2023, I'm going to try and write up a game report this year every week. Primarily it'll be with the wagon wheels of the opposition, but I reckon I'm only going to focus on the players up till the point where I bowl. I'll try and do the ones that I have to bowl against as normally they're the middle order blokes that I have to face and so the data is important for my own game.
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06/05/23 East Hanningfield & Great Burstead 3rd XI v Basildon & Pitsea 5th XI
As usual, waited all week watching the weather in anticipation of another week where the game would be cancelled at the last moment. As the weekend approached, the prediction of rain on Saturday stuck and I woke up to a grey rain-heavy looking sky. As I got my crap together I saw on whatsap, that we were a player short and it started to rain at around 10.30;only light rain/drizzle, but continual. It didn't look promising. Lee Thompson who was due to pick me up at 12.00 said that where he was in North East Basildon it was raining hard and he was doubtful as to whether the game would go on, meanwhile the rain in Langdon Hills where I lived eased off a little and the skies brightened.
This year was supposed to be the return to cricket teas,but after the debacle 2 weeks ago at Southend it seems things have taken more of a turn for the worst. Despite a vote and the majority being in favour of teas, those that weren't in favour have kicked up a fuss and seemingly are refusing to go with the vote. So now we have a situation where some clubs such as ours have put in place arrangements all season. So now prior to the game on Thursday the captains have to check with each other where they stand in the great tea debacle. So its come to a situation where if we play against a 'Pro tea' side we'll reciprocate when they play at our home games. But if we play against an 'Anti tea' side, at home, there'll be tea there because it's been arranged for the whole season, but they're not allowed to have it unless they pay for it there and then. When we play at their ground they're not going to be providing us with a reciprocal tea and we're going to have to take our own tea. It's a bit of a mess, but I'm sure it'll all pan out fine in the end. More aggro for the captains though in situations where people don't get the 'Memo' regarding what's happening...
Lee Thompson and I arrived first and it looked like a nice ground, spoke to some of the blokes and my impression was they were all up for a game despite the grotty weather, so at least they were up for it, question now was will the rest of my team be up for it. The captain PMac turned up and he seemed very positive as well and one by one as all of our players showed up the general consensus was definitely one of... Yeah it's raining, but we all want to play, let's give it a go!
Pmac and Lee walking out to the square to evaluate the conditions.
Nice pavilion - not one that I've photographed previously that I need to go back and do in the future with a DSLR.
The home team lads making it pretty clear that they wanted to play - taking the stumps out and setting up in the pouring rain.
The game underway in persistent light rain, thankfully I was able to sit in the doorway of the pavilion and score.
Reece Eustace on the long walk back to the hutch having scored 1.
Drinks break in the rain
Look at this for scoring! They had a bloke who scored for them at the start of the game doing my job and he had some good tips which I might implement in the next match. One that I'm going to try is that he had a separate note pad and one of things he kept a note of as he filled in the sheet was the batters runs, so at any time if you asked him he knew exactly who was on what runs. Talking to him he said that there was a local woman that scored for one of their other teams and she was far better than he was at scoring with even more detail somehow.
We did come off the field at one point when it got much heavier and the game was on the verge of being abandoned, but then it eased up to drizzle again and we were back out there!
Our wicket keeper - Mitchell Robinson below and above soaked through to the skin. In the shot below you can see Nishant who looks like he wasn't in the same game - not a spot on him!
The wicket was a bit of a mess by the end of the game as you'd expect. Groundsman wont be happy.
Our captain PMac with oppositions Captain and No.1 batsman sorting out the admin at the end of the game.
We won the toss and PMac decided that we'd have a bat, I'm guessing because it was obvious that the wicket would deteriorate in some way.
Looking at the team sheet below which was how it stood Thursday before the game, there's not a lot of recognisable batters. Mark Robinson and Akash I guess. Mitchell Robinson I've seen score a few. The rare bones of it though from last year...
Mark Robinson 20.14
Nishant 16.13
Reece Eustace 15.33
Mitchell Robinson 10.46
Then if you look at the oppo...
Tiraj Patel 55.50
Hamza Bodiyat 32.75
David Launder 18.63
Cliff Feraday 18.25
Launder was the 6th highest scoring batter at their club and Feraday the 8th.
I reckon it was always going to be tough whatever the weather.
Father and son combo Mark and Mitchell Robinson opened. Mark scored 15 of 48 balls and was bowled and Mitchell scored 20 off of around 41 balls, but was dropped twice in the first 2.5 overs before being bowled.
Other than that, no-one was able to get up to double figures. Nishant looked good for his 9 off of 20 before being caught Patel off of Musa's bowling.
I joined Sri at the end coming in at No.11 and he too looked to be doing well scoring a couple of 2's while I was out there, but the finisher was a ball back past the bowler, an easy two which he called for, but as I set off slipped in the mire and was run out, shame as I was feeling comfortable out there for my single!
With 12 extras added we were faced with defending 74 which was a task.
