End of year (2025) reflection

 2025 season

I've had this sitting here for months editing it 

What happened

This year I played in the 6th XI with some games in the 5th and 3rd and some good games in a Sunday league with a mix of players across all teams 1st XI down to me and a bloke called Tony Keep as 6th XI bowlers both old and wiley.

I bowled 111.4 overs took 13 maidens, went for 488 runs for 29 wickets with best figures of 4/21. With an economy of 4.37 and a strike rate of 23.10 and an average of 16.83.

I had a bad start to the season in that I didn't play in the first 3 games which I was devastated about down to family committments and nearly dying from a Quinsy, that left me way behind in the wicket stakes hence I ended up being in the 13th place in terms of wickets taken. Usually, I'd hope to be in the top 5-10. The bloke who had the 2nd highest came away with 36 wickets to my 29. If I'd played in those 3 games I reckon I'd been on par with him. No.1 in the wickets is our pro player, so he doesn't count. 

Batting - we don't want to ponder on that too much! 

I don't recall sustaining any injuries and maintained my fitness throughout the season, although it improved as usual at the season went on. 

How do I feel it went? 

Yeah I'm happy with my season overall, I'd liked to have played in some of the better teams, but I got out most weekends and got some mid weeks and Sunday games in as well and the two back to back Sat and Sunday games were fine - well within my fitness/stamina range.

What was good/bad?

Missing games because of family committments was bad puts me out of contention for the most wickets. Good - my bowling came together nicely towards the end of the season, especially against better opposition .

Analysis.

So, the thing I look at primarily is my strike rate. I know that I'm generally going to be brought on to bowl against either the openers if they're still there, or the middle order...

Spin bowlers in order of Strike Rates *Note the numbers in terms of rank are with the inclusion of all bowlers strike rates, so it includes people that have only bowled a handful of overs and taken several wickets across all levels. I'm only focused on key bowlers in the teams that have bowled 75+ overs. 

Looking at the statistics for the season in terms of strike rate, the only other spinner that has better data than me is Yannick who's an ex pro and a first XI left arm orthodox, which is generally accepted as being an easier specialism to execute. Some might argue that I play in lower ability teams and therefore I don't get the opportunity that often to go up against higher order batters and my success rates are to be expected because of that?  But I do occassionally play in mixed teams and feel I bowl so much better against them as they show far more respect and don't want to lose their wickets.

Other data with comparison with the other spinners. Below... Average

I've divided this up into those that have bowled over 100 overs and those with 75+ overs. There are others that have bowled far less overs with lower averages and they've been excluded. 

This set of data here is for the Spinners in terms of Economy

Overall I'm happy with my performance. There are people in these lists who I'm in direct competition with in terms of being chosen to play in better teams, thankfully most of them are similar in terms of their abilities with the bat, so that's not really a consideration I'd have thought at selection? The people here listed below are the ones that I consider as those that would be selected in place of me or vice versa...

Anthony Keep (Orthodox finger spinner) who you can see plays a lot of cricket 140.5 overs in comparison with my 111.4 is generally in the same team as me. He's got an awful lot more experience than me, I think he's played all his life and he's in his early 70's. He's an exceptionally good bowler, a few years ago he frequently played in the 1st IX because he keeps it very simple - bowling stump to stump, varying his flight and speed. If you miss the ball, you're gone. I have no idea of how much he turns it, but I think it's minimal, but it's enough because of his accuracy. Historically he was a Finger spinner, who may have turned the ball a fair bit? When he's bowling he'll say to me "You'll get some turn off the wicket". 

Despite the fact that on most metrics he appears to be better than me, I'd argue that I'm 30 overs short of the opportunties to show otherwise. The statistic that I personally obsess over is the Strike Rate and I'm ahead of him on that, despite the fact that in a really crap match we played in (The opposition struggled to get a team out) he bowled 4 small boys out for about 3 runs and I didn't get to bowl, the game was over in about 10 overs as I recall! But in terms of fitness and agility, I'd beat him hands down. 

Kirby Jennings (Left arm orthodox spinner) 55 years younger than Tony! Kirby is Left-arm orthodox and she plays a lot of cricket and plays at a higher standard than me - a regular in the 2nd XI and plays alongside my son Joe. I think Kirby this season was 18 and because of her age she plays in the under 19's sides - T20, Mid week u19's and different cup games and indoor cricket on top of the adult 2nd XI games. I've netted with her a few times before and have faced her. Like Tony, she keeps it very simple, she'll say that 'I just bowl and try and spin it'. She bowls a stump to stump line and offers up very tempting balls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKnfmo7bl1o

Have a look at the video link here above - the action starts a 2hrs 6mins and this is what she does in games and people go after her and fall into her trap. 

Kirby is a regular in the 2nd XI and it's unlikely that I'd be considered for a spinner in the 2nd XI, especially as one of the players Dave Bonnett who used to bowl wrist-spin is working on it over the winter and might come back in the 2026 season as the 2nd option for spin in that team? Speaking to him his approach would be to bowl faster - more Shahid Afridi, it'll be interesting to see how that works out next season. The games where I'm in direct competition with Kirby are Sunday, mid-week and indoor cricket games. But, I'd love to bowl in the 2nd XI games if I'm honest and reckon I'd do well, I'd give Kirby a run for her money!

