Flipper bowling - another 125 balls

 Another 35 mins or so working on the Flipper after yesterdays game and the reflections thereafter. 

Having done some research on the impact of elevated heart rates and the impact that has on your bowling I gave that a go today somewhat half-heartedly. I ran about a bit and got my heart rate up to 130bpm and then tried bowling and it did seem to have a negative impact as described in the previous post - wides down the leg-side and short balls. So maybe breathing drills might be the answer and focus on where you want to land the ball more, than what the batsman is going to do? 

I spoke to the captain Shyham after the game about the watch that he wears as it tracks his body functions... heart rate, sleep, recovery speeds, Vo2 max all that interesting stuff. His is a whoop which you have to pay an annual subscription for each year at £80 a go. He checks out his data and is aware that in those pressure situations his heart rate goes up and things do go awry and he was saying that he then puts breathing exercises into action to regulate and reduce his heart rate. 

I'm not overly impressed with any of the wrist strap or arm band devices, as when you dig deep and factor in that you're playing cricket and your arms are moving around shed loads, many of them don't function that well at all in that scenario, especially when bowling the straps move up and down your arm/wrist with the exaggerated movement. 

Currently I use a Coospo HC which is really good, the only downside is that for it to function you have to have your phone on your person. I've noticed that when the England cricket team play in test matches they wear chest bands - obviously monitoring their heart rates and other data, so it was obvious that there is something out there on the market that works without having any other devices. Digging further, I then found the Polar H10 heart rate sensor whcih in its marketing blurb says that it's the go to device for professional sportsmen/women.

This has internal data storage capability which tracks and stores your data whilst playing and then once you're within range of your phone - transfers the data to an app enabling you to view and analyse the data, so this looks like the way to go. So, it's definitely something I'm definitely going to consider buying this week prior to the next game. 

All that aside, the practice went OK. The final 25 balls meaning I bowled 125 in 30 mins or so I mixed leg-breaks with flippers and that went pretty well. I'll have another go tomorrow at some point and then on Tuesday in the nets, I'll only bowl Flippers again at the batters and see how it works out. 

Basildon & Pitsea 6th xi v Great Totham 4th xi cc

 A good game played on the most uneven outfield I've ever seen and one where there were 2 trees inside the boundary line, you can see one of them clearly in the team shot below. I asked one of their players about the ground and he said the ground has been there in some form of another since 1870 (Bull Meadow). The whole of Essex is as dry as a bone, not had rain for weeks, so the outfields are in a state, big cracks, virtually no grass and the ball comes across the grass at pace with the chance that it might deviate at any point hitting you in the teeth. The Totham blokes fielded exceptionally well when we were batting, with full on committment to getting their bodies behind the ball and stopped several fours, and these weren't whippet style 20 year olds! Very impressive. 

So, having spent the 3 previous days working with the Flipper, this was intended as being the game where it was brought into action. But there's a bunch of dynamics that have to be dealt with and considered...

Practicing, it was evident that my heart rate is pretty consistent...

Averaging at 106. I suspect that once confronted with a brute yielding a bat looking to smash you into the next postal code and you've got it in your head that you need to get it right you then have an accelerated heart rate and that has an impact on your bowling. Shane Warne (Paraphrase). "You have to be relaxed, if you're not relaxed you're going to grip the ball tighter and it'll affect your bowling". 

I asked Google Gemini...

"In cricket when you're bowling in a high pressure situation does your heart rate increase and does that have an impact on your bowling accuracy. Especially in the case of wrist-spin bowling"? It came back with these answers sourced from a range of sources...

This relationship is heavily amplified for wrist-spin bowlers, whose discipline requires the most complex, precise fine-motor control in the sport.

The breakdown below details how high pressure triggers these physical changes and why wrist-spinners are uniquely vulnerable to its effects.

_____________________________________________________________

1. The Physiological Spike: Adrenaline & Heart Rate

When a bowler enters a high-pressure scenario—such as defending a low total in the final over of a T20 match—the brain perceives the stress as a threat.

