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.

Field settings

Field settings.

I'm just on the internet at the moment discussing field settings for Wrist Spinners and needed to upload a diagram of this one here. It's discussing the approach whereby you leave a dirty great gap in the field (The hatched section) to encourage the batsman to hit the ball through there. In this instance - I'd be bowling on an off-stump line trying to encouarage the batsman to drive the ball through that area with a straight bat. With the ball going away from the edge of the bat with turn off the wicket (leg breaks) at some point I'm going to find an edge? I suspect that such a radical field would only be used on tail-enders, but I'll see what the others on the forum say...

I've virtually written a book!

Over the last few years I've been trying to update my other blog (The legspin one) which still gets loads of hits despite the fact that it's not been updated properly for years. I've got a load of files in folders that I've been working on with the intention of up-dating that blog and possibly areas of this blog. I still need to get hold of a copy of photo-shop to work on loads of ideas I have for graphics, photo's and illustrations for the blog, but tonight I've had a bit of a sort out and now I've got some sense of how enormous this project has become and how far more advanced it is in comparison with any of the existing content. I wouldn't hold your breath though, because there's still a lot of work to do, but I may be able to start uploading the content chapter by chapter to the other blog.

It looks as though without a doubt it's likely to be the most comprehensive web-link on the internet with regards wrist-spinning, not because of my advanced knowledge or anything like that, but just because of my enthusiasm and committment to our speciality.

Last indoor nets

Last night Wednesday 10th saw the last net session at the Essex County facilities and after weeks of coming up with reasons for not going Ben eventually and reluctantly came along too. See other post.

The weather at last took a turn for the better and we had a sunny day where the temperature ranged between 10-12 degrees centigrade, so earlier in the day Joe, Ben and I had a knock about in the street and then later over at the old tennis courts Joe and I had a little practice. While we were there for some unknown reason I had a go at bowling the flipper (One that I've not got a video about) which comes out of the hand with the seam spinning in the manner of a flying saucer - not vertical, but spinning horizontally. This in theory should be affected by the magnus force and veer towards leg. As always though I have to include the caveat that although I intend to release the ball in the manner described, I haven't got a clue as to what actually happens because it would require the use of a high-speed camera or someone at the other end who cares about what way the ball spins and currently my sons don't!

Anyway, I bowled a few of these flying saucer balls and the went well... (1). I was able to do it, a lot of these Flipper variations take a lot of practice to get them anywhere near usable. (2). They had some interesting attributes, one of which was they broke to leg, which was unexpected and again reinforces the comment earlier about what I think I'm doing and what actually happens, but the turn off the surface was big, so quite interesting. (3). The ball stalled on contact with the surface in the way that a back-spinning flipper does/should.

Because the delivery is new, I was chucking it up in a loopy manner and fact that the ball speed was slowish, the turn off the surface and stalling affect were fairly dramatic. I read an article by Menno Gazendum, who seemed to have disappeared off the scene for a while, but seems to have returned in conjunction with David Hinchcliffes 'Pitch Vision' and he mentioned in one of his articles about the fact that a lot of spin bowlers (Me included) tend to opt to bowl faster and flatter when you've been hit for 6. He was advocating to possibly bowl slower and loopier, get the ball up above the eye-line and tempt the batsman to do it again and again. So, I've been keeping this in mind and trying it out in the nets and it does seem to work, whether it'll convert to a match scenario remains to be seen, but it certainly does seem to induce rash strokes where the ball is hit into the air -often flying off the bat mis-hit and heading for a fielder. A big part of the equation in club cricket is the fielders making the effort to cover the ground and pull off the catch.

In recent practices, with Joe and Ben and in the nets I've been focusing on the Top-Spinner, Wrong Un and Flipper and bowling my Leg Break a lot less, but the leg break does seem to be coming out fairly well when I use it. I'm trying to be consistent with my run-up and remembering to get side on and cock my wrist more. One of the big things I've noticed is that if I try and force things, it seems as though I then tighten up and suffer from not being relaxed. Feeling relaxed seems to be a major factor as well as keeping things simple and being confident about what you do.

