Net sessions and discussions with other players

What happened? (work in progress 5/8/25)

Played in a couple of games that went OK, but let down by some loose deliveries

See here for decent coverage of the Raleigh game - skip through to 1 hr 4 mins for the start of my spell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyzFea26MiE&t=3934s

This is the analysis of my bowling in the Raleigh game associated with the video above.

Raleigh cricket week 

This is the aprroximation of what happened in the game at the weekend 

How do I feel it went? Went OK especially the weekend game, as I came away from the Raleigh game with some ideas about how to improve and these were implemented in the game against the 5th XI and it worked.

What was good/Bad? Good - my stock delivery. Bad the execution of variations. The variations are what cost me all the runs.

Analysis; So, the main take-away that seems obvious is... Not to attempt to bowl the variations. My current strategy in almost all scenarios is to bowl at the stumps. Anything outside of leg, even if it's turning tends to be attacked. Whereas, the balls at the stumps and outside seem to be the most effective in terms of economy. But with regards taking wickets there's limitations. A lot of the teams we play against in the friendly games seem to have a definite policy of not giving LBW's unless they're ridiculously obvious, but I felt the LBW in the Raleigh game fell into that catergory - a full (Yorker) top-spinner on midddle and leg and the bloke didn't give it, it's rare that I get any LBW's. 

One of the most likely outcomes off my bowling is the edge to the wicket keeper or slips, I think in the 6th XI game 3 of these weren't taken, if not more? The conclusion I've previously drawn and been advised to do is develop a straight ball option... The Top-Spinner. I've been working on it on and off, but not mastered it, some days it works really well, other days, as in the Raleigh game where I was desperate to get more wickets and tried it way too many times, ending up costing me a lots of runs. 

The 6th XI game I reigned it in and used it twice as a slow loopy option and both times it was mis-timed by the batter being hit down the ground and plugging before the boundary at deepish mid on and off. In discussion today with one of the 1st XI players who was in the Raleigh game with me, said that I bowled consitently flattish. He then said that Yan, the clubs best bowler (Pro player) who bowls left-arm orthodox (See data below)

every now and then tosses one up loopy with the field set back and gets wickets that way and advised me to do the same very now and then and to be fair the two balls that were hit off the top-spinners in the 6th v 5th's game may have been caught if the fielders had been deep and would have probably have only gone for 1 rather than 2. So, that's something to try and implement. 

Looking again at the wagon wheel of where I was hit in the Raleigh game, all of those 4's were off of bad balls (The 6 was a good ball and he just got hold of it). The obvious conclusion therefore, other than don't try the variations in actual games is to put more time into practicing them and that's what I did last night in the nets...

I had 2 hours in which I only bowled 3 leg-breaks. Thankfully there were some decent batters and a 'Leftie'. The weird thing was the first person I bowled at was Koush and I expected (going on what had happened in the 2 games) to bowl crap Top-Spinners, but right from the off they were bang on the money causing Koush to defend them. One or two strayed slightly leg-side and these were flicked off to fine leg for a potential single. But overall they were coming out OK. 

Then I moved to the other nets as they had a 'Leftie'. Initially I got the line wrong (Coming around the wicket) bowling at the off-stump and the bloke was hitting them easily down his leg-side. So then I went wider as I did against Ted Currington and that was a different story. Eventually getting him twice, the same approach works with Sri Kumar when I bowl at him. 

Once Koush left the net 3 other big-hitting aggressive players followed him and using the Top-Spinner with the ocassional Flipper I easily would have had all their wickets for virtually no runs if that's how they approached their batting in the nets. Stumpings, caught mid on and mid off if they were up and point as well as bowled a couple of times. They were completely fummoxed coming out of the nets saying 'Well bowled mate'. Joe said they were 3rd XI middle order batters. By this time the ball was coming out differently - not a pure top-spinner, but a small leg-break with lots of over-spin. The question now is... Was that 2 hours of bowling Top-Spinners enough to execute the same ball in match conditions? I think what I need to do is get Sri and some others to have a practice on Thursday over at Holy Cross on the artifical wicket.

Conclusion;  Leave the Flipper, not practiced enough with that, keep working with the Top-Spinner.

Action Plan; As mentioned above try and get another practice session in again at some point against batters or go over to Mopsies with a bucket of balls, a target and stumps and practice without a batter. Although I think Sri is off this week, so I might ask him if he wants to join me? 

Interclub game 6th XI v 5th XI

 No proper game today, so an interclub was organised between a 5th XI side and a 6th XI side. Pmac said that he'd tried to pick balanced sides. There's some discontent among some of the 6th XI players as we get dropped frequently from games in order to allow new players to get a game and show their ability, but some of the players have been dropped 3-4 times (Twice myself). The issue is two-fold. The players that are being dropped are the players that want to play at every opportunity and would if given the chance play 45 or 50 overs. We could understand to some extent if others were being dropped, but when you ask around they're not, so it seems that 4-5 people are being targeted. There's an awful lot of people who moan about playing, like it's hassle for them or it's an ordeal and you'd think given their indifference or their unwillingness to play 45 - 50 overs if given the chance, they'd be the perfect candidates to be dropped?

Those that are being dropped have different gripes, some of which are around performance levels. One observation that many people make is that people who work in offices or on-line and spend the day sitting on their butts, hunched over a keyboard basically cannot run, even though they might be in their late 20's, 30's or 40's. 

