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Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

This entry is all a bit a**e about face - but the essence of it is that practicing today I combined to bowling variations - "The Flipper" and the "Googly" to produce something I'm calling the "Gipper" for the moment. But basically it's a weird variation of the Flipper - read on....

Just been out on one of my practice fields and was joined by a couple of kids who allowed me to bowl some balls at them which was nice and vice versa. But just before my car park ticket had run out I was bowling a few flippers and they were doing what they do and then I had an idea. What would happen if you bowled the flipper upside down in the manner of bowling wrong uns?

It just struck me as being possible and that if you could get it on a line it might just spin weird? I threw the first one and being the combination of the 2 very different techniques it went all over the place, but despite the fact that my arm, wrist and everything was all the wrong way round I was still able to click the ball out of my fingers as you do with the flipper, so it felt as though if I was just to get the release right and get the ball going down the track in the right direction it might do something useful or odd?

Oh my God! The 2nd ball was straight. It pitched and turned at such a stupid angle you would not believe it. Guess what way it turned? Leg to off! Could this be the answer to my inability to bowl Leg breaks - it was looking promising. The next 6 balls all did exactly the same thing and again at ridiculously acute angles - making Shane warnes "Ball of the century" look lame - I kid you not! Admittedly bowling this for the first time ever it was slow and the next 18 balls (before I gave up and had to get to my car) looked increasingly less dramatic, but still spinning from Leg to off in a way that I've never been able to before on grass.

I've got nets tonight, so I was quite happy to be forced into stopping because if I'd have stayed there I'd have kept going for another 2 hours and might have pulled some arm muscles and not been able to repeat it again tonight. So tonight against some good batsmen I'll give this a go and see if I can repeat it. Flipper and a Googlie combined - Flooglie? Gipper?

watch this space - see how the Gipper evolves.

Later on..........

I've just been outside on concrete with a cricket ball and it turns really nicely every time without fail and I'm quite confident that I'm going to be able learn how to bowl this fairly quickly with a good line. The thing it's going to lack is speed, but if it's bowled in between other balls - this could turn out to be really useful. I've just tried to film myself bowling it - but I need to go somewhere where the camera in the position of the stumps so that you can see how much it deviates off it's expected line. I'll try and do that in the next few hours in the meantine DIY calls.

Evryone has gone to London with the kids and family and I'm supposed to be doing DIY and here I am trying to invent new leg spin variations!!! Not good. Better do something!

The other thing unlike the flipper which skids in low this bounces really nicely.

Later ........ Being slightly sceptical about whether some of the turn was down to the rough surface I've just gone outside and bowled a Hockey ball with no seam on a flat surface and the deviation off the line 6 balls in a row was unbelievable! So it's not a fluke. Now can I do something with this tonight in the nets? That will be the test of it's usefulness and whether this is something I can use. I hope so because it turns mentally!!!

Post nets.

It went well and I think this is a pivotal moment in my bowling because this now gives me the one thing that was missing a ball that turns from leg to off effectively. So far it looks as though it does more than that, it turns very well and consistently - I'm amazed at how much this variation turns and it does so on mats and on floor and all sorts with cricket balls and smooth balls it has a massive deviation.

Admittedly it's a very slow ball, but as I noticed in the nets tonight it tempts the batsman out. They see how it pitches and turns and they watch it a few times and they realise it's dead slow and then they come out after it. All I have to do then is bowl a flipper or straight one - just something that is a lot faster and I reckon I could be taking a few wickets. I reckon if you've got people coming after this with vengence it's going to cause them all sorts of problems. I noticed some of our bloke just watched it pitch in front of them and turn and disappear well wide of off a few times simply leaving it - which is fine as they don't make any runs. I didn't hit the stumps at all tonight but there were several edges that would have been caught as they went straight up in the air and one or two that the wicket keeper would have had caught behind or had the bails off as I'd drawn them out of their wicket. So this has been a very interesting day.

What's more this is the first day, once I've had some practice and maybe got some more speed applied to it the prospects look very interesting?

Going along with the positive vibe all day my line had been fairly good maybe 1 in 6 balls considered wides, maybe less? The Wrong uns weren't happening tonight or earlier in the day - or is it the turn on this flipper variation is so dramatic it's making my wrong un look a bit weedy?

Keep looking in to see how I get on with this new variation. As said I'll try and film myself bowling it from a good angle - might even do it at work tomorrow in my break and I'll also try and photograph how the grip and wrist are at the point of release.
 
Re: 6 Days to go....

At nets tonight there was a lowish turn out and the talk is of only one game going to be played and that's the 1st Sunday XI's so I'm not that hopeful. The upside though is more time to work on this new variation I've invented!
 
Back to work

At work today and needless to say it’s the warmest day in recent days and there’s back to back sunshine. Last night I tried to establish if there’s a game on Sunday and it’s looking like there’s not . It looks like the only game being played is a 1st team game and they’re not even sure that’s going ahead – remember this relies not just on our blokes but the other team turning up as well.

Alex (GCCC said last night that some of the them get over to Blackshots in the evenings and have a knock about and I’ve exchanged emails with him and he’s going to let me know if there’s anything happening. I’ve taken the video camera into work today and if I get a moment I’m going to try and get Richard to record me bowling this new flipper variation I’ve sussed out. The good thing is at college I can get an ariel view of it and you’ll be able to see the deviation of the ball from above which is nice. Lets hope it all works out. Who knows we may even be able to get a camera and shoot the hand – wrist – grip when it’s bowled and get that uploaded as well.

