Ysub Eludehcs

Last entry here was about the amount of games I was likely to be playing this weekend. Basically, if you take that schedule and invert it, that's how my weekend actually panned out
(Title make sense now, eh, yeah .... no?)

First game was called off on Thursday evening, as the opposition couldn't get more than 5 players - and this was after I'd booked a days holidays . Friday turned out to be not a complete write-off however - aside from getting the car ready for my NCT (which it passed this morning ), I managed to get in an hours batting practice by myself. Basically I was throwing a tennis ball against the wall at the back of our house, and then trying to drive or defend it with a stump when it came back to me. I spent a while of this concentrating on balls at my legs - trying to get used to getting my front foot out of the way so I had room to hit the ball.

Saturday then was due to be a day off, but I had made myself available for the 1sts as they were having trouble getting 11. Sure enough, 9am () on Saturday morning I got the call up for my first 1st team game of the season. We needed a good win to have a chance of promotion, and we got off to a pretty good start having them at 65 for 6 about 25 overs in. Unfortunately though their number 4 and number 8 both knuckled down to get the rate up over the course of about 15 overs. They both eventually got 50s (the number 8 being not out) to leave us chasing 165. The firsts hadn't had a game in around 5 weeks due to weather and some scheduling issues, and unfortunately it showed. None of the top order really fired and despite a few well made 20s from the middle batsmen we were fighting a losing battle.

I was in at 10 (much to the chagrin of the number 11 ), and came in to bat with 15 overs to go. The guy at the other end was batting well, so I just made sure to keep out the straight ones and hoped to nick a few singles by connecting well. I did manage to play a few shots, but nothing that really cleared the field. Eventually I got one run, (which was given to me really to keep me on strike ), and the next over was on to face a spinner (don't like spinners).

This guy actually didn't turn it much, but he put the ball down fast with an off-spinner's action. I broke my own new-found rule and forgot to play each ball on it's merits - instead playing for the non-existent turn. After 5 balls I fished at one that was well outside off without moving my feet - and managed to get an inside edge into off stump

Interestingly, this is the first time I've scored a run that resulted in my average dropping

We ended up with 115 ao, with the poor number 11 only getting to face 1 ball - 0 not out

Fielding was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but mostly good. I'd a few nice stops that saved 4s, including one that nearly saw me run full tilt into the sight screen - evasive action being needed. I also chased a few that other players had given up on, and came within inches on two occasions of saving another 4. I really need to learn how to dive or slide, it's such a shame to be quick enough to get close to the ball, but then not have the skill to make use of it.

The worst bit though was my first drop of a dolly. I was moved to long-on, and my second ball there was creamed in the air directly towards my. I ran in towards it - then realised I'd overshot it and tried to backpedal. Then with a full stretch jump I just managed to get a hand to it, but couldn't hold on (stopped it going for 4 at least). I was pretty annoyed with myself, but I just decided to put it behind me and get on with the game. These things happen to us all, ya know! I think if it happened to me last year I would have gone into my shell completely and been afraid to go for a ball for the rest of the game, but after taking 10 catches this year I still had some confidence in my ability. This paid off a few overs later when I took a nice one - running from long-on to behind the bowler and taking it two-handed at full tilt, making the tally 11 this season.

Sunday, I had made myself available for the 2nds as a backup, as they were playing the game that would potentially decide the league. 1st v 2nd. If we won, we were beyond catching. A loss meant that they had a slim chance of overhauling us in the last two games. In order to be available for this, I had replaced myself on the RTÉ taverners team for the day. So when it turned out I was surplus to requirements on the 2nds, I was left cricketless

It was still a good day though, not sure what Dave was complaining about in his blog - the last day of August over here was the hottest we'd had in months! I watched our boys score 170-odd in their game, which looked a safe total, then called down to the taverners game to see their run-chase. 2nds ended up winning comfortably to get the league title in the bag for the 2nd time in three years . And the taverners got within 3 runs of winning in their game before losing 3 quick wickets in the 2nd last over to hand the trophy to the opposition .