What seems to be working in the nets is starting out with the Leg Breaks and giving the batsman a look at what I do, they soon realise that... yeah I'm a Leggie and they see how much I turn it and what kind of line I'm bowling. They then seem to see that I don't turn it a great deal and after about the 3rd or fourth ball come after me. It's at that point I then change the bowling and bring in the variation, of which I've got the options I've been working on... Top-Spinner, Wrong Un and Flipper, that then creates opportunities for wickets in a number of ways. Generally I'm quite happy with the way my bowling is going at the minute, but looking back I think I've felt this way at the start of the last two seasons and then they've fallen to pieces. I'll just have to see how it goes.

Another session at the Essex Nets

Damn I wish people would get their facts right! Last week at the net session despite what I'd been told, there were no youths and I'd almost taken Ben and Joe. This week at the youth nets I asked about the prospect of taking Ben and Joe and was told catergorically 'No' and then tonight when I arrive Sonny and Frank are there! I'd gone out saying to Ben "Sorry mate you can't come, youths are not allowed! So again I asked and was told yes they can come along, so maybe next week?

Tonight I stuck with the keep it simple formula and it went okay and I was happy with everything except for the Flipper, that didn't work at all, so will need some work. The top-spinners didn't look that clever tonight but the Leg Breaks and Wrong-uns looked fine with the wrong un causing problems. Fitness-wise, did okay, have come home and warmed down and everything is fine. Bowled some faster balls and my arms good as well, so all in all a good session. Didn't bat though as there was a lot more people there tonight.

I took the camera tonight to get some pics and vid of Dave Bonnetts bowling, he bowled a lot better tonight and talking to him about his deliveries, he was saying that his stock delivery was a 'Slider' , where he uses his thumb primarily to impart the spin, in the light available there it was tricky to see the seam presentation, but his explanation looked to match up with the action. Unfortunately I was so engrossed in the bowling that I didn't shoot any video or take any pictures. Frank was there too and he asked about what Stuart Macgill had said about his bowling, I said that we needed to get some new footage and submit that to Stuart for him to comment on, but, I didn't get round to it!

The weather here though is appalling for late March, still 2-3 degrees during the day and around 0 at night with no prospect for any drastic change, the wind is still coming in from Siberia in the East. I walked through the paddock on the way home as it was light and it's in a mess and we certainly wont be using it this Easter!

General update 51 days to go

Just back from another training session at James Hornsby school. Ben did really well batting. They had the Bola machine set at 55mph for most of the time he was there and I think they speeded it up to 60mph for one or two of them and he coped with it for most of the time. He seemed to be following their instructions to step out towards the ball and he was playing the ball with a straight bat in the way that Frank McLeod showed him last summer which was good to see. He needs this if he's going to secure a place in this team (U15's) as there's a lot of competition for the places in the first XI as such, especially with regards to the specialist bowlers, it may turn out that it's simply not good enough just to be able to bowl. Fielding might be taken into consideration and is always something I like to see e.g. full committment to fielding and I'd want to see Ben making 100% effort with regards stopping the ball in the field and chasing the ball down, but the ability to get 10 or more runs on the board on average each week might make a massive difference in the games. So a good start by Ben this early in the year. The main thing is that he came away having enjoyed it. My only worry is that it is a psychological thing and when confronted with a real ball and the additaional human variation factor, he may not do so well?

U13's weren't that well presented with only Harry there in attendance, and Joe watching. No sign of Stevie this year as yet. There was some confirmation that Ryan G-Mans son was playing for another team this season and there was some speculation that Killer Barnes might not be playing this year?

Joe update.

Joe's on 51 days to go now, but I've got a feeling I was being a little pessimistic with that schedule. I seems to recall that if he was on track and if it hadn't been for the slip in the ice he'd only be looking at 3 weeks now before some sense of normality could return. This week coming... Friday he's got another visit to the fracture clinic (4.30) and prior to it 5.15 he's got a physio session. I think the main emphasis of the fracture clinic observations is the wound (Stiches/pin removal wound) rather than the bone, so I don't expect that they'll be taking more Xrays. But it'll be interesting to see what they say with regards what he can and can't do and any update on when he can return to normal activities. But overall things are going well, the treatment clinic change the dressing on a 2-3 times a week basis and check the wound and we re-dress it on a daily basis removing everything except for the Steri-strips.

