someblokecalleddave's Blog

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Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Dave,

The season has started very well for u with ur bowling performance coming really good..
Did u had any special preparation during the off season on ur bowling or fitness or any particular change in ur bowling style or change in strategy...could u please share it with me..
I am very happy to see ur performance starting this season on a good and positive note..

Virender
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yes congrats and happy birthday. You are having a hell of a season. Do you think it is time for you to play at a higher level, or do you prefer consolidating first and then moving up? I know you had a game at that level that was not so balanced.

Congrats, I understand you got a leftie out. What do you reckon is your most common wicket taking delivery? Is it the small leg break on middle and off or at offstump?

Also, you have experience now on both hard concrete/asphalt and turf tracks. Do you think there is more turn on one rather than the other? I presume the lower bounce on some turf/grass wickets reduces the amount of turn. Also have you lately tried the big leg break during practice and/or in a game situation? It would also be interesting to find whether cloudy and damp athmospheric conditions affect the bowling during a game? I know you had commented on the flipper and swing during practice, but do you have the same experience in a game situation with a newer shinier ball?

I hope you have a relaxing summer with your family, for me it is more 80 hour plus weeks at work and temperatures in the mid to high 30's just to make sure I do not have time to practice and experiment. I am out of here. Bye.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Virendersingh.berthwal;357540 said:
Dave,

The season has started very well for u with ur bowling performance coming really good..
Did u had any special preparation during the off season on ur bowling or fitness or any particular change in ur bowling style or change in strategy...could u please share it with me..
I am very happy to see ur performance starting this season on a good and positive note..

Virender
Click to expand...

Virender, the thing that is fundamentally different has been that as of last Sept I fully focussed on bowling the Leg Break. I've always been able to bowl a whole load of variations particularly the Googly with a fairly good and accurate top-spinner but never since learning the Googly was I able to bowl the Leg Break. So starting last september I became fully commited to learning the Leg Break as everyone was saying 'You're not the complete package as a wrist spinner if you can't bowl the Leg Break'. So I spent Sept through to April practicing using Hockey balls on concrete and tarmac trying to learn the Leg break and it all came together in May.

I don't turn it a great deal but more than enough to beat the bat, but I bowl it in a very attacking manner with only one intention - to take wickets. I've got very good accuracy with both line and length and I vary the speed and flight whilst maintaining the line and length. But I've also got the ever-present threat of turning the ball the other way (Googly) or putting it in flatter with backspin (Flipper) or with loads of Top Spin. Almost every ball is aimed very precisely at the Off-stump and the batsman has no other option than to deal with it. So far it just seems that I've posed such a threat that I've always dominated the situation other than in one match where I faced a fairly good left handed batsman.

The key to my success is the accuracy and the amount of practice I put in and that is lots!
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

sadspinner;357553 said:
Yes congrats and happy birthday. You are having a hell of a season. Do you think it is time for you to play at a higher level, or do you prefer consolidating first and then moving up? I know you had a game at that level that was not so balanced.

Congrats, I understand you got a leftie out. What do you reckon is your most common wicket taking delivery? Is it the small leg break on middle and off or at offstump?

Also, you have experience now on both hard concrete/asphalt and turf tracks. Do you think there is more turn on one rather than the other? I presume the lower bounce on some turf/grass wickets reduces the amount of turn. Also have you lately tried the big leg break during practice and/or in a game situation? It would also be interesting to find whether cloudy and damp athmospheric conditions affect the bowling during a game? I know you had commented on the flipper and swing during practice, but do you have the same experience in a game situation with a newer shinier ball?



I hope you have a relaxing summer with your family, for me it is more 80 hour plus weeks at work and temperatures in the mid to high 30's just to make sure I do not have time to practice and experiment. I am out of here. Bye.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the Birthday congrats. I got the Bob Woolmer book which is interesting but still omits much of Grimmetts work but at the same time recognises his work and legacy. The Leg Break is my killer delivery, yeah it's not big at all but it beats the bat and I guess the reason it works so well is that it's exceptionally accurate and I bowl at the off-stump. That means they have to do something with it and it seems because I bowl different speeds, different lengths and loops the option most of them seem to take is that they either defend the wicket stoically, hence the run rate or they come after me - hence the strike rate. I always put in the odd ball early that goes the other way (Googly) and that completely freaks them out and lets them know who is in command.