Sriram Kumar (Orthodox finger spinner). Sri is generally seen playing in the 4th XI team and is a regular player and makes significant contributions with the bat. So, that's his key advantage and that prevents me from getting into the 4th XI ahead of him. Having said that when we end up in Friendly games - sunday games he only bats in front of me by one or two places and together, I think we've been instrumental in a partnership bringing the game home for a victory a couple of times. 

Chris Willoughby (Orthodox finger spinner) This bloke is in his mid 20's and plays in the 5th XI and some of the friendly games I play in and I generally out-perform him in the games we both play in. He bats 70 runs to my 30 and he plays a lot less cricket than me, so out-performs me easily with the bat. He seems to be secure with his place in the 5th XI and similar to Sri I'm not sure if I could oust him on bowling stats alone unless I maintain my fitness and develop my game further and take more wickets - increase my strike rate across all levels.

Skillsets & abilities 

I remember when I was younger and used to surf, my mates who were lifeguards used to talk about the selection process for what beaches they worked on and whether they were even fit enough to be Lifeguards that season. Some beaches get much bigger surf and are big in terms how far you'd have to swim to action rescues, so '1st XI' type lifeguards would end up on these beaches and were the beaches you coveted because they also had the best surf. 

I was having a theoretical discussion this year with some of the players about the process of being selected for specific teams on the basis of some form of matrix or formula which looked at your skillset giving values to different skillset levels combined with the previous years data. 

I proposed that it would be interesting to get all of the players who intended to play the majority of the games and get them to go through a series of physical and skillls means tests...

• A standard aerobic bleep test
• 4 laps of the cricket ground
• Throwing the ball in from the boundary
• Throwing down the stumps from a specified distance 35 meters 
• Running at a stationary ball on the ground picking up & throwing agility test
• Running and diving on grass to stop a ball from crossing a boundary
• High catching

Those that consistently perform in the top 6th are candidates for the 1st XI and so on all the way down to the 6th XI for the lowest performers. Everyone would be notified 2 months in advance of such a test to allow them to train and get ready for the means test day as such. Once that data is in, you can then start to factor in the data from their statistics for batting and bowling. 

Too often I've heard people say of players that are sub 60 years old "They can't run/throw/stop the ball" and their batting and bowling is very average - why are they in the team? 

In-line with wanting to play a higher standard of cricket I don't stop and trying to develop my skills in terms of executing my bowling I constantly work on my fitness and since the summer I've taken up running to help with aerobic fitness and stamina. 

Using the Oosten-Overgaard-Pedersen formula, 

I take my maximum heart rate for my age which I reach when doing vigorous exercise and this is 155 BPM and divide that by my lowest resting heart rate which is around 43 BPM = 3.60 and then times that by 15.3. 

That gives me a score of 55.08.

If then ask Google Gemini "I'm 65 and I have a VO2 max score of 55.08 what does that mean? 

So if in a world where the means testing was introduced I reckon I'd fair pretty well and probably not be in the 6th or 5th XI by my reckoning!

Methodology 

I've never been a leg-stump line bowler, as I've always believed that batters tend to see that at as an easy shot at this level what with the small boundaries we usually have. Experience also tells me that's the case when I get it wrong. I've also observed that in the teams I generally play in with the exception of the friendly teams where there's a range of players including 1st and 2nd XI players, even if the ball is smashed leg-side and falls within the boundary or even if it's hit across the ground, it's rarely caught or prevented from going for  boundary.

As a result, I've predominantly aimed to bowl a middle and off line with the exception of the flipper. Therefore the methods of dismissal I'm looking for 1st and foremost are catches from mis-hit shots and edges, followed by 'Bowled' and then stumpings. I'm always moaning about the fact that in the majority of the games I play in I'm constantly dropped. This year it's been part-time wicket-keepers on top of the dropped catches and balls falling short of the fielder as they haven't had the speed, skill and agility to get to the ball when it's skied, but on average I reckon I must be dropped 2 or more times per game. But, I guess the others would probably say the same of their experience as spin bowlers, I can vouch for this being the case for Tony as we often play in the same games.

I've looked at the dismissals of the others who I'm vying with to be picked for the better teams. 

Swot Analysis

Strengths: 

• Variations: Unlike the others that I'm competing with to secure regular selection in higher level teams. I have 3 variations which I can generally bowl in a match situation.
• Fitness: This is dependent on who I'm matched against. I'm not sure if any of the others listed above run and have the fitness levels I have or the stamina. I'd much rather play longer formats and find myself as a lone voice in situations where the length of a game is up for discussion, I'm arguing for 45 or more overs whilst some of the above are looking to have shorter games? (Maybe they prefer to play golf)? 
• Continuous development: I'm always looking to develop and improve, never missing a net session during the season or pre-season.
• Top-Spinner: I reckon this is a massive asset and is going to make a significant difference to my bowling next season especially if I get a decent keeper. All of the 'Bowled' wickets this year with the exception of one or two were from Top-Spinners and it's still not a delivery that I've perfected as yet, but even at this stage it's effective. It's the dip and the fact that it's at the wicket and the length I bowl it on that makes it so dangerous especially when mixed with the stock leg-break.
• Bowling Average: Other than Yannick the pro-bowler, I have the lowest average...

