Joe's progress

I've got two sons - Ben who's now almost 19 and off to Reading Uni to study Geography, he's almost certainly been lost to cricket for the foreseeable future, he played a couple of games last season and enjoyed it, but this season hasn't played any despite being asked several times if he'd play. Joe though the younger son (Only just 16) is still hanging in there despite frequent threats of not wanting to play and having an air of complete indifference. But three weeks ago, because of how badly all of the teams in the club are doing he was more or less forced to move up to the 3rd XI and therefore no longer plays with me in the 4th XI. Going on what he was saying about the prospects of moving up, this seemed like a make or break moment, but the club and the 3rd XI captain handled it well and it seems he's enjoying it. It might help that since moving up they've won as many games than they've lost and this has been in part down to his bowling. Prior to that they'd hardly won any games at all.

This week Joe took 3 wickets for 13 runs off of 6.

This puts him in the position of 2nd highest wicket taker at the club at the moment along with Rob Brooks (Off-break bowler).

I played with him this week as I was moved up, I had a good game, fielded at Mid wicket, Mid-on and silly mid-wicket where I took a good catch off of Alastair Hayton's bowling (Off-break bowler). But Joe bowled really well as you can see. The wickets were all key players amongst their top four batsmen.

At the end of the game the 3rd XI boys were all saying that they were more than happy to have him, but were fully aware that it wouldn't be for long and that he'd be going up to the 2nd XI pretty soon e.g. next season. Dutton (4th XI captain) and many others reckon that he should be straight in the 2nd XI based on his bowling, but he is only just 16 and I personally think that should be kept for next season or perhaps a game before the end of this season to see what he reckons to it and how he gets on. One of the blokes Alastair Hayton said that he's never seen anyone bowl at Joe's pace at this level. Again reinforcing the comments of a Southend 2nd XI batsman a couple of weeks back that Joe clean bowled.

In the 4th XI we're really missing him now, we've had two games where all of us are looking around asking where's all the bowling gone? In part as our Captain has had to bail out of the team for this season as well.

Cricket history Tilbury Essex

Currently I've got two photographic projects on the go that are kind of based around cricket. One of them relates to recording cricket pitches as they are now, so I'm travelling around the country as and when I get the opportunity and I photograph pavilions and the grounds, along with some of the other features. But at the moment the key aspect of it is the pavilions as a record of their architecture... see here. This project is trundling along nicely and is the easier of the two.

The other project is a little different and requires a lot more research. The other project is a landscape project focusing on cricket pitches that were. So for this I have to find out the locations of old cricket pitches and establish where the club house/pavilion was. I then take a shot from a position that would have been directly opposite the pavilion/clubhouse approximately from what would have been the other side of the cricket pitch. So what I'll end up with is a set of odd landscapes where cricket pitches used to be.

I've started in my own locality and I've quite quickly discovered that there is a rich cricket history which is on the cusp of disappearing without any sign of it at all. In my own lifetime in my own town - Tilbury, I'm aware that I've witnessed the demise of two cricket grounds and their associated teams. Tilbury CC who used play on the Daisy Field in Tilbury town folded sometime in the 1980's and the players moved to other clubs in the area. A bloke I played with at Grays and Chadwell (Alan Fulbrook AKA "Fozzy") had played on the Daisy field in Tilbury during the 1970's and 80's as a Tilbury player and had knowledge of the West Tilbury cricket pitch at Condovers. My research so far has indicated that cricket has been played in the following areas...

1. Condovers West Tilbury
2. The Daisy Field - St Chads Road.
3. The Dockers Field?
4. Tilbury Fort - (See below)

There may also be another field outside Tilbury along Dock Road, but as yet there's no indication that cricket was played there... "Hedley's ground". *See update on 17/10/16 below.

