John F Cook are you out there and if you are and you're reading this can you re-instate your Beau Casson/David Freedman video on youtube as it was one of the best resources on youtube please?
Signed - The Wrist Spinners on www.bigcricket.com
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Clarrie Grimmett on No Balls
If I had anything to do with the rules, I would say that a bowler bowling a no-ball should be penalised six runs, not only one for each time that he offends.
It is the most deadly sin in bowling.
Good habits are as difficult to get rid of as bad habits. So why not cultivate the good habits first? Make your run up to the wicket one of them. Avoid no-balling. It is a simple matter. If you transgress you are penalising your own side. No good cricketer would wish to do that.
Really it is the worst fault a bowler can commit. It gives away runs and nullifies the chance of taking a wicket. It gives the batsman a heap of confidence.
Clarrie Grimmett
Tricking the Batsman 1934
It is the most deadly sin in bowling.
Good habits are as difficult to get rid of as bad habits. So why not cultivate the good habits first? Make your run up to the wicket one of them. Avoid no-balling. It is a simple matter. If you transgress you are penalising your own side. No good cricketer would wish to do that.
Really it is the worst fault a bowler can commit. It gives away runs and nullifies the chance of taking a wicket. It gives the batsman a heap of confidence.
Clarrie Grimmett
Tricking the Batsman 1934
No sign of the hottest day ever
As we approach the end of the summer, it looks increasingly unlikely that we'll get to see a day when the weather here in the UK exceeds the current record of 38.5 back in 1983 in Faversham and Gravesend. There was a prediction http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2010/mar/22/sizzling-summer-uk-weather-forecast that we'd see a day when 40 degrees was reached, but it hasn't happened and with the current Westerlies and North Westerlies coming off the Atlantic there's no sign of an Azores high which is usually required to drag warmer weather off of central Europe.
In recent weeks after the long spell of hot and dry weather that saw the Paddock dry up, crack and eventually crumble the recent spells of heavy and prolonged rain have rejuvenated the grass in the paddock and without any seeding there's some grass cover establishing itself slowly. We've not used it for weeks and weirdly neither have the kids that usually play football in their and cause all the damage, yet the weather has been far more conducive to playing football than cricket?
It's obvious that without there being a 2nd or 3rd strip adjacent to any wicket the damage sustained by even light use is such that, by June, if the weather is dry the paddock will always crack up and crumble and be unusable as a batting surface. So if the weather is okay it looks like we may be able to get a couple of months out of it with light use, which I suppose is okay?
I'll have to look around now and see if I can get some seed cheap somewhere and get it down early in Sept. Considering how bad the paddock strip was last September and how it came good through May and early June, the prospects for next year look really good. I've also had someone give me a petrol mower for my birthday, but I've yet to have a good look at it and see if it cuts as low as my Ransomes Ajax mower which is nothing short of amazing. So hopefully in September we'll give the Petrol mower a run out and see how it cuts and whether we can lower the blades to the same kind of minimal heights as the Ransomes Ajax.
In recent weeks after the long spell of hot and dry weather that saw the Paddock dry up, crack and eventually crumble the recent spells of heavy and prolonged rain have rejuvenated the grass in the paddock and without any seeding there's some grass cover establishing itself slowly. We've not used it for weeks and weirdly neither have the kids that usually play football in their and cause all the damage, yet the weather has been far more conducive to playing football than cricket?
It's obvious that without there being a 2nd or 3rd strip adjacent to any wicket the damage sustained by even light use is such that, by June, if the weather is dry the paddock will always crack up and crumble and be unusable as a batting surface. So if the weather is okay it looks like we may be able to get a couple of months out of it with light use, which I suppose is okay?
I'll have to look around now and see if I can get some seed cheap somewhere and get it down early in Sept. Considering how bad the paddock strip was last September and how it came good through May and early June, the prospects for next year look really good. I've also had someone give me a petrol mower for my birthday, but I've yet to have a good look at it and see if it cuts as low as my Ransomes Ajax mower which is nothing short of amazing. So hopefully in September we'll give the Petrol mower a run out and see how it cuts and whether we can lower the blades to the same kind of minimal heights as the Ransomes Ajax.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The boys did well
Sunday mornings up at the crack of dawn to get your kids to a cricket match never seems like a good idea. I do like having a lay in and Saturday it didn't happen and so I wasn't that enamoured with the idea this morning especially when I knew I'd be met with 'Oh Dad have we really got to go to cricket'? It seems they take after me in this respect as I've never been one to be easily motivated even when it's things I like doing. So we ended up getting there just about on time.
The teams were made up of the U11's and the U'13's First off my older son was given the task of being the captain of his team and Joe the younger son was picked and they were on the same side together. Ben's team fielded and Ben made the bowling selections putting himself in about 5th or 6th change, whereas quite often if the others get the role of captain they'll have him in at 2nd or 3rd bowler. The match trundled along and everyone was doing okay and it looked like a fairly equal two sides. Ben bowled his over against one of the better batsmen in the U13's and limited him to just 1 run off of his two allotted overs, from where I was watching other than 2 wides his bowling was pretty good causing the other kid problems and one of the coaches commended Ben on his bowling. So straight away having bowled so well he was quite pleased with himself.