• Bowling Average: This metric measures runs conceded per wicket taken (Average = Runs/Wickets). A low average indicates a bowler who can take wickets cheaply, which is a fantastic all-around measure of effectiveness. It essentially combines the elements of strike rate and economy. Most analysts agree that a low average is a sign of a high-quality bowler, regardless of the format.

• I'm usually the only scorer on the team. 

Weaknesses:

• Batting: Yeah, I can't bat (See below), but I might argue that I don't get the opportunity to prove otherwise, because I'm the scorer I generally bat at No.11 and only have to face a handful of balls. My high score this year was in a game where I batted up the order (No.9) and was 4th Highest run-maker with a score of 22 with a strike rate of 75.  I was integral to a win recently in an indoor game where all the batters 1 to 4 were all out within the first 4 overs and I stuck in with Michael Gray for 8 overs and helped win the game. I'm often the number 11 with Tony at number 10 and as you can see below he only has 2 not outs. 

• Age: I don't know whether they people who make the decisons about the teams I play in see me as being too old. This may a contributory factor in some of the decisions that are made? 
• Fitness: Even though I've been aware that as the season has gone on I've got fitter, I not previously been able to address this and get fit enough prior to the start of the season. 
• Economy rate: Higer than Tony and Kirby.
• Digital scoring: I generally don't do it and don't like doing it as much of the time there's issues with the power supply 

Opportunities: I take every opportunity I can to develop and improve, for instance I've player indoor cricket all winter and will do till the end of the indoor season. I get picked for almost every game with the competition coming in the form of Kirby and Chris, but somehow I get picked. 

There is an opportunity to get more involved this year in that the 6th XI is joining the League and I could potentially secure every single game over the season by becoming the captain and ensuring that I bowl every spell available to me. The thing is, whenever I've been the captain either for a season as I did with the 4th XI some years back or if I'm standing in, I tend not to bowl my full allocation. The other thing is - historically I'm not that good at it either, I can't remember ever winning a game when I've been the captain. Although that's not entirely fair because the year I was the 4th XI captain it was during the clubs lowest point - one game for instance we played with 8 players and only 2 were adults and all the others were under 16's with two that were 12 or 13! For all I know with decent players, I might be able to pull off a few wins? 

The down-side though is that if took that opportunity I'd never get to play in the higher level teams. 

Improve with the bat... With winter nets on the horizon and a couple of decent performances this year in comparison with my usual batting and a new bat, I'm going to look to improve - maybe be a bit more pro-active. I've had a couple of decent net sessions with Sri Kumar in the nets where he gave me some coaching and that seemed to pay dividends straight away. 

Bring back the Flipper? I hardly bowled the Flipper and when I did it tended to go for runs, possibly because I'm out of practice and couldn't land it in the areas I wanted it. What I need to do though is be wary of the Top-Spinner going too far and producing a Wrong-Un which happens quite easily. When it goes, I then try and bowl it purposely and this is potentially a mistake. I need to just focus on the Top-Spinner and accept if it breaks to the off ignore it. Bowling with the intention of producing a wrong-un will increase the risk of losing my Leg-Break. 

Fitness... What with taking up running at the end of last season it maybe there is an opportunity to be match fit at the start of the season? 

Threats: 

Fitness and agility - got better as the last season progressed but started bad lst year. The other thing is missing out on games at the start of the season, there's a whole bunch of family events I feel I need to go to and that always puts me on the back foot in terms of wickets taken and getting into the season with a good start. 

One more thing We're at the point of the year where the AGM happens and the captains for the teams are chosen/voted for. Usually, this is pretty much seen as a foregone conclusion as to who's doing what, but last year and potentially this year, there's some competition for the roles. I did consider going for the captaincy of the 6th XI this year which would be a much better gig because the 6th XI is now in the league, so the standard of the games will be better. But, if I went for it, that would mean that I'd only ever play 6th XI games, whereas I want to be available to play anything up to 2nd XI games if the chance was there and there's people within the club that would say that I'd have a role to play even at 2nd XI standard. On the pro side of being the 6th XI captain, it would mean I'd get to play every weekend and there'd be none of this dropping players malarky to give someone else a game. 

But as well as all the captains shennanigans the captains write their end of season report and this year there was a really interesting one from Jon Bonnett, the captain of the 1st XI...

The early signs could not have been more promising. The first two friendlies and opening three league games seemed to pass in a blur, five wins from five, backed up by some huge batting performances. We posted 275 twice and an impressive 341 at home to Stock. Individual highlights arrived quickly, including a superb 91 off 84 balls from Swizz and Elliot’s first 1st XI fifty, an excellent 66 off 44 balls. After round three, Ahsan joined the squad and immediately showed signs of his quality, contributing important wickets from the outset.

Then came a difficult period, a spell that could easily have derailed our ambitions. Across three weeks, we suffered back-to-back defeats followed by a frustrating abandonment against Little Baddow. It forced us to question whether we truly had the resilience to stay in the title race. In an unexpected way, the turning point came when Jeandell returned home for national trials, prompting a change in how we approached our bowling. Deano came back into the side, opening up with spin, and then Rousey, Yan and Ahsan rotated through the attack. This new strategy built significant scoreboard pressure and opponents suddenly struggled to make 200.