Tilbury is quite famous when it comes to cricket as it's one of the only places where cricket players have killed each other over a game of cricket. In a match against Kent played at Tilbury fort a number of blokes killed each other having got into a punch up and then picking up guns (It was an active fort at the time) and shooting each other. See the account here http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/georgians/1780939/

On the SEDCB's website there's a piece on cricket in Tilbury. http://www.sedcb.org.uk/yesterdays-our-timeline/1918-formation-of-thurrock-interknit-cricket-club

In the SEDCB's article there's the mention of the Interknit Siley Weir cricket team that was based in Tilbury Docks. In the article it's identified that they played on a ground in Tilbury...

They first played on a ground at Dock Road, Tilbury.  The pitch preparation on the ground was done by the club’s own members in their spare time, as this was a time before the days when the local council began maintaining pitches.

The ground was let to them by a Mr. Bill Stickings, who, in order to avoid paying higher rates on a developed field, let cattle graze on it!  Mr. Bannister recalled: “The outfield was a bit rough, but we enjoyed ourselves, both clearing it and playing on it!”

This was around 1918. The same article says that they moved to Blackshots in 1936, so it seems that this ground then disappears from sight as such and it's difficult to ascertain where in Tilbury it was. Recently though via a Tilbury memories page on Facebook one of the blokes commenting on the subject of playing fields mentioned a field in Tilbury along 'The Broadway' where cricket was being played in the 1950's. The Broadway road back in the 1950's prior to Dunlop road being built went pretty much straight towards the Go-Cart track adjacent to Gaylor Road.

The end of the Broadway nee Dunlop Road, Tilbury. (Approx 2014) This view here is the gate entrance to the Go-Kart track looking towards Little Thurrock.

During the Facebook conversation the bloke Ron pointed out that the Broadway originally ran from Dock Road all the way up to this point here where it stops at the Go Cart track. He also mentions the impressive gate entrance and suggested that there may have been a big house here and this was the original gateway, but wasn't sure and had no evidence. I can remember that if you went through the gates, the ground between Gaylor rd and the Go-Kart track was strewn with slabs of concrete and bits of metal suggesting possibly that the site may have been used for industrial activities? Or it may have been left over stuff from the construction of the estate. But all around the Go-Kart track there was evidence of industrial activity and it had that 'Brown-field' feel about it.

Another interesting feature of Dunlop Road nee 'The Broadway' was that there was further evidence of a different past because just at the Adelaide road turn off on what was the Broadway you'll find a number of pre-1970's houses that still exist and must have been in the location when this area was playing fields (Siley's playing field)? or as we called them 'The Dockers Fields'.

Old pre-1960's houses along 'The Broadway' nee Dunlop Road, Tilbury.

These are the houses above and from what I can make out prior to the 1960's these houses just stood in the middle of what was basically countryside and a set of Playing fields as described by Ron and confirmed by maps of the time.

This is the current map of the area. The red line shows the original 1950's road 'The Broadway' running from Dock road right up to the Go Kart track - now Gaylor Road. In Ron's descriptions and my own very vague memory a road ran from the old Broadway - possibly now Adelaide Road onto Siley's fields ringed approximately in blue. In this area, there were tennis courts, rugby fields, football fields and a cricket pitch and at least one changing room building/pavilion? At the current moment I'm still in conversation with Ron and a few other blokes trying figure out exactly what was where.

This is an approximation from 1960-66 based on my memory and Ron's information.

 Legend

The blue line heading north in the image is the route of the old 'Broadway' which went all the way through to the border between field A and F. My own recollection from the late 1960's is that E was an established allotment, which once the tower blocks were built was moved to the space between the green block D and the school (St Chads secondary school). My Dad had allotment over there which was flanked by the multi-storey car park to the south of it and to the east St Chads school the other-side of the manor.

D - was a farm of sorts, I don't remember there being any houses, possibly caravans, but it did have pigs on it which you could smell and hear. As kids we were always a little wary of it for some reason - it may have had signs up saying private? To the left of D where on the map it says FP there was a thicket of hawthorn bushes.

B - Is where the football pitches were when I was kid and we called this area 'The Dockers Fields'. At that point the road indicated by the bigger blue dots was built and it had new houses on it with conventional roofs, Dunlop road and 'John's' corner shop was being built. I had a mate Ricky Ellingford who lived in the houses opposite 'John's' shop as soon as they were finished. John's shop was at the junction of Dunlop Rd and Adelaide Rd in the 1970's and 80's.