Joe bowled okay taking a wicket, bowling primarily (But not intentionally he later admitted) down the off-side and then putting one down the legside to a batsman that was weak that side that batted the ball out to one of the older boys at a position backward of Square Leg.
Batting; Joe batted okay surviving a few overs and Ben did the same but on the way hit at least 2 fours, a two and a single, he may have hit 3 fours, one edged to the 3rd man area and one that I saw that went back past the bowler in between mid on, so he came off well chuffed that he'd bowled really well to one of the better bats and had even scored a minimum of 11 runs which is my all time total ever in a match, so he's got that target in his sites and he'll no doubt rub my nose in it when he passes it!
The teams were made up of the U11's and the U'13's First off my older son was given the task of being the captain of his team and Joe the younger son was picked and they were on the same side together. Ben's team fielded and Ben made the bowling selections putting himself in about 5th or 6th change, whereas quite often if the others get the role of captain they'll have him in at 2nd or 3rd bowler. The match trundled along and everyone was doing okay and it looked like a fairly equal two sides. Ben bowled his over against one of the better batsmen in the U13's and limited him to just 1 run off of his two allotted overs, from where I was watching other than 2 wides his bowling was pretty good causing the other kid problems and one of the coaches commended Ben on his bowling. So straight away having bowled so well he was quite pleased with himself.
Joe bowled okay taking a wicket, bowling primarily (But not intentionally he later admitted) down the off-side and then putting one down the legside to a batsman that was weak that side that batted the ball out to one of the older boys at a position backward of Square Leg.
Batting; Joe batted okay surviving a few overs and Ben did the same but on the way hit at least 2 fours, a two and a single, he may have hit 3 fours, one edged to the 3rd man area and one that I saw that went back past the bowler in between mid on, so he came off well chuffed that he'd bowled really well to one of the better bats and had even scored a minimum of 11 runs which is my all time total ever in a match, so he's got that target in his sites and he'll no doubt rub my nose in it when he passes it!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Clarrie Grimmett Books
So having finally got hold of Tricking the Batsman, here's the other two in the collection of Grimmetts books that are the fore-runners of all other books and articles on Wrist Spin bowling and coaching. Anything that has been written or said about Wrist Spinning since 1934 simply re-writes what Grimmett said back in the 1930's. The Flipper for instance is described in 4 different variations in 'Getting Wickets' a Top-Spinner, Off-Spinner, Leg-Spinner and the one that Grimmett virtually dismisses and yet everyone else bangs on about - The Back-Spinning Flipper, hi-jacked and virtually claimed as his own by Benaud in the 1950's almost 20 years after Grimmett had invented it.
I've yet to read two of them, but once I have I'll try and write a review.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Paddock News
Having not bowled in the paddock for more than 2 weeks now and while we were away it seems that it's rained here in Essex several times, the strip looks like it's beginning to recover. The grass is beginning to grow in places and the because of the rain the natural process of levelling had had some effect in places where I'd filled in holes with earth. The weeds - Plantain are very evident and have all started to grow again, so I've been pulling them up. Weirdly it doesn't appear that anyone has been playing football in there?
It's rained again over so there's a small chance I may get the roller out, but part of me thinks that I should leave it for a while and see how the grass gets on with it's recovery. I also need to source some cheap grass seed and I have seen some in B&Q's, so I might start seeding soon as I think I did it too late last year.
While I was away I read more of Bob Woolmers book and he's written a section in there on wickets and how they're constructed and it seems that my approach of mixing clay and compost is the correct method. I was surprised to read that the ratio is 50/50 which is almost what I’ve been doing. Previously I’d probably been mixing 70% clay and 30% compost and the 50/50 ratio is better for me anyway as I’ve got compost coming out of my ears as I recycle all our food waste and garden waste.
It's rained again over so there's a small chance I may get the roller out, but part of me thinks that I should leave it for a while and see how the grass gets on with it's recovery. I also need to source some cheap grass seed and I have seen some in B&Q's, so I might start seeding soon as I think I did it too late last year.
While I was away I read more of Bob Woolmers book and he's written a section in there on wickets and how they're constructed and it seems that my approach of mixing clay and compost is the correct method. I was surprised to read that the ratio is 50/50 which is almost what I’ve been doing. Previously I’d probably been mixing 70% clay and 30% compost and the 50/50 ratio is better for me anyway as I’ve got compost coming out of my ears as I recycle all our food waste and garden waste.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Cricket Hannah Spondon
I was pleasently surprised at the amount of girls that can play cricket that we came across whilst on our holiday this year. I always take a set of stumps, training balls, keepers gloves and a selection of bats and get a game going at least 2 or 3 times a day either at the campsite or down on the beach. We went back and forth this year between our campsite near Landsend and my sister-in-laws near St Ives. Their tents were pitched around a small field designated for kids to play on and we monopolised this much of the time we were there and attracted a number of kids who joined in. Amongst these kids was a girl of about 12-13 years old 'Hannah' who played club cricket for one of the teams around Spondon/Ockbrook in Derbyshire. This girl was amazing! She bowled seam up with a beautiful action and was unbelievably accurate and fast, my 11 year old son Ben was most put out when this girl joined in an stole his thunder! In addition to her bowling, her fielding was spot on, you'd have had her in place of any 4 of the current Under 11's that my sons play with, she was fast, technically good, enthusiastic, decisive and accurate with getting the ball back to the stumps or bowler, it was so good to see that some girls are good at sports and I'd imagine that this girl if she was to continue developing in the manner that she must have already done, she'd be a contender for county level or perhaps higher?
