Game 03 - Sunday XI v Leyton Orient supporter cc

 I wasn't going to play this game, half expected to not be fit enough, but after the game on Saturday I felt fine and remembered Michael Gray saying something about the team being short or he'd swap for someone, so decided I'd play with no idea of who would be in the team or where it was being played. Late Saturday I secured a place in the team and got a lift to the venue, wasn't till I got in the car I found out that it was at home Mopsies and the opposition was 'Leyton Orient Supporters cc'.

Having arrived early, I then watched as the team wandered in... Dan, Reece, Elliott, Jeandell, Rouse, Kirby, Sri, Arlsan, Keagan, Tom Tonnison all decent players given the opposition is a side with no ground. By the time everyone had arrived it looked to me as though this was probably going to be a one-sided affair and I heard that the opposition had said they felt they had a decent bowling attack, but wasn't as strong with the bat. In which case for the sake of a decent game, in terms of being there for the best part of the day, I was hoping however the toss played out, we'd end up batting first. Thankfully, that was the case.

Weather Sunday - Cooler than yesterday, more cloud with patches of sunshine and bit more of a breeze. The forecast was that this was the end of a very long spell of almost continuous blue skies and warm days we've seen throughout the whole of April and May.

We were put into bat and after the expected initial look at the bowlers the runs started to come. One of our blokes went cheaply... Keagan for 6 with Jeandell next on 35, chipping an easy one to a fielder on the edge of the ring having made a good start.

 Thereafter in no rush (It seemed) a few people made their way to their 50's meaning that had to retire. I wasn't expecting to bat, but the 50's came at a rate that the bowlers then started to make an appearance and then their bowlers started to take wickets and I found myself in for the last 5 balls. The main objective was to see the last 5 balls off so that one of the real batters didn't have to get their pads on again. As I left some of the blokes said 'Do your thing where you run down the wicket at them' A la Tammy Beaumont (England Women opener). Which for me on some occasions is far more positive than defending and getting bowled for 0. I saw off the first four balls and to a big cheer I ran at the bowler in his gather and tried to put the ball into the road behind him only to hear my stumps clatter having completely missed the ball. 

The pick of their bowlers being 'Franklin' with 8-1-58-3 with the maiden being a double wicket one, cleaning up the tail.

So then it was to the bowling. Dan Gray the captain asked me to open with Reece. Reeece taking the first over the new ball. I'd done this with Basav in the 6th XI a couple of games ago and it didn't go that well, but this was with an Orange ball which felt larger in the hand. 

Despite it feeling marginally better it didn't go that well, it looks as though Reece may have had the same problem, but I'm not sure if he was even trying to spin it, or it was that we were bowling against their better bats? 

None of the quicks were used at and all the bowlers were slow. I took a wicket with my first ball... LBW, but generally struggled with the grip and consequently my length. With my deliveries on the full being hit as per the diagram below. 

The others did better and I like to think that was down to the fact that increasingly the ball was easier to grip 'Super Kirby' did really well, although she wasn't happy with her bowling, going for 5-1-8-3 with a wicket maiden. Arslan bowled nice and tight for his 1... 5-3-11-1 and Reece was happy with his 5-1-27-2. I think that left him in the leading position for most wickets for the club so far this season. Just checked he's at No.2...

I'm currently nowhere near the top at the minute languishing down at 26, just above Joe, but we've both had a slow start to the season having missed out on three games at the start of the season. 

All in all a decent game and well captained I thought by Dan and allowing for everyone to have a full day in the field. It could have been so different. 

Boundaries conceded against this team

On reflection and at the time I wasn't happy with the field, but at the minute I don't feel like I'm bowling well enough to use the field, I'd prefer. But these boundaries would have pretty much been covered with my field if given the right fielders. But overall, it could have been a lot better if I'd had bowled better, but I think that'll come. 

Game No.2. B&PCC 5th XI v Navestock 2nd XI

 I was doubled pleased this week to get the email confirming what team I'd be in as I'd gone up a level and was playing in the 5th XI with Tony Millar (c). I also saw that Somnath had been moved up a level too, so it looks like it might be the case that they're swapping people around and giving them games at different levels which will definitely keep people interested. No-one wants to be in team that roll the opposition over as easily as we did week after week in the 6th XI. The other bit of good news was a poll went asking who wanted teas at the game? there was a resounding yes despite it costing an extra fiver, but as far as I'm concerned paying that fiver is well worth it... I don't have to faff about making my lunch!

Again another phenomenal day, almost 100% blue sky and sun and a lovely little ground that I'd never played at before north of Brentwood.

I picked up Somnath and JJ on the way to the ground and set out thinking it would take about 30 mins. It took more like 45 mins. They were seemingly impressed and surprised that I didn't use a satnav to get to the ground. I explained that I'd looked at a map and all it was - was up the road, turn left, turn left, bear right, turn right and you're there... easy!

The team for this game was 

The line-up originally included Tony Keep, but he was ill and couldn't play, so replacing him was promising batter and bowling all-rounder Shriv Kulkarni a 14 year old.