Later...... Yeah tried that and it didn't come out to well - someone else had the camera - you can't get the staff these days! So it looks like I'll have to go back to the drawing board with that idea. But what's worse is the fact that Whilst I was bowling and it was seemingly being recorded the bowling action was coming apart as such. It just didn't seem to be turning quite so dramatically. But then saying that it was also easier on my arm and my arm didn't seem to be getting jarred quite to much by the action of bowling - or is it just the case that I need to be warmed up before this bowling action is most affective?

Other than sitting here at work looking out side at what is obviously warm and sunny weather is a bit gutting. Hopefully I'll get what I need done and slope off a bit early?

Later on......

So I left work at just after 4pm in glorious sunshine and arrive home 15 miles later on the train in gloomy clouds - typical. Anyway somewhat down heartened by the fact that since yesterday this new variation seems to have gone from being brilliant to what looked normal for leg spin I now had a chance to throw a few balls off camera and see what was going wrong. I threw a few balls and realised I wasn't getting my arm twisted right round to the same extent I was yesterday. So with that realised I threw a few more and they were okay, so panic off I can still get the ball to turn to leg very well.

I was then looking forward to a chance to try this out on my mate Thomas so I called him and he was up for it and then family commitments were waved in front of me and I had honor them. But tomorrow I'm off and Friday so there'll be a chance then and tomorrow is looking sunny and it hasn't rained for a few days so the wicket will be dryish. Being a week day though it's unlikely that anyone will join me so that's a downside.

I'm off to check my email and see if Alex at G&CCC has emailed me with a practice opportunity Friday evening?
 
2 sessions today!

2 sessions today!

You can tell summers on it's way. This morning it was back to back blue skies and relatively warm, so I was gagging to get out there and throw some balls around. I couldn't get the car because Michelle and the kids were off out in it so I had to bide my time. Eventually just before midday I was able to get away for an hour over at FTF. All morning it had been sunny and as soon as I'd thrown the gear in the back of the car the clouds gathered and the sun disappeared.

No one else around so it was me and a bunch of stumps and 14 balls backwards and forwards from one end to the other. Initially my bowling was mediocre and then it got worse and then in the last 10 minutes or so I thought I'd try and bowl with some conviction instead of just lobbing the ball at and around the stump area. So I decided to bowl flippers, Top Spinners and Wrong Uns pitching them outside of the stumps accordingly so that when they then turned they did so into the stumps. 5 out of 6 of the first balls did exactly that and the remainder of the session went amazingly well. I even had a go at the new flipper variation and hit the stumps a few times with that as well as just getting it to spin to leg massively. So what was looking like a waste of time suddenly with the last 40 odd balls was really good, so I came away very pleased. Again looking back at how I was bowling at the end of the season last year compared to how I'm bowling now I reckon there is a vast difference.

Later in the day just before dinner I went over to the field that's near me set up my stumps and did the throw the ball at the stumps from 40 yards sprint after exercise for 15 minutes as a part of my cricket specific training. Also hit he stumps and few times and my shoulder seems to be holding out okay. Also did some high catch practice - I'm rubbish at it, so I need to practice this a lot more.


The Flipper variant bowled out of the back of the hand was working okay today especially at the end of the session. The early part of the session as I said earlier wasn't going that well especially with this new variation. The problem I'm having with it seems to be it's very slow, so today I was trying to get some more speed on it, but it seems the harder and faster I throw it this comes at the cost of less spin. Just before I went out I'd had a book delivered in the post - "The art of wrist spin bowling" by Peter Philpott. I'd kind of skimmed through the images and read bit of it quickly and somewhere along the way or maybe it was on-line someone say about the levels of concentration that need to be applied when you're bowling. A lot of the time I feel that if you concentrate too much and try too hard things can start going wrong whereas if you just go with the flow sometimes things just fall into place? Today I'd started out very much in the -just let it happen frame of mind - chucking different balls from one end to the other not particularly trying that hard. After the first half hour I was getting a bit peeved as it was obvious that my bowling was lame, but then I recalled what I'd read about really concentrating hard and focussing on the task at hand and changed my overall approach.

With this new Flipper variation I'm kind of concerned that I may lose the ability to bowl some of the other variations, they seem to have a tendency to all merge into something that is not one thing or the other if I'm not careful and the one thing I don't want to lose is the Wrong Un. So with a new frame of mind and a lot more focus and determination I bowled a load of Wrong Uns to see if I could pitch them outside of off and turn them into Leg as I was couple of sessions ago. Up to this point the wrong uns had all been wrong e.g. straight or very little deviation off the line, but with the new approach, right from the outset there was a massive improvement. It was obvious that just by concentrating on what I was doing and making sure I was flicking the wrist it all came together and I was bowling my good wrong uns. So that was a right result.

The same thing then happened with my Flippers and Top spinners, I was able to put the ball into the areas I wanted and for the ball to respond in the way that they should. But as I mentioned earlier it's the new flipper variant that's consuming me at the moment and at the early stages of this session it wasn't happening. The main experiment was to just try and speed up the delivery by using either my arm or the run in and neither had a positive effect in fact the opposite and I was becoming down hearted. Yes I could speed it up but in doing so the spin wasn't happening so that was no good at all. After the success of the wrong uns and Flippers with this new apply yourself and concentrate approach I did the same with the new variant and it worked a treat. I noticed several things that I was doing that helped - one was to have my arm already twisted around as far as I could get it before swinging the arm over, but I felt that this was a dead give away. The other thing that worked was to obscure the fingers and grip with the leading hand till the arm started it's rotation and then to twist the arm into it's weird position, the final bit is to do the same with the wrist so that the angle of the flick from the flipper part of the whole action imparts the spin so that the ball is spinning 90 degrees in opposition with the direction it's heading and it all worked well. The aim with line and length is also coming together because I was pitching the ball very wide of leg and the ball was fizzing back in towards off and several times I hit the stumps. So all in all what with this only being day 3 or so in the development of this new variation I'm very pleased and can't wait to get on some grass with a batsman in the way.
 