Limp and movement-wise, Joe's getting on well, today he was running from the car to the hall because it was raining and cold and when you watch him and he's unaware he does tend to walk fairly well and looks 65% okay, with only a bit of a limp. I'm quietly confident that by the end of the season/summer the limp with have gone and if I'm really optimistic I wouldn't be surprised if the limp was gone by the end of April. A lot of this is down to the weather though. If we have an early spring and the weather is conducive with getting out there and doing stuff, I'm sure that the increase in activities and sport will simply mean the muscles will develop quickly and normailty will resume. The bad weather holds everything back - me included.

Dave update.

As yet my training plans and schedule are still behind where I'd like them to be. During the week I'm just exhausted by the time I get in and as a partial sufferer of SAD syndrome, I can't motivate myself to do stuff when it's dark. I'm enthused by seeing the gradual return to summer and every evening getting on the train seeing more light in the sky. A couple of mornings ago the sun was up when I went to work and today I've seen a Black Headed Gull with its spring plummage (Chocolate Brown Head)

Which is a good indicator that summer is on its way.

But when I have been enthused I've been working on my deltoids as they were a problem and core strength and flexibility drills. Stretching and planks mostly with some yoga moves thrown in. I have noticed though in the stretches, my knees creek like hell which doesn't sound good at all, so I've been massaging my knees as well. What I really need to do is get a little sequence of exercises and stretches put together so that I can just do a regular sequences every day, rather than a mixture with something here and something there as I am at the minute. The other thing I need to do having seen on the news that people like Andrew Marr have keeled over with a stroke and he's only the same age as me and you'd imagine he'd be one of those types that would have been down the gym at least once a day? So I should be doing cardio-vascular stuff too. The CV stuff doesn't appeal to me at all, but really it is something I should be doing. What I have done though which I think I am seeing the benefit of is the reduction in meal sizes and the avoidance of fat in my diet. I've reduced the amount of chocolate that I eat and I need to maintain this.

At the training session I had a bit of a bowl, to see if it would affect my foot as I'm suffering from metatarsalgia, and the good news was that I seem to have come through that quick session okay. The work that I've been doing on my deltoids seems to have paid off as I'm not suffering from any pain there, it does feel like they've had a bit of a workout, but not like they've been over-loaded, so that's good news and encouraging from a point of view where I feel more inclined to continue with the exercises. This here is the one that I'm using at the minute as it only requires working with your own body weight. Hopefully if it all goes well, I'll move up to something a bit more demanding and resume doing handstands.

The Paddock

I've yet to mention the paddock as far as I can recall this year as the weather has been so bad, I may have mentioned it a month or so ago as a group of youths all about 17-18 years old went over there a few times all wearing football boots. The paddock is as wide as it is long, it's tiny 80' x 80' maybe and there was about 8-10 of these blokes and they played football in there for about 2-3 hours. I couldn't look after they'd finished, the impact of so many blokes in such a small area would have been devastating, so I've no idea whether it's recovered or not. I know from my own garden, that the weather in the last couple of weeks has been in excess of 4 degrees centrigrade and therefore the grass has been growing. But it has been raining and the drainage is poor in there, the upside of that is, it's so wet you can't play football in there, but at the same time it makes it difficult to maintain the grass. I may have a look at the end of Feb or over half term, I think I usually get in there with a roller during Feb, to give it a flattening. I need to clear some bushes as well as they're shading the grass which is never a good thing, so there is some work to do.




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62 Days & More Stuart Macgill

62 days and counting, another good day for Joe. He's taking it easy still, but Michelle said that he ran up to the car when she met him out of school this afternoon and when I got home his limp looked less of a limp!