There's been talk of me playing League cricket on Saturdays, but I don't really want to play Saturdays and can't because of family commitments. There's talk of G&CCC joining a Sunday League so it may go up a level next year, which'll be interesting.

I've been working on the Biggun while I've been on holiday, I can't get the line and length. I can get it to spin right and turn big off of general grass, but it's not something I'm that fussed about at the minute. What I'll probably do is the same as my bog standard Leg Break - concentrate on it fully over the winter using Hockey balls on Concrete. At the minute with no need to bowl on concrete with the Hockey balls I can't comment whether I think I'd be able to turn it as much on such a surface. But just flicking the ball around (Hockey) outside the house I reckon it's similar. But that's a very general 'Similar' as you say different wickets bring different responses from your bowling.

Drift is something I either don't get or fail to recognise. Both my Back-spinning and Top-spinning flippers produce swing but it seems to be affected by atmospherics. I've been reading about this in the Woolmer book and he concludes in it that the atmospheric affects on swing are not understood at all.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Todays game from my main blog - Wrist Spin Bowling: That wasn't good....

Turns out that I played a home game against a team called Kingfisher. It didn't look good straight from the outset. We had our usual mix of old duffers, small boys, sloggers, bowlers and Bobby Ewing. Unfortunately we lost the toss and we were lead to the slaughter slab for the ritual of sacrifice. Several minutes later we left the pitch after a batting collapse that looked reminiscent of the current Ashes test at Edgbaston. A series of ducks, golden ducks, out for ones etc and probably only 2 blokes getting into double figures, we left the field all out for 73 with Bobby Ewing batting right through having come in at number 3. He batted a total of 36 as I recall. It was that bad I didn't even bother to record the details or take any pic's! I was batting at No.11 and was doing okay supporting Bobby Ewing - just fending of the ball through my overs so that he could get back on strike and make the 130 so runs we needed on his own. Thing is, I was so focussed on keeping it together batting-wise that whilst at the non-striking end I was concentrating on getting the running between the wickets right that I didn't account for the potential of some particularly sharp fielding. The bowler came past me at the non-strikers end and I set off down the track a bit in the event that Bobby called a run, he hit the ball out to Mid Off and shouted 'Wait' and as I turned back to get back to my crease only 3 yards away, the Mid Off fielder took the ball cleanly turned and I saw his arm go up as he rotated to face my stumps side-on, I realised I was going to be short of my ground by about a metre if he threw the ball, sure enough he hit the stumps almost side on and that was the end of the game - gutted.

This now meant that we had to get them all out for 72. Obviously we didn't have a dogs hope. Our bowling was opened by Chirpy who had a nightmare and Tom Hills who bowled extremely fast and seemingly in the corridor of uncertainty. But fast balls off of bats used in the right manner have a way of finding their way to the boundary and their 2 openers were flying through the overs comfortably. Once they'd reached 60 off of about 6 overs Wayne gave me and the Wizard a go (Both Leg-Spinners) and sure enough we thwarted the run-rate massively, but given that we had 12 runs in hand to bowl the whole team out with it was still pretty much a lost cause, I don't even think Callum Sellars would have been able to make a difference! My first over I think I went for 4 with no wicket 2 dot balls and 4 singles as I recall, My second over was similar 2 dot balls and a 4? One of the dot balls was a Wrong Un that the bloke who appeared to be giving it the Biggun by leaving it and suggesting that my bowling was crap because it was wide of the Off-stump was all but un-done for the sake of a millimetre maybe? The ball turned in big and Wayne (WK) was already celebrating as it passed him as he was 99.99% it had hit the off-stump, but if it did it was a gnats piss of a contact and the bails weren't dislodged. The next ball he hit me for 4 finishing the game. The Wizard took a nice wicket, one of the openers hit the ball and sliced it out to deep square leg were Tom was waiting taking a catch a few yards inside the boundary.

We had teas and a few of us went out on the wicket for a knock about for an hour or so and I still got home around 6pm so a wholly depressing match. I wasn't that impressed with my bowling and I got the impression that the two blokes that we were bowling against thought that they had the edge over us, but to be honest they did, there was no way that they could have lost so they were able to bat with confidence and boldly.