I think we lost the toss and were put in to bat. The oppo were a little worried about the pitch as it had been torn up a bit in the previous weeks by idiots on a quad bike and they were unsure about how it would play. We were more concerned initially as our two openers Asad and Ali Abbas (Father and son) were not going to get to the ground in time which messed up Tony's plans.

So we were led by stalwart Brian Waterman who's 10 years older than me (I'm 64) and been at the club since it started I believe with Somnath at the other end fresh from his 70+ last week in the 6th XI. I did the scoring as I always do.

The start was slow. They opened with an older bloke similar in age to me I reckon who looked like he was bowling leg-breaks, but talking to him later he said it was just dibbly dobbly seam up stuff, but he got off to a very good start along with a very variable faster bowler at the other end. Both gave the openers something to think about and they initially made very slow progress...

Then they brought on R. Karrer and he made the difference, taking 7-1-33-4 

When Tony Millar ran down the wicket looking to score a boundary off Gulmarts seeminly innocuous bowling only to run past the ball and get stumped it looked like we might be in dire straits. Asad, another key batter had gone for 0 , so too Shriv who recently scored 60 in a game only scored 6. We'd been ticking along slowly after the 2 openers who'd pegged us back, but we were hoping to get around 180 and it wasn't looking that promising until Ali Abbas (Asad's son) got to the crease and started hit 4's and 6's. He eventually with the help of others around got us up to 188 which we felt was pretty decent. 

What with them being a 2nd XI no-one had any idea about he well they'd bat. They had a handful of blokes that hadn't bowled in the game who were younger, so if they batted like they bowled, what with the boundaries being small on one side and this being their home ground, this might turn out to be tough...

It wasn't. Archie Monk bowling from the Pavilion end and JJ bowling from the 'Brentwood end' sharing 9 maidens between them, 3 of which were wicket maidens kepts the score ridiculosuly low whilst taking 5 wickets between them. Archie's an under 15's bowler I think too. 

I think that ripped the heart out of their batting line-up as some of these lads looked like they were hoping to put the ball over the boundary a lot of the time only to find their stumps rattled. 1st change brought on another under 15's player Shriv and at the Pavilion regular 5ths player Kirby Jennings. They both bowled tight overs as well with 8 maidens off 14 overs for only 18 runs. Then I got my chance...

With the short boundary on the leg-side I needed to bowl accurately and after an initial 4 off the bat of one of their younger lads I got him in the same over with a Top-Spinner. There had been lots of LBW shouts all the way through the game in their innings and looks of disbelief on the part of our bowlers when turned down. I did what I often do when I'm bowling I tell the batsman at this end and the umpire what I'm about to bowl... I'd bowled Flippers and Leg-Breaks so far, outside of off for the most part and then called... "This ones'a a top-Spinner". I tossed it up nice and full and the batter was looking for the leg-break and played for it and the ball landed very full middle stump about half-way up the stumps, I looked round and asked 'How's that' and he shook his head and said "I can't not give that out" and raised the finger. The other 2 wickets were leg-break stumpings by Somnath, the batters walking down the crease to me. So I ended up with 6-4-5-3, which are probably some of my best figures, but I think that was the same for everyone, we bowled so well and fielded really well too. Having never seen these blokes before I don't know if they just had a bad day or what? 

The next two blokes that came in played a solid game and blocked out for the remaining overs with us winning by 130 + runs. One bloke had a really solid cover-drive, but I did that thing where I start from some distance out and walk in quite a way and cut off every stroke he played bar one that went under me as I tried to cut it off with a sliding stop to my right. 

In the end Basildon beat Navestock by 133 runs

Game No.1. B&PCC 6th XI v Rankins 3rd XI

 Team as below, looks like a decent team at this level with two lads that have never played before that have just started at the club and only bowled in the nets a few times, but are as keen as mustard. A new captain too for the 6th XI... Basav Nilakanthe

Got there just before the game, lovely sunny day with the game being played at Rankins 2nd ground. Right from the outset it was obvious that the Rankins team were probably going to be out gunned, several small boys and some old blokes my age and older.

One of their players and a few others during the match commented... "You don't look like a 6th XI team" having compared their 3rd XI with our 6th XI (See the image further down). I explained that our club had grown exponentially in recent years and that there were loads of spare players even though we'd got 6 teams out and promised them, yeah this really is a 6th XI team, it's just that this is who's playing this week...

Basav the new captain won the toss and decided to bat first and we opened with Somnath and Tristan, both decent batters and needless to say raced away with runs. As it's been so dry the last 6-8 weeks the outfield was fast and the runs came fast.

At one point in the game they deployed a couple of more experienced older bowlers and these did most of the damage, but they couldn't hold the game together on their own. (Petititt and Deepak) 

The damage with the bat was done by Tristan, Somnath and Meanan, with Meanan coming in down the order and putting any hope of the opposition having any chance in the river Roach

Tristan 32, Somnath 76 and Meanan 48.

We ended up all out for 222 of 34 overs and the game was agreed to be shortened to 35 overs from the original 40 over game.

Above the in-game data, but the playcricket data which looks correct is below.