The field A appears to be broken up on this map into sections which may be borders (Fences) indication private land and you can see that the houses which are almost certainly the old houses mentioned above on the map have their boundary lines indicated too. So I'm guessing this isn't a playing field, I need to have this confirmed by Ron.

Field C (grey) is as far as I know St Chads school playing fields.

Much of this is speculation and I'm hoping to get access to more detailed maps in the next few weeks at Grays Library and see if I can dig anything up from the books they have there. My main objective is to figure where the Interknit Siley Weir cricket teams Dock Road cricket pitch was.

17/10/16 Update - Ron on the Internet (Face Book) contacted me having seen the post here and said that the pitch was definitely nowhere near the gates at the end of Dunlop Road/Gaylor Road, looking through the gates where the Go-Kart track used to be was marshes in the 1950's. He then said that pitch that was mentioned as being on Dock Road on the SEDBC website "Interknit Cricket Club" might have been one that Ron says was up near the Rookery at the corner where the Dock Road turns into Little Thurrock. Ron's mentioned it previously and has said that it was known as Hedley's ground or field. Apparently it was there until the mid 1950's and was flooded in the late 1950's. This potentially fits the description on the SEDCB's website...


"Interknit cricket club was formed in 1918 by William Bannister with his friends from the firm of R. N. H. Green and Silley Weir.  They first played on a ground at Dock Road, Tilbury.  The pitch preparation on the ground was done by the club’s own members in their spare time, as this was a time before the days when the local council began maintaining pitches.

The ground was let to them by a Mr. Bill Stickings, who, in order to avoid paying higher rates on a developed field, let cattle graze on it!  Mr. Bannister recalled: “The outfield was a bit rough, but we enjoyed ourselves, both clearing it and playing on it!”

Once they had their ground, players began to think of what to call themselves when writing away for fixtures.  They wanted to maintain their connection with the firms for whom the majority of the team worked, but also wanted to remain independent.  They finally chose the name “Interknit” for this was the telegraphic address of R. N. H. Green and Silley Weir.  This encouraged the firm to help the club and a hut, chairs and table were provided for changing and for tea.  But after this initial aid and interest, no real notice was taken of the club, except for the annual Firm v Club match".

http://www.sedcb.org.uk/yesterdays-our-timeline/1918-formation-of-thurrock-interknit-cricket-club

 Looking further using Old maps online http://maps.nls.uk/view/101457461 I've found a 1947 map of Little Thurrock with the lay-out of the fields and roads. I'm going to show Ron this and see if he pin-point where the Headley's ground/field was.

The green line coming from the bottom of the map is Dock Road and Tilbury is just off the map at the bottom. You can see the Rookery just right of the Little Thurrock. The orange road as far as I can make out is Marshfoot Road. Looking at the map I've noticed something, but I'm not going to say anything till Ron has a look at it and gets back to me. But Ron's field is probably on here somewhere and hopefully he can identify where it is?

17/10/16 Further research - I've also dug this out which is really interesting. Somewhere near the Bull Pub off Dock Road, there seems to have been a football ground, which later was a Greyhound racing track before being built on. This football ground was known as 'The Lawn'.

"Located off Dock Road, close to the Bull Inn, The Lawn was just over half a mile from the Recreation Ground and, fearful that their new rivals would steal a march on them, Grays Athletic resigned from the London League and joined Grays Thurrock in the Kent League, which comprised both professional and amateur clubs.   Despite a lack of spectator facilities, an encouraging crowd of 3,000 made their way to The Lawn on September 4^th 1924 to see Grays Thurrock take on Sheppey United in their first match in the Kent League. A couple of old army huts were converted into changing rooms and club offices and, as the months went by, the ground was gradually improved, with a post and rail replacing the original rope around the pitch, and a wooden grandstand coming into use in early 1925.  The first local derby between the two Grays clubs took place in December 1924, an eagerly awaited event which saw an attendance of 4,000–5,000, with some spectators using the skeleton of the not yet completed stand as a vantage point".

