Nets

I didn't warm up before I went out which meant that within 20 minutes or so of starting I had a tight calf muscle that impeded me a little. Added to that I've not felt well particularly all day and the end result seems to be my bowling was pretty poor. Again my usual gripe of 'You can't get any rhythm going because you bowl every six blokes or so' also comes into play as and the whole thing was pretty unsatisfactory. Having said that I got some of the blokes out including some of the better players, but then it is only a net situation and the expectancy is that they wouldn't bat like that in a real life situation. Bowled some good Flippers and some nice Wrong Uns which caused people problems but failed to get anyone out.

Feedback re new bowling action

I've had some feedback with regards my new action from Liz Ward who comments on the forum I post on and she seems fairly impressed with the new action so far. She's showing someone else and it sounds like she's going to come back to me with some tweaking that I've said I'll work on. So things seem to be moving along nicely. Nets tonight and session 4 with the new action and each time I work with it there seems to be improvements.

Liz Ward is a Strength and Conditioning Practitioner operating in and around Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk with a mission to change the way cricketers train for the sport; introducing biomechanics, fitness, psychology and nutrition.

Practice with the new bowling action

On Saturday I took the stumps and a bucket of Hockey Balls and went over to The Rec (Tarmac Tennis courts) taking the Canon G9 to record where I am with the new bowling action. A quick update on the story if you're new to this blog. I've been bowling Wrist Spin since the inception of this blog - so this July I'd have been at it for 5 years and right from the outset with no coaching I started out with a peculiar little skip which can be seen in many of my videos that are posted on Youtube. Over the years loads of people have said that I need to get rid of this 'Skip' and bowl with a bound as it would improve many aspects of my bowling one of which is the speed at which I bowl. Changing it seemed inconceivable as it was such an ingrained action and not until I found the Beau Casson video on Youtube in which he demonstrated the Stand Start was I able to start to consider getting rid of the skip . Working with the stand start drill at the end of last season, I moved on to walking in off of 3 or 4 steps and in doing so noticed a dramatic improvement in my bowling.

Over the winter I continued to work with the stand start and having taught my older son Ben to bowl with a bound when he was bowling off the wrong foot, I realised that there was some hope that I may be able to work with the bound and develop it over the winter and into the pre-season preparation. My younger son Joe who is a Wrist Spinner as well helped me out initially with the basics of the action and got me on my way and week or so ago at this same venue I spent an hour practicing with it. The following week I bowled with the action in the nets and that was okay too. So with 3 hours of practice with this new action I took the camera out with me yesterday and video'd where I am with it now.


There's a far better quality version on Youtube here.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBRAN1ClFHE

Paddock News

So, we’re into March and what some may consider spring, but we’ve got off to a very cold start. Years ago when I was younger I’d have expected to have had my shirt off by the end of March and made a start on my tan, but going by the weather at the moment that looks a little optimistic. Although last week (Thursday) it was spring like with the temp hitting 15, but since the end of Feb the temp has plummeted and we've had daytime temperatures of around 2-5 degrees and colder at night. Despite this, the council, were out on March 1st cutting the grass adjacent to the paddock. From what I can tell they’ve not been in the paddock and cut the grass in there, but it’s an indication that the grass is growing and maintenance should start. The last time I had a look the ground was saturated with water, so even if the council did have a smaller mower with them to get through the narrow entrance to the paddock, they may have decided that it was far too wet?

This image above is shot from the usual bowling end, and the stumps would be situated in line with the goal posts at the other end. I'm contemplating as detailed below having the stumps at this end this year later in the season once we've wron out the far end.

Here you can see where the stumps normally are and you can see that the seeds that where sewn have been sucessful and the general growth of the grass has recovered. I'll sow some more possibly this weekend as the weather prospects are slightly better this coming week.

This shot is looking down towards the bowling end from where the stumps are situated. The ideas is that the stumps at the new end later in the year will be right up against the fence. This will allow us to bowl from a position some yards in front of the stumps and not over-wear the wicket in the area where we'd normally pitch the ball. The grass in the middle of our usual wicket is pretty uneven and if we end up bowling and walking-in around that area the wear and tear may facilitate a more productive repair process next October?

*********

As mentioned above what with it being March, I am looking to get some seed down as soon as possible, on the basis that the weather has got to break soon and a run of good, warm and sunny weather being imminent. I want the seed down and growing because we’re planning not getting in there till May to actually use it. Having said that though the small boys that have been using it over the last couple of years for football are all going to be a bit bigger and potentially more into their football, so there’s a chance that they’re going to damage it more this year? That aside the preparation plans are being made so that we don’t actually get in there till May. Last year we started in April and because the ground was damp still and the grass cover still fairly thin, it sustained a lot of wear and tear early in the season. We’re just looking to get a couple of good months out of it through May and June and then review the potential for changing the ends, as the last couple of years we’ve had the stumps at one end only. This has meant that the wear and tear at the bowlers end has been so heavy that it’s been impossible to bowl down that end, but the repairs and leveling that was done in September and the fact that we’re slowly extending the length of the strip means that an end swap may be possible?

