Paddock + cricket + weather + knee

Not been blogging much, so this one is a bit of an update. Firstly the weather. Here in the UK we've just had an really warm start to April with the temperature getting up to 22 degrees today which is about 10 degrees too warm, so we're sun burnt and getting our tans off to an early start. March was ridiculously dry as well, so the paddock for an example is already cracking up because of the dryness. This has meant that I've not been able to roll it as much as I'd have wished, but what with it being April now and our phenomenon of April Showers, hopefully we'll see some good down-pours over the next few weeks and some opportunities to roll the wicket and for the grass to get growing again with some vigour. Because it's been so dry it has meant that we've been tempted to get out there and use it, so at weekend we put the nets up for the first time and cut the wicket and had a bit of a knock about and video'd it. The video will possibly end up on my channel on Youtube in a few days once I've edited it.

So here's the paddock with the nets up viewed from the entrance, you can see where we've been using it the grass has already started to wear a bit

So the images here above were from the weekend and then today we went over and pruned the bushes behind the stumps for the camera to be set up behind the stumps and behind the fence with the the camera either looking through the links or just peeping over the top. While we were there one of my neighbours was out the front of his house remvong top-soil from a patch of garden and trying to dump it discreetly in the shrubs and council maintained patches of bushes and trees and I reallised it was good top soil that we could use on the wicket and to help maintain and level it. So I went over and offered my help in getting rid of the dirt by dumping it in the corner of the paddock and he was more than willing to take that as an option. We ended up loading full buckets and bins in the back of the car and driving up on to the verge and carrying the earth the last few yards to dump in the corner of the paddock. The other thing we did while we were over there was paint the crease lines as you can see below. Then later in the day as the sky clouded over, I realised that if I didn't siv the earth and it rained I'd have a problem with the earth being in a condition not ready to go on the wicket, so I sivved the earth and got myself a waste bin full of high quality top-soil ready for repairs and levelling. We then took the full bin back to the garage for strorage and the excess that was left on the paddock in the corner I started in-filling the dips at the bowlers end and a few other places knowing that we'd have rained later tonight and that would be a good start to get the fresh topsoil integrated with the existing earth and grass, see below.

Knee

The knee's been okay for the last couple of days and seems to be improving with the increase in activity. I'm a long way off of being able to run, but I've been bowling a lot today and carrying around big heavy buckets of earth and there's no apparent soreness, so that's quite promising.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

It's late and I'll write this up sometime tomorrow.

Weekend cricket

Nets on Sunday Joe and Ben Joe and Ben’s nets session was a slow starter today with both of them as with last week bowling poorly initially, but as the session progressed their bowling got better. Ben initially was bowling short and down the leg side, Joe on the other hand was bowling full tosses down both sides mostly the leg-side. The coach Chris set Joe some targets e.g. bowl a full length ball at the stumps and Joe took it on board and tried to bowl 5 out of 5 in the way Chris had suggested and straight away his bowling changed. By the end of the session Joe had disturbed the wood work 3 times and forced errors that would have created catching chances at point, cover and mid wicket all of which looked like dollies. This approach by the coach Chris was very interesting and I wonder if it's under-pinned by any sort of learning theory and whether it's an approach that is taught to coaches? The basis of the approach maybe that you break down the goal that was set into bite size and measurable pieces. For a kid Joes age the session of an hour almost probably blurs into a series of un-quantifiable levels of success and if he's bowling poorly as he was the general feeling would be that the whole session was a bit of a flop? But, breaking down his success potential into small renewable chunks that he himself can quantify might help to measure success rates and therefore spur him on as it did. Maybe even if you bowl 1 good one out of 5, it's measurable and then you can discard it and move on to the next five and therefore be bouyed by the fact that you attained 1 out of 5? Whereas if you're looking at the bowling over a period of an hour, the good balls are lost in amongst and much larger volume of poor balls? Ben on the other hand hadn’t hit the stumps but created catching chances for the wicket keeper, slips and gully off of balls down the off-side, showing a big improvement as the session went on. The other boys Finlay, Harrison and Harry were all bowling really well too, Harry was particularly good with in-swingers that didn’t swing till the last few yards. Enthused by Joe’s potential 6 wicket haul he was up for bowling some more once we got home. Having mowed the paddock this afternoon a while before going to nets both Joe and Ben were up for using the paddock rather than driving over to the tennis courts at the Rec. It’s a little damp over there at the minute so early in the year and could do with some more rolling, but we gave it a go and it was okay. We took the camera and shot some vid which I’m working on now as I write, which I’ll upload to Youtube later tonight. Knee issues I’d already had a bowl in the paddock earlier once I’d mowed it and bowled probably 15 overs albeit only off of a 2 or 3 step walk in and up to that point my knee was holding out well. In addition to bowling I’ve actually jogged about a bit today too and that was trouble free, so I’ve been looking pretty good on the knee front of late and it looks like recovery is happening. The bowling then that took place in the paddock which would have also combined squatting down to get under a fence and some running around and jumping had a little more affect on me and I came away from that feeling a little tenderness, so I’ll put some ice on that before I go to bed tonight and see if that helps as in the past that seems to have made a big difference. Paddock News Mowed the paddock today and it's looking okay. Very dry for this time of the year and as it says above we've had a bit of a knock about on it today (Sunday). Have a look at the video on youtube

