I've had Rajan's book The Twirlymen quite some time now and only read a little of it, but I've currently got a bit of time on my hands and I've been reading it and gradually getting through it. The book has got some really good stuff on The Flipper and its history which is all new to me, and makes complete sense, but the stuff where he explains what a Flipper is and how different people bowl the flipper and who bowled what variations when - hmmm I'm not so sure. I'm making notes on the bits that I think he's got wrong and I'll be cross referencing with Grimmetts info and stuff that Grimmett has discusssed with Ashley Mallett. One bit I had to smile at was his claim that the Off-Spinning Flipper had never been realised even by Grimmett. On page 185 he makes the point that Grimmett didn't invent the Flipper and that a number of other commentators falsely have accredited the delivery to Grimmett. He goes on to make a very reasonable point that the Flipper precedes Grimmet by many decades, but seemingly misses the point or at least fails to emphasise what it is that Grimmett did for the Flipper. The Flipper was introduced to Grimmett by Geroge Simpson Hayward, who I may have said previously elsewhere played for Essex, but I think the story is that Grimmett met him Essex, although I'm not 100% sure about that either. But GSH was one of the last under-arm bowlers and in 'Lob Bowling' spin had been imparted on the ball using the now familiar Flipper Click for decades. Through the discussion with GSH Grimmett saw that there was potential to take the Under-arm Flipper - over arm. Grimmett was an exponent of practicing all of the conventional wrist spin variations under-arm in order to explore the nuances of wrist position and its affect on the ball (Philpotts round the loop). So, seeing the George Simpson Hayward Flipper being bowled in different wrist positions to produce leg, off, stop and back-spin he saw that there was resonance with the conventional wrist spin variations and how they are produced with differing wrist angles.
So, yes Rajan is correct in that Grimmett never invented the click motion with the fingers, but Grimmett was the bloke that took it over-arm and turned it into the variations we see today. What is interesting in Rajans account on page 185 is the tract of text where he seems to be quoting Grimmett. In the text Grimmett seems to be explaining that he never unleashed any of his Flippers until he had them fully under -control and that the one that he went with, was the Off-Spinning Flipper, primarily it seems in order to negate having to bowl The Wrong Un, which according to Rajan Grimmett felt was physically demanding and likely to cause injury. Additionally Grimmett preferred this Flipper because it came out of the front of the hand like the Leg Break and reduced the potential for the Googly Syndrome.
My understanding from reading 'Getting Wickets' 1930 was that Grimmetts preferred option was in fact the Top-Spinning variation which was noted by Bradman later, but in 1930 at the time of publication all of the Flippers with the exception of the Flying Saucer variation (Benaud) were in development still and it would be a long time before Grimmett used one in first class cricket.
So the question for me is three-fold.........
1. Was the Off-spinning Flipper Grimmetts preferred variation?
2. Was The Top-Spinning variation ever used and is this the one that Bradman recognised and commented on as his Mystery Ball?
3. Who first described the Flying Saucer Flipper?
Note to self - Read Grimmetts 'Tricking the Batsman'.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Rhythm + Batting
Again another lovely warm and sunny day! 16 Degrees today, sunshine and blue skies and as Joe was off on a birthday do with one of his mates Ben and I went over the Rec and had a knock about.
Instead of using the deserted courts side to side which limits your run (Bens especially) we set up the stumps along the length so that Ben could run in and bowl and it went okay. I reckon my batting may have slightly improved over the last 12 months against faster bowlers and this maybe down to batting against Ben as his bowling as he gets older gets faster. I don't thiink I'll be any better against Offies, but saying that, the last game I had I managed to survive against an Offie, albeit only 4 or 5 balls.
Against faster bowlers I'm only looking to block them when the ball is on the stumps, but if the ball doesn't look threatening I can't seem to capitalise on it because my timing is very poor, how that comes together in the longer term I don't know, but I keep trying with Ben but as yet I have no solutions for getting the ball away for runs.
Bowling
As well as bowling at Ben in the earlier part of the day I went back later and had a bowl on my own because my run in has changed and I seemed to have lost my rythmn a little. Someone noted on Youtube that my run in had lost its dynamic bound and they were right because the bound was a little heavy and it kind of changed over the summer to become a little more balletic and springy. So I had a look at that this afternoon, looking at whether I could change between the light springy approach and a faster more dynamic apporoach and in the end it kind of proved to be a bit inconclusive as to which was better or worse still which felt better. So that may prove to be a hinderence in the nets in January?