Meanan bowled well. One of the new blokes who was bowling for the first time bowled well too with 3-1-5-1. I didn't get any wickets, but didn't bowl that well and for the most part it was against a left-hander and none of them were looking to make runs so weren't going hard at the ball which is kind of what I need to happen. 

Overall, because it wasn't a competitive game it wasn't that enjoyable and coming away from it, my thought were if it's going to be that standard every week, I'd rather play Sunday cricket where the standard is higher. The other thing that the club could do via this new selection comittee that's being trialled this year is swap people around, so that you don't play in the 6th XI every week against week opposition as that seems like a scenario where we might start to lose players? 

First win for Basav!

Pre-season 2025

 I've been ill since December it seem. I've constantly had either a cough or a cold or both combined. I don't recall feeling 100% at all over that period and still feel crap as I write. Despite this I've been playing through the winter indoor cricket and we've been netting indoors for the last 10 weeks. 

The indoor cricket was brought to a sudden halt when I pulled my calf muscle. I immedeatley stopped and had a 3 week recovery phase that went really well after a week of initial pain and not being able to walk properly, but thereafter the recovery was smooth and uneventful and I seem to be fully recovered. But that meant I wasn't involved with the final weeks of the indoor cricket.

But what seems to have happened as a result of the indoor cricket I've potentially improved, primarily around the use of the Top-Spinner which I used a lot. As a consequence I've been using it in the nets and again it seems very effective when used as a variation. 

Last night was the last of the indoor winter net sessions before moving to outside training. It was a good session with a useful development. On the Top-Spinner 'Journey' I'd looked at bowling with the ball high in the fingers rather than nestled in the hands as with the leg breaks and that worked for the most part. Playing indoors with a lighter rubber ball,  I felt like I wasn't getting enough 'action' on the ball. I also felt that with a proper ball that would be exacerbated, so at nets I started to bowl with the conventional grip and initially struggled with it - still producing small leg-breaks and still not happy with the amount of action I was getting on the ball. But it's come together over the last 3-4 weeks really well.

Last night bowling the top-spinners, I noted something that I had at the end of the season last year in the nets when I started to explore them... Some of them end up being Wrong-uns. So, last night I noted that if I rotate my wrist a little more it was breaking to off, I tried it 3 times and all three times it worked... Some of you might be thinking well yeah, that's obvious but, you haven't had 'Googly Syndrome'...

The less experienced me would now get really excited at the prospect of being able to bowl the wrong-un and focus on bowling it till I could get it to turn square. But, I know where that leads to, you end up being an superb off-break bowler (Wrong-uns) and nothing else because you potentially lose the ability to bowl your leg-break. When this happened to me I spent a few seasons being an off-break bowler and in the end people started saying 'I thought you were a Leggie'? Added to that I wasn't taking wickets people were playing me with the spin out to leg and easily dealing with it. It took 3 seasons if I recall correctly to rid myself of the wrong-un and it wasn't till I committed to never trying it ever and focusing on bowling only the leg-break 100% did I rid myself of it.

As a consequence, seeing it now, I'm cautious. I also know that I only need to get it to break to off a little and it's going to work. It's only ever going to be affective if I can bowl the Leg-Break and use it as a variation as do with the Flipper and the Top-Spinner. So for the moment I'm happy to produce it rarely in a practice session, if I can do so on demand and as is happening so far with good accuracy I'll be more than happy. We'll have to see how it plays out over the remaining weeks running up to the start of the season in May. 

Another good thing that came out of last night, one of the better batters - Koushak (1st/2nd team bat) commended me on my bowling saying my length was spot on. I got him at least 3 times with mis-hits that would have been caught potentially. All in all since the calf-muscle recovery everything has gone really well.

Being 64 one of things I don't do well is throwing the ball in from the boundary, so tonight I've been out with a bucket of balls and been throwing down a stump over a distance of about 75' initially. So far it's been fine -pleasingly accurate and 4 hours later not suffering from any muscle over-use in the shoulders or arms. I'll try and build this up and work over longer distances. I'd like to be able to do this with someone else, but no-one else is up for it as far as I'm aware. Could that be...

Being overly focused on something, or "hyperfocus," is a trait commonly associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as well as being a potential coping mechanism for anxiety and depression. 

My kids and wife reckon so.

2025 January

 Winter nets

So my plan for the winter nets is to work on the Top-Spinner and general accuracy. The accuracy is important as I'm hoping to adopt the field seen here below which is what I started to use at the end of the season and it worked well for me. But you can see is highly reliant on getting the ball on a good length with accuracy in terms of line. 

I noted several times last season bowling against exceptionally confident and big-hitting batters who were hitting me for sixes and fours, the story was so different once I changed my approach. This happened most obviously in two friendly games which have a mix of players some of who player in the higher XI's. A game at Rayleigh v their 2nd XI captain and one of their leading batsmen and a game against Woodham Mortimer where initially I was taken apart, but almost got the wickets of the 2 most destructive batters at Cow corner. 

In both games it could be argued that I took too long to adapt to the situation. But once I did change things up it was a different story... The wicket keeper was suddenly in the game with plays and misses outside of off and the batters suddenly were negated and the runs dried up. The Woodham Mortimer blokes at the end of the game commended me saying 'Well bowled'. 