More on Stuart Macgill on his website/Social media site (See below) He'd posted a link to the Guardian (He can't do nothing wrong this bloke - he even reads the Guardian)! where there was an article on the worlds most beautiful cricket grounds. I reckon that the Rec when photographed from the right place is a pretty spectacular pitch so linked in the Rec from this blog and he was in agreement, so B&PCC could potentially use that as a selling point 'The Rec as recommended by Stuart Macgill"!

If you're a wrist spinner or just interested in cricket and want to be in contact with some of the professional players (MS Dhoni is on there along with some of the other Aussies from the 2005 era) contact him via his Google + page and see if he'll let you in, at the moment its open invites all round. He's got something planned for Feb 22nd which may be something video based (Although I'm not 100% certain), but it's something he's been working on and is getting really excited about releasing. So have a look and sign up...

Stuart Macgill has got to be the most approachable professional cricket player on the web. Sign up to his Google + site and if you're a wrist spinner, the chances are he'll communicate with you.https://plus.google.com/u/0/?tab=mX#101070011342127402871/posts

More thoughts on Drift

Here's some thoughts on Drift over at a forum I started

I don't know what it is Gundalf: perhaps something to do with the 2-piece balls Sean uses for practice. The seam is quite prominant. Maybe the ball surface has other characteristics that make it behave that way.

Dave, you'll probably get your head around it more if you consider that the Magnus effect is at its maximum when the ball is moving through the air perpendicularly to the axis of rotation. I've recently been writing about drift and it'll be here with images and diagrams hopefully illustrating what's going on with http://www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wrist-spin-bowling-leg-break.html
30th Dec 2015


Taken at one extreme (top spin) the axis of rotation is horizontal and across the pitch, so the ball is being forced down throughout its flight.

At the other extreme of pure side spin, the axis of rotation is along the pitch and the Magnus effect is not active while the ball is moving essentially parallel to that axis of rotation (ie the first "flat" portion of flight). It is only when the downward component of the flight starts to increase that the magnus effect comes into play in this case. As the vertical speed of the ball increases in the later part of the flight, the ball will start to move towards the leg side (for a RH leggie) because the ball is now moving perpendicularly to the axis of rotation more quickly.

For a 45 degree angle on the seam, there is a component of the Magnus effect working throughout the flight of the ball, but it's higher on the downward path of the delivery than the initial upward and flat path.

Because the downward path of the flight is so vital for drift on a side spinning and 45 degree spinning ball, it's imperitive that a good loopy flight is offered. Without that initial upward and subsequent flatter component to the delivery, there will be no late drift in the flight (there may be constant drift, but it won't be significant nor particularly tricky to handle).

It all comes down to the flow of air ACROSS the axis of rotation.

To get drift from a ball that will also turn off the pitch, there must be a loopy flight so that downward speed has a chance to increase during the delivery. It's the change in vertical speed that alters the drift in the air for a side-spinning delivery.

Cheers,
Graeme

Read more: http://spin-bowling.boards.net/index.cgi?board=discussions&action=display&thread=22&page=1#ixzz28byO84YA

I'm still struggling to get my head round drift, but this explanation is quite interesting. The interesting thing I picked up on was the dynamics of the drop from the trajectory and the fact that the 'Drop' aspect adds a different dimention. I've not got time at the minute to try and digest the info and make sense of it, but I may come back to it at some point later.

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

 

 

B&PCC v Horndon on the Hill cc U13's at the Rec

W'hey a win at last!

B&PCC v Wickford U13's

This is yet to happen (6pm today)

Anthony Ayres, Frank Farrington Wrist Spinner, Stevie Wyatt, Mitchell McLeod, Kieran Barbero, Charlie Blerkhom (U11's), Harry Davie, Ben Thompson, Alfie Davie (U11's), Mark Broadhurst and Sam Good (U11's).