When I turned up at the nets there was a bloke there with his son stumps and everything and he was keeping to him and it turned out that this bloke was a Chinaman bowler. I had a chat with them and it turns out that the Dad was originally from Sri-Lanka and that he has connections with the coaches of the national team and the lad who was 14 but about 5'11" had been practicing with the under 19 national squad. They were also members of Horndon on the Hill CC which is just down the road. I told them about our set up in the tennis courts and suggested they come down for a knock about next Saturday or Sunday, so perhaps we'll have a couple of extra players next week if the weather holds out.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
The Paddock
The mild weather continues with it being between 14 and 16 degrees today and over-night it's only going to dip to 10 degress meaning that the grass is still growing in the paddock. The good news is that we've had some rain in the last few weeks ending the very long run of dry weather and the process of re-growth is beginning to happen of its own accord. Because of the potential Gyspy invation post Dale Farm I didn't do any pre-winter remedial work in the paddock at all other than rake some dirt back into the area where the batsmen stand, which I did mid October when it was still really dry. Since then I've not been over there and the only people you see in there are the fair weather footballers.......The ones that can't be bothered to run about on a field because it means being fit and leaving their phones more than a metre away from where they are. Or the people that let their Staffordshire Bull Terriers in their so that they can shit everywhere and our kids get it all over their clothes. But, today I went over and had a quick look and was quite surprised at how well it was recovering without any intervention. I'll have to keep and eye on it and see how it goes and maybe in the spring get some seed down early?
The other idea I've been toying with and it's one that I'm surprised that B&PCC don't adopt for their nets where the bowlers create a big hole when pivotting, is this Heavy Duty Playground matting. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-Rubber-Grassmats-Playground-Safety-Mat-Flooring-Set-/150461579063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2308357f37
It comes in 1.5 x 1 metre sections and as you can see you can seed it and the grass grows up through it and eventually a thin layer of earth covers it meaning that the root system for the grass stays intact in amongst and under the mat, so pivoting on the mat only damages the very tips of the grass that are growing through. For the paddock it would be ideal as it would be flush with the surface and allow a good surface to bowl on that wouldn't wear away. I reckon I could get away with getting it fitted over the winter and just simply cover it with earth as it bedded in. I'm just not sure whether once I got the seed I'd need to expose the mat in order for the seed to germinate and grow through the holes, I think at that point the footballers or the dog owners might spot it and have it away despite how many fixings I put in it to secure it. Something I'll have to think about I reckon.
Side Arm
The other interesting thing that I've seen recently was this here, a bloke on big cricket asked how you might be able to make your own bowling machine and one of the coaches on-line suggested this.......
It's a 'Side Arm' and allows with a little bit of practice for the user to bowl the ball with a lot of accuracy and massively enhanced speed. It also enables the thrower to bowl balls that 'Swing' and spin - Leg Breaks and Off-Breaks, so it would be exceptionally useful for me and the kids next season in the paddock. Something we'll look into as a Christmas present I reckon.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
The Drift project
The drift project has begun! I was looking to start writing up a definitive guide to drift, but with the little research that I'd done so far it became apparent that it wasn't going to be that easy as explaining it requires a degree of understanding of Physics well beyond my very rudimentary knowledge. So I've requested the help of my knowledgable friends on www.bigcricket.com I've instigated a thread where over the next few months or so we're going to try and put together some answers regarding what drift is and how we get it and improve it in our bowling. The forum and discussion is here http://www.bigcricket.com/community/threads/drift.62786/#post-415401
and as the info is collated I'll try and form it into a blog. If you know about drift and can add to the discussion - sign up to big cricket and get involved.
Some conclusion have been drawn on this subject and you'll find the results here - http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2011/11/leg-spin-bowling-drift.html
and as the info is collated I'll try and form it into a blog. If you know about drift and can add to the discussion - sign up to big cricket and get involved.
Some conclusion have been drawn on this subject and you'll find the results here - http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2011/11/leg-spin-bowling-drift.html
Monday, November 07, 2011
Clock face with minutes for explaining Drift and Spin
This is to be used in conjunction with illustrating descriptions of seam presentation when explaining Spin Bowling. The assumption/premise is that the pitch runs top to bottom so the ball is bowled from the 30' minute end up to the 60' end. The clockface and the inclusion and use of the minutes enables discussion whereby we explain that the seam and direction of the spinning ball is angled towards 52' as in the case of a 'Classic' Leg Break delivery.