On reflection what I can conclude from this season is that I need to try the leg-side attack line maybe during the first 2 overs and see if their intention is to play sweeps and slogs. If they look confident or I have records of them doing so from previous games, move quickly away from that approach and use the off-side line of attack with the field above. 

Currently, I have as you know the Flipper and a Leg-Break. With that combination I do fairly well, but I know that if I can nail the Top-Spinner along with decent accuracy, most batters (because it is so different from the leg-breaks) perceive it to be a Wrong-Un. Which needless to say is a massive asset as they're then looking for a ball coming in to them. Generally, all I'm aiming to do with the Top-spinner is bowl straight with dip and bounce which tends to induce false shots - "bowled and caughts" and catches in the deep. 

The pitch map here (Left) is an approximation of where I get hit the most. 2024, I bowled a mix of lines, a lot of the time leg-stump and outside looking to bowl the batter around the legs and I managed to do it once or twice, but as a general rule I was taken to task and leaked runs. That's part of the reason why this year I'm changing tack to the bowling line I used to bowl years ago. 

Andrew Hills field settings

At the end of the season we played Orsett in a reduced overs (30) friendly game and they had some strong players... The two Hills brothers and Andrew Hills was one of their key bowlers and he adopted a very similar field to this, but he went 8-1 as I recall? He may have had everyone on the off-side at one point? He was swing bowling getting the ball to swing to off and it worked.

This worked exceptionally well, he bowled fast with the field below and came away with the figures below 

4-3-4-3

Watching the one day series between England & Australia I had a close look at their Wrist-spinners Alannah King and Georgia Wareham. Primarily looking at the line they bowl and the result of bowling either of the lines.

The fields were in-out fields with some protection in the deep, although I've not noted the positions. I was more interested in 'Big turn' King and 'small turn' Wareham and the outcome of bowling a leg-stump or wider line. 

Of the two I preferred Wareham, more accurate and less turn. Although the difference in averages is marginal. Wareham only bowled 5 overs with an  average of 5.40. King bowled 8.2 with an average of 5.52. Perhaps if given more overs Wareham may have come out on top.

Wareham 5-0-27-2 taking Beaumont and Sciver Brunt whereas King is a bit of a back-end burglar taking the tail-enders 8.2-0-46-5

With Wareham's apparent accuracy she doesn't bowl that leg-stump/outside of leg in the same way that King does and none of the balls on that line went for 4 as they threatened the stumps more so. Whereas King has a more scatter-gun approach - whether that's a consequence of spinning it hard and balancing that with cost and reward is a moot point? 

I've heard Ish Sodhi speak recently about his bowling and he was advocating (as I always have) that accuracy comes before turn. Yeah maybe its an aspiration to be able to bowl like Warne, but if you're going to spray it all over the shop - especially down the leg-side and get whacked for 4's and 6's another approach might be worth considering? 

Add to that if you're a club player you have to assess the wicket too and if you're trying to bowl big-turning leg-breaks that don't turn outside of the leg-stump, club players for the most part fancy their chances against that kind of ball. 

As I write King is bowling in the T20 v England (20/1/25) and she's taken Sciver-Brunt first ball with a drag down short ball outside of leg. Sciver-Brunt who's looking like her Bunny plays across the line again and the ball stays low and clatters into her stumps. Australia for a change absolutely destroy England. Interestingly Wareham bowled every ball on an off-stump or outside line, forcing the batters to step outside off and try and hit the ball leg-side with a heavily defended off-side. Two of her wickets were as a result of England trying to get the ball legside from wide of off. Not a single boundary was scored leg-side. Wareham finished with 3-0-25-3.

King bowled a mix and came away with 3-1-14-2 with a better strike rate.

Indoor cricket - Played last night, not seen the figures yet but was robbed of a wicket in part due to me not asking how's that with any enthusiasm. I thought it was obviously out - came off the batters arm and then the swinging bat through to the keeper - he went up, the legside umpire was unsure, everyone looked to him, the batter disputed it and a discussion happened down at the confused end. I looked at the standing umpire confused and then noted he looked a me a bit sheepishly and so I asked in a normal voice 'How's that'? With no-one else noticing and resolving it themselves in favour of the batter, the umpire at my end put his finger up as out. I looked around again and the batter and the rest of my team were all moving back into position to face my next ball!😶We were way in front and this was the last over, so I let it go. 

I'll try and add my figures. My son Joe went and he said that if he played he'd bowl offies rather than his stock fast stuff. He noted that the fast bowlers were going for a lot of runs, whereas when you bowled slow it was less effective. I bowled really loopy and slow...

AGM 2025_______________________________________________________________

The AGM at the club was a couple of days ago and that was interesting. Some of the captains had given up their roles and new ones were elected. The 3rd XI captains position which has been held by a bloke who's been at the club for quite some time now (Fharan Malik) was contested by Joe Cleveley who has been the 4th XI captain for a few years and that had to go to a vote. I'm not sure why Joe wanted to do that - maybe to play a higher standard of cricket, but all of the teams for the most part have been promoted up to better standard leagues anyway? The vote was had and Fahran retained his position, the vote went 15 to 11 as I recall.