Reading this (Link below) again much later it's apparent that the Lawn field ground was gone by 1939 as Lawns Crescent was built over it...

  By 1934, The Lawn had disappeared beneath a new housing estate, though a link with the past was maintained when the builders decided to call the road Lawns Crescent.  

Source http://groundtasticmagazine.blogspot.co.uk/

Surely this ground, must have been relatively close to the cricket ground we're calling Headley's? I've tried to contact the bloke who wrote the above and see if he can shed some light on the missing 'Interknit' cricket ground.

Tilbury's Interknit gets mentioned here http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/fondu2.htm along with 'Hedley's' right at the end of the article there's a mention of the Co-op cricket club having a cricket ground in Bridge Road Grays!!!! I've go to try and find whoever wrote this as they seem to have a wealth of cricket knowledge.

2019. I was contacted by a bloke who lived in Little Thurrock who pointed out that there is a road in the area called Lawns Crecent, so that may give some clues as to the exact location of this elusive ground? The thing is I'm running out of time, some of these people that may have some info are on the verge of taking the info with them to the grave and the mystery of the Tilbury cricket ground may never be un-earthed.

My other active blogs include…

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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

First match of the season v Chelmsford CC 3rd XI

After weeks of arctic wind freezing us to death, the weekend came good despite loads of people declining to play across three teams. The club didn't even attempt to get the 4th XI team out knowing full well that the cross-over with the end of the football season would mean it would never happen. It turned out that only two teams played this weekend the 1st and 2nd XI's.

Weather was bright and sunny, bit of a breeze and 13 degrees on the thermometer in the car. Although during our innings a squally April shower passed by, potentially threatening the game, but it missed us. But as it passed by the wind increased, the sun went in and the temperature dropped by several degrees.

Wayne freezing to death with several layers. I had two pairs of trousers on, a long t-shirt, a cricket shirt and a jumper and then a coat and was still cold when scoring.

We were fielded first and in the first few overs I dropped a ball that was hit at me whilst at mid wicket -looked like a ball that would have been one of those that rockets for a 6 at head height. I managed to parry it and bounced up and forwards a bit and I thought 'I've got this' only to then fumble it and it went to ground. But, somewhere in the process I twisted on my knee and something went awry. This then meant that I couldn't run around without limping. We had an extra player and the other team what with it being a friendly said that we could swap over players pretty as and when we felt like. I persevered and knowing there was a bloke on the boundary I came off for a while.

Joe bowled well, taking our first wicket - a bloke that was doing okay and the lead scorer at that point in their team. It was at that point I left the field.

I then took the opportunity to go and take some pictures for my Typology project see here. At this ground there were 4 pitches, one of which is Galleywood CC and that had a really nice traditional style pavilion. The only thing is I had a crap camera, but I still got the shots.

Walking around my knee didn't feel any better, but as I came back to the match I was called back on and asked to bowl. I tried to come off of the new run-up and bowled, but it wasn't good and then decided to come off the Terry Jenner style run-up which is a lot slower, but more accurate and gives me the options of a Wrong-un and a Top-Spinner. I took me 4 balls to get it right, but in the first over against a left-hander one turned nice and bounced well, cramped him up and the ball came off the top edge and he was caught at Mid-wicket by Luke Daw. That over with the messy start I went for 10. The next over was better - another wicket... A right hander having seen a couple leg breaks wasn't ready for a big turning wrong-un - again virtually the same thing, cramped him up and came off the top edge and went straight up in the air for Mike Blerkom (Wicket keeper) to safely catch. 2-0-13-2. Somewhere in there I'd bowled another 2 wrong-uns and they'd both turned a lot and none of the batsmen had played a successful shot to them.

Batting didn't go well for any of us. I didn't get a shot of the score book, but I think we took 8 wickets for 192 off of 40 overs and batting we fell short of 100. Chris Debond and Luke Daw making the biggest contribution with the bat. I batted at 8 with Luke and was bowled by a slow ball, played through it about 30 seconds to early. Luke at the other end said as I walked off,  I was just thinking, I need to tell you about this blokes slower ball...

