I've been up to the in-laws who now live in Derby and live within spitting distance of 4 or 5 cricket pitches, in fact I think my Father in Law is going to join the club across the road from him so he can go and watch and drink in their bar! But, what with all these clubs around in the local vicinity, I was able to have a bit if a bowl at the facilities just outside of Ilkeston in Okawell drive. There's a pitch there (See below) based amongst a load of council facilities, including a sports hall, we discovered it because we'd booked to play badmintion in the sports hall. The two Badminton courts costs us £8 each for an hour and the bloke had to unlock the sports hall to let us in. He let us in and once in there was some kind of code system that would have allowed us to come and go, and then walked off an left us to it. This place was amazing! Ben and I had been to the Essex county Ford ground last Sunday for a strength and conditioning seminar and I was pretty impressed with their indoor facilities, but this place made the Essex Ford indoor facilities look like a dive. Once into the main hall it was enormous and all brand new, heated and empty. I wish I'd had my camera to show you how impressive this place was. It must have been around 4 wickets wide - 80 yards wide by about 6 wicket in length 100 + yards long - absolutely huge! It would be brilliant for indoor cricket. We ended up being in there on our own for in excess of 2 hours and no-one came in despite the fact that it was a school holiday. We eventually left at 5pm and as we were leaving 3 blokes turned up. Outside on the cricket pitches outfield were a few boys playing football. It was then that I noticed that round the corner of the sports hall was a load of nets. Before we left I went had a quick look at these nets and whether they were accessible and sure enough they were.
Bens Batting
Paddock
Pre Season Wrist Spin preparation
I hate this time of year, I reckon it must be my lowest ebb, my skins as pale as its ever going to be,, I'm probably physically weaker and out of condition more now than any other time of year and susceptible to colds and illnesses. Nets has started at my club and there's the possibility that I could turn up and get myself an injury through over doing it, potentially setting myself back several steps for the real start of the season at the end of March.
I've started training as you might have already noticed - nets and some practice outside where and when possible. The recent sessions have highlighted loads of issues, but primarily I'm just nowhere near match fit as such. On a more optimistic note the Strength and Conditioning seminar Ben and I went to kind of indicated that despite how I feel I'm in fairly good shape for an old bloke, so with a little work things should come together?
Earlier in the year I toyed with the idea of doing Yoga to explore the potential of being more flexible and I went to a local bloke near where I live. It was interesting and I came away with some really useful stuff on how to relax which I've adopted and do occassionally, but the Yoga part was very basic and I was able to do all the things that were set for the class with relative ease, whereas all around me the other people were struggling, so for now I'm going back to my usual regieme of stretches I've picked up on my surfing and cricket journey through life.