There's another tricky situation with regards the 5th XI. So last year the 6th XI was a friendly team (the team I played with) and we won every single game and there was talk of us joining a league. But the committee seems to have looked at the situation and concluded that some weeks the club struggled to get a 6th XI team together and felt that we need to see the numbers improve further over 2025 to ensure every week a decent side is available. So the 6th XI remains a friendly team and I was asked to be the captain which I've turned down. I don't like doing it, I don't think I've ever won a game as a captain as its always been a team made up of the weakest players and you face turning up to games where no-one can or wants to umpire or score and there's no-one who's a wicket keeper. 

Last years 6th XI team including myself wanted to play league cricket this year. The 2024 season 6th XI was made up of a group of blokes that are all pretty much new and are all mates. The 5th XI league team captaincy has been given up by P.Mac and taken over by Nishant Khare the ex 6th XI captain. I get the sense that he wants to form the 5th XI team made up primarily of all the new blokes that were 6th XI. Which means the 5th XI players without their captain might be usurped? 

Add to that another dynamic - there's a new process for picking the teams. Last year there was loads of conversations and gripes about the way teams were selected it seems. Last year it was driven by the captains who had their preferred core groups or players. But during weeks were teams needed to be strengthened in order to ensure that they were competitive people were moved around. Other people felt that they were not valued/over-looked and couldn't get into better teams because of an 'Old boys network' despite the fact that they were playing well and would offer a specific team value. Conversations were had about having a different selection process - by committee and this seems to have been put into place. But the club have said they're not sure how it will work for the better, but they're willing to try it and see if it makes the situation better?

So from my perspective I can see some 'Norming, forming storming' going on here and potentially people not being happy with the situation they end up in. I'm really flexible, I just want to play cricket, but I don't want to play friendly cricket every game during the season. 

I never know how much I'm valued as a team member? I can't bat - I accept that, but I'm a decent fielder, even though I'm 65 this summer I know I'm far more agile and can run faster than most blokes over the age of about 35 and way more committed than most in the field - diving for balls etc. I reckon the club should do things like Bleep tests at the start of the season to see who's fit along with training drills for ground fielding and catching to make a valued judgement before committing them to places in specific teams? 

4th XI - Peter Ellis is the new captain. He's a decent bowler, respected and a good choice. But who he wants in his team, I've no idea. I'm not sure which teams he played in last year, I think of him as being a 2nd and 3rd XI pick. When I think 4th XI, I think Joe, Lennon and Sri, but I get the sense with that 'Stalking horse' take over attempt they're all looking to move up...I might be wrong? 

5thXI - Nishant. I like Nishant he was a very good captain for the 6th XI and I reckon if he gets 75% of his preferred players he'll potentially do well, I'm not sure though whether in that scenario I'd fit into his plans.

6th XI - The situation was left hanging when I turned it down, but Paul Swain one of the younger players Dads was mooted as being a potential. His son is 16 left-arm quick and Paul joined in with a mixed XI friendly at the end of the season not having played for decades and played really well - batting and bowling. He also scores and umpires and knows about and likes cricket, so with his son in that developmental stage he seems to be the ideal choice - far better than me and I'd be happy to play in his team a lot of the time. I'd be very happy to do 50/50 6th XI and other teams split. 

So, interesting times ahead.

Indoors game (Friendly) 

Bowled well tonight, no idea of the stats yet, but I reckon I bowled one of the better overs with a wicket... Top-spinner with extra bounce that came off the bat, again like last week I didn't even notice, but the bloke walked. We won easily by about 45 runs. 

What happened? Played a friendly game and won. I took a wicket and bowled well.

How do you feel it went? Yep - pretty good - pretty much as planned and expected.

What was good/bad? The wicket came as a result of bowling a top-spinner and the best of the overs was on where I mixed up the deliveries. Bad - I went for runs!

Analysis - I've been watching the women's games in Australia - primarily Georgia Wareham and Alannah King and recording their wagon wheels and observing the way they go about their bowling. I've also been reflecting on what I was doing at the end of the last season and over the last season. Of the two Aussies its Wareham in the short formats that does better and yet she bowls with only a small degree of turn and it's this I'm interested in. I think there's a lot to be said for getting into the heads of batters - making them aware that you bowl leg-breaks. If you can do it and create an expectation that the ball is going to break to leg in the classic Leg-break manner and then set an appropriate field, you've won part of the battle. What it does need then is for you to produce the leg-break ideally on the off-stump turning it away from the bat. Yeah you might be hit, but hopefully the field you've set will prevent runs or may have even result in a wicket. Bowl a few of these and you start to look like a one trick pony and that's when you produce the Top-Spinner or the Flipper.

With the Top-spinner being so different from the leg-break you might get lucky in that the batter will actually perceive the ball to be a Wrong-un as it will cramp them up and they often think the balls come into them rather than bounced straight. 

Action Plan Consider bowling these a lot more in the Indoor games as the bounce of the ball is conducive with this ball causing problems. Then take this through into indoor nets in February where I think it may have to be used combined with the flipper to have any surprise element. I kind of have to be sure that there is a difference between the two deliveries in terms of the trajectory prior to the bounce. I need to be able to put enough revs on the ball in order that it dips so that the batter plays the ball too early - thinking its going to come on to the bat. 

