Since the 24th I’ve gradually reduced the amount of balls I get through in the paddock sessions and I’m currently bowling 30 balls. On the forum I’ve been talking to Martin and he was saying last night that like me he gets aspects of his bowling right and then realises that he’s not doing something else because he’s been focusing on getting the first thing right in that session. I’ve had a number of problems; most recently I’ve been bowling a lot fuller, which I’m not that fussed about, but when I tried to address it, I struggled to do so. But I’ve found that when I bowl with a batsman in place, I correct the length automatically. At the club in the nets, I’ve bowled pretty well, but earlier in the week I’ve not been that happy with the bowling in the paddock, but come Wednesday night I’ve done okay, in spite of the fact that the nets are not high enough and the point at which you pivot is loose dirt with big dip.
It does seem, in the nets I bowl in
accordance with the conditions, a shorter run-up, get side on and get up on my
toes. The results are generally quite good and with a batsman it does seem that
I’m able to set them up to some extent bowling a sequence of Leg Breaks and
then bringing in the wrong – un. The side on and pivot seems to also bring a
lot more bounce, so that in itself seems to work as a variation?
It does seem as though there's a big difference between what I do in one session and then what I do in the next and there's an aspect of inconsistency. It also feels increasingly as though I can't deal with trying to address several aspects of my bowling at the same time, but if I only look to address one thing there's the sense that I'm neglecting other aspects, which might - if focussed on too, would make a difference. The question then comes down to what should you focus on primarily that underpins everything else in an fundamental way?
Listening and reading about this, the over-riding advice is the spinning of the ball... The 'Spin it hard' mantra, but it's far more complex than spinning it hard - that is easily interpreted as something you do with the hand - fingers, wrist and flick, but that is only a fraction of the 'Spin it hard' equation. Once you get into this in more detail and start exploring the bio-mechanics it dawns on you how difficult it is to get all the elements together to perform well.
From Wikipedia...
Biomechanics in sports, can be stated as the muscular, joint and skeletal actions of the body during the execution of a given task, skill and/or technique. Proper understanding of biomechanics relating to sports skill has the greatest implications on: sport's performance, rehabilitation and injury prevention, along with sport mastery. As noted by Doctor Michael Yessis, one could say that best athlete is the one that executes his or her skill the best.
This is where the role of a proper qualified coach comes into play and it's obvious from experiences I've heard about recently, that with someone there with you giving your immediate feedback, the potential to iron out issues is massively improved. So, working in isolation, maybe, as I do - loading video footage up onto Youtube etc can only go so far and sometimes have a wholly negative impact sometimes?
Joe -
Joe's doing well, he's training at the club and at school and this week marginally missed out on being selected as the captain for the school team. The kid that got the job, got it by virtue of having more mates in the team. I've said that he should ensure that when he plays he should still be very vocal, encouraging the rest of the team and be the first to run in and lead the celebrations when a wickets taken and be the first to congratulate the other team when they win and to get the rest of the team to do so. Hopefully the manager of the team, will see that Joe's understanding of the game is far greater than this other kids and he'll get the role later in the season?
Joe and some of the kids in the school team went to Chelmsford and had some training at the grounds facilities from some of the Essex coaches. See below from the schools website.
Essex
County Cricket Club visit
On Monday 26th April 20 selected students
from Year 7 and 8 were given the unique oppurtunity, to attend a coach and view
session at Essex County Cricket Club. Under the supervision of ECB trained
coaches, the boys spent two hours working on developing both batting and
bowling skills. Each and every student looked like a much improved cricketer by
the end of this experience, as well as having a tired and worn out body! This
was followed by an exciting afternoon watching Essex 1st XI play Hampshire in a
County Championship game. The behaviour of the boys during the day was
exemplary, and a credit to the school, and has hopefully provided a springboard
for the more seasoned cricketers to develop their skills, and those who had
played little Cricket before, to wet their appetite for more as the new season
begins.
He missed out on training at the club this week because he was watching Ben playing cricket for the school. We've only got one car, it means that when Ben's got a game Michelle has to drive over to the school and take Ben and Joe to the game. Meaning that Joe's trapped there till Ben's game finishes and this week the oppo were late arriving and it meant that on Joe's training night he didn't get in till gone seven.
Ben's games look like they may be on Thursday nights which is a disaster, because right up until June 20th I'll be teaching an evening class, so I can't get to those games, so it'll be down to Michelle to get him to the games and stay there. I'm wondering if she'll continue to video his games as I do?