*Note - Deano, Rouse, Yan and Ashan are all slow bowlers 2 x Wrist spinners and 2 x finger spinners

During the same period our batting began to fire collectively, with different players producing match winning innings each week. Lloyd smashed 106 off 71 balls, Ahsan added multiple fifties, Rob produced a fine 94, Elliot struck 64, Tom delivered a brilliant 90 not out, Liam added a vital 58 not out, Daniel recorded his first 1st XI fifty at Little Baddow and Ben contributed a strong 76. The variety and depth of these performances showed exactly why we were able to sustain momentum, we simply had quality throughout the order.

What followed was extraordinary. An 11-game winning streak carried us through the heart of the season and by 16 August against High Roding, the title was secured. It was a landmark moment for the club and one built on contributions from all over the squad. Ahsan finished with 587 runs and 30 wickets, Elliot completed his first full season in the 1st XI with 424 runs, and Yan added 400 runs and 41 wickets. Our First Team Player of the Year, though, was the outstanding Jonesy who ended the campaign with 388 runs, 20 victims and one cheeky wicket that the team will be talking about for years.

I know I'm biased, but that to me seems a pretty obvious outcome to deploying and trusting the spinners to do the job. 

The job of the middle order batters is described by AI as...

The role of a middle-order batsman in One-Day International (ODI) cricket is arguably the most versatile and situation-dependent in the batting lineup. They are the "engine room" of the innings, typically batting at positions Number 4, 5, and 6.

Their primary responsibilities can be broken down into three key areas, often requiring them to switch gears multiple times in a single innings:

1. Stability and Accumulation (Anchor Role)

Rebuilding the Innings: If the top order (Openers and Number 3) collapses early, the middle order must quickly shift into a defensive, stabilising mode. Their job is to stop the fall of wickets and build a solid partnership.

Strike Rotation: During the middle overs (roughly overs 11-40), they focus on keeping the scoreboard ticking over by taking singles and twos, and hitting boundaries off loose deliveries. This is crucial for preventing the opposition's bowlers, especially spinners, from settling into a rhythm.

2. Acceleration and Exploitation (Attacking Role)

Capitalising on the Start: If the top order has provided a strong platform (few wickets down and a good run rate), the middle order is expected to accelerate the scoring. They must turn a good start into a dominant total.

Attacking Spin: The middle overs often feature a lot of spin bowling. Middle-order batsmen must be excellent players of spin, capable of using their feet to attack, and finding gaps in the field.

My role therefore is to try and prevent them from doing all the above and try and take the wickets of batters, No.4 through to 6 and higher. They see their role as Attacking spin and their remit is to try and be excellent players of spin, capable of using their feet to attack. Increasingly I'm not so bothered about being hit for 4, yeah I don't like it, but I'd much rather the batter be aggressive or completely defensive, not have the ability to hit singles and rotate the strike and look safe. 

Pre-season nets and games.

 Missed out on the first friendly game on the 18th. I think we got three teams out, one team pulled out at the last minute and the other two games we won.

The previous weekend 11th April I did my back. Lower back pain and glutes on the L/H side. Did it moving buckets of cobbles around wearing flip flops. I wasn't even aware of any specific lift that triggered it. But walking around shortly after I then realised I'd done something. Here we are 10 days later and only in the last 2-3 days or so it's starting to ease up. I tried running on Sunday - playing cricket with my family and was running around like a usual 65 year old, normally I'll give most 30 year olds a run for their money. I'd recorded my 2nd fastest 5K run the weekend before in Manchester at the Peel Park Run - coming in as the 2nd fastest in the 65-70 year old blokes range and coming 220th of 500 hundred who'd participated. 

Tonight 21st April we had the first outdoor nets and I was slightly apprehensive about going, being prepared to bail out if necessary and watch Joe my son bowl. The first few balls were a bit short and slow, but I eased into and as the net emptied and I got to bowl more frequently it started to come together. 

Then I started to do it properly - showing people my field settings with the intention of bowling to this field and going for minimum runs, but with the key intention of getting them out within 18 balls which is looking to improve on the previous years strike rate of 23.1

It went well, hardly anyone made runs and they were all easily dismissed with the exception of a bloke called "Pete" who would probably bat at no.10 or 11 because he lacks any technique which is a shame in a way as he has really good eye/ball co-ordination hitting virtually every ball, but he'd be caught quite easily or the ball would go to a player. But he looks like he might get lucky and thread the ball between the fielders and get a few 4's before you'd get him, but it wouldn't be easy. I find this the case with kids, who don't value their wickets - they just come in and sweep and try and hit every ball for 4 or 6 in the most unorthodox ways and the next thing you look up and you're going for 8 an over to a couple of tail-enders!!!

Talking to one of the blokes after, I said "How did you find that"? and he said "Your field just freaked me out, I have a leg-side shot that would have gone to the bloke at deep square leg for a single, there was one I managed to get into the mid-wicket area where I may have ran two, these were balls that were at the stumps and then you pitched one full outside of off and it wasn't threatening, so I went after it and it would have been caught at "4" on your field, I lasted 4 balls... the field just had me with no clear game plan". 