Exploring the Scottish wilderness.

 Images and Videos to follow

Last May, my older son Ben went to Scotland and did a trek between a series of Bothies and came out alive and enjoyed it. You might think I'm being over-dramatic, but a week later a Father and son combo did the same thing further south - the father was described as being an experienced walker and they didn't make it out alive. Two die at Stob Coire Sgreamhach 

Despite this, Ben suggested that I should do it with him at some point. Being a Lecturer I'm limited as to when I can do it. The summer is out of the question - cricket and Midges in Scotland during the summer can be unbearable, so the options were half term breaks - October, Easter and May. Easter would be too cold and there might still be snow, May is Cricket season and that left October, so October it was. So since last June I've been buying the kit and doing some research.

Around August time Ben had a loose plan as to where we'd be going, based on the density of the Bothies in the area (See screen grab below). The starting point Achnashellach campsite which is near the base of Creag a Chaorainn, which for me having never done anything like this looked ominous in images I'd seen viewed from the River Carron and on Google Earth. 

Ben had decided to walk from the main road that runs alongside the river we'd walk across the river and over Creag a Chaorainn into the wilderness with the first stop being the Bearnais Bothy. From there we'd go via the ****** Loch

Ben had quickly looked at the map and plotted a route, I didn't question it other than the stage where we crossed over the top of Creag a Chaorainn, the contour lines were tight. He pointed out that there was a path via that route that went straight into the wilderness and in some ways it seemed logical. In my mind I imagined dry scrubby mountain-side with rocks and rubble, just hard work potentially as it was obviously steep. 

I looked at the rest of the journey and then went onto Youtube to see if anyone was making videos of the route or the area and they were, as it was a part of the Cape Wraith route. The videos differed in quality and information, and for the most part were shot during nice weather during the summer or late spring. The overall vibe was 'Achievable'. One bloke spoke at some length in one of the videos of the journey from the Bearnais Bothy to Craig being a 6hr slog that was tough. He was Scottish and an experienced walker and I made a mental note of his assessment and as far as I was concerned he was probably doing it the easy way 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYQhGo2Gng&t=334s this video here from 4'.22" to 9'32" is basically the first part of the route we took, albeit in far worse weather - pouring with rain and winy at about 8c. At 9'32" is where we gave up and turned back - more about that later. 

The journey uneventful - long that's for sure. I'd never seen the Pennines before so that was interesting to see and then as we got into Scotland reading the road signs seeing where the roads were going made no sense to me. Needless to say Ben was using Google maps or something so we could be going anywhere and from my knowledge of Scotland most of the time we seemed to be heading North East rather than North West, but at the same time I understood that if we tried to go as the Crow would, there'd be filthy great Lochs and mountains in the way. 

We stopped in Perth for fish and chips on what looked like a typical council estate and that was pretty rough, but it was food so did the Job. The next stop was Just outside of Inverness heading into the North West to fill up with petrol. From then on the terrain around us changed, the roads got narrower, house and street lights disappeared along with other vehicles as we drove further into the wilderness.

The further we went the worse the weather got too - windy and some rain as well. The adjacent landscape changed, less trees and increasingly bleak looking moorland. Around midnight we passed the sign for Craig and started to see if we could see any building with lights on as the bloke who owned the gaff we were looking for had said he'd leave the light on. We went too far and had to turn back - I'd looked on Google maps previously and was able to recognise some buildings and we found the entrance to Annachshellac campsite and drove into the lane and parked up. We turned the car off and got out into Jet black darkness with the wind howling through the trees like a scene out of Twin peaks. It was dark. 

We looked around there were no lights, there were a couple of small buildings and we'd passed one coming down the road, but that was through a gate in what looked like a private compound. Ben was unsure whether we were in the right place and was more interested in free-styling it and just looking for a field and somewhere to pitch the tent. Whereas the bloke had said the building was going to be open and that there facilities - electric and kettles and the like. I was on a mission to access that rather than pitch tents in the black in the pouring rain and wind. I checked the gate that looked as though it might lead the building with the light on and it was open, so we walked through with our torches and sure enough the building with the lights on, was the campsite building. 

We went inside and Ben spotted a note from the bloke. I read it and it was a welcoming letter (Transcribe) and in it he said that it was OK for us to stay there over-night. Ben still had other ideas saying "You can stay in here, I'm going to look to see if I can find the camping field and camp there, so I get a good nights sleep away from your snoring". Do I snore? I thought, no ones ever said that I'm a serial snorer previously. After we brought the car into the compound we walked over to what looked like a clearing where against pitch black blackness of the trees you could see what looked like sky or mountains. The torches lit the way and we came out into an opening which was a field with trees to one side and a stone wall along the back. Ben's torch picked up deer moving beyond the wall, their eyes reflecting in the light of the torches.

The grass was saturated, mossy and spongy, we could here a river nearby and it was pretty obvious this was the flood plain for the river. I said there was no way on the planet I was setting up a tent in these conditions when there's a stone building with a heater, toilet and a settee sitting there free of charge almost. Ben was still muttering that he'd prefer the tent option, but said he'd join me in the building reluctantly.

