Monday, August 27, 2007
Bank holiday Monday
Had another spell of bowling. Went okay - pretty consistent, but I'm in desperate need of someone to practice with and now I'm running out of summer. A few kids joined me today which was okay. One of them a faster bowler bowled me out within about 10 balls - I'm just so crap at batting and I need to do something about it.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
26th Aug Bank Holiday
Practiced today over at Great Berry. I went there just to see in part how many people would be on the field. The people that were there were all around the edges and this was with it being busier that normal as the 'Pavillion' had some kind of 'Do' going on with bouncy castles and what have you. Basically we could have had a game and used the whole field today. I think on a normal weekend you'd expect to see even less people?
Anyway - I threw 30 overs worth of balls back to back. I was experimenting with over spinners with a view to maybe having them as my stock ball and I was also looking at my length. I'm in two minds as to whether I bowl too long. I've noticed that the people I practice with step back and hit me off the back foot rather than come forward. I suppose as I usually throw flippers and I'm usually pitching at a consistent length it's easy to devise a tactic e.g step back and see where it's going and hit it accordingly? That tells me I need to vary my delivery.
I suppose today I was pretty consistent and I messed around looking at picking up the speed of my bowling. I noticed that with the increase in speed there seems to be a decrease in spin. Also worrying is that the delivery is lower and flatter and surely more readable when bowled faster. It keeps coming back to the idea of variation. But I then need someone to pratice on. Additionally to the consistency and the experimentation I through very few wides which was nice.
Anyway - I threw 30 overs worth of balls back to back. I was experimenting with over spinners with a view to maybe having them as my stock ball and I was also looking at my length. I'm in two minds as to whether I bowl too long. I've noticed that the people I practice with step back and hit me off the back foot rather than come forward. I suppose as I usually throw flippers and I'm usually pitching at a consistent length it's easy to devise a tactic e.g step back and see where it's going and hit it accordingly? That tells me I need to vary my delivery.
I suppose today I was pretty consistent and I messed around looking at picking up the speed of my bowling. I noticed that with the increase in speed there seems to be a decrease in spin. Also worrying is that the delivery is lower and flatter and surely more readable when bowled faster. It keeps coming back to the idea of variation. But I then need someone to pratice on. Additionally to the consistency and the experimentation I through very few wides which was nice.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Resurrection
I'm nearing the end of my first year playing cricket and have decided to resurrect the MPA first eleven blog. From around about June when we played and lost the two matches that weren't affected by the rain the MPA first eleven started to lose it's momentum. Things were then made worse because I had a run in with a residents association that thought they had the unique rights and say as to who had access to a council playing field (Great Berry). This took nearly 3 months to resolve and while that was happening it gave me a long time to look at the team and ask how should we move forward. I was influenced by a mate of mine who has a very competitive streak and we moved towards the idea that in future we were only interested in winning. The MPA first eleven was then disbanded and the Great Berry Cricket club was formed as we had a few new players and it made sense in that the new players resided around the Great Berry area.
Unfortunately the new format, the new name, the weather, getting beaten so badly and the issue with the field all conspired to slow down the momentum the team had. I decided as a back up plan in order that I was able to play cricket I'd join a local team and I have - Grays & Chadwell cricket club and I now play for their 2nd or 3rd XI.
But for some reason I want to be involved in my own little informal team alongside the involvement with Grays & Chadwell. The thing is I really do enjoy playing and practicing I think David Hinchclife at http://www.harrowdrive.com/7-reasons-cricket-is-the-best-sport-to-play-in-the-known-universe/ puts a good case. So I'm looking to ressurect the mpa first eleven and use what I've learnt this year to hopefully set us up for a few games next summer. So we last 2 out 2 this year let's see if we can get 4 games next year and win half of them?
The annoying thing is that there are people out there that do play cricket and want to play against teams like us. There's the Kiwi's and Aussies, There's Grays & Chadwell CC and then there's all those Asian blokes that play at Glouscester Park - 24 + blokes that I'm sure we could persuade to put together a team and play against us? We've even got the gear to lend to people - we can kit out an opposition team if need be. We've even got access to several places to play some of which are free - Great Berry-the council has formally said we can play organised/competitive games there now. Okay so it's not a cricket pitch - but then neither is the place the Asian blokes play on. We've got access the 'The Rec' free of charge ocassionally and that's a fantastic cricket pitch. But the cost of renting a council pitch is not that much and between 22 blokes it's peanuts!
There is so much potential it just seems wrong to give up on the idea of creating a team. It seems wrong that Richard, Simon, Nakul, Badger went out and bought gear that they've hardly used. It seems wrong that Suhail went back to Pakistan and brought his gear back to the UK and never got a game. It seems wrong that today I played cricket with Carl Hodges who lent us all the gear nearly a year ago and he's a good player and yet he doesn't play cricket.
So what I'm going to try and do is keep this going and maybe put out a general email around the college and see if we can get a few more people involved - 20 maybe? What I want in the short term is a match over at Great Berry in Sept 2nd between us all as we did that day back in June. So who's up for it?
Dave
Unfortunately the new format, the new name, the weather, getting beaten so badly and the issue with the field all conspired to slow down the momentum the team had. I decided as a back up plan in order that I was able to play cricket I'd join a local team and I have - Grays & Chadwell cricket club and I now play for their 2nd or 3rd XI.
But for some reason I want to be involved in my own little informal team alongside the involvement with Grays & Chadwell. The thing is I really do enjoy playing and practicing I think David Hinchclife at http://www.harrowdrive.com/7-reasons-cricket-is-the-best-sport-to-play-in-the-known-universe/ puts a good case. So I'm looking to ressurect the mpa first eleven and use what I've learnt this year to hopefully set us up for a few games next summer. So we last 2 out 2 this year let's see if we can get 4 games next year and win half of them?
The annoying thing is that there are people out there that do play cricket and want to play against teams like us. There's the Kiwi's and Aussies, There's Grays & Chadwell CC and then there's all those Asian blokes that play at Glouscester Park - 24 + blokes that I'm sure we could persuade to put together a team and play against us? We've even got the gear to lend to people - we can kit out an opposition team if need be. We've even got access to several places to play some of which are free - Great Berry-the council has formally said we can play organised/competitive games there now. Okay so it's not a cricket pitch - but then neither is the place the Asian blokes play on. We've got access the 'The Rec' free of charge ocassionally and that's a fantastic cricket pitch. But the cost of renting a council pitch is not that much and between 22 blokes it's peanuts!
There is so much potential it just seems wrong to give up on the idea of creating a team. It seems wrong that Richard, Simon, Nakul, Badger went out and bought gear that they've hardly used. It seems wrong that Suhail went back to Pakistan and brought his gear back to the UK and never got a game. It seems wrong that today I played cricket with Carl Hodges who lent us all the gear nearly a year ago and he's a good player and yet he doesn't play cricket.
So what I'm going to try and do is keep this going and maybe put out a general email around the college and see if we can get a few more people involved - 20 maybe? What I want in the short term is a match over at Great Berry in Sept 2nd between us all as we did that day back in June. So who's up for it?
Dave
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