So 2 plus hours later of solid bowling I've come away and feel OK, my backs no worse and I'm optimistic about this coming Saturdays friendly game. 

Update 22/04/26 Been for a 2K walk this evening and ran a section that was about 2/3 of a kilometer and it went OK, felt like I was loosening up towards the end of it and now a few hours later, no additional soreness, so it does feel like I'm definitely on the road to recovery. I'll try and run again tomorrow at some point and see how that feels and go a little longer. 

Winter Nets 2026

 Yep still going and still gagging for it!

So this year we've got 6 indoor net sessions at the Harris Academy in South Ockendon again, fewer than last year, I think we lost money on it... hire fee versus people showing up meant the cost wasn't covered by the weekly fee of £5.00. I can see why to some extent, net sessions aren't the best. I don't know how batters feel about them - whether they're any use to them. I don't like the fact that you only get to bowl once every 6 balls or so and I'm always looking to find the net with the least amount of people in so I can bowl more frequently. At the start and quite often during the one and half hour sessions there's an empty net where I generally start to get the first few ropey balls out of the way or try deliveries that I don't bowl that often such as Flippers which is what I did in this session. 

Session 4 of 6

Last weeks cold got worse culminating with a really crap day on Friday and had to take a day off. Laid in bed all day Friday and woke up Saturday feeling a lot better and back at work Monday. So tonight not really fully recovered, but OK to go and have a bowl. 

Again it went well, looking to get people out within 18 balls. My son Joe - within 6 balls he said Ct at mid-off, edge to slips and caught behind off gloves off a sweep. Michael Gray (2nd XI captain) bowled 2nd ball with a Top-Spinner. Some others did well defending, but not scoring runs... Peter Ellis, Rob Brookes and Luke Dawe 3rd XI captain. 

I'm liking this approach where I'm actively looking to take wickets with a plan for it. I explain the field that I set and for the most part people don't look to target that area, so increasingly it's looking like a coherent plan? The majority of my wickets would come about (off better batters) through catches - so this highly reliant on decent and agile fielders. We'll have to see how it goes. I think next I want to have a go at Dan Gray No.1 batter at the club in terms of runs who incidentally refers to me as "Tommo the legend", so getting him would cement my legendary status!

Session 3 of 6

Felt crap tonight got a cold so didn't really feel up to it. Dosed myself up with Paracetamol and drove over on my own. Bowled in an empty net to start off with, just bowling at a piece of paper on a good length. That worked better when aiming at the stumps rather thn leg-side of the stumps. 

I've watch Allanah King in the series between Australia and India and noted she bowls completely different in the test games compared with the ODI games. Whether that's a strategic thing or just poor form I don't know? In the ODI's she sprayed the ball all over the place with an in-out field bowling at the stumps leg-side and off-side, all Leg-Breaks. She doesn't seem to have any variations at all? Then in the Test matches with a massive advantage (Massive lead) she bowled completely differently - accurately... pretty much at the stumps or on 4th stump line on the off-side with a very aggresive and attacking field - almost everyone up under the gills of the Indian batters and it worked. Did the accuracy come with the confidence and lack of pressure afforded by runs of the board? Could she have performed as well if the game was in a far tighter situation? It's a moot point. 

So I batted at 3 blokes properly tonight - did the usual thing explained the field in the diagram below and said you've been sent out and you've got to score runs. 

Lennon - Got him 3rd or 4th ball having been hit for potentially 2 runs. He ran past the ball and would have been stumped. 

Brad Staff - Similar 4th ball - played and missed just out of his crease.

The one that struggled with was the new 6th XI captain Joe Hill. He's a new batter, but he's getting better, but he's still pretty unorthodox in the same way that "Batty" kids are and so it look about 11-12 balls to get him and he'd have scored about 17 runs off those balls. I might have got him around the 9th ball with a stumping, but about 3 balls later he hit one back straight back me off a poorly timed ball that dipped that I'd have probably caught in a game.

So in terms of strike rates, I'm currently smashing it.

Session 2 of 6

Joe Front left Sri Kumar mid image looking left. L-R in the BG Luke Dawe, Phillip Tooke, Rob Brookes and Michael Gray. 

My Son Joe mid bound.

A decent session, quite low numbers this week, so that mean at the worst points I was bowing with 4 others, but most of the time there was only 3 others in the net. So the plan was to choose a batter and aim to get them out within 18 balls and concede as few runs as possible. Luke Dawe who I do struggle against usually in the nets (3rd team captain and opening bat). He normally plays in the 2nd XI. I got him within six balls and where he was able to hit the ball I would probably gone for around 5 runs. I bowled him with a faster leg-break - bowled. I followed that up with a bowled and caught and a stumping. He said "I can't pick you - I haven't got a clue what the balls going to do".

Then my son Joe came over and said "Tom Tonnison wants you to bowl in our net - he said you're the one he needs to face because you're so diffilcut to bat against". That went well. I got him within 5 balls, after being hit for 4 through mid-wicket. He had a couple of play and misses and then was out running down the wicket for a stumping. 

Rob Brooks, similar -drawn out of his crease for a stumping for only a run or two off of 3 balls.