• The Fight-or-Flight Response: The adrenal glands instantly flood the bloodstream with hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
• Heart Rate Elevation: This hormonal surge causes the heart rate to rapidly spike (frequently exceeding 150 to 170 BPM). This happens independently of the physical exertion from the run-up.
• Muscle Tension: The body prepares for explosive action by constricting blood vessels and tightening major muscle groups. 

_____________________________________________________________

2. How High Heart Rates Impair Bowling Accuracy

A highly elevated heart rate alters the body's biomechanics, disrupting the consistency needed to hit a exact line and length. [1]

High Pressure ➡️ Adrenaline/Cortisol Spike ➡️ Heart Rate >150 BPM ➡️ Muscle Tension & Shaking ➡️ Degraded Accuracy

• Loss of Fine-Motor Control: According to the Inverted-U Hypothesis in sports psychology, extreme physiological arousal degrades peripheral vision and fine-motor coordination. A bowler's "feel" for the ball diminishes.
• Altered Release Point: Even a microsecond shift in the release point drastically alters where the ball pitches. Muscle tightness often causes bowlers to release the ball too early (resulting in a short ball/drag-down) or too late (resulting in a full toss).

Rushing the Action: A racing heart creates psychological urgency. Bowlers often accelerate their run-up or force their delivery stride, ruining the natural rhythm and timing required for a smooth kinetic chain.                                                                                                                                        

__________________________________________________________________

 

4. How Elite Bowlers Fight the Physiology

To maintain accuracy under pressure, elite cricketers focus heavily on down-regulating their nervous system to lower their heart rate before they bowl.

• Structured Pre-Ball Routines: Elite spinners utilize strict, repetitive physical cues (e.g., tapping the thigh, spinning the ball in the hand a exact number of times) to provide a psychological anchor.
• Tactical Breathing: Taking deep, diaphragmatic breaths (long exhales) directly activates the parasympathetic nervous system, forcing the heart rate down and easing muscle tension right before starting the run-up.
• Internal Focus: Instead of focusing on the crowd or the scoreboard, bowlers deliberately narrow their sight to a specific blade of grass or spot on the pitch to reduce cognitive overload.

All of which is useful and for the most part I suspected or knew of. Add to that I'm trying to bowl Flippers which in some quarters people claim are virtually impossible to bowl and some cases people claim are non-existent like Zooters and Sliders (Unless you're talking about the "Orthodox back-spinner" in which case call it what it is. 

"Gemini" then suggested some drills to try and re-create the increased heart rate scenario...

Chaos & Heart-Rate Simulation Drills

To prepare for a high-pressure match, you must practice with a high heart rate. These drills purposely fatigue your gross muscles to see if your fine mechanics hold up.

• The 80% Exhaustion Drill
• Setup: Place a target mat on a good length.
• Action: Perform 30 seconds of high-intensity explosive work (e.g., burpees, shuttle sprints, or kettlebell swings) to drive your heart rate above 160 BPM. The moment the timer stops, walk straight to your mark and bowl two consecutive deliveries aiming for the mat.
• Purpose: Simulates the exact physical toll of the 20th over. It teaches you to consciously relax your gripping fingers while your lungs are burning. [1, 2]
• The Blind-Target Release
• Setup: Stand at your normal delivery stride position.
• Action: Close your eyes. Visualize the spot on the pitch. Go through your bowling action at 50% speed and release the ball into a close-range net.
• Purpose: Develops pure proprioception (spatial awareness). It teaches your brain to "feel" the exact moment the seam leaves your fingers without relying on visual feedback.

Again, these are things I've tried previously, but have not looked at in a while, so maybe later to day when I have a practice over at the paddock, I'll give both techniques a go.

Back to the game...

So I bowled a few Flippers in the opening over and they went OK. There were 2 blokes at the crease both who were going well that no-one else seemed to be able to get out. 

H.Gilbert who was on 55 with a strike rate of 87.3. His best shot was through the point region - more frequently backward of point and a couple of cover drives and glances off the legs down to fine-leg. He needed to go and I got him pretty quickly with the 5th ball of the over which I think was a Leg-Break, that was caught at mid-wicket by Shyham.