It's interesting to watch batsmen when they're batting in practice scenario's, they do so with such flair and abandonment hitting the ball freely, but then see them on the wicket where they've got to make runs. It's a different story. As Wayne said we need more blokes that can bat.
 
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I'm in a bit of dilemma at the minute. I live in Basildon, Essex. My 2 sons play for the local team Basildon & Pitsea, I on the other hand play for Grays and Chadwell which is 10 miles or so away. The blokes at Grays are good bunch and they've seen me through my early days of bowling and the club generally are very good with regards their attitude to Spinners in some matches I've bowled up to 9 overs but generally I'll get 5 or 6 overs a match (40 overs matches). But today I played with my sons team and similarly they're a good bunch of blokes and they've asked me to join their team. The match today was pretty good (Sunday friendly - which is what I play) and it makes sense from an economic point of view and time wise too. Plus as my lads get older I'll be able to play in games where they'll be bowling at me and facing my bowling which'll be a good laugh I reckon. The only downside is that the B&PCC matches for the Sunday side are 95% away matches which then means the cars tied up for 6 or 7 hours on a Sunday which'll give the wife the right ache. So what do I do? I've got the last match of the season coming up this Sunday and then the best part of 5 months to make my mind up.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Think about it over the winter and see how it goes. It'll be a few years yet before my lads are good/old enough to play alongside the adults so it's pretty much a dead cert that I'll be back at Grays in the spring unless the economic situation gets worse. The B&PCC seem also to have a policy of giving everyone a bowl when they play their friendlies so you only get to bowl 4 overs and have to suffer watching non-bowlers having a go. It's a bit selfish but at nearly 50 years old I haven't got long to establish a club record for my bowling and at 4 overs a match that makes it highly unlikely!
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Can you play on Saturdays instead? Not seen you play but I reckon you'd be good enough to get 8+ overs in a 2nd or 3rd XI. Added bonus of 50% games at home as well.

Frees up the Sunday for family committments etc
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yeah the Grays boys do want me to play league cricket on Saturdays (2nd XI) and I'd be up for it, but for some reason or other which alludes me at the minute it doesn't tie in with my wifes plans and what we normally do on a Saturday. Perhaps I should have a chat with her before next season and swap Sunday for Saturday?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Like I've said before cricket and family life are not great bedfellows.

I reckon you'd get a lot more out of league cricket - it's more competitive for a start.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yeah it's definitely something I'll look into for next season.

In the meantime the last game of the season is tomorrow and it's against the Runwell Commoners of Billericay. We do okay against this team generally it's a good game with the game often being in the balance and we pull through at the end. But one of the blokes that bats at No.3 or 4 is a good Left Hander and he takes my Leg Breaks apart and ruins my figures. The last match against them I went for something like 6-2-28-4 and it was him that got 24 of the 28 runs the B****D! Because of the focus this season on getting my stock ball right I've purposely neglected my Wrong Un so when I am faced with a Lefty I'm over cautious with bowling the wrong un and so far have chickened out for fear of it going wide or not on a good length. I usually chuck a few up and see how they go but it takes several to get into the groove and this is usually evasive action after seeing the Leg Breaks being hit for 4's so then bowling 2 or 3 crap Wrong Uns that also get hit for 4 in this particular blokes case I've been a bit lost for ideas. But sitting here now I'm realising I've got a new weapon in the armoury which can act like a faster off-break and go away from his bat and it swings - The Top-Spinning Flipper! So if I keep that tight and on a good length and vary the speed it maybe the best option as I can bowl this with accuracy. So a good game looks to be on the cards.

Other than in someblokecalleddave land the other main event is the nurturing of our own private practice wicket in a compound just outside our house almost. This is a paddock fenced off with 2 goal posts in it (Council recreation ground) but it's not that well looked after. The Council cut the grass and clear the rubbish up and that's about it. Because it's used 99% of the time by kids playing football it's lumpy and rough but this summer I realised it's potential for bowling practice and since June I've been bowling in there. My sons and I have batted in there too despite the roughness of the grass and it was batting that made me realise the true potential. So gradually bit by bit I've been filling in the holes and uneveness between the clumps of grass and recently I've more or less finished off an area 9' x 20' at the batting end. I've levelled it rolled it, top dressed it and seeded it and all that I'm waiting for now is rain to get the grass growing and to roll it when it's damp. Once that happens I'm pretty certain I've prepared a nice flat wicket area for next spring - Wrist Spin Bowling: Paddock development 19th Sept have a look.
 