We lost by having all been bowled out for 93.

Spinner check

Our team... 2 x wrist-spinners, 5 x finger spinners
Their team... 1 x Wrist Spinner. We were bowled out cheaply so we probably didn't get to see any of the finger spinners.

Their spinner was interesting, he was getting the ball to drift miles. Watching him it was apparent that he had a very low arm at the release point. Those that faced him said he was relatively easy to play because of this - you knew he wasn't going to bowl anything in the way of variations. He had a long run-up which he came in at an angle from.

As he went through his action he seemed to be really low - either a massive delivery stride or his front leg was collapsing. He also veered all over the shop as he ran in and then over-rotated in the action and stopped abruptly in the follow through. That aside he seemed to be bowling pretty well. Unfortunately I didn't photograph their scorebook, so can't say how well he did do or whether he took any wickets.

Click the image above for a video of the bloke bowling

Some photos from the match...

 Chelmsford CC pavilion

 Galleywood CC pavilion

 Joe dispensing the drinks to the Wrist Spinner

 Joe waiting to bat alongside the scoreboard and a cherry tree in blossom

 Spring cherry blossom

 G-man all wrapped up for an early season cricket game.

 G-Man on his way to bat with warm headgear.

 Mike Blerkom scoring.

This blog is no longer updated. New content can be found on the blogs listed here below...

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

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

Wrist Spin Tactics - Pravin Tambe T20

Tactics/Plans

Over at one of my other blogs I'm slowly writing a post where I'm looking at tactics and plans, so at the moment that post is a bit disorganised and I'm still at the research stage. Last night I was researching Pravin Tambe and watching a Rajastan Royals match with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he takes 4 wickets in his four overs.

Pravin Tambe has an interesting story in that he came from nowhere, progressing from being a club cricketer to playing for RR in the IPL bowling at the likes of Virat Kohli, AB Devlliers et al. Despite that massive progression he's done exceptionally well, partly due to the fact that it is T20 cricket and the batsmen have to go after the ball and score and the fact that he's been handled well by the captains seemingly.

Watching the Youtube video Tambe's spell is interesting because of the way that he goes about getting Virat Kohli's wicket. In the game Kohli is the only bloke that looks as though he's going to be able to put runs on the board because all around him the other players are falling for pitiful scores. On his side Tambe has the benefit of the fact that Kohli therefore is under immense pressure to score runs. Up to the point where Tambe gets the Kohli's wicket, Kohli has played Tambe fairly well, scoring singles and rotating the strike. Then Tambe does something very simple, not changing his action - so he runs in exactly the same as before, the bowling action effort is the same, but he does something quite obvious in one respect, especially if seen from the side, but from Kohli's position at the crease, possibly not that apparent...

He bowls from way back on the crease, so the ball pitches shorter and Kohli plays through the ball far too early and scoops it up for an easy catch at Mid Wicket. Very simple tactic and very effective.

Adil Rashid - England v New Zealand 1st one day match 9th June Edgbaston.

Everything you need to know about bowling Leg Breaks here.

A brilliant start for the new look England side today. Came in from work turned the tele on and saw 400 runs and just assumed we were chasing 400. Got settled and started watch the game and then realised England were bowling and had scored 400 plus!!!!

Then a few minutes later Adil Rashid is standing at the top of his mark ready to start his spell and what a spell it turns out to be! With the protection of so many runs Rashid was able to settle and looked as though he was completely relaxed and able to go about his work. Later in the interview he acknowledge this saying "I was able to play with a positive mind set and just work on spinning the ball hard". He started with an off-spinner finger spin delivery - stump to stump, but then moved straight on to his leg-breaks. Initially they didn't look that spun hard and it took a couple of overs to settle, but then once he'd taken his first wicket - Kane Williamson caught deep mid - off (Joe Root), he settled and started to bowl really well. His next wicket was Santner caught in the slips by Chris Jordan. 3rd wicket was Henry bowled with Googly and trapped LBW see field below.