We had a meal afterwards to mark the end of the taverners season, and a good day was had by all

Eureka again

Just had the indoor cricket session, and the good news is - I can still bat!! The first over I faced was hopeless, I was incapable of hitting a ball (albeit from a chucker ::) ). But then I decided to just relax and play the ball as it came to me, which worked great! Anything straight and short was either pulled away or pushed into a side-wall for 1 run. Anything full was hit straight down the ground, so I was able to pick up a run or two for nearly every ball.

Of course, it was only after 4 balls of this that the very large and angry penny managed to drop all the way onto my head and scream "That's what they mean by playing each ball on it's merits!". It seems obvious now, but before this I always would have been thinking "I need to get my front foot forward", or "I need to defend this ball", as opposed to just relaxing, watching the bowler and playing the ball as it deserved to be played.

To be fair, before now I couldn't afford to relax at the crease, as the odds of me hitting a ball of any speed were akin to the odds of me winning the lotto or writing a novel by accident. But since I've started practicing by driving balls with a stump, I now much more rarely miss a straight ball! And this practice has had the added benefit of making me cut out unnecessary cross-batted shots.

I also actually enjoyed batting today. Up till now I could never understand why anyone would actually want to bat. I saw it as a necessary evil that I had to get out of the way before I could get down to bowling and fielding. Now I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow so I can have a bit of a bat and see if the indoor feeling follows me. And the best thing is, I've been so bad this season with the bat that the pressure is completely off. No one expects the last partnership to last a full over. So if I get some runs - bonus. I must make sure that the guy at the other end doesn't throw away his wicket in an attempt to score a few before I face :-/

Busy Schedule

I've just read through some of my recent posts - and I'm not impressed with some of my spelling! It's the kind of thing that bugs me when I'm reading - and there I go messing it up myself . I must start proof-reading these things before posting them. I wonder is there any such thing as a spell-checker app for Firefox?

Never mind. Potentially a very crickety couple of days coming up. Tomorrow we should have the usual indoor cricket session at lunchtime, followed by nets after work. Both of these have been sporadic over the past few weeks due to holidays and weather, so tomorrow will be the first time in about a month that I've managed to do both of them - if I do of course.

Friday then, we have a league fixture against a team that we've played twice before this year. The first time, they bowled us out for 60 , but then a few weeks later we bowled them out for 40 . I'm hoping for a performance similar to the latter.

Saturday, nothing at the moment. But there are games on, and it seems to be difficult to get people, so there's still a chance of a call-up.

And finally on Sunday, we have our last Taverners game of the year. RTÉ vs the Theatrical Cavaliers!! Basically the team from the national broadcaster versus a selection of Irish stage actors Apparently, there's a bit of history in this game, so it should be fun

Regarding the committee position thing, I've received clarification of the rules wrt the fight to the death. Cricket "paraphernalia" also covers ground maintenance equipment, which opens an entirely new can of worms. I still like the stump option, but perhaps a spade or fork might be more effective ... or a lawnmower maybe . Hopefully I'll be uncontested so the issue won't come up.

Missed matches and better batting

Well, as it turned out, during Saturday I got the offer to play on Sunday for the 3rds. Unfortunately, by then I had plans and had to turn it down. In some ways I'm glad I didn't play, I've been pretty much exhausted the past few weeks and I don't really know why! I've been getting plenty of early nights, but I just can't wake up of a morning and I'm knackered all day!

Had a training session last Friday, and my worst fears came true with regard to the state of the pitch There are deep tyre tracks all over the outfield and one section where a bus or something got stuck so it was towed out by a tractor, with lots of bits of wood and sand thrown in under the tyres for grip. This left one MIGHTY big mess behind it. Luckily this was outside the boundary, but it is right in front of the changing rooms and so it would be embaressing to bring other teams to the ground with it in this state.

The 1sts home game was cancelled on Sunday, so we'll have to see if we can flatten the field somehow before next weekend if we're to have any hope of getting games in before the end of the season.

We still went ahead with the training session, making sure not to run too hard near the dug-up sections. Went pretty well, there were around 7 of us there, so everyone got to bat for around 20 minutes, and we all bowled a good few balls.