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We seemed to have gone from a very prolonged period of dry and warm weather into a decisively Autumnal phase more akin to what we'd expect this time of the year, it's just a bit of a shock after weeks and weeks of sun and no rain. It feels like it get darker every night 15 minutes earlier and I'm already looking at the calender thinking it's not long now to the winter equinox (Dec 21st) and then we'll be heading back towards the summer. At the minute I'm quite happy to just rest after picking up a couple of injuries this summer - dislocated little finger and Medial Epicondylitis.

But this weekend I am going to be wondering what to do with myself and what should I work on when I practice. I'll definitely be looking at developing a big leg break using the big flick technique, but in addition to that I want to be able to throw up a nice accurate Wrong Un on a good line and length, a conventional Top-Spinner, The Top-Spinning Flipper and maybe the standard Flipper with the back-spin?

So that'll be 4 variations and I'm wondering whether that'll be too much? I'm wondering whether the 2 Top-Spinners could be reduced to just the one. The Flipper Top-Spinner is an exceptionally good ball from a few perspectives, but I'm uncertain as to whether it dips, whereas the conventional Top-Spinner I know dips and causes problems. Maybe it's a case that I'll work on the 4 variations and then when nets starts up in January I'll look at the 2 Top-Spinners against the bat and see which one looks the more productive. That in the short term seems like a plan.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

This is from my main blog (includes images) Wrist Spin Bowling: Performance review and other stuff

Performance review and other stuff
Fast approaching November when we'd expect Frost at nights and the potential of snow and instead we've got hazy sunshine and temperatures of 19 degrees centigrade. All the doors of the house are open and we're walking around in T-Shirts.

I've just been over to the paddock and put some more topsoil down to cover the seeds that were sewn a couple of days ago. With it being fairly damp at night with heavy dew the seeds already looked as though they've had a good soaking so now getting covered and the temperatures as high as they are there's a good chance that they might germinate.

Other than that it looks like people are using the paddock for football and there is a little damage to the new grass. At the minute it doesn't look too worrying but it's something I need to keep an eye on. Looking at the state of the new grass it looks as though I'll hold off of rolling it this winter as it looks as though that may do more damage than good. I think I'll just have to be happy with the fact that I rolled it in Sept when it was still bare earth.


Another exceptionally warm day for the end of October. Today we were blessed with sunshine and at one point around about 15.00hrs the temperature was 22 degrees centigrade. We were out and about at the time and rushed home to get some cricket done before we lost the light and warmth.

With the indoor games requiring a different approach we’ve been playing in the little square outside our house and I’ve ordered a few Readers Windballs from http://www.newitts.com/ so that we’re able to play on concrete surfaces. I’ve been bowling seam up trying to bowl faster in order that it’s more like the balls that Ben and Joe face when they’re playing cricket against the kids of their age. In addition the emphasis is that they communicate with each other and run hard between the stumps. I have been trying to get them to play a front foot defensive block but they’re not that interested in listening to me, but there does seem to be an improvement in Ben’s batting. Interestingly I noted that when we all played over at Chalkwell Park yesterday that one of the things that thwarted the game was the inconsistency of the bowling and this is something I’ve noted before in several other situations. In the summer during the B&PCC fun day they followed through with their policy of allowing everyone to bowl and some completely random people were allowed to throw ahem – sorry bowl which meant that the poor kid that was batting never had a chance of getting his bat on the ball during the two overs that he faced. The same frustration I’ve noted in the games over at our Valence Way wicket where often the bowling is very wayward. It’s obvious now, but I’ve only just realized this kind of bowling is detrimental to anyone’s progress if they’re looking to learn how to bat. Similarly if you’re learning to bat and learn the basics it probably isn’t helpful to have someone bowling spin at you turning the ball away from the edge of the bat. So today I bowled seam up as I have done before and this means that Ben especially is able to get the bat on the ball and score runs and in doing so keep his enthusiasm levels high. In the summer we had a couple of days where I bowled seam up and it was with this approach that we discovered that Ben has an aptitude to play well off his legs and down the legside. So it looks like that’s what we’ll be doing in future and because of the consistency of the line and length there seems to be the potential for an increase in speed and no doubt a gradual increase in confidence and enjoyment of the game maybe?


