened.

Had another practice - the equivalent of 12-14 overs. Again only using 6 balls. Venue the paddock. Objective - accuracy and spinning the ball hard.

Feelings.

Yeah, a lot more positive than yesterday, a definite move forwards with some positive observations relating to the things that I tried.

Evaluation. (Good and Bad).

The good thing was with the additional focus on accuracy, it seemed to work really well. In addition my Googly is coming together - very accurate with loads of top spin a lot of the time. Bad stuff - for some reason irrespective of what delivery I chose at the start of the over, a lot of the time it ended up very wide down the legside.

Analysis.

The way I'm practicing this season is to use a mat, we started to do this last year, but since then I've looked at a few things and realised that one of the really important things is the length. In the nets over winter and at training I come up against some very good batsman who are able to read the spin, but if the flight combined with the length come together it leaves them in two minds. So the focus is to land the ball in a specific area. The point of reference for the ideal length comes from information that batsman have suggested 4-5 yards from the stumps and this is confirmed if you watch the IPL when the spinners are bowling their pitch maps have a 'Good length' defined as 4 metres.

The area that I spin into is relatively large, again there's some debate about this, spinners such as Grimmett and Benaud talk about being able to land the ball onto very small areas, but I reckon that if you're pursuing this discipline and you stick to that idea, you're going to get very despondent. It might be a target to aim for in the much longer term e.g. when you've been bowling this stuff for ten years or so, but when you're learning something akin to what I'm doing here I reckon is a good start.

Confirmation of the idea that a big target is acceptable, can be found here (Click on the image) and watch it at about three minutes in. This is Terry Jenner, Shane Warne's mentor.

 



Recently I've noted that when I bowl with loads of balls I don't take it as seriously as I should do, as there's always plenty of balls in the bucket to bowl correctly next time and it seems I get really sloppy. So now I go out with just six balls looking to bowl really well from ball 1 and trying to make every ball count. The fact that I then have to walk down the other end and gather all the balls together almost recreates the time gap that occurs as the other blokes over takes place. We never bowl more than six balls at a time and therefore our rhythm is disrupted and I feel that it's important to recreate this when you're practicing.

 

 

So today I set up the mat initially so that line was as below...

When I do this I pre-allocate points to each strip. So on this occasion I've said that landing the ball on 'A' scores me 3 points, the ball on 'B' scores 2 points and 1 point for 'C'. Hitting the stumps in addition scores an additional point. The mats as mentioned previously is on that 'Good length' the centre of the mat is at 4 yards, so the more I'm able to bowl onto the mat, the more it becomes to feel natural to bowl that length. The drill can obviously be changed in order that you bowl fuller or shorter and this again stretches your abilities.

 

So the first half of this evenings session was with this configuration trying to bowl at the stumps which in theory would draw the batsman forward to defend or drive the ball, or get him skipping down the wicket. So as I'm bowling I'm also trying to change the speed and flight and get more over-spin in order to get the ball to dip more rapidly. All these subtleties, still require the ball to land on the mat.

 

Initially I didn't score that high, the balls were too full and I didn't have any way of recording the points. In addition the amount of spin I was getting with my Leg Breaks meant that all of the balls were missing the off-stump by a mile. So then I changed the mat position to the one below...

With the ball turning so much I was then able to focus on getting the ball on the 'A' line attempting to turn it into the stumps and this was a lot more successful. Hitting the 'A' line coming around the wicket at the other end for some reason was a lot easier. My top-spinners were very accurate too and these look as though will be a key feature of my bowling at the start of the season. If they work as well as I'm envisaging that'll be a big leap forwards. My Googlies again were very accurate tonight landing on 'C' and missing the leg stump by some way as well. Point-wise I scored a couple of 9's and a 10, but to be really honest and brutal I need to take a piece of paper and record my success rates and post these up on the blog maybe?

 

I didn't have the camera tonight and yet I bowled relatively well, it does seem as though if I've got the camera recording me I get the Yips!!!

 

Conclusion -

 

I still need to get the first over bowled well, with good accuracy, so it may be that I should bowl Top-Spinners for the first 2 or 3 balls next time and then see if the 3rd or 4th ball as a leg break produces a better result? The first ball of several of the overs went way down the legside irrespective of whether I bowled around or over the stumps and I need to explore this. It may be that I'm still just be sloppy?