In between I had few balls at Brian Waterman - old bloke batting legend. Defends brilliantly, cuts you through point if you get the ball a little short and it turns, or paddles you down to fine-leg if you get the length slighty short leg-side, or flicks you off the legs if too full. 

I bowled a few at my son Joe before the net got too full. He's faced me since he was 8 years old and he was doing well at me off the 6 balls or so I bowled at him. He's batting really well so far this season in the nets. 

Then I got bowl in the first XI nets against Phillip Took. I had about 6 balls at him, they were all played through mid on and mid -off and one over mid-wicket which may have gone for 4. I then moved on to an emptier net as that net filled up too much. He said later when I asked him how I'd gone and he said I'd bowled well and that he found it tough because I get the ball above the eye-line.

All in all it went well. Bowled very few Flippers and generally it seems that in this scenario with them being flatter and faster than the Leg-Breaks, they're hit easily it seems? Next week I'll try and bowl at my son Joe, Brian again because he plays so correctly and someone else from either the 1st or 2nd XI. 

Session 1 of 6

So over the winter I've been considering bringing the Flipper back as in the last 2 seasons I've bowled it infrequently in games in part because I don't trust myself to bowl it with accuracy because of the lack of practice with it. So the idea over these 6 sessions in the nets was to give it a go, but in this first session it wasn't looking promising. The first 6 balls albeit effort balls were 3' down the leg-side and it wasn't till I slowed them down that I got my radar right. After the initial 10-12 balls in the empty net the batters were ready and I went and bowled at a couple of blokes.

I did the thing where I explain my field (See image) and tell them to bat with that field in mind and the 2 blokes that I bowled to I got within 6 balls and neither of them would have scored more than 6 with that field in place. That was using Leg-Breaks and Top-Spinners. The good news was that the Top-Spinners were straight and not breaking to the off like a Googly which is something I'm concerned about e.g. creeping Googly syndrome which seemed to be happening over the winter in the indoor cricket games using a rubber ball. 

I'm not fussed on who I bowl at and I would like to bowl at the good batsmen in the 1st XI net, but there's always at least 6-7 bowlers in that net and to get them out is a different prospect. Really you kind of have to bowl 6 balls at these blokes to get the measure of them before you can come up with a plan which is never going to happen. I have been known to walk into their net and bowl a bloke around the back of the legs with my first ball. In a way it might be better not to bowl at them and wait for opportunities in inter-club games where they then generally show some respect because they don't want to be shown up by "The old bloke who bowls in the 5th and 6th XI". 

Session 2 of 6

Plan - What I'll probably do is use the empty net to practice with the Flippers and take some markers and bowl 12-18 balls just trying to get the line and length right from the off. Then move over to the nets explaining my field and say to the batter - bat in accordance with that field and see how you get on. The intent being to get them out within 23 balls - trying to improve on my strike rate of 23.10 from last year. 

Once in the nets I'll bowl as I would in a game - Leg-Break variations and Top-Spinners till I get them out and then I'll focus on bowling Flippers at them and see how that pans out. 

On top of that I'm doing general fitness and agility stuff starting today. Will probably do a run on Wednesday night on the way home as the sun sets at 17.45hrs. Ran today as well 4K 

I finish these runs off with a sprint up hill and get the heart rate up to 152 bpm and then I check it again a minute later and in this instance it had recovered to 114 bpm. I asked ai "I'm 65. If my heart rate drops from 152 to 114 after a minute after a run, what does that tell you in terms of my fitness"? It came back with...

January Running log

19/1/26 Night run/walk

So, I went out primarily to have a go a the "Flyover to Underpass segment" and see how I'd do and I figured I might have a shot at 2nd place. Turns out with very little running since pre-christmas I've done it relatively easy. I wouldn't say that I feel particularly fit at the moment, so I'm happy with that. But then seeing this 'Butler' geezer is exponentially faster than everyone led me to researching and see what that's all about. See below, the blokes the real deal, so the chances of beating him by the time I'm 62 are pretty slim to impossible.

This one below just happened by accident. It's a segment on this new circuit (See further down). 

But again look who's top of the leader board and it's the same with all the segments, so I did a bit of research and look what I found....

"David Butler is a prominent veteran long-distance runner and volunteer from Billericay, Essex, primarily known for his achievements with the Billericay Striders running club and his leadership within the local running community. 

As of 2026, his athletic career is characterized by the following:

Athletic Achievements

National Representative: He earned an international call-up for England in 2010, making his debut in the British and Irish cross-country international.

Marathon Success: In 2014, at age 61, he won the over-60s section of the London Marathon with a personal best of 2:48:46, a time that ranked him top 40 globally for his age group at the time.

Rankings: He has consistently been one of the top-ranked veteran runners in the UK. By 2025/2026, he is classified in the V70 (over 70) age category and continues to compete at a high level.

Track and Road Records: He has held some of the fastest times in the country for his age group in distances ranging from 5km (16:21.7 on track) to 10km and 5 miles. 

Community Leadership

Billericay parkrun: Butler was the founding Event Director of the Billericay parkrun when it launched in 2017.

Volunteering: He is a highly dedicated volunteer, having served as a Run Director dozens of times and accumulated hundreds of volunteer credits.

Club Involvement: He remains a key figure for the Billericay Striders, often representing them in regional and national masters competitions". 