Nets

Adults nets tonight and I rolled out the new bowling action e.g. with a proper bound rather than the walk in or skip approach that I've had for the last 4 years. I went okay, I think generally it's faster, so possibly slightly more difficult to play when I get it right. A few balls came out right and these were commented on. An especially good Wrong Un bowled at Dave Sharp nearly bowled him but he managed to get the bottom edge of the bat on it, someone commented...... "You only see a ball like that 4 or 5 times in a lifetime"! So, it looks like I'll never bowl with the skip ever again which is good news. I was tempted several times to revert back to the walk in as it's probably more accurate at this stage, but I stuck with the bound as I need to bowl like it as much as I can to get it smooth. So despite being played fairly easy much of the time I persevered and kept with it and not once did I go back to the old method. The weather just needs to clear now, so that we get back to practicing over at the Rec in the evenings in the Tennis courts.

Batting, although atrocious was better than normal, didn't get bowled 5 times in succesion like last week and managed to hit a few balls back past the bowlers.

U13's nets B&PCC

Another good session today for Joe and Ben at James Hornsby following a good work out an hour before playing Badminton where both of them beat me in individual games! Ben's getting to the point where he's getting fitter, stronger, faster and more agile than me because of the fact that I'm falling to pieces with injuries, so that gap between us is growing smaller at an exponential rate. One of his mates came round this week not having seen Ben for 7 days and as soon as he opened the door his first reaction was 'Whoa'! You've grown"!. Slightly bemused at Ozan's claim that Ben had physically got bigger in just seven days, we checked a record we keep. We measure him against a mark we have on the wall in the kitchen and sure enough since Jan 11th Ben had grown about a centimetre and a half! So it's not that much of a surprise that he's catching me up.

Ben didn't bowl so well this week, but he was still okay causing virtiually everyone problems, his biggest issue was that some of his balls went Leg-side and to me he looked like he was trying to hard. Later in the day he did try and bowl much faster and it was obvious that he can change his speed considerably and these faster balls tend to be yorkers. Ben later in the session said that he was going to bowl Leg Spin because he dabbles with it and he pitched one up just outside leg that turned across the batsman and hit the top of off-stump which he was well chuffed with, but he was able to repeat it.

Joe in the meantime was bowling nice Leg Breaks in the Under 11's nets causing all sorts of problems and given half decent fielders would take loads of wickets. He hit the stumps once or twice too with leg break picthed on or around Leg Stump. Dave Ayres, who I think is the manager of the U13's wants Joe to be in the U13's team for the first match as it's a cup match (Joe's 9), so that'll be nice if that comes off.

I've not been very clear about the age group that Ben's going to play for, as there's a load of boys that come in to the hall after us who are in the next group up and they're Under 15's, but watching them they look younger than Ben who's only 12. It turns out that some of these boys are still of the age that they'll play in the U13's, so it sounds like they may make up the numbers of the U13's if they're short on players. From what I've seen of the U13's they currently look like this...............

Ryan Davies - All rounder
Harrison - All rounder
Anthony Ayres - Batsman/Keeper
George Barclay - Middle order bat PT Leg Spinner
Finlay - Middle Order Bat -
Mark (Steve Smith Look alike) Bat
Frank Farrington (Leg Spinner) All - rounder
Ben - Fast Bowler
Harry - Fast Bowler
Joe - Leg Spinner *

I'm aware that the format changes and from what I can glean from the internet it sounds like it'll
be different in that.............

When you're out you're out.
The lads start to specialise e.g. only the bowlers bowl max of 4 overs.

But what of the team size? Is it the full 11 man team? I'll have to ask tomorrow. Looking at the team they've got at the minute, I reckon this looks fairly promising, if these boys get into their stride as the season starts, this could be an interesting summer. I just hope I'm right about the bowling aspect e.g. the boys that can bowl are given their maximum allocation of overs.

The Day of Reckoning

So, tomorrow night will be the day of reckoning, after Thursdays hour over at The Rec bowling with the bound at a single stump tomorrow night at Adult nets will be my first opportunity to roll it out with a batsman. All the experimentation over differing lengths would suggest that in a fairly short time this will lead to an improvement in my bowling, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes over a couple of hours, hopefully I'll persevere with it and if I get spanked I wont be reverting back to my intermediate walk in method?