Also there was an Asian girl who never joined in and was probably 16-18 years old and was playing other games with some small children on the same field. Whenever a ball went near her, again she very deftly picked it up whilst attacking it and got it back fast to the either the bowler or the wicket keeper with dead eye straightness and perfection. When it was required she was using the long barrier as well and could throw the ball the full length of the field and more. So on one small field there seemed to be to exceptionally gifted girl cricket players.
Also there was an Asian girl who never joined in and was probably 16-18 years old and was playing other games with some small children on the same field. Whenever a ball went near her, again she very deftly picked it up whilst attacking it and got it back fast to the either the bowler or the wicket keeper with dead eye straightness and perfection. When it was required she was using the long barrier as well and could throw the ball the full length of the field and more. So on one small field there seemed to be to exceptionally gifted girl cricket players.
Update - general stuff
Just back yesterday from 9 days in Cornwall for my annual surf trip. Surf wasn't up to much what with the wind being on-shore and the weather patterns not conducive to producing good surf. I had gone, as I did last year with no prep, e.g. no pull ups or exercises that would have helped with paddling and stamina and therefore knew that I wouldn't be doing a lot of surfing. Turns out that I went in most days for a paddle around and got to my feet in some slop when I went for the waves. What I did notice on the one day that was good at Gwenva was that there was no-one in. A couple of local blokes had a go at one point, one was older than me and the other was a Matman and he had a broken hand that was wrapped up and bandaged. There were plenty of 'Surfers' on the beach and tons more up at the campsite all posing with their boards and camper vans, but, weirdly no-one in the water when it was six foot + and producing powerful and rideable waves?
If this had been 1986/87 we'd have been out there, Paul the Oz always used to say 'You have to surf everything - the good, the bad and the crap to be any good', and we'd have been out there with several of the locals - Janus Howard, Squiddy, Kevin Mathews, Andy Fern, Chris Roynan et al. But today - no-one. I reckon this is because they were probably all too busy on their Facebook and Twatter accounts talking crap to each other to be bothered with surfing. Besides what with their sedentary lives that they lead, they probably couldn't even get out there?
I suppose considering I'm fifty and hadn't done any pre-training I did as well as expected, but I have to concede that my back suffered. Although I'm not 100% certain that it was totally down to the surfing as the day the bad back ensued I'd batted and played cricket with a bunch of kids on the campsite for 4 hours, more of that later.
If this had been 1986/87 we'd have been out there, Paul the Oz always used to say 'You have to surf everything - the good, the bad and the crap to be any good', and we'd have been out there with several of the locals - Janus Howard, Squiddy, Kevin Mathews, Andy Fern, Chris Roynan et al. But today - no-one. I reckon this is because they were probably all too busy on their Facebook and Twatter accounts talking crap to each other to be bothered with surfing. Besides what with their sedentary lives that they lead, they probably couldn't even get out there?
I suppose considering I'm fifty and hadn't done any pre-training I did as well as expected, but I have to concede that my back suffered. Although I'm not 100% certain that it was totally down to the surfing as the day the bad back ensued I'd batted and played cricket with a bunch of kids on the campsite for 4 hours, more of that later.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Played today
Had a match today and got to bowl 3 overs. Of all the matches we've played this year it was probably the one where both teams were fairly evenly matched. We were put into bat first and scored 203. Fortunately we had Dave Sharp one of the coaches and Rez the new bloke and they between them along with some of the younger lads got us up to around 175. Batting 5 upwards got us an additional 28 or so runs. This is all set against the fact that we only had 10 blokes and we only played 39 overs as the scorer lost count. I managed 2 runs and survived 3 or more overs.
We then fielded and they reached our score in about 32 overs with 4 wickets in hand. I reckon that if we'd had the 11th man we may have had a chance. I also reckon I was integral in losing us the match because at the 20th over we had them around about 100 runs and I conceded a fair few runs off my overs. There were other factors to consider, but it's a Sunday Friendly, so s**t happens and it's not a problem, although the opposition when they were fielding were a bit confrontational. All in all it was an enjoyable match I reckon let down by the fact that we were a man short.
We then fielded and they reached our score in about 32 overs with 4 wickets in hand. I reckon that if we'd had the 11th man we may have had a chance. I also reckon I was integral in losing us the match because at the 20th over we had them around about 100 runs and I conceded a fair few runs off my overs. There were other factors to consider, but it's a Sunday Friendly, so s**t happens and it's not a problem, although the opposition when they were fielding were a bit confrontational. All in all it was an enjoyable match I reckon let down by the fact that we were a man short.
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