 

Action plan -

 

Bowl tomorrow night using the same approach. Record what I do and the points scored. Position the mat slightly differently and bowl over the stumps. Have the 'A' strip slightly wide of leg and have that as the '3 point' target. Bowl with more over-spin. Bowl some overs with a top-spin priority and adjust and record the target strip.

 

If you're looking for more info and ideas about Wrist Spin Bowling - check my Leg Break bowling page out here. http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wrist-spin-bowling-leg-break.html

 

 

 





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Fitness drill - cricket specific

I've noted that my bowling this year has started off really well and I can only put it down to the fact that since Christmas I've been working on my fitness, stamina, upper body strength, core strength and flexibility. I've been doing a combination of this workout here (Cardio) and this one here (upper body). I've also been either power walking or running for 20 minutes most other nights. None of it religiously, but enough to make a difference. Now the weather is with us and we can get out on the paddock I've adapted what I do and made it even more cricket specific.

Been working on my fitness with Joe over the last week or so. The drill incorporates the kind of approach seen in SAQ cricket. It'll be interesting to hear from the experts that look in on my blog every now and then and comment on www.bigcricket.com regards the worthiness of it?

Equipment & space

Training ball or cricket ball, stumps and optional keepers gloves or catching mit   + open space.

Description

Set the stumps at 22 yards or more. One player acts as the coach whilst resting stands at end (A). The active player starts at end (B). The coach rolls the ball out towards end (B) and the active player runs in and attacks the ball scooping it up (Or long barrier) and throws it back to the coach over the stumps aiming to do so with accuracy.

The active player runs round the coach at (A) heading back to his/her starting end (B) as the active player sets off back to (B) the coach throws a high ball back towards the players end (B) so he has to catch the ball over his/her shoulder. On catching the ball he/she throws it back at the coaches end stumps (A) trying to hit them and then sprints back to (B). Then, runs round the stumps at (B).

Then finally runs back as fast as possible to (A) and the coach throws the ball to the incoming player underarm to catch whilst on the move and the throws down the stumps whilst running towards them.

Both players swap roles and repeat ad infinitum for either 20 minutes or until they can't run any more!

The theory is that the rest period whilst being the coach reflects the period when the body rests momentarily before having to set off again running at full pelt as in a batting situation. The 20 minutes gives you an aerobic work-out, the turning, stopping, accelerating all reflect movement in cricket. The catching and moving pick-ups reflect fielding skills. All in all I reckon that's a lot better than running or walking for 20 minutes which is boring as far as I'm concerned.

Spinners drill - competitive off-spin v Leg spin

My younger son Joe bowls finger spin so is a right arm off-spinner and I bowl Leg spin. We quite often practice in the paddock together trying to see who can hit the stumps the most times and things like that and I've done similar things at the club before. Tonight I came up with a good little drill you can easily do which encourages accuracy with line and length with the necessity to spin the ball.

Using a set of Kwik Cricket or training stumps, remove the middle stump. Make a decision that you're both going to bowl one side or another and both bowl that side. We both bowled over the stumps in this illustration. Then mark out a zone into which you're going to bowl, we use a mat. The zone/mat needs to be wider than the stumps and placed on a good length to bowl. As both bowlers look down the wicket from the bowling end they've both got a fair equal area onto which to bowl, one side shouldn't favour the other.

So the off-spinner bowls as per this illustration below - landing the ball on any part of the mat but aiming to hit the furthest stump, so with the offie he has to hit the leg-stump so encouraging him/her to turn the ball as much as possible. We play it - giving a point for landing it on the mat (A) and 3 points for landing it on the mat and hitting the designated stump (B). If the bowler hits the easier stump no points are given. Needless to say you could easily modify the rules and give points for the nearer stump too.

For the leg-spinner (Me) I have to pitch the ball on the mat (C) and turn the ball into the off-stump (D) to get maximum points. The way we play it is if the ball hits the stumps having gone straight on we still get 3 points.

 

Needless to say this only really works if you've got a good few balls. But it's good in that it's competitive and encourages bowling on a good length spinning the ball hard enough to hit the furthest stump. Looking at it, you could if you had some white tape mark the mat out as below and award even more points for landing it in the outside zone and hitting the opposite stump? The variations and possibilities are quite varied.