First Practice of the season

The weather broke at last and we had a 15 degree c day with sunshine and blue skies. The last time it was 15 degrees was way back in November. So what with it being half term I cycled over to the Rec with a bag of balls and a set of Kwik Cricket Stumps to have a look at changing my bowling again so that it incorporates a conventional bound. Followers of the blog and people that know me will know that I have this weird approach to the bowling action and that I've been trying to eliminate it since last September, when I had been suffering from Plantar Fascitis and a physio had said that the cause was probably this weird action. In the last month or so I've been sussing out whether I can bowl with a bound and the evidence suggested that it was looking as though it was going to be possible. I've had several net session this year with both Grays and Basildon and I've not had the confidence to attempt to bowl with the bound, because I felt that it could go anywhere, but today with the sun out and it being warm, I gave it a go.

I was fairly optimistic about how it would go because I'd practiced a little with windballs in sports halls when we play Badminton with the kids and bit by bit it had been coming together just doing that. So, I wasn't that surprised when the first few balls were all on a good length on the offside. I was hoping for anywhere within 3 or 4 foot either side of the stumps as a start but these were all within a foot of the off-stump. Within 24 balls I was pitching the ball outside of Leg and turning it in on the stumps or bouncing over the top of them with quite a bit of turn. In the end I had to take the stumps out of the base and use a single stump because I'd got fed up of having to walk back down the wicket to stand the stumps up again! So all in all a very successful first session with the new bound and it feels very smooth and flowing and enables me to bowl a lot faster it seems. This increase in speed also seems to increase the difference between my slower balls and the faster balls with only subtle changes in the action because it is so smooth. Turn was good, accuracy by the end was very good considering this is a wholly new action and I was able to bowl the variations that I'm currently practicing with; Leg Break, Top-Spinner, small Wrong Un and the the conventional Back-Spinning Flipper all with relative ease. I was bowling so well I thought I'd throw in the re-discovered Wrong Wrong Un and blimey was that a surprise! With my leg breaks I rarely see them drift and I put that down to the fact that they probably don't drift 90% of the time and when they do it's not a lot. But the first Wrong Wrong Un that I chucked up was aimed at the off-stump, but then it drifted late pitched outside of leg although it was initially going for middle and off and turned so much it went wide of the Off-Stump! This is a ball that for all intents and purposes is bowled in exactly the same way that a Googly is and yet it does what a good Leg Break does. So I'll be trying this one out every now and then.

Nets

Will I be bowling the new way in the nets this week? I reckon I might be, it'll be interesting to see how well it works.

Nets at Grays

B&PCC didn't have a net session on Monday, so I contacted some of the Grays blokes and asked if I could go along to their session and one of the blokes said that was fine. Didn't bat just had a bit of a bowl. It's difficult to judge how well you're bowling when you're in the nets especially if the batsmen are 1/2 decent because they just try and hoik you into the far distance. One in particular did exactly that for 6-7 balls, showing no respect whatsoever, but I eventually got him twice potentially stumped bowling fuller Top-Spinners. The rest of them it was a similar story, primarily stumping off of flippers and a leg break that pitched a little outside of leg and came in through the gate to hit the off-stump. All in all I was quite happy with what happened and I'm definitely now beginning to watch the batsman looking at where there are weaknesses. I also move around the crease a lot if I get dealt with quite easily off a sucession of balls from my normal close in over the wicket bowling position.

The Paddock

A couple of days ago I was thinking about the weather and how recently there hasn't been a lot of rain and therefore any water in the ground would be draining off deeper slowly. Add to that the sap now rising and nature is at working drying up the sogginess that is everywhere. The paddock around about now is almost a swamp in places, but if the sun comes out the drying process, coupled with the fact that it's surrounded by trees soon gets under way. The reason that this is of concern is that I need to get out there while it is still relatively soggy and give it a good roll with the roller and get the next batch of seed sown. February is too early, but it does need to rain during Feb and early March, so I was quite happy that yesterday it rained all day.

The schedule over the coming weeks needs to be along these lines........

SPRING WORK

This feature of groundwork is the most difficult to explain. All I know is that it is generally the coldest day of the year when I begin. Whether there is a gently drying wind with a hazy sun or a blustering cold northerly March blow.

The reason for rolling before the soil dries out is to consolidate the whole square down to a depth of 4 or 5 inches. Consolidating below the surface can only be done before the square fully dries out. This is a very important stage in wicket preparation because you are rolling into your square the pace and bounce required for good cricket wickets. If this rolling is successful cricket wicket preparation is simply re-wetting the top few inches facing up to give a smooth flat surface, cutting the grass short then allowing the wicket to fully dry out.

SUGGESTED SPRING PROGRAM OF WORK

1. Feb/March get rid of any worms
2. Early March lightly fertilise. 11.6.6 or similar at 1 oz/sq yd – will help withstand early rolling.
3. March/April frequent rolling. Do not create ridging. 80% of rolling should be cross-over the square, but at the end of each session roll from stump to stump.
4. After rolling the square should be shallow spiked 1 inch deep would be ideal to stimulate growth by allowing feed, water and oxygen to get below the surface.
5. Lightly scarify the surface or stiff brush to open up the grasses but take great care not to disturb the surface soil.
6. Apply 2nd light fertilizer dressing
7. Frequent cutting to reduce the grass height to approx ½ inch which is a good height to maintain it at during the playing season. Lower the height gently with frequent cuttings over a period of time.