That left the other bloke J. Dundas, who was going along well. He was joined by J. Chadwick a bloke probably around my age (Left-hander) and these two were a bit of a handful, both scoring regular 4's. Dundas - lots through square leg - sweeps and hooks which he was adept at and the occassional cut through point and drives down through the covers. With the state of the outfield, it wasn't easy to get behind the ball safely, although there was some shocking fielding, it wasn't as bad as I normally perceive. 

Of the two I thought that Chadwick was the more susceptible, as he was confident in coming out of his crease and hitting the ball on the full. I tried a variety of things, loopy, faster, big leg-breaks, small leg-breaks with more over-spin and Flippers, but he was up to it and scoring freely. I couldn't get sufficient dip to beat him. Meanwhile the other bloke Dundas (RHB) looked more vulnerable outside the off-stump with the Flippers and although he hit a few good shots I got him on 71 runs with a SR of 83.53 caught at point by Basav.

Meanwhile Chadwick was living a charmed life. I likened his enthusiasm to that of a Jack Russell with a ball, he was loving it, looking to run singles on every ball, backing up miles. A few balls were hit high in the air and either feel into empty space or in one case leading to me and Sham crashing into each other despite the fact that I was calling for it and he wasn't "I heard Yogesh shouting - That's yours Sham, that's yours". Thankfully depite being elbowed in the face I wasn't too bad. Another that went about a 100 foot in the air down towards fine leg- Shane ran in about 30 yards, dived forwards, caught it, only for it to bounce out of his hands as his elbows hit the deck. If he'd had held onto it, that would have been absolutely spectacular, but that's the kind of committment I want to see in the field... Fantastic effort! There were comical run-out attempts x 2 by us that should have been taken that were truly "Village".

Dundas's replacement "K Mustoe" from the get-go looked like a walking wicket to the leg-breaks. He faced an over of Tony Keep making 1 run off 4 balls missing the other 3. The run was off the last over so he was on Strike. A Leg-break on the off-side, saw a swing and a miss, so I came around the wicket, bowled a big leg-break very wide of of the off stump. He stepped to the off-side with the intention of putting it into the Oak Tree at square leg and it spun in and hit the off-stump bail. 

I ended up with 8-0-52-3. Happy with the strike rate (18), but 52 runs primarily due to Dundas was disappointing, but for future reference, Flippers on the off-side or at the stumps, varying the speed might be the way to go. Loopy and or Leg-Side not the way. I felt like I wasn't getting enough top-spin for him or Chadwick to cause them problems, but the back-spinning Flipper was affective and I think mixing in the leg-break as a variation might be good going forwards. So short term, keep persevering with the Flipper to get it more consistent. 

Front left to right Prasad Akki, Shyam Patel, Shane Panicker, Yogesh Patel

Rear left to right Tony Keep, Me (Dave Thompson), Basavaraj Nilakanthe , Brian Waterman, Sagar Singh,  Shashank Shekar, Amrit Raj, 

Something to note they had one decent seam bowling a girl I Root, she was good, the others all bowled Moon balls including Chadwick. Take your time, look for the loose ball and hit that, which is what our batters did for the most part leading us to win despite the fantastic fielding some of their players pulled off. 

More work with the Flipper

 Another 120-150 balls in the Paddock working with the Flipper. Still not sure how it's going to work out in a game, looked pretty good in the nets last Tuesday and these last two practice sessions over at the Paddock went well. There's the occassional tragic ball, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm being experimental. There's a fair few down the leg-side that may go for byes, but not necessarily wides in our league, dependent on how 'Niggly' the opposition want to be with regards this aspect of the game. 

What I did try that seemed to be useful was the Stuart MacGill "Knee drive" which is very different to Warnes up and around the FFC. The MacGill approach seemed to bring accuracy and speed. So overall, things are looking promising with only one more day or practice before deploying in an actual game. 

Again I Strava'd it, which is useful in terms of monitoring heart rates and the like. 

In addition to the cricket I went for a run tonight and got a PB on the circuit that I run the most on a segment called the "Staneway climb". In addition to this, I'm the 4th  fastest in the class 45-54. 