 

Check out my other blog here - this is all about Leg-spin bowling and nothing else. Double click on the image below.

 

 



What to do during the off season - Cricket

There's been some discussion about what to do during the off-season if you play cricket. Personally I'd love to carry on playing indoors, but there doesn't seem to be many opportunities to do so, I did consider in the summer getting some of the old MPA crew together and somehow cobble a team together and join a league if such a thing is possible, but I'd forgotten about it and it's too late now.

Over the last few years whilst the kids were young I was able to carry on playing and mucking about with them, but as they're now 15 and 13 it's slightly more difficult to get them to do that, although they do if I ask them, but a part of me doesn't want to over do it and put them off of cricket. As I was learning and struggling with the Googly syndrome I used to put a lot of effort into training and I used to get out as much as I could during the winter, practicing 3 or more times a week. I'm less inclined to do that these days and since last year when I hardly did anything over the winter because of Joe's leg incident. I found going into the season this year, despite the fact that I'd hardly practiced, things went better and I continued with an approach where I practiced less and therefore didn't over-analyse what I was doing. I kind of found that by practicing in shorter bursts, but being more focussed on what it was that I wanted to achieve and limiting those goals, things came together in a different way. So this winter I'm going to repeat that process.

Fitness, strength, agility, stamina.

What I have noticed is that I don't get a good start to the season seemingly because I'm simply not fit enough and the main aspect of this seems to be strength. I'm a teacher, so I don't do a lot of physical exertion as a part of my job, especially upper body strength, which of course for a wrist spinner, arms and shoulders and core strength are essential. Once into the season and with general summer activities with my two sons, my fitness levels start to increase and by the time we get to late June things are starting to come together. But that means I've usually bowled poorly through all of May and all of June almost, which isn't good.

So over this winter, I'm going to focus on Fitness, strength and flexibility, hoping that stamina just comes along naturally as it's something I'm usually okay with. One of my gripes with these kind of things is the time factor, so I can't be doing with spending loads of time huffing and puffing doing this stuff. So, I've been looking for a way to do it that makes good use of down-time and the approach I've come up with at the moment is this.

Using this video here, I've taken these exercises and at the moment reduced the time spent doing each one down by about 50%. What I'm doing is... When I get an opportunity to do the sequence, I go though it - I've just done it amidst writing the blog and I did it earlier waiting for a kettle to boil for a cup of tea. So anytime there's a few minutes I'll do it, the hope is that I'll build the strength slowly but surely and increase the reps over a period of time till I'm doing the full five minute version 3 or more times a day. I have modified the drill slightly as I don't do the burpee jumps at the end instead I do this exercise here as it's specific to my own bowling - improving my deltoids and shoulder (Rotator cuff).

Hopefully going into winter nets I'll be in a better place with regards to my upper body strength and the transition into the new season a lot better? The only other thing I'm still working on is flexibility and balance, I'm looking for a similar sequence of yoga moves that'll help with that aspect. Once I find one I'll add that to my drills.

Reflective Practice spin bowling

Coming away from yesterdays knockabout with the 3rds and 4ths at the Rec, there were a couple of things to take away and reflect on and yep, I'll think I'll do this properly and use the Gibbs method.


1. Description; I had to bowl at people that have established records as being competent batsmen with a great deal of experience. In addition these blokes have faced me in net situations before and got the better of me.

2. Feelings; Mixed feelings, on one hand there was the chance that my bowling figures and the chance of being picked next week could be undermined, but on the other hand, my bowling's going well at the moment and there was a chance that I might do okay and in this immediate scenario I'd just taken wickets.

3. Evaluation; The good thing was that I was getting the ball to spin and it was turning off the wicket and I didn't get hit for any sixes and I got a number of dot balls. My run-up and bound all felt good and when the ball came out of the hand feeling right - it did the things that it should have done. The only really bad aspect was that my wrong-un wasn't coming out right most of the time and that cost me runs. If I'd bowled Leg Breaks, I reckon I'd have done a lot better with regards to the runs I conceded.

4. Analysis: I need to be more confident in my abilities and spend some time correcting the things that are not working. Perhaps also recognise after a couple of variations that go wrong, perhaps go back to the stock ball and vary that in some way.

