2nd week of pre-season nets

This week just the net session at Writtle.

What happened ___________________________________________________________
 Batted and bowled much in the same mode as last week with pretty much the same scenarios. Intended to have a look at different aspects of my bowling.

How do I feel it went?_______________________________________________________
Any batting practice for me is good batting practice, the bowling is always going to be sketchy in nets and it's difficult to remain focused on any plans made, but it did go okay. Generally it was good.

What was good/bad?________________________________________________________       Apart from partly being put off my intentions by the way the batters bat, I did get to the stage where I executed some of my intentions, so that was good. Batting I was also happy with for the most part.

Analysis____________________________________________________________________
So, there was a plan (See last weeks net post). I'd seen the bloke batting and he had a definite approach whereby he was hitting almost every ball through the off-side and doing so with relative ease. All the shots were between the area indicated by the mustard colour whereas I'd have preferred him playing through the region B, but this was obviously his preferred approach as he played almost everyone in the same way.

I kind of have to dismiss what happens in the nets to some extent, because (1). The bounce and the way the ball comes off the surface is consistent. (2). The batters don't generally play in the same extravagant way in a game.

The amount of turn off the wicket was petty consistent and my speed being what it is the bloke was playing the line, assuming the ball was going to pitch outside of off stump and either play a straight forward cut shot or a late cut back of point. All the time I bowled this line, he was more than up to getting the ball through the off-side zone indicated with relatively powerful shots, some were in the air and would have risked being caught.

Looking at the shots he played, the bloke at 3rd man (5) could have come squarer - more deep backward point, but slightly in off the boundary.

There's an adage that I came across recently with regards fielding it may have been in Bob Woolmers Art and science of Cricket... "Don't move a fielder in response to something the batsman has done unless it's an attacking option". So to bring the 3rd man into the backward of point position would I guess be far more pro-active in this scenario?

Having seen how strong he was through the off-side I threw up a couple looking to come in from just out-side of the leg-stump attacking the middle stump, one I remember - trusting the bounce and knowing how much I was turning my stock-legbreak he stepped across the stumps to the off-side and hit the ball through the square-leg zone which would have been fielded for a single by No.3 fielder in the deep.

Having seen all this, as discussed previously in last weeks blog post, this is where I needed at least one variation. So early in the season with no real opportunities as yet to practice, this was going to be the opportunity to try the top-spinner. It worked - first ball, expecting the ball to turn away from him he stepped back to play one of his aggressive cut-shots and the ball (1) didn't turn so he was immediately cramped up (2) the bounce was exaggerated because the top-spinner dips. The shot was completely mis-timed and ballooned up into the air to potentially be caught by the fielder at 8 (Cover). In a game scenario, you'd imagine that the batter would then become a little more circumspect with regards playing in such an aggressive manner thereafter if he valued his wicket.

Action Plan________________________________________________________
This reinforces the need for at least one variation if not two. As with last year, I'm probably going to work with 2 variations as well as a series of leg-break sub-variations . The one delivery that I want to be able to execute well and be confident to bowl in games is the Top-Spinner, so in the short term over the coming weeks as I work on my fitness I'll be bowling more top-spinners. So, at home while I'm flicking the ball keeping the fingers supple and always working on muscle memory for the wrist and flick action and in the nets I may look at only bowling top-spin this coming session to try and develop and improve the release and the seam alignment.


Needless to say there are shed loads of people that know far more than me so you should have a look around and read more on the theories and tactics https://www.pitchvision.com/complete-guide-to-cricket-field-settings#/

First net this year

Gibbs Reflection

What happened _________________________________________________________
The first two nets of the year, one at Woodlands school and the other at Writtle. Bowled and batted. No expectation or plan for the bowling, with the batting an intention to be more positive. Was bowled by my son Joe and Alistair Hayton. (fast and off-spin respectively).

Feelings________________________________________________________________
Given that this was the first net of the season I was happy with what happened apart from the fact that Joe who was bowling in the 1st and 2nd XI nets came across to my net when I started batting and knowing full well that in the best of circumstances I struggle with the ball coming into my legs - bowled into my legs. He came around the wicket and hit me in the side of the knee where there's no pads and no straps even. 2 days later it looks like this...