There was a lot of bowlers in our team and one Nishant didn't even get a go. Maybe he'd have had a chance if it'd taken more overs to lose the game?
What with them having the field in the early part of the game when it was 'Dryer' they may have had it easier. For us it was a lot wetter and people including myself were skidding around a little in our run-ups. PMac the captain is a big unit - probably 6'3" and he has a long run-up. He did well, but then skidded and eased up slightly. I'm guessing in todays blame society you might have said it was dangerous, but the choice to bowl off a run-up or a stand start is yours, unless of course you're a kid and you might feel pressurized into bowling when maybe you'd rather not? But no-one got hurt and the game was played. One of the kids - Henry Englezou did bowl off a run up and it appeared to me that he wasn't wearing spikes - maybe training spikes for artificial surfaces?
I reckon given the conditions we all bowled really well, especially the kids Henry and Kirby Jennings, she usually bowls Finger-spin and took a wicket today bowling loopy straight ones on a good length and got the wicket of Feraday who was the danger man. Lee Thompson who had a really good day overall because he was the bloke who was involved in the game more so than anyone else. For the most part he was either at Mid-Wicket or the covers, not moving between overs, he pretty much did 75% of the fielding on his own! What with the grass being like an ice rink, he was pretty much on his backside all the time, sliding into the ball and stopping it keeping the runs down to singles or dots. Then it came to his bowling... I've been with him over the last 3 months or so in the nets and training and he's had the yips and only in the last couple of weeks he's ditched the way he normally bowls - left arm medium seam and has had to develop a new action... left-arm slow off-cutters and I reckon he was a bit nervous. But he pulled it off - slipping around like everyone else off of a 5-7 step run up and took one of the 3 wickets today - clean bowling Marlon J. Sri got a nice one - edged to the keeper Mitchell.
Me?
I bowled against the 2 openers and like everyone else had to change my action. A two step walk in. I guessed it was going to be tricky and decided that it was going to have to be very full and on the stumps with the flippers and for the most part that's how it worked out. I did try and bowl a couple of Leg-Breaks and I think they're the wides! I noticed in these conditions Feraday (RHB) didn't seem to have an answer for the full ball on the leg-stump into his toes - he was standing on a middle stump guard initially. He then took a guard outside of leg exposing his stumps, but I wasn't able to exploit it. Another observation was that into his heel or just down the leg-side he was struggling with too and he may have clipped just one off his heel to square leg which was risky. The other bloke the No.2 Marlon (LHB) I stayed over the wicket again bowling into his toes on his off-stump, which worked OK.
When not bowling I was having a laugh with the umpire at square leg - who was the standing umpire while I was bowling and he was impressed with my bowling. So, all in all just 5 runs off 4 overs with no wicket, I'll take that.
My running total now is (2 games)
12-2-32-2 -2.6 Strike rate isn't so clever though, a wicket every six overs at the moment. *Must try harder.
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28/4/23 There was supposed to be a game tomorrow, but it's been called off by the opposition because of the weather. It would have been paid at Rayleighs home ground.
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| Click on image for full report |
This was a good game to start with as the mix of the teams was interesting. Looking at the players there was a good mix of ages, but they didn't have two old blokes like our team had (Me 62, Tony Keep 64)? Plus we had 4 kids ages 15 to 17. One of them the keeper. Whereas they had 2 kids about similar ages to ours and a few blokes in their 20's. I had us down as losing this game.
The wicket was damp and green and we bowled well and fielded well. I think I got the bloke who may have taken the game away from us cheaply.
I felt good in the field, nice and agile, no concerns with going to ground, almost took a second catch at full stretch one-handed above my head and it didn't bruise.
Didn't get out of breath which was good, but TBH didn't have to run that much. Felt good bowling - Flippers were a smidge inaccurate and cost me runs trying to bowl them at pace, may have been better bowled really slow, but was unsure whether they'd be accurate enough to chance - will have to work on them in the nets.
The good news is the Leg-Breaks were coming out well landing where I wanted them and therefore enabling me to take the wickets that I did to a plan. Have a look at the other 'Bowlers Union' blog - double click the image above.
The weather's predicted to be awful all week leading up to the weekend next and there's another 3 or 4 fixtures planned, but both our grounds are supposed to be in a real mess - the council is yet to cut the grass and they've still got standing water. Last time I was there, there was a big muddy area directly outside the club house and tonight we've had heavy rain, hail and thunder.
Detailed wagon wheels?
Last summer, someone moaned about the fact that I do the wagon wheels whilst playing and so mid summer I stopped doing it, but in this game Jon Bonnet and Michael Gray saw me writing up the notes and asking where the batter was hitting the ball and they asked 'Why didn't you make notes in the game' like you usually do? I explained the story and also my suspicions about why I wasn't picked for the 4th XI last year because of my note taking. They both seemed to think it wasn't an issue, so I might resume doing it this year.
So, overall a good start. One thing I need to work on is tactics for Left-handers. Had to bowl at a few in the nets this winter and need to re-call what worked and what didn't and devise a plan.