. 

Flipper as my stock ball again?

 Season's going well, getting loads of games in different teams. Haven't been able to get all the matches posted because there's been so many. Had a good game recently as part of Rayleigh cricket clubs 'Cricket week' which is one of my favourite fixtures as I get to play with decent players. The Sunday and evening T20 teams are similar for the most part and in these games I do pretty well. As a result of all this I'm currently the 2nd highest wicket taker at the club, but as Joe (My son) pointed out, that's really just becuase you play more cricket than anyone else. True that I've played 3 x 40 over games Saturday, Sunday and Monday. In the Monday game I took 6 for 39, my best figures yet.

That was down to 5 of the six being caught, one by me and 4 in the field by players that can actually run and dive, not that anyone dived for any. I took a catch at mid wicket and did some good fielding at point. I could have had 8 but the keeper missed one and I dropped one off my own bowling (click the video below). I also bowled a fellow Wrist-Spinner 'Kat' around the back of the legs which was nice, because she'd done the same thing to me when we last played against each other. I come on in the 16th over for 2 and then come back again for the 26th over and then bowl out. 

Anyway reflecting on my success in this game, it's down to the fielding and I know this sounds like a broken record, but some of the better players were saying "Why is Thomo in the 6th Xi" He'd take shed loads of wickets in the 2's ro 3's and he's a good fielder. All of which is true. I can run as faster and make far more effort in the field that 75% of the players at our club despite the fact that I'm 66. 

In this screen grab I managed to get my hands to the ball and slowed it down, but that was a drop off my own bowling. 

Anyway back to the point; My son Joe said, ignore the fact that you're the highest wicket taker. Filter the stats and only look at your performance in terms of League games...

See below.

I've filtered it so that it's Spin bowlers apart from No.14 (Joe my son). The two that concern me are numbers 8 and 9 who are both 2 wickets in from of me. Tony Keep bowls straight, says he tries to spin it, but I think he cuts it rather than spins it. But his approach is wholly different to mine. Sri is a finger spinner but he has multiple variations including a faster ball which catches people out. He also plays in the 3rd xi where the players can run and catch. Tony plays in the same teams as me and we often bowl in tandem, but he has a lot of 'Bowled' rather than caught because he bowls at the stumps. 

I on the other hand, bowl looking to force the mishit, edge or catches in the covers, mid off and point. So many of balls that should be caught aren't.

So seeing the figures in the League I'm going to change tactics for the rest of the season and make the Flipper my stock ball. You have to bowl the Flipper a lot to be able land it consistently and if I'm bowling Leg-Breaks as my stock delivery I just can't pull the Flipper out of nowhere and bowl it well. But the other way round I'm pretty sure I can just pull out he Leg-Break if I'm bowling 90% Flippers. 

So starting yesterday in the nets I bowled 95% flippers and it went well. I've also bowled a hundred of them in the paddock across the road where I live and again it went well. Hitting the stumps 1/5th of the time. So every day now I'll go over the paddock and bowl 90 Flippers and 10 over-spun leg-breaks and see if I can convert that to the Legaue games and get back in front of Keep and Kumar and maybe Liam Rouse who is a 1st/2nd xi Left arm orthodox who mixes that up with seam balls. The other bloke Yannick he's the club pro, so he doesn't count!!!

011 - 40 Overs League game v Tillingham

 Played at Purleigh cricket ground (June 20th) 

Blazing hot day at the start of a record breaking June heatwave that was to follow a few days later.

We won by 6 wickets

The opposition won the toss and opted to bat.

What a thing of beauty this scoresheet is, look at this...

Ghandi and Imaran opened and bowled really well taking the wickets of the openers. Which then brought on S.Foster. He was the bloke who did the most damage batting at No. 3 with the most destructive over when batting against Shyam. 

Shyam started with a decent initial over with a maiden at the other bloke? Shyams nightmare over went for... Wide, 2 x dots, 4, 4, 6 and 4. 

In between the big shots Foster played some deft shots initially down to 3rd man targeting Brian, but for the most part Brian was up to it.