This was to Matt Henry who was bowled with a Googly trapped LBW

The classic one was Luke Ronchi who caused England all sorts of problems in the test series batting like a one day batsman. He came out and Rashid hadn't used the Googly for a while, but you just knew Ronchi would give it the biggun, he just had that aura about him that kind of suggested he would smash Rashid back into the England Lions and Yorkshire. I guessed he'd come out and be aggressive right from the outset and sure enough he did, but Adil was one step ahead of him and bowled him clean with a Googly.

The fields for Rashid were interesting...

The commentators mentioned the fact that his Wrong-Un turns more than his leggie. When asked about his variations and at what point he deploys them, he said that it wasn't a case of 'Showing the batsman' the Googly early, it was just a case of bringing it out when needed, but he said you have to be confident that you're going to be able to pull it off, because you need to be seen to be an attacking option and stay on top of the batsman.

It's going to be interesting to see how he goes in the rest of these matches as McCullum is no doubt going to come out hard and I'm pretty certain that like Luke Ronchi had intended to do, they wont want Rashid to be a key part of the England set up, as the more he bowls and the more frequently he's used effectively and he comes away with wickets, the more his confidence will grow. I'm pretty sure New Zealand will target him. It'll be interesting to see how he's used when he hasn't got that same buffer in terms of runs on the board, will he be used in the same way and will he bowl with such confidence?

Statistically he's done well in this game at 5.5 an over and having taken four wickets. Everyone is saying that this is his time, he's 6 years older he made a massive contribution with the bat with the highest number 7 partnership in all one day cricket history at this level. He's also come away with the best Leg-spin figures for an English man in one day history too. Let's hope this is Adils moment and he gets his chance to cement a place in this side for the next 10 years or so.

 

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

 

 

Basildon & Pitsea CC 4th XI v Southend on Sea & EMT cc 6th XI at the Garrison ground

Everything you need to know about bowling Leg Breaks here.
As usual, right at the last moment blokes were moved around and the team ended up being very different to the one originally selected earlier in the week. This one very heavy on U15's and U13's players.

The ground that we were heading for is one of my favourites in this area - The Garrison ground in Shoebury, Essex. The ground appears to have been there since the 1870's as that's the date the pavilion buildings were constructed. It's big cricket pitch surrounded by some beautiful houses that used to be officers houses along three sides and one side there's a row of modern new buildings. See images below. 

Joe and I picked up Tim Brown and Sam Jones on the way and made our way there via the A13 and the A127 with Stuart Munday and Harry Davie following us. We got there in plenty of time and as we arrived the Blerkoms had arrived just ahead of us. By the time Lee turned up we had 10 players including Under 15's player Andrew Tokley. As our openers made their way on to the pitch we were only 1 bloke down, but they were in the same situation us. I recognised a bloke in the opposition who in the last game I played against him bowled the whole game from one end and took 6-7 wickets, he was there.

The batting didn't go to plan and the 'Good bloke' (R.Long) opened the bowling from the left hand end as seen from the Pavilion. But it wasn't him that took the majority of the wickets. The other bloke with the beard (P.Hall) who was the more wayward took a few, whilst the big wicket taker from the previous game was seen to be more predictable. Despite this wickets fell quickly and cheaply. The ball when struck well along the ground, especially on the further side of the pitch visually slowed down as if rolling across a sticky substance, with balls that you'd expect to go for four being quickly retrieved and restricted to ones on most occasions. All of our key batsmen were one by one marched back to the sheds. The captain Lee Dutton was dropped about 6 times. Charlie Blerkom was caught at Mid off. As he came in he asked 'How the hell did he catch that'?' With his hands for a start was one reply...'But he came forwards and then back again and he still caught it'. Yeah that may have been because the ball was in the air for about 4 minutes, he could have come over the pavilion and said to us all 'Watch this' and still got back to mid off to take it. Charlie unfortunately was out for 0. His Dad Mike, mishit the ball trying to get over the in-field and his ball went more up than along and he was caught in the covers, the bloke having time to run deeper and take the catch. 

