Hindsight (not much 20-20 though)

I think it's about time I did my end-of-season review :( A word of warning, it's very numbery (yes, it's a word) and not all that interesting, especially if you've been following this season log generally, but I think it might be useful for a comparison at the end of next season.

I'd said at the start of the season that my aim this year was going to be to learn how to play, and that any wickets, catches and runs would be a bonus. On the whole I think I've managed that, as in I'm a better cricketer now than I was then. There's still a long way to go, to be sure, but it's not a bad start. So ...

Games:
23 of them in all, split up as: 12 for the 4ths; 6 for the 3rds; 4 for the 2nds; and 1 for the 1sts. 23 games in 22 weeks ain't bad I suppose, although surprisingly one of the lads managed 25 games! (He also has the most overs, the most wickets, the best bowling figures and the most maidens). I'd prefer if there were a few more 3rds games there, at the very least it would make more sense - 2nds should be stealing from the 3rds and 3rds from the 4ths .... but there were a few occasions that 2nds stole from 4ths?

Batting:
11 runs in total at an average of 1.00 and a strike rate of 13.56. This isn't as bad as I thought it would be considering I managed 6 ducks (2 of them golden), but the 5 not-outs seems to have counterbalanced this a bit. What can I say, I'm a true number 11. Believe it or not, this is better than last year, and I've increased my top score from 4 to 6 :D

Bowling:
Pretty happy with this overall. Picked up 26 wickets at an average of 11.76 and a SR of 17. The economy is the wrong side of 4 though (4.14) which would explain why I got so few overs (relative to the number of games played - 30% of the amount I could have bowled). And 62 of the 74 overs were for the 4th team (resulting in 23 of the wickets). Bizarrely I bowled twice as many overs for the 2nds as I did for the 3rds :? But then again, the 3rds had a very strong bowling line-up ... and the 2nds skipper was very much a "give everyone a go" type chap.

Fielding:
Again, happy with this. I was in the running for the catches cup for most of the season, and ended up taking 11 catches overall. The fact that I have as many runs as I do catches was the source of some merriment in the club; imagine what it was like before I scored the 6 runs! Last year, fielding was the only thing I had to justify my place on the team - so I was generally fairly enthusiastic at cutting out fours and the like. I still do this, but I'd like to be able to slide a bit - could be more effective. I'd also a couple of drops this year, two of which I should have taken, but overall, pretty good.

Next year? :
Obviously I'd like to be better able to bat. There have been some signs of light, but there's a long way to go. Currently my bowling is zero-swing line and length. It's good for cleaning up tails and takes wickets when the batsmen are pushing the rate - but otherwise pretty ineffective. If I can get a bit of movement or some more pace it might allow me to compete at the higher leagues too. With fielding, I need to get better under the high ball and learn to slide - or make sure I get to stay in the ring.

Hopefully Messrs Woolmer and Noakes will be able to help me with that. And there's always a chance that I might get off my ass and finally finish this bowling machine ... maybe.