Season updates thread

[hodge]

I just thought for anyone who is playing this season that we could have a thread where people give updates on how their season is going both personally and for their team if they are interested?

As I said in another thread I have what are apparantly my university's first every cricket games thursday and friday this week and i'm captaining the side, no pressure there We have Newport cricket clubs midweek team on thursday and face UWE 2nd XI on friday who a freind of mine is captain so we have a little wager on the outcome of the game. Loser has to buy the winner a drink for every club 2nd XI game we both play in Again no pressure there!

Anyways good luck to everyone for this season, unless somehow in some strange case you end up playing against me!

[Fists of Fury]

Well, I am without a club but was weighing up joining my local one for this coming season.

Until I had a net last night...

Truly dreadful batting. Middle about 2 in 10 minutes, and was bowled twice.

My bowling was ok-ish, but far too loose. Struggled to the left-hander, though I did clean him up once with a classic through the gate dismissal.

[Mad for Chelsea]

played two matches (both friendlies) so far, with varying results.

Keeping has been good, five catches in all, including a personal record of four in the last match (none of them particularly difficult, though the one in the previous match was a good one). No missed chances, a couple of balls going through off second bounces but that's to be expected really.

Batting more of a mixed bag. Nabbed a third ball duck in the first game (good ball, nipped back sharply and trapped me LBW) before beign moved up to open in the next game and making a decent start but just as I was starting to hit the ball well I tried a pull shot to one which was too wide and toe-ended it to mid-on. Feet not moving quite as well as I'd like yet, but have nets on Wednesday again so hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

[Mike Selig]

Rarely play anymore unfortunately, hopefully I'll get the odd game in for my uni whilst here.

I've done several coaching sessions obviously. I think I've found a (very) good player, but no one else seems as excited as I am yet, so I could be wrong.

I umpired a match a couple of week-ends ago, which ended in my being accused of taking bribes. Captain and Manager have received one-match bans.

Also ran and helped run courses for coaches, umpires and scorers over the winter (twas a busy winter).

This season we've got 3 tournaments, an internal preparation, a T20 in Holland and a 50 over one in Germany.

On a massive plus side, one of our guys is going to play for Kent Accademy at the end of the month.

[Fists of Fury]

Excellent stuff, Mike.

Whilst on this topic, can anyone give me any batting tips?! Even my old slogging method seems to have gone awry!

[Mike Selig]

Excellent stuff, Mike.

Whilst on this topic, can anyone give me any batting tips?! Even my old slogging method seems to have gone awry!

3 components to batting: head, hands, feet (I simplify but really only somewhat).

Given your description of yourself I am guessing you have never been one for perfect footwork, or getting your hands beautifully through the ball, so any change in fortune is likely to be through your head not being in the right place. Are you throwing your head back as you play the shot in an attempt to hit it hard? Is your head in line with the ball? Maybe you have introduced some unnecessary head movement (see Eoin Morgan) before the ball's bowled?

To summarise: head forward, in line with the ball and still on impact. This is sheer guesswork of course.

[Fists of Fury]

My problem is probably not getting in to line, for a start. My foot movement is terrible, bordering on non-existent (I make Sehwag look like Fred Astaire).

How in line with the ball do I need to be, though? Planting my front foot just inside the line of the ball?

This may all sound very village, but I truly have only ever been a bowler, with my odd promotion coming in T20 where I've had the odd swipe at 6, 7, 8.

I clearly have some fundamental issues as I rarely middle my forward defensives (if you can call them that) and miss the odd straight one when attempting to play the aforementioned forward defensive. Watching the ball on to the bat may be one of those, and is something I seriously need to work on!

[Mike Selig]

Well there are a few things:

First of all you need to decide how you want to bat. Everyone has their own method and their is no real "right" way to bat. There are however a few wrongs which you should avoid. But in general technical faults are only faults if they are genuinely hampering your play. In this sense I don't think Shewag's lack of footwork is a problem (his problem is not adapting to seaming wickets and still wanting to thrash the ball on the up from the word go), ditto there is nothing wrong with Pietersen's technique given the way he plays.

It is actually not easy to determine whether someone's technique is faulty (and in fact not an exact science): I tend to err too much on the "live and let live" side, purely because I think it's better than endless tinkering, but some much better coaches than I go the other way.

Given your previous posts I'm not sure it's that useful for you to try to bat "properly": I suspect it will take a lot of work (I am talking about working all through the off-season at least) and I'm not sure you'll be able to assimilate the drastic changes at this time in your life (the usualy wisdom is that what technique you have by the time you're 17 is upto minor changes what you're stuck with, and that any change thereafter is gradual - a la Chanderpaul). And I'm not sure you'd come out a better player for it anyway. But I don't know you and I've never seen you play so all this is pure speculating.

