First game 2022

I was hoping to play in the 4th XI in a league game, but instead ended up in the 5th XI in a friendly against Westcliff over at Belfairs park on the 'North Pitch'.

Originally it was due to be against someone else at Chelmsford, but they got something wrong and the fixture was called off. Westcliff had the same kind of mishap and in a matter of half a day it seems the match up between us and them was organised and it was game on.

Unfortunately, not everyone on our side got the memo, so on Sat morning some people headed off to Chelmsford!

I've not had the best of build-ups to the start of the season this year as I went down with Covid having already been ill prior to that and since Covid I've never felt 100% (2 weeks ago). So I wasn't sure how I'd go. Looking at the app on my phone I've been averaging 7,330 steps per day and the equivalent of 17 flights of stairs a day per week, so I was probably going to be okay. 

There was some confusion with regards what the start time was and I was under the impression it was a 12.30 start for a short Mickey Mouse 40 over game. Remember girls and boys play 60 over games in Australia over two days at the weekend - can you image that here in the UK? Maybe, Ben Stokes as the new England captain in charge of reinvigorating the test team should have a look at the obsession in this country for playing increasingly shorter formats of cricket? So 40 overs it was - or so I thought. 

The team the night before looked like this...

At 12.15 with the time of the match being confirmed as 12.30 we consisted of Matt Knight, Kiegan Scannell, Martin Scannell (c) and a new bloke Ather. No sign of the others - 6 of us to start the game. Martin was the captain, but had agreed that he would be happy if there was input from others as he'd never done it before. He went out to the middle and did the toss and lost. But on the walk out their captain suggested that rather than play a 40 overs... "Why don't we ease into the season with a 35 overs game and not over do it" or something! Oh my God, I've paid £10 to play a miserly 40 overs and then they go and reduce it to 35. Jeez - if you don't like cricket and don't want to play it - choose to play football - 90 mins job done. Baffled. I surf, when I get to the beach I don't go down get in the water and back out again half hour later. I like surfing - once I'm in it's a 4 or 5 hour session, then a break and back in again for another 3-5 hours and then in the evening another couple of hours. The point is... I like surfing therefore I want to do it for as many hours as possible. Anyway...

12.30 came and we fielded first and they gave us some blokes. Somehow, Tristan another new bloke snuck on the field and I didn't even realise, But we had 11 in the field at the start and their blokes fielded okay. Looking at our team we had Ather who was in his late 20's maybe early 30's and Matt Knight who usually wicket keeps and bats but in response to the question can you bowl said "Yeah I can bowl a bit". I'd seen him in the nets recently and he'd looked okay, so he bowled from A127 end and Ather who had said that he was an all-rounder opened from the "Seaside end".

Matt Knight did well - 7.2/0/21/2 pretty good for a wicket keeper. Ather 5/0/24/0 not bad given this was the first time he'd played in 9 years. From my position, fielding at Mid-On I noted the ball clatter into the batters pads on a number of times and no-one went up for it least of all Ather and the wicket keeper, so I assumed that the ball must have been going down leg or something? Later in the break between innings I spoke to Ather and asked if any of the balls that hit the batters pads looked like they may have been LBW's and he said. "Ah yeah that's the thing, I noticed that when you bowled you got an LBW, I'd spoken to someone before the match and they said at this level people don't give LBW's... Yeah I would have had three or four wickets... I didn't know, I'll do it next time".

The other new bloke - Tristan Holland - who hadn't played since he was 18 (over ten years ago) did really well despite slipping about all over the shop in the rain... 5/0/26/3. He just hit the stumps. Looking at the score sheet though, their scorer has made a bit of a dogs dinner of it and has all the names in the wrong boxes and I'm not really able to make any sense of it, which is a real shame because the bowlers wont be credited with their wickets. But having said that my score sheets not top-notch either.

Anyway I did eventually bring myself on to bowl. Recently I've been thinking that if I get to bowl I might go for a really different field setting and approach. I've generally perceived that batsmen at this level are stronger on their legside and look to slog sweep you for 4's and 6's through the area between deep mid-on and square leg. So I've always advocated an off-stump line.

This year during winter nets I experimented with bowling a leg-stump or outside leg-stump line which I never do. The theory being that if you set a field as the one below...

You're saying if you want the boundary you've either got to go aggressive and hit the ball for a six or through the field. Someone might say, they're just going tip and run and rotate the strike and you'll be going for 6 an over. But, the ball is turning into the stumps and if they get it wrong they're going to be bowled or possibly stumped. Another argument for this line is there's a blind spot in your eyes in the area where the ball nears the point where it bounces which works in your favour to a small extent. 

