Winter nets
So my plan for the winter nets is to work on the Top-Spinner and general accuracy. The accuracy is important as I'm hoping to adopt the field seen here below which is what I started to use at the end of the season and it worked well for me. But you can see is highly reliant on getting the ball on a good length with accuracy in terms of line.
I noted several times last season bowling against exceptionally confident and big-hitting batters who were hitting me for sixes and fours, the story was so different once I changed my approach. This happened most obviously in two friendly games which have a mix of players some of who player in the higher XI's. A game at Rayleigh v their 2nd XI captain and one of their leading batsmen and a game against Woodham Mortimer where initially I was taken apart, but almost got the wickets of the 2 most destructive batters at Cow corner.
In both games it could be argued that I took too long to adapt to the situation. But once I did change things up it was a different story... The wicket keeper was suddenly in the game with plays and misses outside of off and the batters suddenly were negated and the runs dried up. The Woodham Mortimer blokes at the end of the game commended me saying 'Well bowled'.
On reflection what I can conclude from this season is that I need to try the leg-side attack line maybe during the first 2 overs and see if their intention is to play sweeps and slogs. If they look confident or I have records of them doing so from previous games, move quickly away from that approach and use the off-side line of attack with the field above.
Currently, I have as you know the Flipper and a Leg-Break. With that combination I do fairly well, but I know that if I can nail the Top-Spinner along with decent accuracy, most batters (because it is so different from the leg-breaks) perceive it to be a Wrong-Un. Which needless to say is a massive asset as they're then looking for a ball coming in to them. Generally, all I'm aiming to do with the Top-spinner is bowl straight with dip and bounce which tends to induce false shots - "bowled and caughts" and catches in the deep.
The pitch map here (Left) is an approximation of where I get hit the most. 2024, I bowled a mix of lines, a lot of the time leg-stump and outside looking to bowl the batter around the legs and I managed to do it once or twice, but as a general rule I was taken to task and leaked runs. That's part of the reason why this year I'm changing tack to the bowling line I used to bowl years ago.
Andrew Hills field settings
At the end of the season we played Orsett in a reduced overs (30) friendly game and they had some strong players... The two Hills brothers and Andrew Hills was one of their key bowlers and he adopted a very similar field to this, but he went 8-1 as I recall? He may have had everyone on the off-side at one point? He was swing bowling getting the ball to swing to off and it worked.
This worked exceptionally well, he bowled fast with the field below and came away with the figures below
4-3-4-3
Watching the one day series between England & Australia I had a close look at their Wrist-spinners Alannah King and Georgia Wareham. Primarily looking at the line they bowl and the result of bowling either of the lines.
The fields were in-out fields with some protection in the deep, although I've not noted the positions. I was more interested in 'Big turn' King and 'small turn' Wareham and the outcome of bowling a leg-stump or wider line.
Of the two I preferred Wareham, more accurate and less turn. Although the difference in averages is marginal. Wareham only bowled 5 overs with an average of 5.40. King bowled 8.2 with an average of 5.52. Perhaps if given more overs Wareham may have come out on top.
Wareham 5-0-27-2 taking Beaumont and Sciver Brunt whereas King is a bit of a back-end burglar taking the tail-enders 8.2-0-46-5
With Wareham's apparent accuracy she doesn't bowl that leg-stump/outside of leg in the same way that King does and none of the balls on that line went for 4 as they threatened the stumps more so. Whereas King has a more scatter-gun approach - whether that's a consequence of spinning it hard and balancing that with cost and reward is a moot point?
I've heard Ish Sodhi speak recently about his bowling and he was advocating (as I always have) that accuracy comes before turn. Yeah maybe its an aspiration to be able to bowl like Warne, but if you're going to spray it all over the shop - especially down the leg-side and get whacked for 4's and 6's another approach might be worth considering?
Add to that if you're a club player you have to assess the wicket too and if you're trying to bowl big-turning leg-breaks that don't turn outside of the leg-stump, club players for the most part fancy their chances against that kind of ball.
As I write King is bowling in the T20 v England (20/1/25) and she's taken Sciver-Brunt first ball with a drag down short ball outside of leg. Sciver-Brunt who's looking like her Bunny plays across the line again and the ball stays low and clatters into her stumps. Australia for a change absolutely destroy England. Interestingly Wareham bowled every ball on an off-stump or outside line, forcing the batters to step outside off and try and hit the ball leg-side with a heavily defended off-side. Two of her wickets were as a result of England trying to get the ball legside from wide of off. Not a single boundary was scored leg-side. Wareham finished with 3-0-25-3.
King bowled a mix and came away with 3-1-14-2 with a better strike rate.