I got brought on for the 17th over which I was fine about, as the main man S.Foster was well into his stride and playing well looking to be aggressive.

With me on, the dynamics changed a bit while they ascertained what I was up to. I started off a bit ropey, a bit too fast and several balls down the legside,but both batters were fairly cautious looking for the loose balls. 

With the ropey legside bowling I'd seen that he felt there were options through the legside and I'd got Joe to put two of our more agile and fastest runners on boundaries either side - forward of deep square leg and deep cover point. (Baski and Ghandi). In the second over I bowled two very average balls and went for a couple of singles and realised there was some turn to be had from the wicket if I bowled slower, so I tossed a Leg-Break up a bit slower on middle and leg - pretty full realising it might go for runs, but also migh do the trick. I think he saw it was slower and cleared his front leg to smash it through the off-side; the ball dipped and then turned and fizzed off the wicket hitting the off-stump. The main man gone. 

I kid came out and joined the other bloke (Gupta), who initially looked innocious, he'd hit me for a four and a couple of 2's through fine leg. The kid also smacked me for a 4 which I didn't appreciate, but got him with a top spinner that Yogesh caught running in from mid-off. That then brought the captain to the wicket and the prospect of a batter that might come after me.

Again he had a look and played with some caution initially. I mixed up the usual Top-Spinners with Leg-Breaks and of the two deliveries, it was the Top-Spinners that weren't coming out as I wanted - way too full and when I did land them on a decent length they were turning like a Leg-Break and he was sitting deep in the wicket seeing the turn and then playing them through the off-side.

I persevered with the Top-Spinners, hoping that one would come out with the right seam pesentation and the expected dip. I got him in the end with an attempted Top-Spinner that didn't dip that was on the stumps that hit him on the full in front of middle. LBW. 

A couple more blokes had a go, but Shyam came back on and took another 3 and they were all out within the 40 overs finishing with 147 after 37.5 overs.

Worrylingly slow start to the game in the first 20 overs which was stressing the captain Joe out to the max. One bowler, an older bloke was very good had the two openers playing with a high level of caution on what to me looked like a bowling wicket (It had been previously used) prior to our stint on it. 

We'd played Tillingham a couple days earlier in an evening T20 game, but this wasn't the same team as before and the wicket was pretty much in the middle of the oval with no obvious short boundaries except for one at 3rd man if you were batting at the 'Tree end' and it was down hill. The outfield was OK, but the grass was thick and the ball didn't run away too quickly and many balls were stopped short of the boundary off of decent shots. Lofted shots similarly 'Plugged'.

Additionally they fielded really well, they seemed to have a bloke in the right place throughout our batting and our 2 openers despite facing 153 balls only hit 7 fours, 5 of which were Mitchells. 

The oppositions bowling was tight in the first 20 overs despite 6 bowlers being deployed, they kept the runs down to 71 which was causing Joe a great deal of stress. I could sense what was happening. Mitchell and Brian were obviously in control of the situation and I reckon both of them earlier in the innings were seeing a chance of a half century and were happy to nurdle their way to their goals. I've often been in games with Brian who is the oldest player at the club at 76 or 78? Who is amazingly fit given his age and the fact that it was damn hot out there and is modus operandi seems to be to stick in and accumulate runs. But when it gets to the 20th over and he can see we need runs he then gets more expansive with his shots and takes much higher risks. This often plays out where he gets the run rate up to a more productive level, but invariably leads to him being dismissed allowing the next player to come in. Generally in these situations were're at 5 an over and all is not lost with wickets in hand. But 20 overs in and only 71 on the board, Joe was going grey in front of my eyes with a blood pressure reading of 188-90-105!

Joe rotated the umpires in order to get a message out to the middle saying "Get a move on" there's blokes here in the hutch ready to finish this game off! (Basky). 

There was another agenda as well. Helping us out was Joe's mate since he was about 5 years old 'Adam' and Joe was looking forwards to a productive little partnership with his 'Bestie' and hopefully finish the game off with a couple of not outs. So as he stood at the edge of the field he could see the prospects of that happening disappearing into the sunset. 