I'll just stick with 2nd place rather than trying to beat 'Prometheus'! I'll have to find some others that he hasn't bagged!

15/1/26 Night run/Walk

Looking at this in terms of segment bagging, I've got this wrong and it's become apparent you have to do the run, the right way round. So the "Flyover to Underpass" my effort was put in from the run out from the start which is Underpass to Flyover, so that massive effort wasn't recorded. My time which has beaten my previous record is now 2.59 and that was recorded at the back end of the run where I was taking it easy, but I'll take it anyway as it's a PR. 

But there's some work to do even if do it in reverse - I've got to take a minute off my current time. But I'm hopeful, because look at the other segment...

I've smashed it and beat the previous record by 12 seconds, but it looks like the previous bloke was taking it fairly easy with heart rate of 119. 

I'm still doing this in run/walk splits, I'd like to be able to do this running the entire time which I've only done once and that was when I did 5K with my son Ben as a pacer and he ensured I ran the whole distance, so I can do 2K easy enough it's just a case of pacing myself. 

This above is the other record I beat which is a segment that I set up. I've set a target for getting this down to 10 mins, but looking at the fastest time across all ages the record is 8.18, making me think 11 mins may be more realistic? But anyway a new PR tonight which was nice. 

Longer term there's a segment I want to create and one I want the record for. The one that exists is Two Tree Island which is 2.27KM and some other old bloke holds that for 12 mins and something. The one I want to create is Southend Pier to Benfleet which is a smidge over 10K. So once Spring makes a showing and we've got some light I set that one up with a run/walk. 

Basildon & Pitsea CC Indoor v Basildon Gully indoor cricket

4th Jan

An important game in the indoor league Division 2. Another game against the Basildon Gully boys who take their cricket very seriously and from what I can gather love playing us and beating us. I wasn't aware of the situation with regards our position in the league table and no-one seemed to be aware. Our captain Lennon was unable to play as he had flu, so the team consisted of...

5 x All rounders, the whole team other than me... Michael & Dan Gray, Ariz Malik, Elliott Noble and Liam Rouse. I'm there as the spin option.  

I had to score the game before ours with the help of the others, but it was way too fast for my liking and I made a right bodge of it, but came up with the same score as the umpires. I had to score the game between the Gully Boys and Willow and Herbs and thankfully a couple of the Gully boys helped out with the clarification of their players names and what have you, which was really helpful. By the second innings I'd got my head around what I was doing and the pace of the game and the score sheet for that was fine. 

We lost the toss and were put in to bat. They bowled really well - no wides or no-balls and the only real disaster we had was Elliott being run out which comical as he was half way down the wicket before he realised Dan was staying where he was and he just slowly slowed up ending 2/3 of the way down looking back the player at Square leg where he'd hit the ball, who was still gathering the ball up as he stopped and then he dropped it again and it rolled away from him and Elliott just looked - still standing there as the bloke had fumbled the ball again and still he stood there and the bloke gathered the ball and took a shy at the stumps and missed and Elliott still stood there, the ball was eventually gather at point and the bloke walked in and took the bails. Elliott must have had 10 or 12 seconds of fumbling time and could probably taken two runs before the ball was at the stumps!

Despite that and my 2 runs we managed to get to 131, which is reasonble in these games, but not a definite winning score. We needed to bowl well and get their main man Deepak.

Deepak was up first facing Ariz (pace bowler) last season 99-20-416-35 with best figures of 5 wickets for 4 runs. Deepak was looking to go big - hitting the ball hard looking for 4's and 6's each ball was either fielded for no run or he had to block and he soon went having not scored a run. Thereafter it was relatively easy pickings with only Prasad Nagendan making any impact with 17 to his name. supported by Balakumar Padmanabhan with 14. I took one - as usual the Top-Spinner 'That did a bit' e.g. a mini wrong un with shed loads of top-spin and I came away with the best economy which is fairly common, but pretty good. 

After this game we're now in second place in the League with the prospect of playing MCL smashers. I can't recall how we've gone against them in the past, but you'd imagine they might historically be better than us? But looking at the games here played on Jan 4th MCL Smashers don't look like they're unbeatable. 

16/11/25 - Indoor game

A good game tonight. 6pm start, with an inauspicious start due to the fact that the scoreboard was busted. . The team this week was pretty much the same as last week, but Kirby replaced by the official captain "Lennon" so another batter. 

We lost the toss, so we had to bat the 12 overs first. With Daniel Gray (most runs at the club last year and Elliott Noble 2nd most runs) we were in good hands in theory, these were backed up with Michael Gray (33 x 50's for the club) Ariz and Lennon both decent batters. Then me. 

I had the Gopro and set it up and videoed the whole game, so I should put this up on Youtube in the next few days. 

We didn't get off to a good start...

I wasn't even the end of the 4 over? and I found myself in the middle with Michael Gray and we were on about 25 runs and somehow needed to score realistically about 100 in order to have something to bowl at. One of us had to get through the next 8 overs and that was obviously Michael Gray, I just had to try and hang in there and try and play some shots and just not get out. I've done it before, so could I do it again? 