Rain

Day starts of nice enough with the chance of some practice and the by the time I've done some decorating and got access to the car the weather closes in and we had hailstones and thunder. That means our nicely drying out wicket is now damp again.

I've made a start on the Peter Philpott book - The art of Wrist Spin and very interesting it is too. Reading it I'm falling into the trap that if I follow his instructions it seems that I may be able to ressurect the leg break? Already as a really basic training tool he's suggesting that when you're walking around or sitting around with your balls in your hand that rather than spin the balls from the right hand to the left as all leg spinners seem to do spin the ball from your extended arm out in front of you and spin it back towards your chest. The other surprising suggestion is that you spin the ball under arm against a wall and observe the way it spins back away from the wall. All the other suggestions I've read so far I pretty much do e.g. anything that is remotely ball shaped spin it when you're doing nothing or something that doesn't require your hand - watching the tele standing at a bus stop - you know the score - just spin it trying to impart spin on it all the time. Use apples oranges, golf balls, tennis balls - if it goes in your hand spin it! I already do this with everything I pick up and it drives my wife round the bend!

Later on..........



The clouds passed by and the sun came out - April showers so it's to be expected. I got Ben my 9 year old son to shoot some images of my wrist and grip with this new flipper googlie variant and I've posted the images with comments on http://www.simplycricket.net/ to see what people make of it, because someone somewhere must have tried this before and no doubts uses it? I can't believe that I've come up with something that's new and that no-one has ever done before? But then how hard is it to saw a shark in half and stick it in a tank of formaldyhyde - the hard part is realising and presenting it as art and for it to be the end product of a series of other associated ideas?

The next bit refers to some images - you'll have to check them out at my own blog -

http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2008/04/rain.html

As far as I can make out the batsman sees the back of the hand as it comes over and it's fairly vertical so for all intents and purpose it probably looks like a Wrong Un. But look at the fingers. The grip is the Flipper grip and at the point when you release the fingers are squeezed together in order to impart the spin. The spin then makes the ball move off it's expected course from Leg to Off.

I'm hoping that in situations where the batsman is really confident and can pick the googly he's going to expect the ball to turn away to off and then be completely bamboozled by the fact that this ball turns into off acutely. So once I get the hang of it it's going to look like a googly being put down the legside which will then be expected to spin off towards leg slip and go for a wide and hopefully he'll leave it to then spin back into the stumps or something like that?

Later on I did my "now becoming ususal" running and throwing practice, but because I had a thorough work out yesterday I took it fairly easy today and bowled a bit in between the fitness and throwing training/practice. The ground on this particular field is really lumpy, but the ball was being turned by the spin so it was okay. But it was of very little value as regards analysing the new variation.

After tea the sun was still out - the sky clear and the showers for the moment gone. So I drove over to FTF (Five Tree Field) taking my gear in case any of the indian or Pakistani blokes were about. Got over there and it was empty even the adjacent skatepark with it ususal group of Emo's and Potheads all drinking Vodka and Tennents Extra were not there. No-one came along and I just bowled. Again in exactly the same way as I did yesterday I started out just lobbing the ball from one end to the other not particularly trying and it was going okay. But then I thought - let's do this with some concentration and see what happens. Just like yesterday just by applying myself to the task the difference was enormous. I decided that I'd bowl down the centre pitching the ball 5 yards in front of the stumps and alternate thus - 2 leg breaks (Using the new variation) and one wrong un. It went like clockwork. All the balls I wanted to spin from Leg to off did 95% of the time and all the balls doing the opposite exactly the same. In about 50 balls I bowled 2 wides! This is an amazing difference to my bowling last year. The difference from last September is amazing and again this is only the 4th day that I've been bowling this new variation!

I noticed that the new ball was going well if I changed the angle of my walk in and I also experimented with my wrong un bowling around the wicket, doing this I was able to get the ball to turn in and hit the stumps. All in all despite the weather I managed to cram in loads of cricket practice and fitness training, so a good day in the end. What I need to happen now is to get some blokes together for a bit of a game or a practice in the way we used to as MPA 1st XI or better still a real game with Grays and Chadwell.
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

I was hoping that my mate Thomas would be off over the weekend but seems that he's not so I'm still not going to get that much of an opportunity to try out my new bowling technique. The suns out though which is good, but there's ominous looking clouds scattered here and there with periods of threatening clouds. But the forecast last night was good. So if I do some chores (decorating) this morning I may be able to get out on the field this afternoon? I may also at some point go and look at how Great Berry Open Space (GBOS) is drying out and see whether they're still playing football over there because it is closer and there is a chance that if I practice over there Suhail may turn up or some of the lads from last year as they all live around the field?

More later......

After a morning of glorious sun and the prospects of crickety afternoon I had lunch and the heavens opened up and it poured with rain and hailstones - Gutted. The evening kind of cleared up a bit and I could have sloped off for a session over at FTF. I rang Thomas and the poor bloke has got to work tomorrow from 5am and he said he was off to bed in a short while cos he was so knackered. So instead I went over to the local football pitch and threw some balls. Spent about half an hour bowling Wrong Uns and played around with trying the leg break. It's almost certainly got something to do with my hand and wrist position. Recently on the www.simplycricket.net website I noted a comment someone had made about bowling the Leg Break and the bloke said that his coach said the wrist action on release was the same kind of action as turning a doorknob. This makes total sense, but because of the fact that I have this opposite action and the vertical arm and I bowl Wrong Uns well - that door knob turning action just feels so alien? Despite this I'd love to be able to bowl Leg breaks in the conventional manner so it is something I am going to stick with and persevere with. I did notice that - what was supposed to be a Leg Break was more like a top spinner - but it was nice and fast and bounced well which was good.