It was down to Stuart Munday and new bloke Anthony Joseph to dig us out of the potential hole. For Stuart though, this was the first time he'd picked up a bat since September and he had some concerns about his knees and ankle. Stuart did well, really well, he stayed the rest of the game with little support from the bowlers, but helped them get us into treble figures. Harry Davie made 6 before being bowled by Mirzah, he wasn't happy with that. Joe was out next to face the bowlers. Joe had a good innings, he's normally dismissed within a matter of a few balls and it knocks his confidence making it so that he doesn't want to bat and reinforces the fear of faster bowlers. As he went out he was aware that he'd be facing a fast kid and a slow bowler so he was a little more optimistic. Stuart coaxed him through several overs and although he struck the ball well on a number of occasions, but he didn't get value for his strike of the ball. The grass on the Southern side of the wicket with modern houses was stiff and wiry grass, unlike most grasses and the ball just slowed down and virtually never got to the boundary. This was despite the fact that the boundary had been brought in by several yards around the entire pitch! Joe made 3 runs in the end, but blocked well and hit the ball a number of times and enjoyed it. 

I went out and Stuart said let's get to treble figures and go from there. Once we reached 100 he said that we should just try and hit the ball and rotate the strike rather than be too cautious as I normally am. I wasn't able to be as positive as I'd hoped to be after batting with Joe, but I did bat with far more intent than I usually do and as a result I made a few runs. I was hoping to stand slightly out of the crease and as I had with Joe, but the keeper noticed and he stood up to the stumps and in doing so scuppered my plans. He did the same thing with Stuart and Stuart, looking to play with slightly more aggression moved out of his ground missed the ball and was stumped, so I ended up with a 5 not out. 

Basildon Batting with Lee Dutton at the crease.

 The pitch inspection party - our 'Youth' contingent. Left to right... Andrew Tokely (U15), Charlie Blerkon (U13), Sam Jones (U15), Tim Brown (U16), Joe Thompson (U15) and Harry Davie (U16). 

 The wicket looking towards the Officers accomodation.

 The wicket looking South East.

 My son Joe.

 The Pavilion at The Garrison Cricket Ground Shoebury, Essex.

 Basildons batting scores.

 Bowling figures.

 Southend on Sea and EMT batting scores.

 Joe and me scoring and waiting for our chance to bat.

 Lee Dutton 

 Drinks.

The new bloke Anthony Joseph (Adult) opened the bowling and bowled a ball just outside the 'Channel of uncertainty' that obviously looked as though it was going down the off-side as the batsman shouldered arms only for the ball to come in and take the top of his off-stump, a classic well executed off-cutter. It was the exact start we needed trying to defend 104 runs!

Thereafter though he was put off his rhythm by the umpire calling 'No-ball' for stepping too wide on the crease in his run up. A number of '4 wides'  occurred too and what with the limited runs we were trying to protect the combination of no further wickets and leaking runs Lee took him off and I got a bowl. In the meantime Harry Davie after a shaky start tightened his bowling up and bowled superbly for little reward, coming away with the figures below...

I was then brought on at the South Eastern end. I don't know if I was already in state of being injured, but I reckon I was or if I wasn't, it became apparent in the first over or certainly before the end of it. It just felt as though my shoe was digging into the back of my heel (Achilles tendon)... not painful as such, just uncomfortable and nagging to the point where I was aware of it. My first over went for 8 which is on par with last week, but to be honest the fielding was pretty poor, the ball for the most part went through the fielders or past the fielders in such a way that if an old bloke like me, Stuart or Lee were there we'd have dived and made a concerted effort to stop the ball. One of them hit through square leg went through the fielders hands above his head, but he'd left a gaping great hole in his hands as he tried to catch using the Aussie technique. To be honest with the heel it just wasn't happening for me, I wasn't accurate, consistent or spinning the ball anywhere near as well as I was capable of, the whole thing felt like a disaster, but I battled on and took three. The first one was an LBW and it was the batsman that looked well set and with the potential to get them over the line in quick time (M.Robinson). It pitched on leg and came in a smidge and he didn't hit it, no-one else went up for it and to me it was obvious and for a split second I nearly didn't appeal, but then did vocally and the Umpire totally agreed with me and sent the bloke back to the Pavilion...