Indoor cricket - Played last night, not seen the figures yet but was robbed of a wicket in part due to me not asking how's that with any enthusiasm. I thought it was obviously out - came off the batters arm and then the swinging bat through to the keeper - he went up, the legside umpire was unsure, everyone looked to him, the batter disputed it and a discussion happened down at the confused end. I looked at the standing umpire confused and then noted he looked a me a bit sheepishly and so I asked in a normal voice 'How's that'? With no-one else noticing and resolving it themselves in favour of the batter, the umpire at my end put his finger up as out. I looked around again and the batter and the rest of my team were all moving back into position to face my next ball!😶We were way in front and this was the last over, so I let it go.
I'll try and add my figures. My son Joe went and he said that if he played he'd bowl offies rather than his stock fast stuff. He noted that the fast bowlers were going for a lot of runs, whereas when you bowled slow it was less effective. I bowled really loopy and slow...
AGM 2025_______________________________________________________________
The AGM at the club was a couple of days ago and that was interesting. Some of the captains had given up their roles and new ones were elected. The 3rd XI captains position which has been held by a bloke who's been at the club for quite some time now (Fharan Malik) was contested by Joe Cleveley who has been the 4th XI captain for a few years and that had to go to a vote. I'm not sure why Joe wanted to do that - maybe to play a higher standard of cricket, but all of the teams for the most part have been promoted up to better standard leagues anyway? The vote was had and Fahran retained his position, the vote went 15 to 11 as I recall.
There's another tricky situation with regards the 5th XI. So last year the 6th XI was a friendly team (the team I played with) and we won every single game and there was talk of us joining a league. But the committee seems to have looked at the situation and concluded that some weeks the club struggled to get a 6th XI team together and felt that we need to see the numbers improve further over 2025 to ensure every week a decent side is available. So the 6th XI remains a friendly team and I was asked to be the captain which I've turned down. I don't like doing it, I don't think I've ever won a game as a captain as its always been a team made up of the weakest players and you face turning up to games where no-one can or wants to umpire or score and there's no-one who's a wicket keeper.
Last years 6th XI team including myself wanted to play league cricket this year. The 2024 season 6th XI was made up of a group of blokes that are all pretty much new and are all mates. The 5th XI league team captaincy has been given up by P.Mac and taken over by Nishant Khare the ex 6th XI captain. I get the sense that he wants to form the 5th XI team made up primarily of all the new blokes that were 6th XI. Which means the 5th XI players without their captain might be usurped?
Add to that another dynamic - there's a new process for picking the teams. Last year there was loads of conversations and gripes about the way teams were selected it seems. Last year it was driven by the captains who had their preferred core groups or players. But during weeks were teams needed to be strengthened in order to ensure that they were competitive people were moved around. Other people felt that they were not valued/over-looked and couldn't get into better teams because of an 'Old boys network' despite the fact that they were playing well and would offer a specific team value. Conversations were had about having a different selection process - by committee and this seems to have been put into place. But the club have said they're not sure how it will work for the better, but they're willing to try it and see if it makes the situation better?
So from my perspective I can see some 'Norming, forming storming' going on here and potentially people not being happy with the situation they end up in. I'm really flexible, I just want to play cricket, but I don't want to play friendly cricket every game during the season.
I never know how much I'm valued as a team member? I can't bat - I accept that, but I'm a decent fielder, even though I'm 65 this summer I know I'm far more agile and can run faster than most blokes over the age of about 35 and way more committed than most in the field - diving for balls etc. I reckon the club should do things like Bleep tests at the start of the season to see who's fit along with training drills for ground fielding and catching to make a valued judgement before committing them to places in specific teams?
4th XI - Peter Ellis is the new captain. He's a decent bowler, respected and a good choice. But who he wants in his team, I've no idea. I'm not sure which teams he played in last year, I think of him as being a 2nd and 3rd XI pick. When I think 4th XI, I think Joe, Lennon and Sri, but I get the sense with that 'Stalking horse' take over attempt they're all looking to move up...I might be wrong?
5thXI - Nishant. I like Nishant he was a very good captain for the 6th XI and I reckon if he gets 75% of his preferred players he'll potentially do well, I'm not sure though whether in that scenario I'd fit into his plans.
6th XI - The situation was left hanging when I turned it down, but Paul Swain one of the younger players Dads was mooted as being a potential. His son is 16 left-arm quick and Paul joined in with a mixed XI friendly at the end of the season not having played for decades and played really well - batting and bowling. He also scores and umpires and knows about and likes cricket, so with his son in that developmental stage he seems to be the ideal choice - far better than me and I'd be happy to play in his team a lot of the time. I'd be very happy to do 50/50 6th XI and other teams split.
So, interesting times ahead.