Warne used to say - "Tell me how you're going to take a wicket". In this case I feel that there's a number of ways... (1) Big sweep shot caught in the deep with the packed leg-side field. (2) Big sweep shot top-edged caught by 3, 11, 8 or 10. (3) Stumped (4) Bowled round the legs. (5) Bowled or LBW from my variation - faster flipper on the stumps. 

It works though, I bowled this line in the winter nets and caused all sorts of problems, bowled a few through the gate or round the legs, but the one that caught them out - especially better batsmen was the flipper. 

In this game being the captain, I started my spell with this field in mind, but had the problem of being a man short. I thought I'd start the spell and set a standard field (a) To see what the batters would do and (b) To see how well I was bowling and to see if I could get the ball turning off the wicket. I bowled 4 overs and I don't think it turned once significantly. I bowled an outside leg-stump line and only got called for a wide once. The image below is an approximation of where I was hit during the 4 overs. 

Looking at it, the positions I would have had the fielders in - again, approximated by the red dots looks as though it may have been effective. But given the fact that I didn't have 11 players I had the backward square leg player at backward point and the bloke at cow corner was in deep cover point and I went with that as it seemed quite effective and I went for 4/0/19/2 and would have gone for less if it wasn't for how unfit and unable to run some of the blokes in my team are - the ones between 20 and 30 years old!

I gave the kids a bowl Barath and JJ Bone and they were okay, Barath slightly better but he was sliding around all over the place with no spikes so I brought him off. I brought his Dad on who bowls really loopy and slow, but accurate left-arm orthodox. He also got two wickets.

Not that I've ever had the opportunity to put it into practice fully, but I'm also an advocate of short spells and after three overs from Sri where he'd gone for 19 I said to him, you have another over - if you get a wicket you stay on and sure enough it worked and he ended up with 5/0/28/2 which was happy about. Then he was instrumental in their last man getting out by orchestrating a run-out off his bowling. They finished with 153 a few runs short of their 35 overs. 

I'm still here 2022 pre-season nets

 I think everyone who plays at our club have come through Covid 19 okay. The next worry is Putin and things like food shortages and the cost of fuels - cars and heating next winter. But in the short term... Cricket!

So, a quick re-cap. The last 2 years I've been bowling flippers. The issue with my knees was resolved through self governed physio and rest and it seems the likely issue was weak glutes and and core. That exacerbated by over doing extreme exercises. The man I follow for my strength and conditioning is this bloke here... (Double click the image). 

The Flippers worked well and I bowled them 95% of the time and people just couldn't deal with them. But last summer my run-up went wrong and I developed a stutter in the run-up that I couldn't resolve. Towards the end of the season I started to bowl off a 2-3 step walk in and it worked okay in some instances. 

So, week 2 of pre-season nets I've been bowling primarily off of 2- 3 steps and it's working for me. I've tried a couple of long run-ups for the Flipper bowling, but the run-up is still a mess. The interesting thing though is that I've bowled a line that I've always avoided in the past. Over the stumps into the leg-stump area with leg-breaks. There's an awkward blind spot there where the ball can potentially disappear for a split second and this can be exploited to an extent. Added to this I'm also attacking the stumps with the ball turning.

My normal perception is that bowling this line is a high risk strategy as most batsmen fancy themselves to be able to hit the ball over the boundary. Before he died I watched a video or saw Warne on a SKY program saying that when you bowl you need to be able to tell me what your plan is... "How you going to get me this blokes wicket"? Thinking this through in terms of my own bowling, my approach has always been wholly reliant on good wicket keeping, slips and fielders on the off-side with no hope of hitting the stumps as I'm always turning the ball away from them. 

So now my response to the same question would be...

(1). I'm trying to turn the ball into the stumps and bowl the batter round their legs.

(2). With the ball outside of leg and spinning, the batter is going to sweep/slog the ball leg-side to a packed field (See below) and someone's going to take the catch.

But add to this approach the fact that I've been bowling Flippers now for 2 seasons and they have a handful of attributes as I bowl them in a number of variations...

(a). A conventional back-spinner with an upright seam which is a much faster change up and is straight. (b). The same ball but stupidly loopy and slow that almost stops because of the back-spin - LBW or bowled option. (c) The same back-spinner with a crossed seam and again much faster or slower - but straight again, but with the addition of the crossed seam comes weirdness off the wicket and swerve in the air. 

(d). An off-spinning flipper which I used tonight against one of the best bats at our club and I clean bowled him as he played for the leg-break, but the ball had just a little off-break to it.

Finally my top-spinner is back and that keeps the batsman on their toes and a few of them bounced and were hit high up the bat for potential C&B.

The interesting thing though was the better batsmen struck the ball as expected through zone A in this diagram and the really good bloke back up the wicket past me tight or an on-drive to "7" (Long Mid on), so the chances are they may have been singles or I may have attempted to catch them in a game scenario. 