My bowling wasn't too bad, but it didn't trouble anybody too much. I've mentioned before that my bowling doesn't look up to much outside of match situations, as there isn't enough swing or seam to force wickets. Just line and length that people tend to get themselves out to. To back this up, when we set targets for the batsman near the end of his time, like 20 runs from 8 balls (with liberal scoring ;)) - the batsmen found it more difficult to get the ball away.

I was very happy with my batting though. I think my solo practice getting my eye in is starting to pay off, as I found it easy enough to connect with the ball. Previously I could just about stop a ball that was coming straight at me, but now I'm able to get it off the square fairly regularly. Probably about 30% would have gone straight to Mid-off, but when I'm happy that I can hit the ball, I'll start worrying about placing it.

One ball that is still giving me a lot of trouble is the one down leg, or on my pads. Up until now I was happy to leave it, or step inside it (I bat outside leg so unlikely to get bowled around legs). But it happens so often that it feels like an opportunity missed. I think I should be playing it with a leg glance, but I never seem to have enough time to play the shot. Most of the time, I ended up swivelling on my back foot and playing across it - which is a recipe for disaster. Some time I will manage to connect and it will either be a leading edge or a tickle to the keeper From the Bob Woolmer videos on Youtube, I think I should be playing it kinda like a back foot drive - as in with the full face of the bat, and then turn the wrists on contact. I have been able to do this on the front foot to a shorter ball in the past - where I get the bat out in front of the pad as if to defend and then turn the wrists. I'll have to get someone to feed me throwdowns on my pads to see if I can figure it out.

I'm not sure at the moment if we have nets tomorrow, our ladies team are supposed to be playing, but with the pitch in the state it is I'm not sure it will happen.

Another cancellation ::)

Hmmm, very lean month in terms of games played by the club. Tomorrow's been cancelled due to the pitch being unplayable, which is weird since it hasn't rained much over the last few days. Though I had heard a rumour that the place was recently soaked by someone dumping the contents of a swimming pool onto it I've only managed to get three games this month so far, one of which should have been rained off.

Myself and a housemate comandeered the use of the tennis courts in our estate to get in a bit of tennis ball cricket yesterday evening, seeing as the weather was so fine. It was good enough fun, though I didn't enjoy being clean bowled by him third ball especially since he doesn't play cricket. He has a great eye with a bat though. It's the usual thing - he's one of those guys that thinks cricket looks easy, so he cross bats all and sundry and somehow gets away with it

I didn't mind too much though, I was bowling a bit short, and it being an old tennis ball was sitting up in front of him begging to be pulled away with disdain. I fairly quickly learned my lesson and started pitching it up a bit further, and it seemed to do the trick, in that I managed to bowl him a few times, and get him plumb lbw once. He's still a better bat than I am, and with a bit of practice to give him a drive as a shot option he could be very useful. I might have to redouble my efforts to recruit him next season.

Speaking of next season, as things stand I'm likely to be taking on the role of secretaty of the club ... unless someone else decides they want to do it. If this does happen, then the holder of the position will be decided in a fight to the death with a piece of cricket paraphenalia. I'm thinking about using a stump - it's lighter than a bat and it has the added advantage of a pointy end.

We've also got training this evening to make up for the fact that we've had none all week. Our pitch is in a public park which is sometimes used for music gigs. In the past two weeks it was taken over by no less than 6 artists/bands co-inciding with training days. I just hope that none of the stage equipment was hauled away over our pitch - last year a truch got bogged down on the outfield and had to be hauled away by a tractor. I get a headache even now thinking about the mess the ground was in.

Hopefully it's survived intact this time.

I've added some pictures to my blog entries from the past few weeks. Hope you like them.

Looking back

I've been looking over my figures for the season so far, and was surprised to notice that I've never taken a 1-for! I've taken 2 wickets on three occasions, 3 wickets on four occasions, 4 wickets on two occasions and no wickets on the other five opportunities I've had. I can't really think why this should be the case. Maybe when I get a wicket my confidence is up and consequently I perform better and take more wickets. Certainly, the spells where I get no wickets are often very short (2 overs) and expensive; or sometimes a bit longer (4 overs) but at a few levels higher than I'm used to.