Knees

Been taking it very easy, avoiding any stressful activities on my knees other than last night when Joe, Ben and I went over the 'Rec' tennis courts and had a bit of a knock about and I bowled three overs off a walk in and I came away from that okay. Last few days the legs been okay, if I am limping it is very minimal, so it does seem as though the inactivity has helped and it's feeling a lot better. I may start to look at doing some very gentle exercises with the thigh and see how that goes. I've got nets on Monday night and may bowl again off a walk in and see what the outcome is as well.

Some gentle bowling.

Nets tonight and I tried to bowl off the stand start or just one step. Could do it, but there was some discomfort despite the fact that I was wearing a knee support. As the night wore on the discomfort increased and I've come home and put ice on it for 20 minutes to see how it goes. So, that means I'll now take it easy again for a lot longer and not look to go back to bowling for some time as generally I have taken 8 steps forwards and this has potentially put me a couple back. I think I'd rather take it easy and take the longer approach and maybe get to see the doctor over Easter and see what they say, but I'm pretty sure it'll be 'Rest it and don't do any sports'.

Pre-season nets Ben and Joe

Another awful performance by the both of them, Ben was bowling short - almost half way down the wicket most of the time and Joe wasn't even hitting the mat half the time and the balls he did get on the mat went legside and didn't turn. There was some improvement once I intervened and suggested that he didn't have such a long run up and personally I think half the problem with Ben is that they've suggested that he lengthens his run up and his bowling improved a little once he shortened his run up and didn't try and bowl at 100 mph. I think there probably could be more of a run up, but it strikes me as something you might work on in a more focused and intensive manner e.g. a 1 to 1 type session? For the moment I'm not really going to say anything to Ben other than to suggest that he along with Joe start to bowl more mid week and get back into the swing of things because at the minute because there's not a lot of cricket happening they're not getting the practice. Fortunately the clocks have gone forward today, so now it doesn't get dark till gone 7, so there's options to go and have a practice over at the Rec and get into the swing of things. More positive though - Joe had a bat today and did quite well and came away from that very enthused. So that was definitely good and I may try and play him off against Ben a bit suggesting that if worked on his batting he may get better than Ben?

Knackered Knee

The knackered knee is repairing it seems, the last few days had seen a dramatic improvement and I'm still managing to resist the temptation to do any 'Full on' bowling or activities that may stress the knee. Last night weirdly I had a few beers (Well more than a few) and I walked very briskly from one pub to another and at one point earlier on in the night, I sort of noticed some tenderness, but I did seem to be walking normally, rather than with the hint of a limp. Later with a little more beer down my neck I noticed that I was walking completely normally other than staggering a bit and there was no soreness. Today it's been absolutely fine with virtually no sensation of weakness or tenderness. So I may now re-start the stretching very gently and try and build some flexibility in the thigh muscles which is the suspected under-lying reason for the knee issue. Additionally I'll maintain the avoidance of sport activity and any other stress on the knee/thigh.