With 3 under 11's in the team this was a depleted side and we lost, here's the official details - http://basildoncricket.hitscricket.com/scorecard/fixtureID_284603/Under-13-XI-v-Wickford-02-Aug-2012.aspx

The batting didn't set us up too well for the bowling, with one of the lower order batsmen going in early and probably going on to score his PB for the team, but being lower a lower order bloke the run rate was thwarted, singles weren't taken and the progress was slow. Once the bowling got going the main bowlers came up with the following...

Ben 2-1-1-0
Harry 4-0-28-0
Kieran 3-1-10-2
Frank 3-0-15-1
Mitchell 3-0-12-0

Our inning saw 57 runs helped along with 30 extras, with only 87 to chase it would have needed some very impressive bowling to get the win. Kieran Barbaro bowled very well again as did Ben - but without any wickets. But the end result was inevitable.

B&PCC U15's v SLHCC - Langdon Hills Rec

Again I'm going to try and get this done quickly otherwise it'll never get finished. The figures and more details will be added later.

The team was made up of mostly U15's and a few U13's because many of them were away on Holiday.

U13's - Ben Thompson, Mitchell McLeod, Frank Farrington, Finley Munroe and Anthony Ayres.
U15's - Harrison Morris, Nathan Hubble (WK), Connor "Killer" Barnes, Sonny Downes and few other blokes whose names I don't know.

Weather looked okay, a little cloudy 20 degree, got cloudier with the threat of rain and much colder once the sun set. We batted first and did really well with Sonny, Frank and Harrison Morris making big contributions to the final score. This team (SLH) was made up of several of the U13's that played in the narky match on Thursday over at Stanford, but today they were somewhat subdued in comparison. Using the same tactics as they used last week we batted first, meaning they'd have to bat in rapidly failing light. There were some good contributions from the batsmen - Sonny Downes 29, Hubble 19, Harrison Morris 28 and Frank Farrington (Wrist Spinner) 19, and this was with a damp outfield and the ball visibly slowing down. Frank was particularly good exploiting a gap at fine leg with some deft batting. The innings finished with the B&P boys setting a total of 125 off of the 20 overs. Their fielders had a total of 16 extras, so a decent score with which to give our bowlers a chance.

The bowlers got off to a good start against a couple of confident looking batsmen, the opening bowlers were Harrison Morris and a new bloke Alfie Cobden, both bowled really well, especially the new lad Cobden, who came away with 4-1-6-3 he had a stuttering run up, but when he got to the crease an incredibly fast arm action which resulted in very fast bowling. The others....

Harrison Morris -                4-0-13-1
Ben Thompson (My son) - 4-0-13-2
Mitchell McLeod -             2-0-7-1
Frank Farrington -               2-0-7-1

The official data is here - Scores and I'll try and photograph the scorebook and upload that later today.

Bens bowling

After the match I got a text from Neil (Umpire and coach) saying that Ben's bowling in the match was superb and that it was the best he'd seen him bowl, which Ben was pleased to hear. He said of his bowling "I went in without any intentions, whereas normally I go in thinking I'm going to bowl really fast, I didn't put myself under any pressure I just ran in really relaxed and bowled with no thoughts of losing or winning the match because of my bowling and it just came out really well". Maybe this has something to do with the fact that it's the U15's and it's not his team? Who knows, but I agree with Neil he bowled superbly and looked as though he was bowling really well from the edge of the pitch - really relaxed and fluid and as a result it was also quite fast - but effortless fast.

Anthony Ayres catch

In these matches there's never enough committment in the field from my personal point of view, only one catch went down in this match as I recall, but it's the levels of fitness and intensity that always dismays me and the lack of enthusiasm for fielding overall. It's not the trainers fault, I've seen G-Man trying to enthuse these lads and most of them watch cricket and know how pro players field and how quickly the get the ball, gather it and get it back to the keeper. But saying that there was the ocassional glimpses of promise Anthony Ayres was exceptionally good and getting the ball in accurately over the stumps once he'd got to the ball and he took an brilliant catch over his shoulder at the end of the game which was very impressive. The new lad had a longish run in to take Franks wicket, but overall with regards the fielding the SLH lads were leagues ahead.