Update - have a look at this post here - and the previous one as there's a load of new illustrations that are helpful with regards to explaining how spin bowling works and it's characteristics.
http://www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wrist-spin-bowling-top-spinner.html
http://www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wrist-spin-bowling-top-spinner.html
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Weather still holding out
The weather is still holding out, the last week has seen the temperature drop and a fair bit of rain, but today and yesterday we managed to get a couple of hours in over at the Rec. The temp on both day was around about 14 degrees, so not exactly cold yet. The result of all this practice is that I've got loads of video footage that I would normally edit and put together as videos showing some of the good bowling and bad batting, but what with having a new computer with windows 7 on it, the new version of Windows Movie maker is about as good as a one legged man in a bum kicking competition, so i'm just accumulating footage.
The overall impact of the practices using the cones as fielders is that the batting does seem to have become a lot more patient and considered. So that's good and it also means we're getting out there and not being lethargic and picking up baisc skills and the boys are seeing the importance of some of the basics - where to put fielders, the affects of bowling leg-side when you've got an off-side set field, the importance of backing up. So it's all good fun.
Drift
Back in August I started to write a piece of Spin, Dip and Drift and it was okay, but never got finished. Despite that, the article has been used in conjunction with Guardian Newspapers 'Spin' section in their sports pages and they provoded a link in one of the writers articles where they needed to elaborate on the Drift aspect of bowling. So that was encoraging. Off the back of that I've been researching further and at the moment I'm trying to put together what I'm hoping to be the most comprehensive article on Drift on the internet! I'm currently working on the illustrations, normally I'd do them using photography and Adobe Photoshop, but again because of the new computer I haven't got Photoshop yet.
The overall impact of the practices using the cones as fielders is that the batting does seem to have become a lot more patient and considered. So that's good and it also means we're getting out there and not being lethargic and picking up baisc skills and the boys are seeing the importance of some of the basics - where to put fielders, the affects of bowling leg-side when you've got an off-side set field, the importance of backing up. So it's all good fun.
Drift
Back in August I started to write a piece of Spin, Dip and Drift and it was okay, but never got finished. Despite that, the article has been used in conjunction with Guardian Newspapers 'Spin' section in their sports pages and they provoded a link in one of the writers articles where they needed to elaborate on the Drift aspect of bowling. So that was encoraging. Off the back of that I've been researching further and at the moment I'm trying to put together what I'm hoping to be the most comprehensive article on Drift on the internet! I'm currently working on the illustrations, normally I'd do them using photography and Adobe Photoshop, but again because of the new computer I haven't got Photoshop yet.
Monday, October 31, 2011
New Format for Cricket
Have a look at this - http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/highfives-all-round-for-new-oneday-game-20111018-1lyte.html and read the article. This came up a couple of days ago in www.bigcricket.com and I went into one of my usual rants about it, taking the opportunity to make a point about the state of society like old blokes like me tend to do - you know the score.....
"Bloody mobile phones, bloody XBOX, Bloody SKY TV- blah blah blah" usual stuff I come out with and will be proven right in time when our sendentry lives start to catch up with us (You rather) and completely bog down the economy with illnesses and ........... Whoa! Here I go again!!!
Anyway, I did slag the idea off, but conceded that there was an inevitability about it and no matter how big or noisy the 'Old guard' are, the chances are this will have to happen because of the 'I want it and want it now' generation will demand a faster variation of the game in order that they come and watch. But having read the root article (Above) it sounds as though it's on its way, this is going to happen............
"Bloody mobile phones, bloody XBOX, Bloody SKY TV- blah blah blah" usual stuff I come out with and will be proven right in time when our sendentry lives start to catch up with us (You rather) and completely bog down the economy with illnesses and ........... Whoa! Here I go again!!!
Anyway, I did slag the idea off, but conceded that there was an inevitability about it and no matter how big or noisy the 'Old guard' are, the chances are this will have to happen because of the 'I want it and want it now' generation will demand a faster variation of the game in order that they come and watch. But having read the root article (Above) it sounds as though it's on its way, this is going to happen............
Landmark post - No.1000! Review of the year
Tomorrow's the first day of November and last night the clocks adjusted for British winter time, so at some point pretty soon weve got to be plunged into the depths of winter surely? October has been pretty amazing in that there's been virtually no rain and it's been warm. Today it's been about 16 degrees and Sunday it was 19.5 degrees! But surely the cricket will have to stop at some point because of the cold?