I think next week I'll show them this field diagram and say play me as though I had this field set and see what they do. I'll record where the ball goes as well and see if this works. I know that if I get the line wrong I'll go for runs through the off-side.

21^st March nets.

It didn’t go that well. All my plans went to pot and I bowled poorly and there’s nothing to report.

28^th March nets

This was a different story though. Had some decent bats in my net so potentially a real challenge. I didn’t dabble with my run up and kept it simple coming in off just 2-3 steps. Going with the loose grip, cocked wrist and lowish arm angle – the aim was to get it up above the eyes just around 6” – 12” outside of the leg-stump on a good length. It’s pretty obvious that the length is key and getting the ball turning. Taking a leaf out of Warne’s book to some extent I bowled the initial ball on the off-side just to see if I could get the ball to turn. I guess this would be a good approach in a game when you start your spell as the batter doesn’t know what you’re about to do and if it turn’s you’re already getting in their head potentially? I did that and the batter played and missed trying to cut the ball.

Thereafter I went either straight or on my intended line and pretty much bowled with good accuracy, a few wide balls, but for the most part where I wanted it and yes it caused problems. The only other balls I’m using are the off-spinning Flipper and a Top-Spinner and the combination works. The off-spinning flipper looks particularly dangerous with the batters saying they can’t pick it. Varying the speed obviously helps and causes problems too. It all looks promising. The only thing I can put my finger on that I did differently was some stretches? 

Knee update - ongoing through the 2021 season

 It seems that if anything is going to stop me playing cricket or at least stop me from bowling it's going to be my knees.

Back in February I mentioned that the left knee felt like it was the more susceptible to further issues, but after the first game of the season where I've only bowled 5 overs, the right knee is the one that feels sore and the soreness is in the back of the knee rather than the front and it's still sore 24 hours later. Not swollen, just sore I might roll it and see if that make it feel any better, but I check to see if that's a good idea first!

8th May 2021

Played a couple of weekends on the trot and both games got through with no real flare ups or swelling, but some soreness and feeling of being 'Full' in the back of the knee, sort of a water on the knee feeling. Was scheduled to play this weekend (8th), but the game was called off thankfully as towards the end of the week my knee grew ever more sore with some limited swelling which I kind of reckon would be described as possibly being 'water on the knee'. Looking at all the description of what it might be it seems most likely to be connected to the popletius. Anyway it's the right knee and it's sore rather than painful and at the moment (8th of May) it feels as though I'd be unlikely to play this coming weekend. 

https://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/popliteus-assessment-and-rehabilitation/

This link above has got some useful stuff. 

And this one in particular https://www.cricketgraph.com/knee-injuries-and-cricketers-a-better-way-to-prevent-knee-injuries/

I need to use inner soles with a higher arch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhYwEr4BgRE

Warm up before bowling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYfbmqdpjkI

Bowling warm up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3c2HmCzYr8

First practice of 2021 with Joe and Ben!

 There had been a practice session a couple of nights ago, but what with it being freezing cold and getting in late we 'Longed it off'. A couple of night later it was 'Sign up' night at the club and I went down -paid my subs and paid for a months worth of games. While I was there I heard there was a chance for a practice this Saturday (Today) and I was up for that at 12.30. Joe said he'd go and my older son Ben who played up till he did his GCSE's said he wouldn't be going "Last thing I want to do - do I look like a 'Crack head'"?

It was a lovely crisp sunny day, the frost had melted a few hours beforehand and it was dry with a light breeze. I got my gear ready including some new cricket shoes, woke Joe up and got ready. As I got the bags in the car, Ben came out and said "Yeah I'm coming" and so for the first time in a few years all three of us practiced together. We're all bowlers and we all seemed to bowl okay, they were a bit knackered and sore after as they don't really do any exercise. I took loads of wickets - hitting the stumps with both Flippers and Leg-Breaks. Joe had a good day with the bat. I think Joe is better than his usual No.11 and he batted really well by all accounts today and he was well chuffed and said that he actually enjoyed it. I've always said that as he gets older he'll just get more confident and less fearful and he said he was fine, but conceded that if any of our quick's had been there he may have felt different. Ben took his wicket and he said that Ben was surprisingly quick given he's not picked up a ball in years. Joe was enjoying it so much he didn't want to come home!

The good thing was Ben (older son) wasn't negative about it and I've suggested that maybe he plays in the 4's and just play away games or something? We'll have to see...

Next game is Saturday 24th over at Mopsies and that's an interclub game, I'm really looking forward to that. Can't wait!