The question is then how to make your current method work better. It seems like your method is to stay inside the line and have a thrash. I make 2 suggestions:
- get your head position right, over the ball (even when hitting in the air), in line with the ball and still on impact.
- get your hands through the ball, rather than accross it (this will help reduce the times you "slice" the ball towards point). A good tip (for which I credit Jeremy Bray, who credits someone else but I forget who) is that if you finish with "high hands" then generally you've got your hands through the ball straight.

I would also advise that if you are a bit of a slogger you'll get more than the odd bouncer. You need to learn how to deal with that.

With regards to forward defensives:
are you getting a good stride in? Except against genuinely quick bowlers you should be looking at a stride of 66-75% of your height (to measure this, lie down arms by your sides and get someone to measure foot to elbow/wrist).
Your head should be over your left shoulder and over your front foot, and your bat alongside your pad.

Regarding watching the ball onto the bat, and going into some quite new science, this depends somewhat on your Myers-Briggs type. If you are more an F than a T, then you are stronger when using peripheral vision, so foccusing entirely on the ball will be counterproductive; instead you merely want to be aware of the ball pitching.

Anyway this is a bit rambling. A lot of what I've said won't help, but hopefully you'll be able to take something out of it which will assist.

[Fists of Fury]

Mike, thanks for all of that, very interesting stuff, and something that I'll try to incorporate next time I have a net.

As to the stride for the forward defensive I'd say no. I don't know for sure, but I'd wager it is nowhere near that distance that I'm stepping forward.

I simply cannot hit the ball through the offside unless it is a cut, either, which makes me think there is a ridiculous amount of bottom hand involved. An example would be when I managed to pull a ball a couple of ft outside off stump through mid-on yesterday. Ridiculous.

I accept that my batting is horribly limited, but I'd sure like to possess a solid defensive.

[JDizzle]

Regarding watching the ball onto the bat, and going into some quite new science, this depends somewhat on your Myers-Briggs type. If you are more an F than a T, then you are stronger when using peripheral vision, so foccusing entirely on the ball will be counterproductive; instead you merely want to be aware of the ball pitching.

That's really interesting, as I'd never heard that before. I've always been someone who knew that they never watched the ball all the way on to the bat and it just felt unnatural when I tried to do it that way and I couldn't keep it going over a period of time. My method is just as you say to be aware of the ball pitching and then hitting it! I do feel slightly pleased that this isn't a technical deficiency of mine, it just must be one of the many others that means I score no runs.

As for my season, it started on Saturday and we won a friendly. I didn't pick up any wickets but managed to get my team over the line with 9 wickets down with a lovely compiled 8*...

[Mad for Chelsea]

Much like JD I've never been one for watching the ball right onto the bat. Having discovered recently that I am in fact quite a strong "F" (i.e. peripheral vision quite dominant) it seems I've been doing it right all along

[hodge]

I generally watch the ball as much as possible as especially over this years nets where against spinners unless i'm going forward to attack I generally try and play the ball as late as possible when cutting or low pulling it. Same with seamers actually when cutting especially, get my body position correct and then bring my bat through with pace leaving it to a bit later.

My driving of the ball is quite strange I feel, it works generally but seems strange. I move my front foot generally forward and a little out, then accomodate with my wrists and nearly play the shot side batted so the bat looks nearly horizontal to the ground to play the shot.

[Guest]

Having recovered recently from a hamstring injury, my bowling isn't where I want it to be, i.e not being able to bowl at my full pace.

Batting wise, I've netted well and seem to be hitting the ball out the middle, hoping for another good season.

[hodge]

game for tomorrow just been called off

[Mad for Chelsea]

game for Sunday in the process of being called off (it seems the pitch is in fact a lake)

[hodge]

Had my game today called off as well

[Fists of Fury]

Morning all

Had my second net last night.

First of all, Mike, thank you! That bit of information about extending my stride worked wonders with regard to defence. I was certainly a lot more solid, if not perfect, but I kept it out, that was the main aim.

My eye definitely seemed a little better last night, a couple of times I had a shuffle down the track to hit the slow left armer and felt it ping right out of the middle, and also played the one nice cut shot. Not too many strokes to write home about, but it was an improvement.

The bowling still isn't feeling right. You know that effortless feeling when the ball is leaving the hand properly? Well I haven't got that, and my line and lengths are a complete mixture. Not sure whether that is something technical or just the fact that practice will slowly see an improvement, as it did a couple of years back.