I also had a look at the idea of "Baseball grips" I tried the "Knuckle ball" I bowled it and the weirdest thing was it was really fast and potentially accurate which was interesting and I may investigate this further. Reading the little info that I have so far the interesting thing with the knuckle ball is that it is unpredictable (With a baseball) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckleball it seems that with a baseball the ball begins to corkscrew as it flies through the air. I'm wondering what would happen if you were to throw a knuckleball where the ball flies at you with just the smooth area of the cricket ball coming at you, that would then mean the seam would be the first part of the ball that hits the ground - what might that do to the bounce I wonder?

I reckon this is something to look at rather than to ignore, it maye that like this current idea of merging the flipper with the Wrong Un I come up with something a bit odd that might work in some way. Maybe using the knuckle ball grip and spin it out of the hand? Logically it seems as though there wouldn't be any benefit, but who knows until you try it?
 
April showers

To see the images/diagrams the blog refers to check out -

http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunday.html

This is the line I'm working on which probably looks mental and it is I know, but I've produce balls that have done this, so I'm going to see how consistent I can get them to do it. The thing is it's a delivery that I'm not going to get away with much because once you've done it, the batsman is going to be aware of the fact that if you pitch the ball right out there in the rough he's got to expect that it's going to come back in? Radical stuff but seemingly possible!

Lets hope today if I get over Five Tree Field and the rain holds out I might meet up with Ali again and I can try some of this out on him?

It wasn't to be. It's now nearly 5pm and it's rained on and off all day since midday - real April weather! The gutting thing is this morning it was sunny warm and dry and it's followed the pattern of the last few days and each day I've been doing stuff in the morning with the intention that later in the day I'd get myself on to a field for some practice. But instead in between the last batch of showers I've been outside bowling at a wall from short distances following the advice of Peter Philpott trying to throw leg breaks and I've made a break through. Over a short distance I found that I could get the ball to spin into off, so I've just been doing it continuously gradually extending the distance, admittedly it's not spinning anything like my weird ball, but it's a proper 2 thumbs up 2 thumbs down leg spin ball which is satisfying. I've been able to move back a few yards and I'm bowling properly over a distance of about 11 yards and getting it to turn. Again I'm finding that it's not happening naturally and that I have to think about it - I have to think "Turn the door knob" action otherwise instinctively I just spin the ball into a Top Spinner. But it's coming together and for me this is very positive. I'll keep at it and see if it gets any better I may even go over to one of the baseball courts that I frequented in the depths of winter and have a go there as there's a lot more space later?

This is the stage I'm at with the real leg break progress, not a lot of turn but a bit and it's consistent and I'm getting a fairly good line. So I'm pretty pleased with my progress since buying the Peter Philpott book and I'm no-where near finished with it yet. What I like about his advice is that if you falter or stall - he says take a couple of steps backwards and go back to the basics and re-learn it all again. One of the things I am doing again which I haven't been doing is walking around perpetually with a ball in my hand spinning it flicking my wrist. Again I did this last year but what with my wife and their friends and my In-laws looking at me as though I was social outcast because of it I felt maybe I was being a bit obsessesive, but good old Pete says it's something you've got to do and I'm with him on that and now I can say "But peter says I've got to"!!!
 
Sunday Part II

Sunday Part II
After tea what with the afternoon disintegrating into a soggy bog the only option available left was the basketball courts. So around 6.30pm I drove over the one I had in mind and it was full of kids playing football. I was just on my way to option 2 when I remembered that over near Five Tree Field (FTF) there a basket ball hoop, five a side goal and cricket stumps all incorporated into a long steel fence. I thought that of all the options this was going to be the one that would be empty so I made my way over there.

As I pulled up I could see a load of heads bobbing up and down and initially it looked as though there was already someone over there. As I stopped I realised that it was the cricket blokes from last summer and there was a few of them, it looked as though they were already on the playground area playing cricket. As I walked over I realised that in fact they were on the field/grass just beyond the tarmac area I was heading for so I could still set up and bowl. I was hoping that once they saw me they might invite me to join in but they didn't so I just did my usual thing and practiced.

The practice was awful. Didn't try and bowl any Leg Breaks because I was bowling over a full 22 yards, but I tried my wrong uns and the new Flipper variation and neither of them were particularly good - straight but not turning enough for my liking.

I kept an eye on the blokes and noticed that since last year they've stepped up their game in way but not in others. Improvements looked like they were now using makeshift stumps that actually approximated the size and width of real stumps - it looked like they'd done similar thing to me when I started out they were using broom sticks or something. The other major improvement was that they'd now got 2 full size bats between them (Slazenger bats from Sportsworld). But the step backwards was they were using a tennis ball and it wasn't the hard cricket tennis balls that they were using last year. Because they were using tennis balls this meant that their wicket was a bit short as well.

At the end of my practice I went and stood in line with the stumps and watched how they bowled and the bloke I watched was the usual medium pacer that they all tend to be with some fast bowlers amongst them, but he was very accurate and the batsman was okay too.

Now - this means that it looks like on a Sunday afternoon after tea they're up for a game and normally I'll be playing with Grays and Chadwell. Does this also mean that they'll be getting out on to FTF to play soon because it doesn't actually get too dark now till 8pm if the sky is clear. This now throws up a bunch of dilemmas. If they move onto FTF will they use the track that I've been using and will they use the full length or will they damage it by using it at a shorter length? I'm thinking the only way I can see that I can encourage them to use it properly would be if I was to take the maintenance up to another level and mow it and start painting the crease lines. Maybe that will encourage them to use it properly? The other thing is on Monday and Tuesday I wont be able to practice over there at all and I can see a situation developing where they establish themselves on the pitch and possibly don't invite me to join in if I turn up? I suppose my ace card will be the equipment and my willingness for them to use it? I just need to get there before they do on a day when they intend to play and they're forced to join me - and then I can offer all the gear and insist that we all play using real balls and all the neccesary protective gear?

