It's always been a tenet of mine to try to always train at match intensity. Partially this is because Harrowdrive says so, but mostly it's due to the fact that training is just much more fun if you commit to it fully. So it was with this mindset that I turned up to our first outdoor net last Tuesday. Granted, my fervour was tempered slightly by the fact that I was still feeling the after-effects of the game on Sunday ("On Tuesday!!!" I hear you cry - I know!!), but still, training would be given what I had for it.
Unfortunately though, only 5 of us actually turned up, what with the Man U - Barcelona game on telly. And as I discovered, it's a bit difficult to keep up 100% intensity when you don't get a rest while queueing between drills. After the first few rounds, you start thinking - "No-one will even notice if I'm only giving 70%, or 50 >:)". A slippery slope I think you'll agree.
One other factor that led to the poor turnout was that the park was still on winter opening hours, and so was closing at 8. Consequently, we had to start at 6, which isn't a time that suits most working types. That excuse, at least, will be taken out of peoples hands from today - as the park is open until either 9 or 10 from the start of May.
We concentrated on fielding and straight batting drills for the time were there, and so I never got a chance to work on my bowling. But I reckon the batting drills will stand to me, I really need to put together a bit of a defense if I'm going to avoid as many ducks as I had last year. But all in all, it didn't feel a great session.
It being Thursday, I've just been to our work-organised indoor cricket game. At this I usually bowl off 1 step, try to put it down there straight, and see what happens. But today I found myself thinking about it a bit more. For example, I put 3 in fairly short and noticed that the batsman was starting to go onto the back foot before the ball even left my hand - so the next ball I put it a lot fuller and a bit faster, and hey presto - my first intentional yorker!
It's not a groundbreaking development, and I'm sure for most people reading this it sounds like Bowling 101 - but I reckon that it indicates that I'm starting to think like a bowler, which will make a nice change from not really thinking at all :D
We'll see if this new mindset will follow me to outdoor nets tonight. Although "Nets" may be a misnomer, considering we don't actually use any nets - we just practice on the outfield and on the mat. Still, I think this is probably not a bad way to do things, as when batting we usually have a full complement of fielders which makes things more realistic than batting in an actual net.
Also looking forward to the long weekend - I'm down for 2 games, one for the 4ths on Saturday, and for the 3rds on Sunday. Hopefully we will have full teams for both events, and hopefully we will continue the clubs 100% win rate so far :)
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