At the end of last season Sept/Oct 2008 or perhaps running up to the start of the 2009 season I set myself some targets and Neil my captain set some as well and no looking back I reckon I did okay for the best part. My main objective was to bowl better than my mate The Wizard AKA Alex McLellan. Being a lot younger than me he’s able to play in far more games than I am and it turns out that he’s bowled almost 3 times as many overs as I have so there’s an argument potentially there that his averages are going to pan out to the detriment of his figures. I might argue that as he’s bowling a lot more than me his experience might then offset that detrimental effect? Anyway down to the figures –

My Figures were
54-12-267-21
Average 12.71
RPO 4.86
Strike Rate 15.69
Best Bowling 4-27

Wizard
154-6-896-34
Average 26.35
RPO 5.82
Strike Rate 27.16
Best Bowling 4-40

But more interesting are the bowling figures of some of the more senior players and some of the other up and coming younger players. I wont even begin to consider Neil as he is in a world of his own and holds the clubs all time record as far as I know.

Mike Stephenson (Bootsie) - Senior
45-12-152-14
Average 10.86
RPO 3.32
Strike Rate 19.63
Best Bowling 4-13

Colin Pomphrett - Senior
84-6-414-20
Average 20.70
RPO 4.90
Strike Rate 25.35
Best Bowling 4-10

Ross Fullbrook – (youth)
127-3-644-25
Average 25.76
RPO 5.08
Strike Rate 30.43
Best Bowling 3-19

Callum Sellars - Youth
166-10-892-40
Average 22.30
RPO 5.36
Strike Rate 24.96
Best Bowling 5-7
3 x 5 wicket hauls

Stat Wars - Bowling Maidens

But then if you start looking at some of the statistical details these are quite interesting. For instance although I had a tactic of attack bowling and had given up on my averages after the mauling by the Leftie at the Runwell Commoners game statistically with regards bowling Maidens I did quite well.

I was 13th in the Maidens league table but then if you look at the Maidens as a percentage of your whole bowling figures I did exceptionally well considering I’ve only been at this game for 3 years. This season of my total overs I bowled 21.85% maiden overs. Looking at the stats for this year amongst the Spinners in the team both Wrist and Finger that 21.85% is the highest percentage with Neil Samwell being the nearest with 13.68%. But then looking at all of the bowling including the quicks I come out as being the 2nd highest Maiden taker as a percentage of total bowling. Some bloke called Paul Gelder beats me with 25.1% and it could well be the case that he's been bowling for years?

Stat Wars Strike Rates

Again I don't really know how important strike rates are in the scheme of things, but I'd imagine that the quicker you get the B******s back in the sheds the less runs they're going to make so hats off to Abdul Stanikzai because he was sending blokes back to the sheds every 13.99 balls. Again I don't know who this bloke is and I assume he plays for the 1st team as probably the Paul Gelder bloke does? But collating the data again I'm surprised at how frequently and infrequently some of my contemporaries are in getting the bats back to the sheds.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you might be aware that I'm not that convinced of the affectiveness of using fast bowlers in isolation at the start of the game and some of this data goes some of the way to back this up. Hopefully the previously mentioned Abdul Stanikzai is a fast bowler and therefore the practice of using pace bowlers against openers is justified to some extent. Admittedly also - the data collected here is from a season whereby 95% of the initial bowling attack for the first 15-20 overs would have been by fast bowlers against the better batsmen from the teams and this is obviously reflected in the data. But anyway the 2nd highest Strike Rate in the team with a strike rate of 15.69 was me. My next nearest Spin contender was Mike Stephenson with 19.63 and then Neil Samwell with 24.64. My mate Wizard comes in with 27.16 with a position of 11th best Strike Rate amongst the serious bowlers. Interestingly some of the people that the Wizard and I have to watch bowling in front of us are way back in the 20's with strike rates up in the 30 + region.