SUMMER MAINTENANCE

There are two main tasks. First the continuous development of strong, healthy root structure which is about frequent mowing, preventing drought conditions and sensible feeding. Secondly, keeping the surface clean with frequent light scarification, hand raking or stiff brushing.


This piece above was copied from............

http://www.cag.org.uk/docs/Keith%20Boyce%20-%20THE%20CRICKET%20SQUARE.htm

Joe and Ben nets

"Joe, do you want to have a throw around outside before we go to nets just to loosen up, rather then turn up and bowl pies first off"? I asked about half hour before they were due at nets.
"Nah Dad, I usually bowl better straight off rather than do all that beforehand". He replied. Not wanting to push the issue I just thought, well...we'll see how that works out.

Half hour later, Finlay was first up batting in the nets, I think he's a fairly good batsman, with far better averages than both Joe and Ben and has been playing a bit longer than they have. Joe was first in the queue and he bowled from middle of the crease over the wicket. He flighted one in aiming it well outside Leg Stump, Finlay watched it in realising it was well wide of his stump, he left it, the ball pitched and turned in and hit middle and leg - OUT! A beautiful Leg Break, far better than I've ever bowled with a batsman in place and it was the first ball up! He then bowled a few more in pretty much the same way, but this time Finlay was on it and was trying to hit them but still in trouble having to block balls that would have gone onto hit the stumps, again pitching well outside leg. Beautiful bowling from Joe.

The coaches were working with Ben on his run up getting him to run off 7 steps and then bound, which he picked up pretty quickly and within a short while he looked pretty smooth and was bowling exceptionally well looking like he deserved last years title of the 'Bowler of the Year'. Over the hour session both Ben and Joe took 4 wickets each, Joe bowling his older brother Ben with another beautiful Leg Break over the wicket again, pitching outside leg and this time it came back in across Ben and went through the gate to hit the off-stump! He was well chuffed and Dave Sharp seemed pretty impressed as Joe was bowling an superb line and length and getting the ball turn pretty big with some nice bounce. Talking to him later he was saying that he was getting it to spin that much my having the ball high in his fingers.

They both batted pretty well, Joe batted for a long time and he kept everyone at bay including Ben, his only dismissal looked to me to have been a no-ball from a kid that looks like Australia's Steve Smith. This kids had been bowling pies all night and this ball and a few of the latter ones looked thrown instead of bowled? Ben batted better having listened to Dave Sharps advice to step out to the pitch of the ball.

As we were about to leave the older kids turned up including Leg-Spinner Frank, so John asked me if I was interested in staying a while and seeing if Frank was okay and on track. I let him get on with it independently and he threw a bunch of full tosses and he then approached me and asked if he could work in the seperate net with the wind ball and some stumps. I let him bowl a few more pies and noticed that he wasn't getting the rotation right, so we went back to the stand start drill. From bowling pies that didn't turn, Frank went straight into a ball that was on a better line that did turn and again he acknowledged that it had made the difference. We did that for a while and then moved up to a 1 step and bowl to a 2 step and bowl drill and at each stage he retained his turn, so that went well. Joe had a go, but he went backwards slightly with his bowling, but that may have been more to do with being knackered as his arm was sore.

There is another kid George who bowls wrist spin and he was with Joe in his net during the earlier session, but he was all over the place and I didn't really get to work with him, but just before the end I had a word with him and showed hin the stand start and he bought into it and it made a big difference to his bowling straight away. So, all in all a very good session. The only bad news was there isn't any adult nets tomorrow night, so I'll be going to Grays and I'll have a bowl with them.

Issues

My only issue with teaching the stand start is when the kid doesn't get it or quite do it right (Joe) I'm a bit lost as to how to direct them. To me, it does kind of seem to be one of those things that is intuitive in that if you're being told how to do it and you follow the instructions, it should feel right? I suppose I'll have to go back to Beau Casson and have a look.....

But on a final note, here I am worrying that Joe (Aged 9) is getting it wrong - although he's bowling blokes round the back of their legs with his natural action, I realised that my concerns are slightly over-blown when I saw the next age group (Older) bowling during their session. Ben and Joe don't have to worry about much at all I reckon and neither do many of the boys in their age group. The younger boys as a bowling unit look a lot better, so that bodes well for this year and next year. Any work I can do with Joe albeit small will be good, but his natural action works and while it does work, I'm not going to change it too much in the short term. But George and Frank being a bit older might take on my advice more readily.