Ben woke up stupidly early, he does so for his job and he loves it, buys into the idea that sleeping is a waste of time and unproductive. Whereas I work my nuts off teaching for virtually pennies and love a lay in. So once he was up despite it being cold he was inferring initially that I should get up as well. This was at dawn, so there was hardly any light and it was chilly, so there was no way I was getting up for at least another half hour or so. So he was crashing, banging and mumbling about 'we need to crack on and make use of the limited light the day offered at this time of year'. I just snuggled down as I could hear him making coffee and breakfast and thought if he gets some tea on that might offer some incentive, but he drinks coffee! He sounded annoyed that he was doing everything, but he had sorted all of the food, so it didn't make sense that I got involved and started to search through the bags trying to locate the stuff when he must have known where it was. I soon realised he'd made coffee and wasn't going to make me any tea. I'd brought the breakfast, so now felt compelled to get up and make a start on the breakfast. I asked whether he'd put the milk on and he scoffed at the idea of milk on porridge and was going for water... "The Scottish way" apparently. 

Over the next hour or so I had Lipton powder tea which has the milk mixed in and 'Scottish style Porridge' although I doubt if many Scots have currants, cinnamon, pumpkin and sunflower seeds with demerara sugar? However long this was going to take I had it in mind that before I set a foot outside I was definitely going to use the bog as it would almost certainly be the only one I'd see over the next three days. So as I was stalling and taking my time to let nature take its course, Ben was packing his stuff away and getting his crap together. I was looking outside at the rain thinking - 'Yeah I'm in no rush'. 

There was some activity outside and I asked what was happening and Ben said that there was a car with a bloke sitting inside it and had been for some time. I thought it might be the bloke that owned the campsite so got Ben to go outside to the car to get some stuff and show him we were up and about. Once he saw Ben he got out and went over to Ben and started to talk to him so I joined them and spoke to him and he confirmed that was indeed who he was and asked if we'd found everything in order. We said thanks and asked about the journey down from Essex. I asked what he wanted in terms of a fee for the night and he said 'Just leave what you feel is enough... we're new to this game and we're just happy to see people like yourselves camping and travelling into the hills we're not interested in motorhomes and caravans, so its great to have you here and I hope you enjoy yourself'. I said cheers and thanks for the quick response to my emails and messages. 

We went back in and Ben said 

'Did you see his eyes'? 

"No, why"? 

"He looked weird - he had eyes like those Border Collies with the blue eyes".

"Nah I didn't see".

"Yeah he looked like a psycho".

"Nah I didn't see - but if he did that's in-line with this place... it looks like something out of a film like Texas Chainsaw Massacre". The reference was lost on Ben. 

Shortly after we'd had our ablutions and I started to get ready with more purpose. Ben was still going on about the loss of time, saying we should have been out of here over an hour ago at first light. I was now looking at what I should wear asking him for advice. I found myself throwing stuff in my bag in what was probably not the right order. The Rucksack surprisingly filled up quickly and I questioned the need for coal. Without the coal the bag felt heavy! I'd brought some rubble bags and we divvied the coal up and we probably had around 4 Kilos in each bag. Around about 09.00hrs we stepped outside and lifted the bags onto our backs. I thought 'Oh shit, this is heavy... have I bitten off more than I can chew here'? I then delayed us even more, insisting that we took some pictures and then we headed out, heading south heading for the Annachshellac river.

In the previous weeks as we'd planned the trip I'd seen that the river might be an issue looking at Google maps and earth. I could see that it was one of those gravel rivers made up of multiple river-lets at different times of the year - that maybe in really rainy periods or snow melt the whole river may have been filled, but the rest of the year, there were narrow looking channels and wide areas only just submerged strewn with rocks and stone (See below).

****Picture****

We headed south directly out of the campsite with the intention of crossing the river, but as we approached it looked as though it wasn't going to be straight forward and sure enough standing on the edge it dawned on us quite quickly that it was a situation where if we made the crossing we'd have wet feet from the outset with several hours of walking yet to come. Going west the river was going to potentially widen as it was heading for the estuary as such, so we headed East which for us was the wrong way. As we walked it didn't look any easier. The edges of the river this way were steep and the trees grew right up to the edge and there was a fence, under-foot it was rough going and slow. 

We caught our first of a stag as it moved deeper into the trees and we had a re-think at the trees realising this was taking far too long to negotiate and make sense of and so we had a look at the map. It was at this point I realise that my eyesight was an issue. With the rain, cold air and moisture as soon as I got my glasses out they misted up and I was about as useful as a chocolate tea-pot when it came to map reading and the whole palaver took more time what with trying to keep them dry. This was disappointing as this was one of the things I'd been studying prior to coming and was going to be a contribution to the trip. I sensed Bens frustration.

Looking at the map we could see that if we headed east - going back to the road there was what appeared to be compound and a crossing over the railway and river. It meant an additional 2 miles added to the journey just to get to the base of the mountain which was our starting point which was literally 400 yards from the campsite. The blue line on the image below shows the intended route and the pink line the route we had to take to get to the starting point at the base of the mountain. 