So that means every time I go over there I'm going to have to take all the gear in an extra bag in the event that this scenario comes up, but that's what I've been waiting and planning for. It looked as though they all live nearby and tonight despite the fact that it was on such a small bit of grass after a day of rain and in temperatures of only 8 degrees as I left there was 15 of these blokes - so well enough for a game! Looks promising?
 
April 20th

April 20th

Not such a clever day. I'm still trying to come to terms with post holiday life and the fact that the amount of practice I do is dictated by several variables. It's even harder when I'm now aware of Peter Philpotts insistence that if you are going to get good you're going to have to take your practicing seriously. So as with today I eventually was able to get out on a field at 3pm today and had to take my sons along with me. Initially they were going to disappear off into the woods independently and make camps there, but came back within a matter of minutes saying that their camp had been crapped on and in by foxes - which something they do in these parts. So just as I was preparing to get in the zone I had to bowl and entertain the boys, so I basically gave up on the idea of a serious practice and played cricket with them. My older son is the one that is less inclined to play (he's 9) but he put his pads on and gloves and faced a real ball over 22 yards which is very encouraging. He even copped 3 balls in the inner thigh just below the googlies but still soldiered on which I was very impressed with eventually calling it a day with the 3rd ball in the same place!


He then opted to be the wicket keeper as son No.2 - Joe (6) batted against a plastic Kookaburra ball. Ben then made it his mission to catch an edge ball behind and kept missing, he didn't have gloves and he's not known for his catching abilities. In the end he was getting very upset by the fact that he couldn't catch the ball and get his little brother out who was batting quite well!

Eventually he went into a sulk and I ignore him, and got on with trying to bowl but what with being ignored he then sat and reflected and got up and started throwing a ball around so I stopped the bowling and started throwing the ball to him from different directions getting him to catch high, low and to the sides and bit by bit he was getting it and getting more confident and liking it when I was doing diving catches as he threw them back to me. Eventually we moved on to him throwing the ball back to the bat and me hitting it back to him off the bat and then towards the end he was using a cricket ball designating one of mine as his "Catching practice ball". So that was really good because he's usually really negative about cricket and I have to be really wary of not over-doing it with suggesting we all go and play cricket.
In just half and hour or so his confidence went from "I'm one of the worst at school at catching balls" to a kid that was catching cricket balls with confidence and technique, so I was quite happy to forefeit my practice.
I did at the very end get a few overs in and they were uneventful. The Leg break is still absent over any distance above 11 yards. The new weird ball was okay but still needs loads of work, but the wrong uns and other balls were fine. We finished off with a kick around with a football.

While we were over the field (This was The Rec) some Chav's started pulling the posts and chains that mark off the real cricket pitch as we were practicing in the outfield so I shouted across to stop it adding "Please"? They did initially but then thought about it and then realised that if they were to carry on it might induce a confrontation and there was 4 of them all around 16 years old. I ignored it choosing not to rise to the bait. But there was another bloke the other side of the wicket who then got up and walked down to these boys and said that he was one of the groundkeepers and he had a word with them in a very assertive manner which I was pleased about. But once the bloke had walked back to his seat out of earshot they were cursing him and vowing to come back and "Show that C**t what proper vandalism is". What is it with people?

This evening I went over to my training field and did my run back and forth and throw the ball at the stumps thing for 20 minutes, that went well - good throwing from fair old distance and wasn't too knackered.

For the version with images go to www.mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Dibbly Dobbly Wobbly - What a day! At one point today the temperature was up to 24 degrees and we had back to back sunshine all day long. I managed to get out for 3 seperate practice sessions albeit with my kids in the background or directly involved but the earlier session was okay - an hour on my own trying things out.All three sessions were conducted over at Great Berry Open Space using the new designated practice wicket that runs from end to end along the length of the field rather than across the field as we did last year. By the end of the day it was clear that the field is relatively level, so that's a good point. By the end of the day with regards my bowling - hmmm not so sure hence the description today of Dibbly dobbly and wobbly.

Leg breaks - very slight turn and not a lot of control over the length.

Flipper - earlier in the day they seemed to be okay - very accurate but used as my main ball I think the batsman would get used to them very quickly. They turned a bit in the morning but as the day went on they seemed straighter, but that may because I gradually bowled fast as the day went on?

Top Spinner - These seem fairly good and have a tendency sometimes to turn in towards leg like wrong uns, they bounce nice as well and are a slightly faster delivery.

Slider - Bowled 2 all day and they fizzed in really low and much faster and were accurate - a potential surprise ball, but in a match situation will I have the confidence to bowl them as they sometimes go awry?

Wrong Uns - Nice! Some turn really well and the bounce nice and high and the speed can be varied quite easily, accurate and good against Left Handed batsmen.

Gipper - Seem to be losing it and don't seem to be going forward with it at all. Not sure what to do?

At the end of the day I was joined by my mate Thomas and he had a bit of 4 hit fest, but I would have had him 3 times in the first 2 overs in a match situation with Wrong Uns - one of which was bowled and caught, but as he settled in with no pressure he then took control, so I don't know?

What's it going to be like tomorrow - have I improved or will the fact that I'm a lot more accurate and not spraying the ball around as much mean I wont force as many mistakes and be far too predicatable? Only a game will reveal the truth. It'll be interesting to see how the ball turns on a proper wicket.The thing is the weather forecast is for rain, so it may not happen anyway?