5. Conclusion; Bowl to my strengths and stop bowling the variations if they go wrong 2-3 times.

6. Action Plan; Get out on the paddock and work on the wrong-un and maybe one other variation. The plan this year is to have the Flipper working as well.

Paddock Today

This afternoon I wasn't intending on practicing with any intensity, but was hoping to mow the paddock with a view to using it some time in the week. Just as I was finishing it off, one of my mates Thomas Slater (One of the original MPA 1st XI players) came by and joined me, looking to have a knock about in the sun. So that was it, all the plans to take it easy were dropped and I got to bowl at him.

Historically being a left-hander I've always struggled to bowl against him, in addition he's athletic, agile and got very good eye/bat/ball coordination. But today I had no problem and I think this is just a case of I am a better bowler for several reasons and I reckon the main one is the intro of the bound and the incorporation of some of the things that Stuart Macgill has mentioned to me, the key one being the leg coming through. I also had the chance to try bowling some wrong uns and get some practice in with them and playing around bowling to a plan. The good thing was that he adapted and changed his strategies in accordance to what he thought I was doing. The mainstay of his approach was that he moves his feet a lot and was prepared to leave his crease and meet the ball at the point that it pitched. There were a number of different ways I managed to over-come that - Flippers, wrong-uns and Leg Breaks with more spin bowled shorter with loads of dip. The difficult part was recognising from 22 yards away whether he was in his crease or out of it. But overall it was a very useful bowling session in that I was bowling to a LH bat and one that a couple of years ago used to massacre my bowling and this time around the boot was very much on the other foot.

But I still need to work with the wrong un, getting it to come out right first ball up, because when it does come out right it turns very well off the wicket. What I did notice was, it works better with a really relaxed grip, so that's something I need to keep in mind. I also tried bowling the wrong - wrong un, one of Clarrie Grimmetts obscure variations and that was coming out pretty well and I may work with that as it seems to come out better than the conventional flipper which I have been struggling with.











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Day 3 cricket boot camp

Boot camp drills for Joe have had to be put on hold as he's fallen ill with a cold and looks ill, so he's on paracetamol, lots of drinks and rest for a few days. Hopefully he'll be better before the start of next week. Next week looks as though we may be in for a change for the better with regards to the weather, with the temperature reaching double figures 11 degrees centigrade, so hopefully if Joe's feeling better we'll be able to get over the Rec and start doing some training and having a knock-about. We'll get Ben and some of the other lads involved, Kieran, Harry, Ollie Bybuke and maybe Frank?

Weather forecats here... http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/ss16_5ue

In the meantime, I've kept going, using the same drill off of Youtube as linked yesterday and I've started power walking and running as well, my legs ache like mad, but it's got to be done! Ben joined me on the run/walk drill I do, but he didn't like the walking bit and ended up running off doing a circuit that I used to do back in the day, which is well beyond me at this point in my fitness regime and not particularly 'Cricket specific'.

The other thing I've been doing over the last year or so is the batting a ball up against a wall and keeping it going A La' Don Bradman, albeit with a flat bat and a training ball. The space I do it in is pretty small so it's quite awkward, but I reckon this forces me to do the right thing batting-wise. I batted in the nets a couple of weeks ago and survived quite well, so I'm guessing my batting, or should I say blocking is getting better! At the end of the summer I'd got to the point where I was able to do it 13 times consecutively and tonight I went out and did 22 times! So I'm wondering whether that indicates that I've improved my technique?

Sidearm Pro

http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

Sidearm Pro

I noted looking through blog stats that one of the pages that has had a lot of hits recently has been the Sidearm Pro page back in 2012. So I thought I'd write an update on my thoughts on it having used it now for more than a year.

For a start I'm a layman, so I have no vested interests in the product and I only pick it up every now and then and use it, so it's not as if I'm a professional trainer who has spent hours using it and therefore can be accused of over-exaggerating its potential or ease of use.

How tough are they?
When I bought my one in Dec 2012, there were a lot of reviews saying that the cup section of the sidearm was manufactured out of a brittle plastic that was susceptible to breaking. I've not found this to be the case and despite being in my kit bag amongst bats and helmets etc it's still very much intact. I think my sons have let go of it in use and its okay.

How fast does it throw?