  The Pavilion at The Garrison Cricket Ground Shoebury, Essex. Potential here for a new photography project... cricket pavilions a la' the Bechers

He wasn't impressed, standing his ground momentarily looking back at the umpire in utter disbelief 'I hit it'! He said, neither I or the umpire heard it or so it and to us it looked as out as out could be. Following that one I then had what looked to me at least two more on the same bloke that the umpire didn't give and this bloke went to hit several fours through the legside (See above re ropey fielding). His mate at the other end was a kid armed with a Warsop... Joe, Ben and I (all bowlers) all say 'Oh look out, now we're in trouble the bloke/kids got a Warsop' as it usually indicates that the batsman takes his batting so seriously that he's invested in an expensive bat and he's now going to give the bowlers a jolly good thrashing! He was gone - out stumped by Mike Blerkom for 2 runs. The following over was horrific as you can see with 8 runs off it with a number of wides and I then said to Lee - 'Give someone else a go'. By this point my son Joe was bowling his off-spin at the other end and had already taken the wicket of the other bloke J.Mohan who'd been scoring runs. 

Lee kept me on, I then got hit for yet another 4 that should have been stopped and the game was lost. The big older bloke who was ruining my figures was still on strike (S.Laflin), but I managed to get him off strike so that the new batsman was facing me (S.Trivett), he'd been watching and listening and despite the fact that it was a wholly lost cause, there was still an outside chance that between Joe and I with our spin bowling the remaining wickets might fall even though they were now drawn. I bowled a Leg Break as best I could given the situation and it came out okay - spinning well straight into Mikes hands outside the off-stump. It was my last ball and I only had two wickets, the bloke looked as though he fancied his chances against the spin, if it was on the stumps it was going to turn, all he had to do was clear his leg and smack the ball through the covers... That's what I wanted him to do, that's what he intended to do. Chances were I wouldn't be able to follow the last ball up with anything as good, I just wasn't bowling that consistently. It needed the Top-Spinner with a bit of a wrong-un in there with it, could I do it... my last ball? Yeah - give it a go... 

This bloke hadn't faced one of these yet, so the chance was he'd play for the turn. The ball went down it was high and loopy up above his eye-level, his eyes lit up, he stepped back and across exposing his stumps waiting for the turn and he was going to smack it through the off-side with a cross bat shot, exactly as I planned... It didn't break to the off at all, with the top spin it bounced and apparently came in a smidge and hit the bails in the middle. My last ball - taking me to 3 wickets! A lovely final ball for me to finish on.

That then brought Joe on to take the rest of the wickets in his over. He needed either a Maiden or a preferably a wicket maiden. He bowled really well and bowled 3 dots and all the fielders played their part for those balls, not letting the ball get through, but eventually with several wickets still in hand and trying to hit the ball hard with a field that was right up, they hit the runs they needed and the game was lost.
 
Joe's bowling was good, this isn't Ben, this is my younger son Joe who's still only 13, he took a lovely wicket with his off-spin that he was well chuffed about and in the usual Joe style he was really economic too...



As I walked off, my mind then turned to why was I bowling so badly? Was it the soreness along my Achilles? Once inside and then being able to take my spikes off I realised that it was nothing to do with my spikes and that in fact it was my Achilles tendon. I then realised that this might be a re-occurrence of a tear I suffered in my Achilles in 2002, which saw me out of action and wearing a plastic boot for the best part of a year including as I recall having to wear it for months in bed to ensure it repaired in the right position! It then dawned on me that last ball might be the last ball I bowl for another year!

Once home I ice bathed it and then decided it would probably be a good idea to get it checked at the hospital.

 Ice bath no.4

 Crutches on Sunday.

 Writing the blog whilst literally chillin'

Simmonds test pose. Monday 8.45pm


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

 

 

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