So with what looked like really slow bowling with not a lot of spin for most of the day maybe I'm more of a dibbly Dobbly bowler? See what happens tomorrow?
:)
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Seriously 101 people have already looked at this here? That's amazing!

Cheers for looking in!

I've been watching the weather all evening checking to see if it's going to rain over night as the prediction for tomorrow was pretty gloomy, but just now at 00.30hrs in the UK the weather on the BBC had and update and now they're saying it's looking fairly promising for tomorrow. I reckon it'll get better as the night goes on and by tomorrow morning the forecaste will have improved more!
 
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Grays & Chadwell Vs South Loughton

You know middle class types, the guilt ridden ones that are educated and have a sense that they should set an example to all the working class and under class types? They do this thing where because they drive around in big posh cars and heat their houses all year and fly to holiday destinations all over the world and have a massive "carbon footprint" they then offset the carbon footprint by sponsoring some tiger or Orang-u-tan and that then enables them to sleep at night happy that they're okay to still produce as much carbon as they like. What they tend to over-look is the fact that the tiger/Orang-u-tan sponsorship deal is at the expense of some poor village populated with humans that include babies, children & mothers who because the "Cuddly cute animal league" think that it's really important to save the cute little tigers campaign to have the humans removed from the jungle/swamp where they've lived for centuries and move them to a dust bowl or slum on the edge of a gehtto, so that they don't compete with the Tigers/monkeys for space/food? You get the picture?

Anyway my cricket is a bit like that, I have to offset my "Cricket Footprint" by doing stuff with my kids and more importantly DIY, so I gain cricket credits by painting doors and walls and fixing stuff that I thought that at this point in life I'd be able to employ someone to do. Sadly being a teacher I can barely afford the paint let alone get someone to do the painting for me! So I have to do DIY to keep things ticking along. Cricket takes time - practicing it and playing it and if you're like me and you're obsessed with trying to make a half decent job of doing it and you're handicapped by the fact that you're nearly 50 and you've only just come to the game in the last 2 years - it potentially takes up a lot of your time (See rest of blog). If you're married with 2 small boys and suddenly this all happens out of the blue it's easy to see that it doesn't go down too well with your wife. It might be very different if your wife was your cricket girlfriend and she's had to suffer the fact that you're mental and over the period of your courtship leading up to your marraige she has become only too aware that you expect to spend all your summer weekends having your fingers broken, shins bruised and body abused in the name of cricket. Unfortunately it hasn't happened that way for me, so cricket is a point of conflict.

So this morning having woken up to the fact that over night it had rained I looked outside to see that the ground was damp and the skies leaden. A part of me kind of looked at it and thought that's a result there's probably not going to be a game and all will be well at home. But then the other part looked and thought "Gutted - am I ever going to find out if my bowling has improved"? With all the potential for conflict there's a part of me asking "Can I justify the amount of commitment and time required to play for G&CCC or shall I not play for a year and try and get something going that is far more informal with the Asian blokes over at Gloucester Park". So today I was sort of thinking that if I do get to play and I bowl and play like crap I may have to assess the situation and consider all the options in the context of the impact it has on my family?

I checked to see if I'd had an email from Neil (Captain) regarding the match and my phone number, I'd told him I couldn't be contacted by phone because I'd lost it and it had then turned up at home not having been lost at all. No emails, checked the club website and found a vague description of where the match was and got myself a map. Michelle asked what the map was for a couple of times and before I could answer someone either phoned or the kids asked a question, so it wasn't until around about 10.00am that she realised that I was actually going to play cricket. I pointed out that it was on the calender and had been for a month or so and she retorted "But you said you weren't playing because of the weather yesterday"? A discussion ensued, it wasn't heated but you could sense she was clicking up the potential for cricket credits off the back of the "Surprise game".

I left as Michelle was sitting with both of the boys helping them do their school homework, again I can imagine a future heated discussion regarding my absence because of cricket where that'll be brought up against me in evidence And who always ends up with them helping them with their home work while you run around with your cricket mates - it's all about the cricket with you la-di-da- la-di- da......

I drove from Basildon to Grays with memories of my first game with G&CCC which was also an away match threatened by rain - it rained on the way there and everyone else turned round after phoning each other and came home leaving me waiting there for about an hour before I realised no-one was going to turn up. I'd been dropped off by Michelle that day in Hainhault as she needed the car and I'd had to make my way home from there and it was a nightmare.

There was loads of people there and I got them to show me where we were going on a map. The weather was holding out - muggy and warm a far cry from recent weeks. We all jumped in our cars and headed off for Loughton. I had to stop for money and possibly diesel as I was already very low, I skipped the diesel and gambled on getting there on the little I had left. The journey was pretty straight-forward and I only needed to stop twice to check the map and I arrived about 2 minutes behind all the others. I was pleased to see the others because as we'd gone round the M25 it had started to rain and then as we entered Loughton it had started to rain much harder, so seeing them all dragging their kit bags through the pouring rain up ahead of me was a relief.

The pitch was okay a small pitch running alongside a river (River Lee)? Which you couldn't actually see, it was a fair distance from any houses and set amongst playing fields and football fields skirted down one side by tall Lombardy Poplars. The pavillion was small and being fitted out with showers and toilets, so we had to 'Go' in the bushes, thankfully I didn't need to have a dump - God knows what you'd have had to do if you'd needed to 'go'? The pavillion was ram packed with all their rollers and mowers and other ground keeping gear and being nothing much more than a shed it was a bit cramped but okay. We all stood around looking at the rain pouring down and the ominous steely grey clouds, our team broke out the playing cards and started playing. After what seemed like an hour the 2 captains tossed and we were put in to bat as the rain eased to drizzle. I took my rightful place as No.11 but was surprised that Neil (The captain) put himself as low as 10? There seemed to be some competition between a few of out blokes to have the last 3 places - why?