This time last year I decided to work on my run up and action through the crease as I'd had a pretty poor year, aided by the fact that I was smacked out of the park at the start of the season for almost 11 an over by some first team bloke that went on to do the same almost with the other spinner Wayne (8.5 an over for him). The bloke went on to score in excess of 200, but psychologically I was damaged and that damage was then further exacerbated by the fact that I was seemingly dropped from the Sunday team at Grays despite the fact that I was one of the earliest payers of yearly subs and always paid my match fees! Over the following year I think I got 4 games. Around August when people start to wear a bit I got a couple of games, but by then I'd been getting a game about once a fortnight at my sons club B&PCC and they were suggesting I joined them the next season, so that's what I did.
Through October 2010 I worked with the run up, trying to get rid of the 'Tich Freeman skip' eventually through work with the Standstart drill I got it so that I was walking in kind of like Terry Jenner in his BBC videos, but there was still no dynamic aspect to it and I was still concerned that I'd be easy to play and there were still loads of issues. Winter came early last year - early December saw heavy snow and the winter turned out to be one of the worst on record with a long period through Dec/Jan? where there was snow on the ground for extended periods.
Over the winter indoors, my younger son Joe taught me how to bowl with the bound and as soon as the weather broke despite a fairly poorly knee (Twisted ligaments back in May 2010 playing cricket) I began to work with the bound, with pretty good results straight away within half an hour of trialling it for the first time over in the old tennis courts at The Rec Langdon Hills. I couldn't convert it that well to bowling in the nets for some reason, primarily with the slippery floor in the sports hall where we trained, so pre-season nets didn't really help out that much at all.
The knee injury for some reason flared up a bit and put paid to the bound for a while at the start of the season and scuppered my plans to bowl with the bound. I had a couple of matches where I was bowling with complete indecision as to whether I'd bowl with the bound or not and I seemed to have a dip in general core fitness which seems to be a re-occuring theme tied in with the bad weather that puts paid to practicing through Dec, Jan and Feb, so this year I'm making a mental note about core fitness training along with shoulders. The season has started off with a couple of matches for B&PCC where I didn't make that much of an impression and each week looking at the selections I was usually the 15th to 20th man, so never got a look in. I wasn't that bothered though as I was enjoying watching Ben and Joe playing in thier matches and having a knock about in the Paddock where gradually my fitness returned and my knee got better.
Having kind of reached match fitness again by August which seems to coincide with most peoples 'Burnt out' phase in their season and many of the players are away on holiday I assume I got a couple of matches. The bound still wasn't quite there and feeling the pressure of playing in League cricket which was new to me I reverted to the safer option of bowling off of a Terry Jenner walk-in. At the same time Liz Ward
on http://www.bigcricket.com/ who is a bio-mechanist and physio introduced me to http://www.siliconcoach.com/ where I was able to upload my videos of my bowling and have them analysed by several qualified coaches giving me hints and suggestions as to what to tweek to get my bowling action improved. Again this kind of forced improvements over September once all the games had finished, so I'm probably bowling fairly well here and now in November!!!
Through September and early October the Liz Ward tweeks, which on the surface seem like only small things associated with parts of your body that you wouldn't readily expect to have a massive impact on your bowling, came together. That combined with some discussions on www.bigcricket.com on 'Arm Speed' saw a dramatic change in the way the ball was released from my fingers in an organic development, rather than a forced and logic based development through the application of theory. Suddenly I was bowling with a lot more speed and spin and noticed that I was getting dip and drift and weirdly far better accuracy. With these developments the Tich Freeman Skip was consigned to the bin forever more.
So that's kind of it. Match -wise it was pretty indifferent, I took a few wickets, a couple of which were round the back of the legs coming over the wicket which were quite satisfying as this is something I've never done before and this is before the massive changes that have occured over Sept and October. It may be that I'm deluded and once in the nets in January I'll get a reality check and have to reflect on what might be going wrong, but sitting here on October 31st in pretty good post summer condition things look promising for next season.
This time last year I decided to work on my run up and action through the crease as I'd had a pretty poor year, aided by the fact that I was smacked out of the park at the start of the season for almost 11 an over by some first team bloke that went on to do the same almost with the other spinner Wayne (8.5 an over for him). The bloke went on to score in excess of 200, but psychologically I was damaged and that damage was then further exacerbated by the fact that I was seemingly dropped from the Sunday team at Grays despite the fact that I was one of the earliest payers of yearly subs and always paid my match fees! Over the following year I think I got 4 games. Around August when people start to wear a bit I got a couple of games, but by then I'd been getting a game about once a fortnight at my sons club B&PCC and they were suggesting I joined them the next season, so that's what I did.