Thankfully once we crossed the railway line with the warning signs saying that if we did we'd be fined a £1000 if caught, we were on the road and made good progress despite the constant rain. Once across the line, the road was a forestry commission/water company type gravel track so we maintained good progress. A couple of vehicles passed us on that track seemingly heading towards the Hydro electric plant. It was there we had to make a decision.

At the plant there was a track that went part way up the mountain but where it ended there was no evidence of any tracks heading up the mountain or across it joining the 'Usual' route up. But it was tempting to go that way because of the ease of getting that far, which in the scheme of things looked significant when sitting at home looking at maps and google earth. Having walked the length of the track in the pouring rain I'd been looking at the terrain on the lower slopes of the mountain and quickly saw that it didn't look easy at all... bracken, ferns, steep and uneven, the remains of what had recently been a pine forest. We reached the junction where the track split and headed up the mountain, we discussed it and quickly opted to take the conventional route. Although, that route on Google maps was hardly discernible as a route, but reassuringly does appear on OS maps. 

Over 2 hours behind schedule now, we arrived at the point where the blue line in the image meets the pink line. A worn out sign pointed the way up the mountain to Bernais Bothy... We were back on track. 

Looking on the OS map as the crow flies the first stage is 5 Km, but it was obvious that in reality having to negotiate the terrain it would be more and the Mountain itself is 3000' high.

Despite this I said I was up for it dependent on the weather at the time

Now, some weeks later with my toenail starting to grow back and the broken toe feeling better. I've been watching the weather up and around the Craig area and it's got cold. We've had an unseasonably cold November with the temp going down to -12. But conversely as I write the temp in Essex today is reported as being 18c, but my own thermometer which is in weak sunshine shows 20c. Reflecting on the trip and listening to Ben's account of his trip in May, it does seem what with the Midges and how unbearable they sound, there's possibly only a matter of days where you can go up into those mountains and it's actually OK? When we got on the train at Achnashellach the ticket collector/guard lady said... "You should have been here about a week or so ago, we had beautiful clear days - blue sunny skies and warm". Probably a couple of weeks before my half term break. Easter sounds like it may also be promising, but I'd imagine more likely to be cold? There may also be a fair bit of snow around at that time? 

I think given how old I am, I have to take into account the fact that walking over really rough terrain like this is going to have consequences and maybe we should avoid the cross-country routes or at least look to minimise them. The walk out was on the Forestry commission/water company gravel tracks with a sore hip and was exponentially easier. In fact, as mentioned the blokes we met and were talking to, cycled in and out of the wilderness using bikes, then did the main event on foot, for them it was conquering the Munroe's. I kind of like that idea - get there using an easier method and then do the exploring? Or get there using the gravel tracks and then walk out to the Bothies? Day 1 for us, getting to Bernais was so physically demanding. 

Google review of campsite 

My son and I went walkabout in the adjacent mountain over 3 days moving from one Bothy to another at the end of October and this was our starting point. I contacted 

This video here, pretty much shows some of the walk from Achnaschellach to the Bearnais Bothy from 4'.42" to 13'02" but in far nicer conditions. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYQhGo2Gng

Indoor cricket game 4

Friday night, game on Sunday. Waiting for the selections to be confirmed. Slightly nervous as 2 other bowlers have thrown their names into the hat, both younger than me, one... Kirby one of the best bowlers at the club with better figures than me. The other bowler is Chris Willoughby - fast bowler and a far better batter than me (He's in his early 30's). At the moment we've all got a game as only 5 people plus the captain have put their name up to play on the availability vote... But there maybe stalking horses in the background umming and arghing about whether to play, it may be the case that they have Lennon's or the selectors ear? Imagine if Aariz wasn't doing his GCSE's after last weeks performance, how could you not pick him? 

Here below is the club bowling stats with some of the recent players/bowlers and you can see looking at the stats I'm not in the frame to get picked, but in this format apart from Aariz with his 3 for 5 off of 2 overs I'm the one that takes wickets. 

I've already paid my match fee to try and curry favour! Hopefully I'll get picked. As I recall the team was announced last week much earlier than this week - so that kind of infers there are decision issues? 

11pm on Friday day and I asked El-Capitano if the team had been chosen? Then he realises he hasn't posted it yet. He still hasn't, so I reckon he's still fishing around for a pace bowler who can bat a bit? Anyway, I checked out the oppo's form...

With so few games played, I'm not making any predictions. The game is subject to all sorts of variables so it can be anyone's game I reckon. We'll see tomorrow and it'll be interesting to see if he goes with the 3 spinners - Chris Willoughby - being a spinner.

Saturday... Still no confirmation of the team. I reckon they're trying to find someone to bowl seam... in which case who goes? 😬

I've been watching replays of the West Indies and England T20 games and Mark Butcher was saying after the first game where Phil Salt scored a load of runs that he (Phil Salt) thinks all bowlers are crap. I've just watched the 3rd game and seen for the 2nd time Akeal Hosein bowl him out cheap. Hosein is a left-arm orthodox bowler. So much for bowlers all being s**t eh?