The Big Leg Break

Four + years in and this still isn't a key feature of my bowling and still remains to be one of the key components that needs to be added. The Big Leg Break requires (in my opinion) either a wholly natural and therefore unconcious perfect wrist presentation with the big flick off the fingers. Or, very good awareness and control over your motor skills in order that when you bowl you are aware of the wrist presentation and can flick the ball from the fingers with perfect timing in conjunction with the flick of the wrist at the right point through the arc of the arm as you bowl.

Because of my knackered leg, I've been flicking the ball in the manner that is required watching the seam presentation over short distances making sure that it is rotating perectly 90 degrees to it's direction going forwards. The more I do it the more for me purposely I have to bowl with the feeling that I am almost bowling with the wrist turned so far round clockwise it feels as though I'm bowling with a Karate Chop action. On my youtube channel I've had several people ask me for advice primarily relating to the Googly Syndrome where they've lost the ability to get the ball to break towards Off and their Leg Breaks either do not turn or turn towards Leg (Googly). The easiest remedy for this is to not bowl the Googly anymore and work with this feeling that you're turning your wrist so far round that it feels like you're bowling with a Karate Chop action. Possibly as a hang-over from my Googly Syndrome days this is the modus operandi that I still have to follow in order to get the ball to turn big. In order to do this I find that I really have to focus and concentrate exceptionally hard on my fingers in order to flick the ball from the hand and have the wrist in what feels like a karate chop position. When I do it, it comes out very well and this was the case a few days ago and since then I've been bowling non-stop with this kind of action.

The thing that still surprises me with the Leg Break is the complexity of it and the difficulties that some people like myself have with bowling it and the ease that others bowl it with. Having said that the majority of people that do bowl the leg-break have only a rudimentary grasp of its potential because they basically stick with the stock ball and a limited number of variations, keeping the whole thing really simple and allowing themsleves to develop their stock ball to a good level. Having said that though I've only ever seen 2 or 3 good Leg break bowlers and attempts at discussing the finer issues of their actions with them have drawn a blank because they have become Leg Break bowlers it seems through natural ability.

Paddock and training kids (The Ozan Project)

A beautiful sunny spring day with the temperature up around the 16 degrees mark tempted me out to have a light bowl and do some groundsman work in the paddock. I wasn't at work because for the first time in my life I've been in a position where the workforce has come out on strike and being in the union I've involved in the strike. Younger son Joe was off too as his teachers were having a training day, so we had a bit of a knock about outside and then him and a mate of his from down the road went over the paddock to have a game of football.

I wandered over there a little later as I spotted a council worker in there wearing a high vis jacket and for a moment I thought that perhaps they were looking at the fence with a view to replacing it. In the end it was the street cleaner bloke that cleans our estate and I had a chat with him about litter and stuff and people that let their dogs crap everywhere, including inside the paddock where the kids play. It was kind of refreshing to find someone else that shared my opinion that a dog is an animal and not a pseudo human being with the same rights as us! I wont go into that though otherwise I'll have the bloody RSPCA coming round and questioning me and putting me in prison for not sharing their warped views. (I blame it all on Johnny Morris).

So, anyway whilst there looking at the grass I thought I'd take the opportunity to give it a going over whilst it was still fairly short and then once I'd done that, with the knowledge that we're currently on a bit of a long run of dry weather which may catch me off guard. I thought I'd give it a going over with the roller and the results can be seen below............


I've been contemplating having the stumps up this end this season (Above), but the fence directly behind me from where this was shot is knackered and can't be easily repaired. We stuck the stumps up and measured it and it works okay as the run up area at the other end is just short of the 'Good Length' zone if we then started to utlilise the other end later in the year which we would need to. But, the fence is such a big issue it doesn't look as though we will bat at this end.

This is the end we'd have the stumps and probably will again this year. As you can see I'd given it a roll and it's coming along nicely. I wont be able to see how flat it really is till we lower the blades on the Ransomes Ajax lawn mower. That will then expose the lumps and bumps and then we have to wait for a wet period and then go over it properly with the roller when it's wet. The main thing I did today was roll down the centre along the bowling line and a little wider on the on-side where I pitch my Leg Breaks.