So it looks like the key for me will be mental preperation. If I can get myself into the post-first-wicket state of mind at the start of my spells, then I can be relaxed and more likely to take a few wickets. Looking in more detail at my worst spells backs this idea up.

19th April 08 - 0 for 15 off 2 overs. This was my first spell of bowling this year on a very cold day. My first few deliveries were pure muck due to me not warming up - and after that I just tensed up and kept getting worse.

26th June 08 - 0 for 22 off 2 overs. I came on to bowl at a guy that had just hit 2 sixes, and he had a field day with me. It was clear from the way he played that anything short was going over the pavillion, but despite knowing this, short seemed to be all I could bowl. Again, after a bad start, tension took over and it was all downhill.

10th August 08 - 2 for 46 off 7 overs. A bit of a tale of 2 spells here. The 2nd spell of 3 overs being fairly economical and containing the 2 wickets. My first spell was awful for a number of reasons, the slippery conditions due to rain being one. Mostly though, it was because I came on to bowl much earlier than usual (8th over instead of 15th +) and so wasn't in my comfort zone. Obviously that shouldn't matter, but coming on so early took me by surprise (didn't get notice to warm up either) and I couldn't settle. So, again, I felt tense and consequently bowled poorly.

Next time I get a bowl I'll try to imagine I've just bowled an over with a wicket in it, and see how I get on. Or if I tense up, try to be aware of the fact and make myself relax.

These spells have far from ruined my season (still managed 26 wickets at an average of 11.07), and I'm not fixating on them or anything. I do believe though that you have to analyze problems and learn from them, or else the experience is totally wasted. And we can't be having that now, can we ;-)

Anyone for Aquatic Cricket?

Given that that was quite possibly the wettest weekend ever, unsurprisingly there was no cricket played. Someone proposed a cricket/water-polo hybrid, but as it turns out, cricket balls don't float as well as you'd expect

I was picked for both the 4ths on Saturday and the 3rds on Sunday, but on both occasions waterlogging was responsible for the game being called off. Annoyingly, the Sunday one wasn't called off until 30 minutes before the start, when we were all standing on the edge of the pitch/pool. If someone from the opposition had got their act together they could have checked the pitch that morning and saved me the drive from down home All I ended up doing was watching the Olympics for most of the day.

I've started doing a little batting drill by myself that I think has helped me watch the ball onto the bat. It's a bit like sock cricket, but more portable and I can do it in the middle when there's no-one else down at training. Basically, all I do is throw the ball a few feet in the air, get my foot to where it bounces, and then try and drive it down the pitch. I've also been using a stump instead of a bat to make sure I'm actually hitting it cleanly and not too far.

Last week when I tried it first I was swinging and missing nearly every time, but then I started really concentrating and watching the ball right onto the face of the bat .... er, stump. I realised in doing this that I had a tendency to watch the ball a bit and then assume I'd tracked it all the way - when in fact I'd looked up to where the ball should have ended up before I'd even hit it! This realisation made a big difference last weekend, where I was hitting the ball cleanly, and getting right behind the defensive strokes.

I'm still not at the stage where I can place the ball, but if I can strike the ball well enough for it to travel, then chances are that it will hit a gap or a fielder will misfield. At the very least, if it's hit well enough to pass the fielders, then they have to work to stop the run.

I've started adding a bit of decision making into the drill now too. If the ball is coming down nearly on top of me or right in front of me - then just defend it on the full (pre-bounce). If it's going to bounce on any sort of half-volley length - then drive it. And if it's landing further away - either get down to it and drive or get into some form of forward defensive position (if it's straight) or leave it (if wide). A good thing about this drill is that there is NO point in trying to cross-bat with a stump, so it should get some good straight-bat habits ingrained in me.


This is essentially the same stuff I'll be doing with the bowling machine once I get around to finishing it - but at the moment there is too much cricket playing and practicing to focus on it. As soon as the season ends I'll get cracking on it properly.

Also, it looks like I'll be getting involved in the cricket club committee next year, so am looking forward to that. The AGM is on near the end of September, so I'll know then if I get on/what position I'll have on the committee.