Eventually in the 24th over when we were on 86 Brian was dismissed and Jamie Britton went out and immeadiately changed the run rate for the better reaching 31 off of 31 balls. Joe's mate Adam made his way out and was dismissed before Joe had the chance to join him, but the game was pretty much done anyway and we reached the total within the 34th over.

A good result that now puts us 3rd in the League.

With my 3 wickets, I'm now the 2nd highest wicket taker at the club behind the club pro Yannick. The disappointing aspect is that I'm not bowling that well and not taking the wickets at the frequency I want, but with regards the spinners in terms of Strike Rate I'm doing OK. Again only Yannick in front of me with an amazing Strike Rate of 13.07. 

004 B&PCC Sunday XI v Woodham Mortimer

 Friendly v Woodham Mortimer

We won by 36 runs/ 

This is one of my favourite grounds and I always seem to play here when the weather is good and it was no different today. Scored a lift to the ground with Koush' and got there nice and early. 

We batted first and it went as below...

Then the fielding. 

Writing this much later. Very little re-collection of this game. I remember, as is evident from the stats, I was pretty ineffective with only one wicket and went for a lot of runs. I think the wicket was a full toss that the bloke played around and hit him in front of middle and there was no way anyone wasn't going to give that out unless they were full on cheating and it does happen, but thankfully not with this team.

I seem to remember being hit to all four corners of the ground, but why? I think I there wasn't a lot on offer from the wicket and it wasn't turning and I opted to bowl mostly top-spinners and with so little practice these were too full and some too short, I just couldn't get the over-spin aspect correct. 

009 - Rayleigh Fairview 40 overs League game.

 Rayleigh Fairview 3rd XI

Weather was crap leading up to this game, but Friday it dried up and was windy and sunny, so the prospects for the game were looking promising at the end of Friday.

The team was as listed here. Once we got there it looked like it was going to be another game like the one on Sunday... way too many kids and not enough adults with a good skill set and this was kind of confirmed by the fact that they won the toss and put us in to bat so they at least could all get a bowl and do some fielding .

It was sunny, but pretty cool, not sure what happened with the 30c temps that were predicted at the start of the week.

The opener for them bowled really well, not enabling Tritsan or Brian to get off to a good start. The majority of the runs coming from the other end.  Brian lost his wicket and then that brought Nauman to the crease and the good bloked was bowled out. Tristan soon made his 50 and not too long after his 100, shortly followed by Nauman with 50. 

By the time the 40 overs were up we'd scored 285 and it looked like there was no way that oppo believed that they had any chance of chasing that down, so after some scran we took to the field and it was obvious that they wouldn't be trying to chase the game and look to win, so right from the outset the games dynamic changed and it drifted into a really dull game where, they just played cautiously.

Joe brought me on early, but to be fair there was no way of knowing who these batters were or who they they had in the hutch. The interesting thing was that this same team put on a 200 plus innings recently , so who know what was to come, Joe proposed that these blokes weren't the same team. Tony bowled in the first overs and was taken off after 5. Having taken 2. This scenario is Tony's best case scenario, blokes playing tentatively with no real technique, his strength is bowling on a good length very straight, kind of you miss I hit with some balls outside of off that he gets edges off that go through to the keeper. He keeps it very simple just changing the speed and length and sometimes he gets it to turn by bowling cutters as far as I'm aware, he never really says anything about it, so I'm unsure what he does, others say he's not a spin bowler, he's just an accurate slow bowler.

The oppoistion come up with their trump card, a kid walks out and the captain says "I know it's a legaue game but..." Basically saying the kid can't play, they've oviously got no chance of winning and they don't want the kid put off playing cricket. Which in a way is reasonable, but I knew wasn't going to help my stats. 

Before we'd even started the game Joe mentioned that Rayleigh were in trouble with regards their ground... https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/25923562.rayleigh-cricket-club-forced-out-ground-helped-found/ and with this in mind and the request from the captain suggested we take it easy on the kid and straight-away took Bibishan off replacing him with me. 