I could play straight shots defensively, but I don't have the skills to place those shots in the gaps, cross bats shots at balls oustdie off stump?  But they can result in dragging the ball onto the stumps or top edge to the keeper or bloke at point, but I had to try it just in order that Michael Gray was able to play shots and make runs. Over by over, I survived and when I was on strike I for the most part was able to get bat on ball once in the over and score a couple of runs and rotate the strike, although looking at the score-sheet I didn't do that as much as I thought I did. I played a couple of down on one knee slog sweeps much the hilarity of the lads watching from viewing balcony!

With no scoreboard we didn't know how we were doing, but the scoring in this format is pretty quick, a ball that hits the wall and includes a run is 3 runs. A straight ball along the ground hitting the back wall is a 4. A ball hitting the back wall only is a 6. When you're bowling the most valuable ball apart from the wicket is a dot ball, they're so significant as they're pretty rare. Anything legside is a wide - it's brutal. If you can do it, a deft late cut backward of point with a run is pretty safe and gets you three runs if it hits the side or back wall, conversely the flick off the legs backward of square-leg is the same result and just ticking along with them is the way to go if you've got that ability.

Michael has the ability to play straight and over the top, but I realised he was just playing a basic game, accruing the runs 1 or 3 at a time building an innings. There were a decent amount of wides as well and they're worth 2 runs without the extra ball. Bit by bit we were getting through it and the runs were accumulating and we played through the 11 overs and then Michael brought his "A game" for the final over as I watched from the other end. An over of 6's and a 4. The lads were saying from the blacony that if the strike was rotated I had to try and hit sixes, I thought whatever happens if there's a small hope I run anyway and get Michael back on strike, but didn't need to. 

So we ended up with 109 which in these games is a low score, so we weren't out of the woods yet.

Ariz was thrown the ball (last week he started off with 4 or 5 wides, but this week a first ball wicket! We were in the game!

Then a series of wickets fell quickly with virtually no runs being made until the captain made a stand and batted well for his 43 before being bowled by Daniel Gray in the last over, he'd left himself too much to do and hadn't got the support from his other players and the fell short by 19.

All in all for us a very good game considering how we started off. 

No wickets for me, but happy with my economy. I might get to play again? 

Some Indoor cricket

 Played Sunday in the 3rd game of the winter season and won this one having loss the earlier two. I don't recall the first game, only that we were soundly beat. The 2nd game I do as the opposition cheated off my bowling and the result was they won because of it. I was bowling top-spinners and leg-breaks and the bloke played a cross bat shot at a top-spinner that did what it was supposed to do... bounce more and he top edges it through to the keeper, everyone around the bat and the square leg umpire  all agree that it's out and the bloke throws his bat under his arm and heads off to the door (near the square leg umpire) with his team above the umpire. I think they saw the standing umpire hadn't reacted and told him to wait. The keeper and the near fielders were all screaming "Mate, you top-edged it and you walked, you know you're out", meanwhile he's now making like he'd walked to square leg to adjust his pads to then walk back to the crease and resume batting.

The umpire at my end hasn't reacted and he indicates to play on, the square leg umpire is totally on-board with rest of the players ready to give it out and looks my way looking incredulous that the standing umpire has indicated to resume. The wicket keeper and others are in total disbelief and carry on with making it clear that they're not happy with his cheating in the end the bloke (In his 30's) turns to call them F***** C*** (they're 17-18 year olds). The umpire steps in as diffuses the situation and the game resumes and this bloke then takes the game away from us. Then in the car-park it carries on and one of our adults has to intervene and diffuse the situation again. 

We've got them later in the season, they wont be playing 5 x 17 year olds in that next game I'd imagine if they're blatant cheats. The celebration at the end of the game was funny a bunch of 30 year olds ecstatic they'd beaten 5 teenagers and an old duffer like me!

The team that was beaten in the 'Cheat game'

This weeks team that won

This week we had a better game with the inclusion of another Adult... Michael Gray. To be honest in the game we lost with the incident I'd bowled poorly - way too full, multiple full tosses and a number of legside wides. Any ball down the legside that goes go on to bounce over the stumps is a wide - it's pretty brutal and this weeks game started off with our fast bowlers bowling a succession of wides. Me and Kirby (None of the other teams have girls in their teams) with our bowling - Kirby bowls left-arm orthodox a bit like Linsey Smith (England)  and like Smith goes through teams some days cleaning up and with my Wrist-Spin brought the game back and enabled us to win. 

Kirby and I got a wicket each, Kirby's a stumping and mine caught behind (Daniel Gray). 

But during my 2 overs the oppo lost 3 wickets. I think they see the slow bowling as a point in the game where they should be making runs and when the runs pretty much dry up in many instances, they then  resort to a back-up plan of trying to take quick runs and in this game that was their un-doing. 

I can't say that I've seen much of this format, but it does strike me that there is definitely a place in this game for specialist slow bowlers as they do seem to have a big impact on the game and I think my inclusion in the team is testament to that as I can't bat to save my life. But I'm pretty agile in the field at 65 and I love the fact that I get to play teams of adults in a team of teenagers and me! The thing is some of them know what I do and see me as a massive asset, thankfully they're the captains and they're prospective 1st XI players who recognise what I do with the ball is not to be dismissed too readily. 

It's really nice being valued in that way by significant players at the club!!!

In other news I've been running of late, getting out twice a week generally.