Somewhat joking and I know it can't be implemented I've said it would be interesting as a part of the selection process to decide what team you play in if a series of physical attribute tests could be set either at the start of the season or every other week, for new recruits?

(1). Can you run round the pitch (Approx 450 metres) 4 circuits?  If you can't, then that pretty much indicates that you're a candidate for the 6th XI.

(2). Running between the stumps - How quickly can your run 3. Get your fastest 20 year old 1st XI player and get them to set the gold standard and then your slowest 6th XI player and then work out the expectation for each level. The slower you are, the more you're likely to be a 6th XI player.

(3). Throwing the ball - if you can't get it from the boundary to the middle - 6th XI candidate.

(4). Running and picking the ball up in one smooth action and throwing it...

(5). Throwing accuracy.

(6). Ground fileding - committment to dive to stop the ball and catch. 

Needless to say, these then need to be offset with your ability with the bat and ball and other peripheral aspects such as being able or willing to score and umpire. 

I've listed the people who I see as 'The competition' for places in the higher teams and I'd argue that being in the 6th XI the people I bowl to have no respect for their wicket, there's nothing to win and it doesn't matter that they get out and their approach to batting would be suicidal in a higher standard game because the fielding standards would be far better. So in response to seeing that no-one around me can field particularly well, they play crazy shots. But despite this and the fact that I've played a handful of higher level games, I've got some of the better figures... The lowest Economy rate...

In terms of Average it's only Tony that is better than me. My strike rate could be better, but that's thwarted (I would argue) because, so many of my potential wickets are dropped by keepers and fielders along with teams just not giving LBW's.

So back to this game - Us (6th XI) v the 5th XI headed by selector 'Pmac'. At the start of a friendly match there's often a discussion about how many overs to play with sides that don't fancy their chances trying to play 35 overs. What with playing against a higher standard team with players that don't get dropped (Other than Joe Hill) I thought they'd be well up for a 45 over game, they're obviously fitter and have more stamina than our team as they play at a higher level, but for some reason they weren't? Baffled. 

As we all got ready, 'The banter' was coming from the 5th XI. I can't remember the exact words from Pmac re the prospects of me bowling at him, but it was along the lines of he was going to be hitting me into the River Roach. I'm guessing because I play in the 6th XI he doesn't think I'm up to much, but I do seem to recall bowling at him in the nets and doing OK against him.

We got off to a decent start with Abi Abbas bowling with Joe Anjivelli, with Tony coming on after 4 overs and by the 11th over we were 3 for 29, so doing well.

Basav as he often does tried to get me on early before the ball was ready to be bowled with, I generally come on around the 20th over, he also wanted me at the wrong end as well. He brought himself on and the game continued in the same vein... not many runs being made, we were bowling well.

After a break at 20 overs I came on from the clubhouse end and found myself with the prospects of bowling to Pmac the captain, the bloke who was going to be hitting me into the River Roach.

The field was OK with a bit of space on the leg-side where I wasn't going to be bowling, but the off-side was a bit tight and there weren't that many fielders, but I did have a slip (Mitchell), the keeper was part-timer Prasad. 

The bloke at the other end was the Left-Hander Ted Currington fresh off of having scored a 50 or a 100? So he was obviously going to do the same I guess? Bowling at Left-Handers is always a bit of a task, I just don't bowl that line, so it's always a bit weird. Coupled with all of that there were only 10 blokes in the field (10 a side), so there were loads of gaps and there were a few 'Office workers' among us. But it started off well and went OK as you can see above...

With Pmac on strike I just bowled at the stumps and an outside of off line, the ball was turning and the balls that started on or about middle were missing the bat and the off-stumps by millimetres. Brain Waterman who was umpring commented "It doesn't much better than that". I experimented with a couple of slower balls to Pmac and he hit them both down the ground for 2's, not the promised 6's. Pmac edged at least 2 that weren't taken, maybe even 3? I eventually got him with what should have been a wide, but he went after it and nicked it through to Prasad and walked. 

Ted though was a different prospect... My first ball was over the wicket and that was hit with a late cut down to 3rd man with ease, so then I went around the wicket bowling it into him bowling wide outside of his off-stump. Again, so many play and misses and again the ball turning plenty - landing outside of off 5th or 6th stump line and only just missing leg stump or bouncing over leg-stump. One of his shots that I bowled down the leg-side went for 3 with Tony Keep chasing it down.

Given that there were only 10 in the field, I was happy with that, with only one ball accidentally bowled leg-side. Arvind replaced Pmac, but I only got to bowl a few balls at him and then was taken out of the attack. 

The bowling continued in a similar vein throughout with no-one really returning bad figures other than new bloke Ryan. 

Then it came to the batting. Ryan had asked 'What's their bowling like'? I replied -  "It's 5th XI and higher, so it's a lot better than ours". They've got the left arm pace of Ted Currington, Wayne Morgan - Essex player, Pmac, opener for 5th XI for many years and a good bowler and Arvind, who plays 3rd X up to 5th, another good bowler and that new bloke Chris Willoughby who's a far better spin bowler than me it seems and a 4th - 5th XI player, so basically we're screwed". I then tempered that with, "But we have Asad Abbas and he's a good batter".

Asad did a good job mirrord by Mitchell Robinson, a slow steady start building a partnership of a 104, 52 runs each keeping us always in front of the run rate from the outset and then retiring for Ali Abbas and Basav finishing the game off with us wining by 10 wickets. Very commendable. 

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.