Once it was done I had a little bowl using hockey balls, just to see how it was coming out of the hand and see how it would go if I bowled off a stand start or a 1 step delivery and it all went okay and sitting here now my knee doesn't feel too bad.

Teaching Wrist Spin (Ozan project)

I have another project on the go which may be interesting. One of the kids my older son hangs around with has an absent Dad who he sees very rarely and when he does see him I get the impression that they don't do much 'Bloke stuff' so this kids reached 12 and gone to secondary school without the influence of a Dad that has pushed him to do active stuff. For instance a few weeks after they started secondary school Ben told me a little story about this kid, the kid had said....

"Thank God I come round your house and your Dad gets me doing things, you know in the summer when we were all in your garage banging nails in wood and screwing screws in and using pliers and stuff, that was the first ever time I'd ever done that I'd never seen any of that stuff and I just copied you and Joe, I'd have looked a proper muppet at school this week because when we went in the lesson we had to do all that stuff and if I hadn't have done that at yours I'd have not known what they were talking about".

But, to the kids credit he tags along with us and makes up the numbers when we're playing cricket and he has a go. He can't bat, throw, catch or bowl but hangs in there and tries. At school he's having a tough time because they've been doing rugby which both my sons love, but then they've done sports since they were 1 kind of thing, so are pretty adept at most things.

At this kids school, cricket is next (After Easter) and he's thinking that he may have an edge over some of the weaker kids because of his involvement with us, so I suggested that he had a go at bowling and I showed him some stuff to try to improve his bowling which is atrocious. He was well up for it. In a matter of minutes I'd made dramatic improvements with him and help from Ben too (Kids teaching each other helps a lot) added. So, now I'm thinking, what I've got here is a potential wrist spinner starting out from ground zero.

If this kid is up for it and he becomes enthused its going to serve to explore a point I've raised on forums on the internet. I've suggested that in order to be a half decent spinner you need to have some grasp of being able to bowl in the first instance, whereas a lot of people maintain that you need to focus on the spinning first and all the fundamentals such as line and length and accuracy come later. The only flaw with this approach is that if you're a wrist spinner you're going to need to be in an exceptionally supportive club if you're going to be going for 10-16 runs an over because you're not threatening the stumps. Additionally even as wannabe wrist spinner you may be inclined to give up simply because you can't get the ball anywhere near the stumps on a regular basis.

So what I'm going to do is get his basic wrist spin bowling action right - rotation with the hips and shoulders, getting side on etc and see how this works out and then show him the 2 up 2 down grip with the cocked wrist and see if it comes natural for him and whether he's enthused by the fact that he can get the ball to turn off the pitch.

Knackered Knee #3

Knee

Another good day. The knee felt good this morning with the impression that it's getting better. We then went to Decathlon and I bought a Knee brace to wear once I start bowling and practicing again. I went through the bowling action wearing it in the shop and it felt good.

This afternoon, what with it being a blue sky sunny spring day we went over the Rec Tennis courts and had a knock about. Joe bowled well, taking three wickets and I took one. I bowled taking it easy - virtually standing still and bowling wearing the support and I'm okay this evening. If anything it would have been the running that was the most problematic, but I hobbled through the running and seem to have survived that as well.

The Paddock

Had a look at the Paddock today and thought about giving it a mowing. The grass seed that was put down last week hasn't shown yet as expected and will be another 10 days or so yet I reckon. This last week has been horrible - cold and foggy for the most part, so today with the sun out and blue sky meant that the temperature lifted to 10 - 12 degrees. Hopefully this will encourage germination of the seeds and general growth of the grass helped by a whole day of heavy rain yesterday. What with it being so soggy, there wasn't any chance of getting the mower out and I'll leave it a little longer before I bring out the roller again. In the meantime, there's loads of football being played in the paddock which isn't that helpful, but generally it's looking okay.

I need to buy some more seed as I mentioned last week and keep seeding on a regular basis. I noted today that both the squares at Langdon Hills and Herongate have both been cut, so I'm on schedule it seems with my own attempts at pitch maintenance. I'll try and get some seed tomorrow as it's expected to rain for much of the day.