Through October 2010 I worked with the run up, trying to get rid of the 'Tich Freeman skip' eventually through work with the Standstart drill I got it so that I was walking in kind of like Terry Jenner in his BBC videos, but there was still no dynamic aspect to it and I was still concerned that I'd be easy to play and there were still loads of issues. Winter came early last year - early December saw heavy snow and the winter turned out to be one of the worst on record with a long period through Dec/Jan? where there was snow on the ground for extended periods.
Over the winter indoors, my younger son Joe taught me how to bowl with the bound and as soon as the weather broke despite a fairly poorly knee (Twisted ligaments back in May 2010 playing cricket) I began to work with the bound, with pretty good results straight away within half an hour of trialling it for the first time over in the old tennis courts at The Rec Langdon Hills. I couldn't convert it that well to bowling in the nets for some reason, primarily with the slippery floor in the sports hall where we trained, so pre-season nets didn't really help out that much at all.
The knee injury for some reason flared up a bit and put paid to the bound for a while at the start of the season and scuppered my plans to bowl with the bound. I had a couple of matches where I was bowling with complete indecision as to whether I'd bowl with the bound or not and I seemed to have a dip in general core fitness which seems to be a re-occuring theme tied in with the bad weather that puts paid to practicing through Dec, Jan and Feb, so this year I'm making a mental note about core fitness training along with shoulders. The season has started off with a couple of matches for B&PCC where I didn't make that much of an impression and each week looking at the selections I was usually the 15th to 20th man, so never got a look in. I wasn't that bothered though as I was enjoying watching Ben and Joe playing in thier matches and having a knock about in the Paddock where gradually my fitness returned and my knee got better.
Having kind of reached match fitness again by August which seems to coincide with most peoples 'Burnt out' phase in their season and many of the players are away on holiday I assume I got a couple of matches. The bound still wasn't quite there and feeling the pressure of playing in League cricket which was new to me I reverted to the safer option of bowling off of a Terry Jenner walk-in. At the same time Liz Ward
on http://www.bigcricket.com/ who is a bio-mechanist and physio introduced me to http://www.siliconcoach.com/ where I was able to upload my videos of my bowling and have them analysed by several qualified coaches giving me hints and suggestions as to what to tweek to get my bowling action improved. Again this kind of forced improvements over September once all the games had finished, so I'm probably bowling fairly well here and now in November!!!
Through September and early October the Liz Ward tweeks, which on the surface seem like only small things associated with parts of your body that you wouldn't readily expect to have a massive impact on your bowling, came together. That combined with some discussions on www.bigcricket.com on 'Arm Speed' saw a dramatic change in the way the ball was released from my fingers in an organic development, rather than a forced and logic based development through the application of theory. Suddenly I was bowling with a lot more speed and spin and noticed that I was getting dip and drift and weirdly far better accuracy. With these developments the Tich Freeman Skip was consigned to the bin forever more.
So that's kind of it. Match -wise it was pretty indifferent, I took a few wickets, a couple of which were round the back of the legs coming over the wicket which were quite satisfying as this is something I've never done before and this is before the massive changes that have occured over Sept and October. It may be that I'm deluded and once in the nets in January I'll get a reality check and have to reflect on what might be going wrong, but sitting here on October 31st in pretty good post summer condition things look promising for next season.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Possibly the last session in the Tennis courts
The ridiculously warm and mild weather continues with it reaching 19.5 centigrade today. It wasn't sunny it was muggy and damp, but warm still as the wind is coming in across the channel and central Europe mixed in with damp westerly Atlantic wind.
Anyway, still looking for ways to make Joe, Ben and Kieran think about their cricket rather than just whacking the ball, we've modified the game further still and made it more like real cricket in that if you're out you are out. I think normally this wouldn't have worked, but I seem to have instilled the idea over the week or so that an innings can be crafted slowly with better shot selection, with an eye on the need to keep your wicket. So, it was good to see an improved approach to the way they batted and run between the stumps. We also video'd it so that once home I could calculate their stats in this format and see if there's any glaring problems or issues. Plus if the weather continues to be mild track their progress and see if there is any improvement.
Anyway, still looking for ways to make Joe, Ben and Kieran think about their cricket rather than just whacking the ball, we've modified the game further still and made it more like real cricket in that if you're out you are out. I think normally this wouldn't have worked, but I seem to have instilled the idea over the week or so that an innings can be crafted slowly with better shot selection, with an eye on the need to keep your wicket. So, it was good to see an improved approach to the way they batted and run between the stumps. We also video'd it so that once home I could calculate their stats in this format and see if there's any glaring problems or issues. Plus if the weather continues to be mild track their progress and see if there is any improvement.
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