June 2020

I should write about the last two months in general terms as well as cricket. April and My have been ridiculous in terms of  how sunny and warm they've been. In terms of sunshine hours for Spring all previous records have been well and truly smashed, well not smashed - decimated beyond comprehension.

Unfortunately, it's coincided with the Covid 19 pandemic which has been weird. Most of us have been off work in some form or another for over 2 months now as 10's of thousands of people die from the pandemic. But the Tory governments tactic has been to tell us for the most part to isolate for the last 2 months meaning we've not been able to mix with anyone other than our immediate family in order to reduce the impact of the virus and reduce the spread rate. As a result a lot of time has been spent in the back garden in the unbelievable sunshine and warmth, but not elsewhere. 

Historically as a diary writer when I was younger I'd have written more about this in a lot more depth, but with the internet it'll be extensively recorded in real depth. Going back to the weather though, there's obviously a degree of concern on the part of the Met office and they cite the fact that we had an extremely mild, wet and rainy winter and that's now been followed by a this ridiculously dry, hot and sunny spring which is more akin to an exceptionally good June and July.

It's scheduled to cool down in the next 48-72 hours with some sporadic rain, but the Met is warning that it'll be insufficient in terms of beneficial affects on farming. I guess, that once this current weather pattern moves on we'll need for the weather to establish itself in the usual way with periods of rain and cloudy weather other-wise we'll be watching the news and the prospect of droughts, crop failure and an increase in food prices? 

The other outcome of the Pandemic is that like almost every other sport cricket has been cancelled. The ECB has apparently pumped loads of money into the sport even at club level in order that clubs survive. This year was going to be a big year off the back of all the successes the National side had last year and a new format 'The Hundred' was due to be launched this summer to try and capitalise on the boost in popularity and the fact that cricket was again in the public eye for the right reasons. Sadly that's not happened, so there's a fear that, that momentum might be lost and opportunity to get kids and girls especially involved has been missed. That aside there's a sense that with the season being non-existent this summer that might see people leave the game and 100's if not thousands of small struggling clubs go under never to be resurrected.

Anyway all that aside - the first bowl of June 2020. 2/6/20

This doesn't look too bad given that the last few sessions were a bit ropey. The pitch map below is the last few of May over-laid with each other...

You  can see in the top pitch map I seem to have reduced the amount of full tosses on the leg-side and there's a few less balls on the leg-side generally. The good news is the balls are generally fairly accurate today with a lot more threatening the stumps and on the off-side. 

The lack of real accuracy might be down to the run-up and approach to the crease. It's rough - really rough and if it does rain I might do some work on the run-up area and try and make it a little more even. 

Knee - The reason I hadn't bowled for a few days was they knee felt slightly sore, so I rested it and it was a lot better. Of more concern at the minute is my lower back - back spasms and a real sense of stiffness. I've been doing core strength work to try and improve the situation along with stretching and Yoga and there may have been a bit of an improvement, but it's negligible.

28th June

Throughout June my physical fitness declined with increasing sitting down whilst working. Normally I'd be walking around at work - walking up and down several flights of stairs and also walking on the way home - getting off at one of the stations early to walk to the next to re-join the train home (It's a coastal walk of about 20 mins). It reached a point where my younger son Joe joined me for a bit of practice and I basically couldn't bowl because my back was so stiff.

I did some research and it appeared that this was a result of so much sitting down and having weak glutes. I then watched some Youtube vids and got some ideas about what I could do to reactivate my glutes and three days later I'm back in action bowling 60 + balls twice a day with no negative outcomes.

Today there was some really good news, my club have announced that they're expecting to get the green light to resume cricket around mid-July. The League has been cancelled and so all of the games will be friendlies with an Inter-club match being the first one as they sort out fixtures for the rest of the season. This coming Wednesday there's a practice session at the club, so at last some cricket and an opportunity to see how these Flippers go without an on-going knee issues.