Fast. Very fast. A lot faster than you could ever throw it from a standing position or off a few steps. I think if you're fast bowler with a fast arm action and young it would be ridiculously fast. Same if you were generally strong with long arms. Have a look at the Youtube vids here, I think they talk about it being easily used at speeds nearing 80 mph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJO2yaqNesk

This vid here - has a more in-depth instructions and demo on how to use it and footage of it being used against a batsman.

How long does it take to be able to bowl accurately with it?

If you practice with one type of ball and not mix them up e.g. only cricket ball as opposed to cricket balls, heavy tennis balls and training balls all at the same time, you may find it really easy. I know that within just a few minutes I was getting it to just miss the off-stump on a regular basis. But realistically maybe 100 balls and you're start to get the hang of it. Needless to say if you've got a bucket of balls to work with it'll be a quicker and easier process. But, on the other-hand if you're not that adept at such things you may take much longer, I would imagine that being a bowler will help you get it nailed.

Can you use it with other types of balls?

Some of the advice in the vids suggests that the pro-version is only usable with heavier balls such as adult size cricket balls, but I use it conjunction with training with my sons and we've used a variety of balls. The balls we've used include - Kookaburra training balls, Readers 'Wind' balls, 4.5 oz cricket balls and the heavy red tennis type cricket balls. What I will point out at this stage is that it is difficult in my experience to use a variety of balls mixed in the same session. Each ball because of its size and weight requires a different approach and I can never quite get a technique to enable me to use a range of types in the same session with any success.

Are there any negatives?

Not that I'm aware of, I suffered from an injury to my upper arm at the start of the season last year that dogged my bowling right through the season into November. The injury occured/came on around the time that I was using the side arm. I'm just about at the point where I'll start to use the side-arm again this season with my kids and I'll be watching out for any niggles. All the bowling I've done so far in the nets hasn't created a re-emergence of the injury, so watch this space for updates on whether this pans out to have been down to using the side-arm


The image that I've used comes from this website here http://www.slashsport.com/shop/product/sidearm-pro-training-cricket-ball-thrower
If you look at the website there is a series of basic instructions relating to its use that might be helpful, so is worth a look at.

Check out my other blog here - this is all about Leg-spin bowling and nothing else. Double click on the image below.

 

 

Exercise Boot camp for Joe (And me)

The weather is still crap, snowing again today and ranging between 4 and 5 degrees centigrade, so not at all nice and nowhere near warm enough to go outside and train. Everywhere is wet and saturated with water and with the Easterly wind it's just miserable. With the season looming fast there's a requirement to get out there and shed some pounds and get fit for the first match, especially for Joe what with having been sitting around for the last 12 months. So with 2 weeks off and the weather predicted to be cold and miserable for the full two weeks a contingency plan has been devised...

Exercise Boot Camp.

The plan is everyday we're going to be trying to get out and do something, hopefully for the most part it'll be useful in more than one way to cricket development. The main part of it though is based around a video I've come across on Youtube that I like that has a quick 5-6 minute work-out that'll get both of us fit and ready and maybe we'll lose a little weight. This is the video here or click on the video above. We made a start on it yesterday and it went okay as a first attempt and initially Joe needed a lot of cajolling to get through it and there was a lot of stopping and starting. But today we've done it again and we both did it and there was a very marked improvement - especially for Joe and I think now he's slightly enthused by the idea. *Note, we're not doing the full 30 seconds for each exercise we're only doing 15-20 seconds and we're looking to increase the time as we get fitter.

On day one 29th (Friday) we also went to the 'Muno' (Community Centre) and hired out one of the badminton bays and all played Badminton for an hour Ben, Joe, Michelle and Me and that was good as well as it incorprates eye, ball and bat coordination skills which can only be beneficial. I made sure that when I played Joe I was lobbing the ball up and into the corners alternately, getting him to run around lots. Needless to say he slept well Friday night!

Part of the same plan involves looking to reduce his carb intake, Michelle said at the start of the holiday that she felt we needed to do something (I've been saying this for months now) so, at last she's on board and hopefully he'll get served dinners fit for a boy who is the smallest member of the family as opposed to portions the same size as the rest of us?

There's a second video of the same nature that focuses on upper body strength and I'm hoping that after a week I might be able to incorporate that into my own exercise program, but at the moment I'm a big fan of this idea and I feel really motivated to do it, primarily because it is so fast to get done and out of the way.

Tomorrow we're planning to go swimming.