I was happy to be at 11 - Ben my 9 year old bowled me yesterday with his first ball hitting middle stump and then he went on to force what would have been 2 catches to silly mid off if there'd been a bloke there within about another 10 balls!

So the rain had weirdly stopped and ominous clouds lingered over in the west and the game ensued. (Note; if you're one of our blokes reading this I've got to apologise in advance if I get the order of things wrong and or names or scores). The other thing is I'm primarily a bowler, so I probably see this from a bowlers perspective? So out they went (the openers) and in they came pretty rapidly and Neil who was doing the scoring gradually down-graded his estimation for the total across 35 overs from 150 to 120 to all out for less than 100! We started really badly, but to be fair the grass was soaking wet and the ball was probably bouncing weirdly because of it? But then in came our No.4 (Sorry no name) Joining 14 year old Lee who'd had a good go and was producing some nice strokes with people commenting that by the time he's 17 he's going to be a good batsman as even now he hits the ball hard and well. Our number 4 then produced a few sixes, two of which were off one over and a glimmer of light appeared and then Lee was bowled.

Dave Skeels took the pitch amongst banter regarding a poor performance the day before with one of the Saturday teams, so he had something to prove to himself. With Dave on the pitch the game changed. The boundary on the far side from us (The river side) was ridiculously short, not much more than a 100' I reckon and "Skeelsy" was able to get the ball over there when he was on strike able to play to his Leg Side and he did this regularly getting the ball over there for numerous 6's and 4's and our score gradually picked up from looking a bit drastic to increasingly competitive. One by one the rest of them joined Skeelsy adding to the score generally as the overs ticked by. Dave passed his 50 mark and edged closer and closer to his first 100. Then "Super Dave" Dave Gaylor (There's at least 3 Daves maybe even 4) joined him and almost straight away run Skeelsy out and proceded to repeat the same suicidle approach to running between the stumps seemingly oblivious to the fact that Skeelsy should be given the opportunity to be on strike as he had his first 100 in his sights! "Super Dave" was eventually out with only 1 over left and Skeelsy needed 17 off of the last over. Neil "Sammers" Samwell the captain made his way out for the last few balls of the last over at No.10 ensuring that I was alleviated the humiliation of having to bat. The game ended on us having scored 180 + (I think) and Dave Skeels producing his best ever knock at 86 and saving the day by giving us a chance of bowling the opposition out.

I was asked to do some umpiring and had to ask John if he'd do the behind the stumps bit and I covered the easier umpiring at Point - I'll have to learn all the signals so that I can do the job properly?

As the teams came off for teas the skies opened up and it began to rain again. The bowling was to be -

fast/medium "Lovejoy", "Super Dave" and another bloke they were calling "Bobby"*
Spin - "Sammers" and me.
Medium - Lee

*Looking at the team list there's no-one called Robert or Bobby but there's a G Ewing so maybe it's a derivitive of Bobby Ewing a reference to the Character in that 80's TV programe?

Anyway - as teas finished the rain eased up slightly and the sun came out and we made our way out onto the field to see if we could win the game. As mentioned Sammers had indicated that I'd be bowling and I was a bit apprehensive as I might end up putting in a performance like the last game of the summer, but I thought I might be okay because I've been putting in the time.

After what seemed like 10 minutes of waiting on the field there team eventually produced 2 batsmen and the battle commenced and in a matter of minutes they'd been sent packing back to the pavillion with only 1 run on the board. Something like 6 overs in and we'd dismissed 3 blokes and their scores were in single figures our fast bowlers were doing a good job. A big geezer turned up at No.3 standing at 6'4" and looking like he was going to make an impact and he went on the second ball for a duck and then we 2 older blokes at 5 & 6. A bloke that looked a bit like Daniel Vetorri and a larger bloke I'm going to refer to as Dwayne Leverock (Bermuda) but white. They kind of turned up as the fast bowlers finished their spells and had started to make in roads with the scoring and had started a rear guard action. Then Neil (Sammers) started his attack and the nature of the game changed completely it might have been his 2nd ball took the No.4 I think both his first balls had turned nicely and the poor kid that was batting stepped way out of his crease and the keeper had his bails. I was then called up and between us we then stiffled the batting pretty much and the run rate and the pace of the game slowed right down.

I've got to say, compared to last year I have improved. This was soaking wet grass with a soaking wet ball and not good conditions for bowling in. I'm not sure whether I bowled 5 or 6 overs but I only bowled 2 wides and one no-ball as far as I can recall. I didn't take any wickets and was hit for a handful of 4's but no sixes and remember this is with a boundary that's only a few yards away ) Although I was at the end where the boundary was to the off side. I couldn't get the ball to turn that much with either the flippers or the Wrong uns and it was the Wrong uns that were turning slightly. But the really weird thing was that both the batsman seemed to slow right down and play really cautiously as though they were really uneasy about trying to take us on. I was really surprised at their approach and this is how they played right through Neil and my spells. I didn't take any wickets but I seem to remember I had a couple of balls that went through the Mid wicket area that were near the fielder. Half way through my spell I had a ball that came off "Daniel Vetorri's" bat straight back at me and I didn't react in time, I got my hand to it and it hit my thumb and bounced and for a second I thought I'd managed to stop it falling to the ground with my arm, but hadn't. That then meant the rest of my overs and this happened about half way through I couldn't bowl flippers as I'd hurt my thumb and it was already beginning to swell.