Again I have to say that some of this is fairly naive and I concede that if we were put in as openers on a regular basis I'm far from sure whether we'd be able to post similar figures to the fast bowlers after a season. But then in our defence The Wizard and I are newcomers and given the years of experience some of the others have I like to think we'd give them a run for their money?

In conclusion I reckon I did pretty well and that I more than acheived what I set out to do. The big turning point was back in May when after almost 6 months of trying to work out how to overcome the Googly syndrome I eventually did and got my Leg Break back. I've spent the last year on www.bigcricket.com discussing Wrist Spin Bowling and looking at some of the more obscure Wrist Spin variations and trying them out. I'm now working out some new goals for the next season with a view to improving at a similar rate. I think the key to this happening is to now disregard a lot of the weird variations and to hone my skills with a handful of variations and get really good at those. I'm looking to go forward with 4 different variations but I'm not that convinced I even need 4, but will try it out for at least this season and maybe strip another away the following year.

A key area I do want to improve on that I failed with this year is my batting. But I think the fear of facing the ball is ever diminishing and my determination to improve is increasing and this may be helped by the fact that my son is getting bigger and stronger every day and is no doubt improving himself and therefore I should in theory be improving as he does? After Christmas I'm hoping to spend more time in the nets with my bat now that my bowling is far more accomplished and hopefully I'll beat my record this season?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

From my main blog at Wrist Spin Bowling: Strewth!


Strewth!

Strewth it's Oct 30th and I've just had the most amazing practice session and a generally very good cricket day! The day started out well when I took yesterdays obvious batting/bowling idea to Ben and Joe and tried it out on them and sure enough they had a knock about outside the house in 'The Square' for more than an hour with total enthusiasm and it was only stopped when Michelle came back from the shops and we helped to unload the car and put all the shopping away. But the theory worked well - I bowled straight - seam up and they had to hit the ball and generally they did and in doing so they obviously enjoyed it far more than facing spin and not being able to hit the ball. So that's the obvious way forward.

That'll mean that the wicket in the paddock will have to be fairly flat and smooth so that the ball goes on straight so that'll have to be something to keep in mind.

Then this afternoon the boys went off with their Mum to somewhere with some of their mates leaving me with 3 hours on my own to either do decorating or maybe some bowling. Hmmmm - yes I went bowling. I rang a few people to see if they wanted to meet up at Chalkwell nets but they were all busy so instead I went over to Glouscester Park on the artificial wicket. I used the same wicket this time last year as well, what with the grass being too wet this is a good option. So with a bag of 40 + balls and a set of stumps and my video camera off I went.

The plan was to concentrate on my 4 variations with the primary focus being on the 2 main Leg Breaks that I bowl. A big turner and a small turner. Normally I bowl the small version because of it's accuracy, but lately I've become a lot more enamoured by my big turning sub-variation and because I've been using it more frequently the accuracy with it is increasingly better.

Last year on this wicket I noticed that there were two distinct characteristics - No bounce and no spin. So I wasn't surprised that despite the fact that I've improved a great deal since last year my small turning leg break didn't do a great deal at all and I then reverted to my big turning sub-variation. This one turned, nowhere near as much as it does off of other surfaces but enough to make me feel like I was bowling Leg breaks and to be able to call myself a Leg Break bowler.

So the practice went on and I remembered I'd got my camera in my bag and that I could video the procedures. Needless to say that when you get the camera out you then start bowling differently trying to show off and sure enough this happened a bit and the bowling went slightly awry. But the footage I was shooting was in sequences of 30 balls and generally the 30 balls were fairly decent especially as I was using my secondary version of the Leg Break and one that I don't have a great deal of control over, but it was working fairly well.

I ended up being on the wicket for the best part of 3 hours and must have bowled in the region of about 50 overs and I just got better and better. About half way through I realised that the balls that were going wrong and were ending up down the Legside were turning in across the face of the stumps and going wide of the Off-stump. So for the first time in almost 2 years I started to bowl down the Leg-side with the intention of turning the ball into the stumps and you know what it worked - again and again and again. It ended up being one of the most productive and enjoyable practice sessions ever. I also put a readers wind ball on the wicket on the length and line I bowl for my leg breaks that go away from the bat and in the end I got fed up of having to reset the ball back in it's position! All this with this new bigger turning Leg Break.