So here I am. The 10th over, 10 overs too early with no-one looking to take the game on and playing with any aggression, just poking the ball here and there and sweeping legside balls. I knew this wasn't going to go well.

8 overs later with no wickets at least one drop or near miss I end up with this tripe...

The majority of the 4's were embarrasing in terms of the effort in the field and again I go back to comments I made last season, the whole club should be made to show up in April before the season and made to do a series of brutal fitness, skills and agility tests including the basic bleep tests and the results of these used to make decisions about which teams you're suited to play in. Once those basic abilities are established then start looking at the stats. They shouldn't look at age, which I feel they do, the fact is my fitness and agility in the field in my opinion should see me playing in the 4th XI at least. Add my bowling stats and I reckon I should be playing 3rd XI cricket. Others have said if I played in a team with equal fitness levels to me, my stats would be far better. 

Anyway those runs at 25 should have been 17 maybe less? I reined it in a bit by asking for there to be a sweeper either side and this made a significant difference. I always look at the team sheet looking to see if there is anyone in the team that can and will run and ground field with any enthusiasm and there rarely is. Normally that's not too much of an issue because I get brought on when the opposition is looking to take me on with aggressive batting and my bowling does the job.

Analysis; (1).  I thought I was brought on way too early 10. None of the batters were batting aggressively. (2). The field setting was wrong for this situation and this has made me review and consider my field in the future. I think I need to start with two of the faster more agile players either side of the wicket, deep, sweeping on the boundary for protection at the start. Even with my optimum field I have a faster player forward of square leg in the deep 

I've not been recording where I get hit this season, but this here below is an approximation of this game, which if I'm honest was a result of the ball being too leg-side and too full, the boundaries on the Leg-side were either too full or too short and slow.

The disappointing thing, the bloke that came on that did play with some assuredness and aggression only appeared in my first over and then he pretty much stayed there for most of the game. There was also a young bloke who was hitting 4's and 6's, again doing so at a stage in the game where I feel I should be deployed. 

What do I do about these types of games? I need to be more "Tony" and the obvious solution is to bowl flippers and adapt a field to reflect this. I bowled a few in this game and they came out better than I expected having not bowled them much in the last 3 years. But, with playing Tuesday nights I've not been netting to hone the accuracy, because if I bowl them I need to get the accuracy to pretty 100%, remembering these are noted to be the most difficult ball to bowl with people talkin about having to work on them for between 5 (Benaud) and 8 years (Grimmett). Personally, I reckon if you spend a couple of weeks you can pretty much develop the delivery. 

Despite this being one of the most dreary games ever, we did win and it puts us into 5th position in the league. I've no idea who we've yet to play, but to me it looks like we're not out of the game as such and we still have a shout at coming top. We've got the resources most weeks, the weakest link as far as I'm concerned is the lack of committment in the field and appalling lack of athleticism of blokes that are 20-30 years younger than me, sometimes more. 

Gutted at not taking any wickets and my strike rate being degraded, I went back expecting to hear the bad news of the other spinners bagging loads and going above me in the tables. I mean they play against aggressive batters and they have the fielders to take the catches and chase down balls and dive in the field, so they should be flying past me in terms of strike rates, but not so. Sri Kumar took 4, but the rest of the spinners, not great returns. 

Despite such a poor game, I've still managed to hold 3rd place in terms of wickets taken and 2nd behind Yannick the pro player. But the figure I look at is the strike rate which is currently 22.42 ahead of most of the other who players in teams where their catches are taken more readily. 

Digital scoring how crap it is.

Writing a while later, yeah it's crap. Can't remember why in this game exactly, but as I recall, the game had to be stopped a number of times so that someone who did know what they were doing was able to re-set or recover what had gone wrong. If you know what you're doing and the internt doesn't fail it's fine, but there's 2-3 things that can go wrong and you're screwed. Rest assured it goes wrong. As I write we're 2nd in the legaue. We lost a game because this system went wrong at the end of an over and in the confusion someone bowled an extra ball in the over and the next thing we're looking up and our best batter is walking back having been dismissed off of the 7th ball.