[Shelsey93]

Weather is threatening to ruin pre-season - I retain little hope that my 3rd XI friendly on an uncovered pitch will be played on Saturday. Last weeks games were called off as well.

On the up side, maybe we'll get the cancellations out of the way before the seasons starts properly.

[JDizzle]

We got battered last weekend. Two teams, both lost the toss and and were inserted on green, damp wickets and managed a total of 114 between them! The sad thing was we took 14 wickets over the two teams as well!

All my Uni games have been called off this week as well. Not good.

[hampo17]

My ground is underwater at the moment. Last time we had rain like this it cost us upwards of 100k to repair as we have a river the runs around our ground, actually have to cross a bridge from the pavilion to the field.

[Shelsey93]

My ground is underwater at the moment. Last time we had rain like this it cost us upwards of 100k to repair as we have a river the runs around our ground, actually have to cross a bridge from the pavilion to the field.

Must be picturesque. Though a bummer in bad weather.

I have mixed feelings about grounds with rivers. Broxbourne 3s and 4s play on a small second pitch at the bottom of their main ground, running alongside the River Lee. Last year, we played there, and whilst my captain decided not to give me a bowl owing to the temptingly short boundaries (even though I had taken a five-fer against the same opposition at home the previous season), I was able to launch one over mid-wicket and into the river for my first ever six. My fun ended soon after when the opening batsman, who had said he wouldn't be running any quick singles owing to a dodgy ankle, decided to tip-and-run one and caught me unawares.

[Shelsey93]

The start of the season has effectively been cancelled here in Hertfordshire - 11 scheduled fixtures (junior and senior), 11 cancelled! And we have smart new covers and a water hogg too!

[hodge]

Got messaged earlier by the 1st team captain asking when i'm available from for this season Strange seeing as how I spent all of last year in the 2nds near enough bar the 1st 2 games in the season I played for the 1sts, 1st game I got a golden duck the first time I had ever opened for them and then the next week I was dropped to 9 in the order.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Any games in the south east tomorrow afternoon look like no hopers...

[hampo17]

11pm last night I got a phone call from our skipper saying I was keeping wicket! Haven't kept for 5 years so I have no kit so I've been trying to get some kit together all night!

[hampo17]

Well it wasn't as bad as I expected, 19 byes and a catch so pretty happy. We won the game by 7 wickets, one of our 18 year olds scored 47 off 30 balls! 21-9 points and puts us top of the league.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Well it wasn't as bad as I expected, 19 byes and a catch so pretty happy

Perhaps for the price of a pint the scorer could be persuaded to recategorise a few of those byes as wides

[hampo17]

Doubtful but I did try, in my defence all the byes were legside and after 30 overs I could barely move

[Shelsey93]

Well done for getting a game in. The very notion seems ridiculous down south. Our league doesn't start till next week luckily.

[hodge]

Yeah same here, from what hampo said its got me worrying now, our first team keeper has gone back to new zealand now after being offered a job there and the firsts have been talking about whose going to keep for them. Theres one guy but he doesn't really want to, now after the message i got yesterday about when i'm available i'm hoping they haven't rememberd that I kept all the way up in junior level and have done second team and sunday team from time to time

[hampo17]

Does anyone else play the timed cricket where the match is 110 overs?

[Shelsey93]

Does anyone else play the timed cricket where the match is 110 overs?

We play a complicated format here which is 120 overs for Home Counties Premier League (not including us), 110 in the Home Counties East and West (not us), 100 in the main Herts League down to Div 10, and 90 in Divs 11-13. The team batting first has a maximum of 53 overs in the 100 over game, and 47 in the 90 over game - I don't know about the others as they don't effect us, though they can declare, and if they are bowled out the chasing side gets the overs which the side batting first used. Its a nightmare to explain to new players but does create exciting cricket as all three results are in play. Where our league comes up short is in how it deals with rain - last year our 1st XI rained off 3 more times than our main promotion rivals, and missed out by the equivalent of one win.

[hampo17]

That's exactly like ours, complicated isn't the half of it.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I am 16, so I play under 17's cricket. Where I captain the team . No games as of yet.

I also play for our 4th team and 3rd team (sometimes). Our 4th team is pretty much a couple of old blokes and a lot of youngsters. It is good for us cos we can play the longer format of the game (45 overs) against older guys who have played for years. I love having the extra time to bat.