So all in all a staggeringly good practice session. I reckon my biggest issue is not quite understanding the right length to bowl, yesterday I was reading somewhere on a forum that with the tail-enders you should bowl slightly fuller as they're obviously not that good at batting, but it's the better batsmen that I have trouble with and it's understanding where to bowl to them that I want to learn. Again I have to refer to the older blokes that I've seen bowling that don't necessarily turn the ball that much but put it on an troubesome length and cause no end of problems. It's the understanding of this length aspect that I feel is one of the missing aspects of my bowling now.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Quite a good weekend on the cricket front, Ben and Joe (My sons aged 8 and 11) were involved in an Indoor game with their team. This was their 2nd ever 6 aside indoor game, so I’d said before I left for work in the morning that they should have a knock about when they got in from school and do some bowling and when I got in they were all full of themselves and gagging to prove me wrong and tell me that they had done so as I'd left that morning thinking it was highly unlikely they would.

Whatever the outcome of the toss was their captain Ryan put Ben in to bowl first as they were fielding. The team was made up of 50% boys that are the key players and the best players in the B&PCC set up - Jody, Ryan, Killer and Harrison, these kids are leagues in front of my boys in terms of their knowledge and skills with the bat and fielding. I think two of them play at County level for Essex under 11’s .

In Ben’s first over of his 2 allocated overs Ben bowled okay one wide down the Leg-side maybe 2? But generally they were okay with one ball that he got a faint edge to down the off-side which should really have been gloved but the keeper fumbled it and put it down, no-one said anything though understanding that everyone has bad days or makes a mistake every now and then and that in fact although they do want to win this isn’t the Ashes. Joe was second up and he bowled pretty much the same – a couple of wides, but being a slower bowler he got hammered a bit, nice flight though.

The opposition Horndon batted well and seemed to be putting down what looked like an insurmountable score. The ‘Pro’ boys bowled well with Killer taking a wicket hitting the top of off-stump. Harrison had a bad day with the ball but fielded exceptionally well stopping absolutely shed loads of balls. My lads were put at Square leg and point or positions just backward of those. My lads being new to the game and only just having finished their first season are not the most adept fielders yet and were in positions close to the bat where a far higher degree of skill is required to field the ball, whereas the 'Pro’s' were in positions more akin to Mid on and Mid off giving them far more time to gather up the ball and field it. Yet when my kids fluffed their fielding they were then subjected to the ‘Butchy eye’ and a tirade of verbal making them feel like crap. The most annoying aspect to this is the fact the kids that dish the verbal out do so with intense vitriol and disdain and it’s almost always directed to the ‘New kids’. The new kids needless to say need encouragement and support and not verbal attacks that make them come away from the game feeling that they’re completely useless and that perhaps they shouldn’t play in future or be in the team even.

I think I’ve gone over this before in the blog elsewhere and I suppose it’s a process of being a boy in a competitive environment and that ultimately it is character building? But at the same time being a parent it’s a tricky one to advise your own kids on as to how to react in response? What do you do – tell your kids to give the other kids as good as they give out and then watch the situation escalate in a slanging match that eventually at some point will turn into a conflict situation which within the context of a cricket team isn’t a good scenario?

Schadenfreud and Karma came to the rescue though in this incident as it has before because the kids with ego’s and the mouth then suffer the embarrassment of suffering Golden ducks. But it would just be so much better if the good kids were coached in a way that made them aware of how damaging their sledging of their own team mates is. To some extent I can see where they're coming from especially if within their ranks there were a shed load of better lads that could take Ben and Joe's place and maybe then create a 1st and 2nd team? But the fact of the matter is they scratch around to get 6 blokes there on time where as we're there and waiting to play 10 minutes early and getting a practice. As we were leaving one of the oppo's parents turned and said 'The blokes on your kids team need to support their own blokes not slate them like that - you've got some real ego issues in your team with two of them'.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

someblokecalleddave;376793 said:
Quite a good weekend on the cricket front, Ben and Joe (My sons aged 8 and 11) were involved in an Indoor game with their team. This was their 2nd ever 6 aside indoor game, so I’d said before I left for work in the morning that they should have a knock about when they got in from school and do some bowling and when I got in they were all full of themselves and gagging to prove me wrong and tell me that they had done so as I'd left that morning thinking it was highly unlikely they would.