This is the back of my knee - the ball hit the side of the knee on the boney bit of the left of the image. Yes it did hurt and yes it did swell up and it is still tender know and this is having iced it when I got back of the nets.

What was good/bad_________________________________________________________
Bowling at the first net session (Club nets) was bad, primarily because there were a load of blokes in the nets and you're rotating your turn with 8 others and there's no way that you're going to get any rhythm. Good in that session was that my line was pretty much spot on, I was able to bowl the line I wanted, length was okay too. 2nd net at Writtle that was good with regards the batting, but that's in part down to the fact that the group I'm there with (Disability players) included Graham Davies AKA G-Man who's the coach for them at Essex as far as I'm aware. So that meant the batting was done with purpose and scenarios.

Analysis __________________________________________________________________
Bowling, at both sessions, the majority of my bowling was was on or outside the off-stump, so with the ball turning away from the batsmen. They have a look at a few balls and then see the consistency of my line and turn see and that its not actually threatening the stumps. They then play cut shots of different varieties, drives and back-foot drives. All of these can be countered as I keep arguing in my other blog here by having a strong and organised off-side field.

One of the blokes that I bowled at... Alistair Hayton I asked about this approach (He also bowls) and he said "if I saw that the field on the leg-side was offering more scoring opportunities, I'd be stepping across the crease and trying to score through the leg-side". It's then that you need a straight ball or some other variation which is something I need to work on. I do bowl a Flipper and I did try one or two, but both went leg-side. Flippers are a variation that I need to work on a lot before using in a game. But preferably, I'd have a good Top-Spinner, again, this is a ball I have to work with a lot in order for it to be usable and last year my attempts at a Top-Spinner were indifferent. A perfectly straight one would be ideal, but just a leg-break with only a little turn would be more than useful. Googlies for me are out of the question.

So for the moment the basic plan when bowling this summer will involve the field here...

This field is reliant on being accurate with your bowling line in order to not concede runs on the leg-side. Added to this your length and speed needs to be such that you're able to land the ball on a length that encourages the batsman to drive off the front foot and not slow enough to play back foot shots.

The key thing here is to be able to bowl variations in line and length, if you've got something that doesn't turn - bring it out early show the batsman. I have a number of sub variations of my leg-break - As well as the bog- standard leg-break I can vary it's flight, dip and the amount of turn by either getting up on my toes at FFC (Front foot contact). Generally I bowl without going up on the toes for my standard leg-break, but simply going up on the toes creates more dip and turn. The same speed ball will have a trajectory initially that looks similar, but will then suddenly dip and then bounce more.
There's a caveat to this though, this kind of accuracy and control of variation isn't the norm and only comes about when I'm totally relaxed and 3 overs into the game when I'm bowling well in practice. Generally I need to be fully fit and practicing a lot. (See 'Action Plan' below.

Batting Analysis Batting is something I need to work on as you can see from the picture above - cricket friends on Facebook have helpfully suggested that I should hit the ball rather than let it hit me. Other than my son Joe nearly breaking my leg and getting me LBW, I continued to struggle against the blokes that bowled off-spin mixed with a straight ball (There's that combination again). Against anyone that bowls with some pace I've been working on moving my feet and in the last year or so in practice in the paddock with Joe I've been walking down the crease to the bowler in the same way that England Women's Tammy Beuamont does in this video here at 4'.45' (double click on the image below). 

and is seems to work for me if the wicket it relatively sound and the bowler is bowling in a consistent manner. The good thing is, If I'm able to get to the Writtle nest every week heading into the season I reckon this may make some difference especially with Graham Davies's coaching. This is first time in 12 years that someone has helped me with my batting!

Action Plan________________________________________________________________
In the next session try and work on the top-spinner or at least have a look at it and see if there's any chance at all of bowling with the seam relatively straight. At home keep flicking the ball from hand to hand and look at the wrist position adjustment to produce a ball with more over-spin, but with the same amount of revs on the ball seen with the leg-break. 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/cricket/10964720/tammy-beaumont-masterclass