Damn Spinners

Hmm, haven't got to post up here recently because I’ve been so busy with work, which is a pity because the cricketing side of things is fast approaching full swing (if you’ll pardon the pun).

First thing’s first – we’d our team-building/cause-your-teammates-pain outing last weekend, that’s right … paintball!!! 19 of us signed up, but on the day only 15 appeared. Not a huge turnout but decent considering people have to work ‘n’ stuff. It was a great day, lots of charging around in a random forest in Wicklow, then getting shot and going down shouting “Medic!” – Perfect for a group of overgrown 10 year olds. It’s funny how stressful it is getting shot at, even when you know it’s only paint. I don’t know how people cope with being in the army.

Champagne moment – seeing our club captain going for a heroic dive into cover behind some barrels, only to have the impact of landing cause his paint-hopper burst open and spill his ammo everywhere. He had to spend the rest of that game trying to put them back in while the opposition took pot-shots at his back. :laugh:

Following that, I didn’t get much cricket in on Sunday as I was knackered. And Monday was a write-off too due to weather unfortunately. So Tuesday in order to make the most of the break in the rain, I called into our pitch in Marlay Park and spent an hour bowling hockey balls from both ends of the wicket. I’m really happy with my run-up at this stage, it’s comfortable and consistent, which is all I can ask from it at the moment I reckon. The jump at the end of it could use work though; it gets very raggedy if I’m tired or not concentrating.

My delivery is coming on nicely too, only a small percentage of the balls going wide, and with about 1 per over hitting off stump, the rest either going over or just beside it. So the line and length aren’t too bad. I’m still very aware that I’m not bowling fast enough to trouble most people; but everybody says it’s line and length that get you wickets, and the pace will come over time I reckon (as will swing I hope).

Thursday then, we’d our second last indoor net session before the start of the season, a turnout of about 20, which is average. My bowling wasn’t great, I wasn’t able to settle into it because there was just not enough room for my run-up. I tried smaller strides for a while, but that felt horrible – so I moved onto a 6 stride run instead of an 8 stride. This was OK after a while, but I’ll be glad when we’re playing outdoors and I can practice as I intend to play. Even with these issues, the line was still good, (though the length proved a problem), and I got a few clean bowled.

Fielding drills were grand as usual. I’ve noticed that the single biggest factor in improving my catching is to convince myself that I genuinely want the ball to come to me. It makes a huge difference in the level of commitment you can muster attacking the ball, and there’s no better feeling than taking a great catch. (Or no worse one than dropping a sitter I reckon).

I got in for a bat too – talk about a game of two halves!!! The first 10-15 shots I played were (if I do say so myself) fantastic. I was playing everything under my eyes and cracking it away. After one shot the bowler remarked “That’s a four if ever I saw one”, to which I replied “It would have been a first”.

But then, a spinner joined the bowlers (cue foreboding music). I dealt with his first ball with no issues, as my confidence was still up. But his second? Blasted thing turned from outside leg to past off, and took an edge on the way. From that ball on I completely lost the ability to read a ball from any of the bowlers – so the rest of the net went by with a flurry of wickets, air shots, edges and body blows (my right index finger is black today).

This is pretty much the same as happened to me in the first indoor net – where I was unnerved by a full toss and lost the ability to read a ball. I need to come up with a strategy to allow me to get back into a good frame of mind when this happens to me.

I can take some comfort from the fact that he’s a first team spinner, so I won’t regularly have to face that quality of ball (I hope).

We’re having a pitch preparation session tomorrow, so I’ll be down in Marlay for a while dragging a roller around and marking boundaries … manual labour, can’t wait ::)

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