Whatever the outcome of the toss was their captain Ryan put Ben in to bowl first as they were fielding. The team was made up of 50% boys that are the key players and the best players in the B&PCC set up - Jody, Ryan, Killer and Harrison, these kids are leagues in front of my boys in terms of their knowledge and skills with the bat and fielding. I think two of them play at County level for Essex under 11’s .

In Ben’s first over of his 2 allocated overs Ben bowled okay one wide down the Leg-side maybe 2? But generally they were okay with one ball that he got a faint edge to down the off-side which should really have been gloved but the keeper fumbled it and put it down, no-one said anything though understanding that everyone has bad days or makes a mistake every now and then and that in fact although they do want to win this isn’t the Ashes. Joe was second up and he bowled pretty much the same – a couple of wides, but being a slower bowler he got hammered a bit, nice flight though.

The opposition Horndon batted well and seemed to be putting down what looked like an insurmountable score. The ‘Pro’ boys bowled well with Killer taking a wicket hitting the top of off-stump. Harrison had a bad day with the ball but fielded exceptionally well stopping absolutely shed loads of balls. My lads were put at Square leg and point or positions just backward of those. My lads being new to the game and only just having finished their first season are not the most adept fielders yet and were in positions close to the bat where a far higher degree of skill is required to field the ball, whereas the 'Pro’s' were in positions more akin to Mid on and Mid off giving them far more time to gather up the ball and field it. Yet when my kids fluffed their fielding they were then subjected to the ‘Butchy eye’ and a tirade of verbal making them feel like crap. The most annoying aspect to this is the fact the kids that dish the verbal out do so with intense vitriol and disdain and it’s almost always directed to the ‘New kids’. The new kids needless to say need encouragement and support and not verbal attacks that make them come away from the game feeling that they’re completely useless and that perhaps they shouldn’t play in future or be in the team even.

I think I’ve gone over this before in the blog elsewhere and I suppose it’s a process of being a boy in a competitive environment and that ultimately it is character building? But at the same time being a parent it’s a tricky one to advise your own kids on as to how to react in response? What do you do – tell your kids to give the other kids as good as they give out and then watch the situation escalate in a slanging match that eventually at some point will turn into a conflict situation which within the context of a cricket team isn’t a good scenario?

Schadenfreud and Karma came to the rescue though in this incident as it has before because the kids with ego’s and the mouth then suffer the embarrassment of suffering Golden ducks. But it would just be so much better if the good kids were coached in a way that made them aware of how damaging their sledging of their own team mates is. To some extent I can see where they're coming from especially if within their ranks there were a shed load of better lads that could take Ben and Joe's place and maybe then create a 1st and 2nd team? But the fact of the matter is they scratch around to get 6 blokes there on time where as we're there and waiting to play 10 minutes early and getting a practice. As we were leaving one of the oppo's parents turned and said 'The blokes on your kids team need to support their own blokes not slate them like that - you've got some real ego issues in your team with two of them'.
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I know the type of kid and usually they get cut down to size by the cricket Gods anyway. Our boys coach has a hard policy on sledging team mates. He gives them a couple of warnings of the consequences then if they keep it up they end up missing out on some game time. He kicked one constant offender out of his indoor squad last season.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Yeah the coaches do try and instill a policy of it's only a game and it's primarily about having fun, but the one kid in particular it's like life and death and his old man is the same, in fact in the same game he was scoring and right at the end with 5 runs to be made and win there was a dispute between him and the umpires about how many ball were left. The umpires both agreed 2 whereas he was saying there was 3. He then got up left his scoring duties and walked out in disgust claiming that the same thing had happened before. I think even if it has happened before the fact is it's a kids game, no-ones being paid, the umpires are there voluntary I'd imagine and it's supposed to be fun. I can see that if it was adults and it was a league game and a first team situation - yeah then maybe people might be getting upset, but man - it's a kids game!

Here's the main blog entry with other stuff that's going on along with pictures http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2009/11/paddock-news-and-more-15038.html
 
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