Bit of exercise

 With the season closing on us fast and no nets again this year, exercise has been few and far between other than stuff that I can do indoors. I'm not one for running around the streets or muddy woods as it bores me to tears, but over the Easter break I've been doing some serious gardening and that's helped out a bit as in the last couple of days I've been for a walk and round my circuit in the local woods and bowled 60 balls in a session yesterday and both went okay. In fact the walk/run around the circuit has gone pretty well with recovery rate data to suggest I'm doing quite well.

The wood walk/run takes about 19 mins and I use and interval timer that bleeps every 2 mins. I walk as fast as I physically can and on the bleeps I run for about 20 seconds. Dependent on fitness levels the 20 second run bit is done as fast as I can physically do it and this is supposed to replicate cricket scenarios - running between wickets and fielding where, you're not continuously running, but running sporadically. 

The first of these run/walks yielded a recovery rate of 26 two days ago and today with some bowling done yesterday the recovery rate improved to 36. So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to see if I can get it up to the 59 + region as per the chart below.

https://www.sundried.com/blogs/training/heart-rate-recovery-and-fitness-levels

Heart Rate Recovery

How fast your heart rate can return from high intensity near max bpm to resting rate is known as your heart rate recovery.  HR Recovery is measured after performing strenuous exercise for a given period of time and then measuring how far your heart rate drops two minutes after stopping that exercise. For example, sprinting on a treadmill as fast as you can for around 2 minutes. Follow this with a heart rate reading and then rest for 2 complete minutes and take your heart rate again. To calculate your heart rate recovery rate you now subtract the two numbers.

Findings: (These recovery results were taken from Enhanced Medical Care).

• Less than 22: Your biological age is slightly older than your calendar age.
• 22-52: Your biological age is about the same as your calendar age.
• 53-58: Your biological age is slightly younger than your calendar age.
• 59-65: Your biological age is moderately younger than your calendar age.
• 66 or more: Your biological age is a lot younger than your calendar age.

The bottom line? The faster your heart rate returns to normal, the higher your level of fitness.

Medical research also supports this analysis of heart rate recovery. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, people whose heart rate recovery times are longer are at a higher risk of death than people with shorter recovery times, regardless of physical condition or other risk factors. Another study by the National Emergency Medicine Association found measuring heart rate recovery rates is one way to tell whether an exercise program is effective.

Flipper - off-spinning variation

 The last two seasons I've been playing at a much higher level than I ought to be playing in my opinion and I've had to adapt to the situation and change my bowling. So I've been bowling flippers coming in off a much longer run-up than I have ever done and it's worked for the most part. Only once have I been aware that anyone's sussed out what I've been doing and that was young bloke from one of the Southend teams who I heard say to his Dad 'He's bowling back-spinners' and he was taking me and everyone else to the cleaners.

I've kept it really simple, mostly I'm bowling cross-seamed with the occasional up-right seamed delivery. I vary the speeds and how much spin I put on the ball and rarely I try the one out of the front of the hand with a bit of off-spin, but I've found that rarely turns and if it does it's minimal. Recently at home I was thinking about the potential of the off-spinning variation and realised that it would probably work so much better with a lower arm angle. I bowl with a very upright arm and getting the wrist into an appropriate position to release a flipper with off-spin is tricky, but my initial experiments indoors seem to indicate that simply by lowering my arm may yield benefits. Another observation is that it still retains the back-spin aspect, so it does actually work it'll be an off-break with back-spin which is an unusual delivery. 

Knee situation 2021

 The knee saga...

Last spring probably did me a favour with the Covid situation, as it mean that there was no cricket till late June? So I had all of Spring and the early part of the summer basically doing rehab. Walking for most of the time interspersed with short bursts of running. By the time we got some cricket my knee felt fine. So good I didn't really know which knee had been giving me grief.

Since Sept 2020 though, I like a lot of people haven't been doing a great deal physically apart from some Yoga and stretching and upper body strength exercises focusing on arms and shoulders. Sitting around all the time though, I'm aware that this is a potentially a bad move with regards weakening the butt muscles and eventually that impacts on the knees. I do a fair bit of flexibility exercises and put my knees through a bit of a going over doing this and I'm aware that the left knee feels less flexible or potentially susceptible to future issues, but I'm hoping as we come out of the winter and lock-down this year I can start getting out and about and exercising in readiness for a new season.

Talking of which there seems to be some really good news. It seems that we've got 10 new adult players and they sound like they're all South Asian blokes, so that bodes well on so many fronts. In addition to that there's a big crop of younger players coming through this year as well. So many it seems, that we're definitely going to be able to field 4 teams for the first time in 3 or 4 years! Hopefully there's some batters among them because that's what we seem to be missing! Hopefully, I'll get to play in a team that suits my age and abilities rather than playing 2nd XI and 3rd XI cricket! I might actually get some wickets!