I think between Neil and me we'd slowed the run rate down as it had looked as though these two blokes were far happier to be facing faster straight balls than spin. The new bowlers started their spell - Lee and "Bobby" and it was evident that the two batsmen were back in their comfort zone and they began to hit the ball again going for fours and finding the gaps. The big bloke "Dwayne" looked threatening and Neil had me alternating between fielding at Long on and Mid On. It seemed just as "Dwayne" was settling in looking for his 50 I was fielding at Mid On and the "Bobby" bloke was bowling. Dwayne hit the ball and it went up and I could see it was heading my way. Now let's lay out the facts here - last summer I dropped all my "catches you should have caught" so over the winter alongside all sorts of practicing that I've been doing one of the things I've also been doing is practicing catches. So there it is the ball is hurtling through the sky and it's coming my way, I hear Neil shout "Dave Thompson's"! and I think there's no-one near it anyway and I glance across to the bowler just in case to see if he's coming out for it. Just moments earlier I'd also realised that I'm looking into the sun, but I don't notice it - must have gone behind the clouds? It's in the sky still and it's getting closer - my thumb - it hurts I think, but I look at the ball and say to myself think positive - I can do this - I'm going to catch this ball At this point I've run forwards and I check my pace and slow down and it comes and I reach up keeping my eye on it hands level with my face and smack it lands and there's a fraction of a release but I gather it up and look across to Neil who looks as though he's not realised that I've actually caught it, so I lift the ball in one hand above my head and show it to the world and then team cheers!

What a feeling! Absolutely magic - I caught one! "The catch that saved the macth" I hear Neil say at some point later on. It did look like Dwayne was about to stamp his mark on the game, I'd noticed "Vetorri" coming back to his crease with a look of resignation on his face that also indicated that was the case. After that "Bobby" went on to take another 4 or 5 wickets as we finished off their bottom order. "Vetorri" made a good stand reaching 100 and we had a good laugh at Neils expense - three skied balls went his way down at Long On 2 in one over. One he got his hands to and palmed it into the air and failed to catch it off the bounce, The 2nd one went straight to him and he dropped it and the third went near him but after 2 screw ups he left it! Lovejoy caught a ball off of Bobby's bowling with a spectacular dive at silly mid off and Lee almost caught a low one off his own bowling which would have been spectacular too. Dave Skeels dropped one at Mid wicket as well. Despite all the hilarity at the dropped catches they were bowled out for about 140 +.

Todate that's the best game I've been involved in so far, it was funny and a good laugh what with all the dropped catches, I bowled okay and Neil seemed quite happy with my bowling and my fielding was okay too - stopping balls affectively, chasing them down and even took a dive at one off my own bowling and stopped it.

My thumbs a bit stiff and swollen, so I'll ease up on that for a few days and see how it goes, but I reckon it's okay. I can't wait till the next time! I'll also try and remember my camera as well next time.


Finally sorry if I missed your name, I've got a list but there's so many nicknames flying around it's difficult to know who is who! I can correct any of this if you email me or used the comments facility (It takes minutes to set up your own blog and use the comments function) and I'll try and take better notes next time!
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

Edladd doesn't do too bad either - check his out! I don't watch the tele and I love writing this nonsense! I've got an Auto-biography on the go as well that spans 10 years of my life between 19 and 29 that's 750,000 words long and still no-where near finished!
 
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Blimey I don't half ache today! My legs are stiff and my muscles are aching and my thumbs still swollen and painful if I try and do stuff with it. I've also got a bit of a cold so feeling pretty knackered, so come Wednesday when I should be doing the running back and forth across a field and throwing the ball at the stumps malarky and practicing my high catches it looks like I'll be curled up with my Horlicks and Lemsip watching the tele or sitting here more likely ranting about the Fluffy Bunny Brigade. Actually I wont, having read back over yesterdays blog, I think the rant at the beginning was a bit too much and might put people off reading the content further down?

So aches and pains and a snivelly nose and sore throat - sounds like I should take it easy for a few days.

Later.....

Can't keep away. I wrote a load more stuff while I was going to work on the train this morning and have just tried to transfer it across to this computer, but there was a file incompatability issue and now have lost all the files! So I've now got to remember all the stuff I wrote and re-write it all!

It was primarily with regards the new variation The Gipper. Neil "Sammers" the captain asked about it and whether they were going to get to see it, I explained that at this stage it was very much "Work in progress" and that I can get it down the other end of the pitch but with no pace as yet, but loads of turn. He then asked about how it comes out of the hand and I showed him saying that I can't imagine actually bowling it in a match for some time yet and he said to try and get it ready for July/August. The thing was he wasn't taking the P**s he seemed genuinely interested and offering real encouragement.

In the match yesterday I had another little positive with "Super Dave" calling me Dave "Warnesque" Thompson. Nothing to do with any spinning aspects of my bowling but the fact that my mannerisms leading up to the point where the ball leaves the hand have all got traits of Shane warne. Apparently I cup the ball in my hand making smoothing actions (I was drying it) and wiping it on my clothes? Then I spin it from hand to hand which Warney does and then my run-in is short building up to the release in virtually the same way that Warne does? Maybe all this was so convincing following Neils dismissal in his first over that the batsmen bought into it and thought I could bowl as well as Neil?

It'd be good if I could just get The Gipper to get up the other end with some accuracy enbaling me to pitch it outside Leg Stump and then turn freakishly across the batsman towards off. If I could produce 2 balls like that and then follow up with all my other variations that might be just enough to instill a sense of fear in the batsmen to then see me through my spell without them getting the other hand?
 
Re: someblokecalleddave's Blog

someblokecalleddave said:
Edladd doesn't do too bad either - check his out! I don't watch the tele and I love writing this nonsense! I've got an Auto-biography on the go as well that spans 10 years of my life between 19 and 29 that's 750,000 words long and still no-where near finished!
Click to expand...

Maybe we should have a comp to see who can do the biggest and best match report each week. :p

Anyway, you talk about 'The Gipper', what is that, sounds like a fast turning legbreak to me!
 
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