[Guest]

The weather has decimated our friendly fixture list. Wonder if anyone else has had the same problems. Hoping to have our opening league fixture this week. Played one friendly and came in at 5 and was out for a duck after playing round a long hop!! Made up for it in the field by bowling a wicket maiden in me first over. Sad to say we lost by 2 runs!! Grrrrr

Please let me know how your season is going on

[Fists of Fury]

Just going to merge this one, legend, as we already have a thread up and running

[Guest]

Good man.

Thanks FOF

[Fists of Fury]

I'm not playing for a club this season, but will be turning out for work in our T20 fixtures.

First game May 29th, I'll keep you updated!

[Guest]

How many T20 fixtures do you have Fists?

I am pulling double duty this weekend playing Saturday and Sunday. Gah!

[Fists of Fury]

6 fixtures, mate.

I finished up last year (we didn't get many games in) with overall figures of:

7 overs, 6 wickets for 46 runs at an average of 7.67 and with an economy of 6.57. Best figures of 2-4.

Very impressive, if I do say so myself! The standard is very varied, hence the success, but I did take a couple of wickets of good 'proper' batsmen which is always so much nicer. I've barely played since then, when I was playing pretty regularly, so my bowling has deteriorated a fair bit in terms of pace and accuracy. If I do half as well this season I'll be happy.

As for my batting...I'm a lower order slogger, so I had just 2 innings, making 14 runs with a high score of 8*. I was not out both times, barely faced any balls, but managed a six with my last ball of the season. I'm a terrible bat, though, so shan't be pushing for a promotion up the order.

Love work cricket, great fun.

[Guest]

Sounds a good crack mate.

I only bowled 2 overs in the first match and I was 1-4. The captain for some reason went for bowlers who were going at least 7 an over. I came in when the 2nd wicket was 78 off 45. Second ball in and the guy tried slogging a slower ball and was caught out in the deep. The whole field went bananas.

I didn't play much last season because of injury. Hoping to have a couple of T20's down here.

[hodge]

Hopefully got my first game saturday and my clubs first team have called me up so should be interesting (I was top scorer for the 2's last season). Then on the sunday i've been asked a few times now if I want to turn out for the Newport midweek team, so thought I would take them up on an offer to play on sunday, think I may stick around playing for them for a while actually, games are generally on a thursday and the work I will be doing at a school think I finish 4:30 on a thursday, hour drive or so could be back in time.

[Guest]

into my 2nd season of captaincy this season..

we have already had 2 league games..

1st one was abandonded after 24 overs due to rain

but

yesterday we won by 8 wickets

i won the toss and chose to bowl, and we dismissed our opponents for 140 in 28 overs, and chased it down relatively comfortably.

[hodge]

Had my first game of the season today, played for Newports midweek team who had a freindly against a local football team who wern't actually all bad players, batted at 7 as names were drew out of a hat. Only a 25 over game so came in with 9 overs to go and ended up on 60 odd not out

[Shelsey93]

Nice one hodge

Hertfordshire has been one of the worst affected parts of the country by recent rain, and so predictably, although it wasn't raining both our second ground (where I should have been playing) and our main ground (where I'd like to have been watching if not playing) were sodden and the matches called off.

Only one of the ten matches in our 1st XI's league were actually played, but one of our likely promotion rivals won. Some of our 1st XI are particularly frustrated as being unlucky with the weather (i.e. downpours always landing where we were playing and skirting round our rivals) probably cost us a place in Division One last year.

[hodge]

yeah thats annoying, my home ground gets washed out alot as well.

Newport however the guys there were telling me it could rain the day before near solid and you can play next day no worries, loved the speed of the outfield, kinda tempted to just play saturday matches there as well this year

[Guest]

Played yesterday and after tweaking my achilles playing handball on saturday, I fielded slip for the first time ever and was allowed to bat with a runner.

Was all a bit uncomfortable but still put on a dogged 35* after coming at number 5. We won by 3 wickets in the end after they made 190 in their 45 and I came in with us wobbling a bit, very few boundaries from me for a change which meant my runner was shattered and in need of a pint or 3 after the game!

[Guest]

3rd league game on saturday, and i have to think hard about which combinations i will go in with...

may keep same side, or i may put another quick in, in place of a spinner, or may use a spinner

[hodge]

ah the complications of captaincy

Think I may be sticking around Newport till the start of July when my accomodation kicks me out and try and play in one of their saturday sides, of course having to start in the 4ths, apparantly their captain was is going to have a headache this week with who to pick and I may be adding my name to the list of contenders. is it hard to argue against playing someone who hit 61* on debut in the midweek team?

[Corporalhumblebucket]

CF - or of course it may be raining again

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