The final score for the SLH lads was 92 with 23 extras helping them along the way. A good win though, with some very good cricket on both sides.

Superman gets 40-0-7-1

Again too much to keep up with and I've got to somehow condense these posts to shorter versions. No pic's unfortunately as my camera gave up this morning when trying to video Ben, Kieran and Franks bowling U13's, so it looks like a trip to John Ilsley is due tomorrow to see if it can be saved. I could gone on now about how crap digital cameras are and how I've got a few 'Proper cameras' still and they're 30-40 years old and they still work, but I wont.

Anyway after the U13's I had to dash home throw some food down my neck (Pasta, cheese, tomatoes and Ham) and then try and get to the club by 12.00. I got there just after 12.30 and the news was that we had 11 and that they were waiting on news as to whether the game would be on because of rain over at Harold Wood. A heavy shower passed through and with covers on the wicket the game was on and we all made our way over to Harold Wood. Got there and it was raining again and we had to wait another hour or so for that to clear and for the covers to come off and start the game.

Mike Morris, Liam Rouse, Jack Farrington, Harrison Morris, Kieron & Steve Ward, Anthony Ayres, Phillip Tooke, Scott Noble, me and some bloke I've never seen before (James Bunce)? Made up our team and we were to bat first with Rousey putting me in to bat with Phillip Tooke. I lasted about 3 overs and score two runs before being clean bowled. The highlight of the day was Scott Noble being denied his 100 by the weather, because of a down-pour it was decided that the match be reduced to something like 25 overs and despite Rouse's efforts Scott was one short at 99.

A decent tea was had by all as we all sat and watched the Olympics waiting for the covers to come off again because of the rain. Again I was part of the opening pair, with Jack Farrington bowling bowling the 1st over and me the 2nd. This team had an over-seas player - a South African bloke who kept for much of the match and was a very good player. He opened LH along with a bowler RH. My first ball landed on the edge of the cut strip for a wide and the 2nd ball was put away to the boundary by the SA bloke. In the same over I think he did that at least twice. Left hand batsman are not my favourite variety and for them to be so good that they're the chosen as over-seas player for a club spells disaster for me all the time I've not got my Wrong Un working. But after a few balls we figured out a tactic. I bowled over the wicket to his leg-side, where he then hit the ball down to fine leg where Mike was fielding and this restricted him to one run much of the time meaning he was off-strike, allowing me to bowl at the far less adept RH bat and over my seven overs we had some fun with this bloke with me bowling reasonably well, meaning that there was loads of chat around the wicket as Scott (Slips) and Rousey oohed and aahed and bigged me up as I bowled. In the end I got the bloke, but had to negotiate the very good South African LH bat and that meant that I came away with 40-0-7-1 and a new nickname on top of 'The Blogger'. The new nickname being 'Superman' due to my proclivity to dive in a very enthusiastic manner to stop the ball going past me. If you read this blog on a regular basis I'm always ranting about the fact that youngster when they're playing cricket and fielding, do so in such a half hearted way and because of it, leak runs (Boundary 4's especially) simply because they wont dive and put their bodeis on the line for the team and end up losing by 1 run with only 4 balls left in the match like this morning at Orsett. But my dives had Rousey in stitches, one especially during my bowling when I did a very 'Over the top' one just to stop a single at best as Jack was right behind me fielding at Mid on. But, I like to lead by example and if the kids see a 52 year old bloke going for it like that they may feel shamed into putting in an equal amount of effort when it comes to their games?

The South African bloke despite everyones attempts went on to score 50 or more and eventually as it was so obvious that he was going to get them past our total on his own his captain retired him and let some of the other bats have a go and without the South African they still did it relatively easy. With access to the scrore sheets I remember that Steve took a wicket, Harrison Morris took one and Phillip Tooke had a bloke bowled and caught at the very end. 

It was a match that I enjoyed very much especially as I bowled pretty well despite my figures and got to bowl 7 overs which was very nice. Other than that it was played in a very convivial manner with people giving the younger kids a chance.

Whoa - what's that about - blimey I finished an entry!!!