Amateur players blog

[cherry_poppins]

Yay new season

Wasn't going to play but they brought me back with false starts

First game tomorrow and I'm severely out of shape, I need to fix this now

 

[Chip and Chase]

Cricket ???!!! I spend 4 hours on a Saturday morning now watching U13's run around. That is a test of any cricket fans love of the game.

 

[lsz]

I have given the game away....as a family we now play Baseball...

 

[Chip and Chase]

I have given the game away....as a family we now play Baseball...

Great game - spent about 5 or 6 cricket seasons playing baseball - really enjoyed it.

 

[lsz]

Great game - spent about 5 or 6 cricket seasons playing baseball - really enjoyed it.

Agree

juat works better for my young fella and now I have been roped into playing (my first at bat was a single...I whipped one of my toes for a single )

 

[Clint]

I will attempt to get this thread up and running again. I always enjoyed reading how the "has beens" and "wanna be's" went with their Saturday cricket.
Have you southerners kicked off your season yet? How are you travelling?
Our somewhat shortened 2020 season is all done and dusted.

 

[globaleagle]

Agree

juat works better for my young fella and now I have been roped into playing (my first at bat was a single...I whipped one of my toes for a single )

They had an ad on TV here where some kids are playing baseball. A young east Indian boy walks up to bat for the first time, takes a cricket stance and all the others laugh at him.

Needless to say he sends the pitch over the fence for a home run.

then all the other kids are like how did you do that? And they start practicing cricket shots.

Dunno what the ad was for, probably some be nice campaign.

Anyway...

wake up now!

 

[lsz]

They had an ad on TV here where some kids are playing baseball. A young east Indian boy walks up to bat for the first time, takes a cricket stance and all the others laugh at him.

Needless to say he sends the pitch over the fence for a home run.

then all the other kids are like how did you do that? And they start practicing cricket shots.

Dunno what the ad was for, probably some be nice campaign.

Anyway...

wake up now!

I ended up loving it. Highlight was when I had one coming at my head...I stepped inside and hooked it into the car park

 

[Chip and Chase]

Have played 2 games already this season. Our format is 40 overs per side one dayers. We've managed 2 wins, second game went to last over after we set them 180 odd. I leaked a few in the penultimate over and thought i had blown it, but we got there with 4 runs to spare. Have been pushed down order this year to concentrate on bowling, so won't get too much of a chance to bat too many overs. First game back brought the inevitable back strain, which meant the second game was a struggle. We have a couple of weeks break now so hopefully get over the niggle.

It's crazy how quickly your reflexes drop off with age, nearly copped a broken arm off a drive smashed back at me. Couldn't react quick enough to get hands in position and ended up wearing it on forearm - didn't let batsman know it stung but it did. Still sore a week later.

 

[Clint]

It's crazy how quickly your reflexes drop off with age,

I've noticed this the last couple of years too C&C. The mind is there but the hands/reflexes are lagging behind. Things that just used to be instinct now take effort and focus. You're not alone. Lol.
Yer we play 40 over one day format too. Pros and cons. I like the traditional 2 day cricket but day two can really lose its enjoyment if you are too far behind the game after the first day.
One day cricket is also a lot more convenient for our tradies and FIFO workers.

 

[Chip and Chase]

The toughest ones are the catches and the hot ones in the field. For someone who has always prided themselves on their fielding I find it so frustrating that by the time I realize what I'm supposed to be doing the ball is gone these days. Batting suffers too obviously but you can cover that a bit, and bowling doesn't rely on reflex. I keep finding myself thinking "back in the day". I've become that old guy that I used to laugh at when I was a young player, half a second too slow all the time.

 

[Chip and Chase]

I've also been roped into coaching my boys team this year. I assume everyone has seen "major league" the baseball movie ? I've got a kid in the team who is the cricket equivalent of the wild thing. Bowls at a pretty good clip but is all over the shop. Bouncer, Beamer, than an unplayable snorter. Would love to be able to unlock him because he would be a weapon if he could control it. We are talking u14's. Any tips ?? He's a real athlete, but only knows one pace and that's flat out.

 

[Clint]

Yep we have a couple of those too. I personally think just let them go. The unpredictable bowler is the most feared when batting, especially if they do have that extra yard of pace.
Do you have access to the CA Coaching Kit? There are some great pointers in there for all disciplines.

 

[lsz]

I've also been roped into coaching my boys team this year. I assume everyone has seen "major league" the baseball movie ? I've got a kid in the team who is the cricket equivalent of the wild thing. Bowls at a pretty good clip but is all over the shop. Bouncer, Beamer, than an unplayable snorter. Would love to be able to unlock him because he would be a weapon if he could control it. We are talking u14's. Any tips ?? He's a real athlete, but only knows one pace and that's flat out.

Glasses?

 

[Chip and Chase]

Yep we have a couple of those too. I personally think just let them go. The unpredictable bowler is the most feared when batting, especially if they do have that extra yard of pace.
Do you have access to the CA Coaching Kit? There are some great pointers in there for all disciplines.

Yep have found a couple of good drills on there that I'm going to try with him at training. Its mainly his delivery stride that I think is the problem - he basically just runs through the crease at 100mph without any real gather or set up. He's one of those skip step bowlers without a pronounced delivery stride.

 

[Clint]

Any mid season reports @Chip and Chase @cherry_poppins
How'd you go with your 'Wild Thing' bowler C&C?

 

[Chip and Chase]

He's still a work in progress. Have managed to get him into a proper delivery gather and step into crease. But his arm action is still so quick and he doesn't really have a delivery 'stride' so he doesn't pivot over his front leg yet. The biggest battle is trying to get him to slow everything down and just work on technique, he'll do it for 3 or 4 balls but then it's back to blast them out.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

My old high school coach said the key to fast bowling was to “pull the chain and piss like a dog” lol. Front arm high and pulling and then bringing the back leg over

I have been asked to play every week for the first half of the season, and haven’t been able to make any of them work due to me or my wife working. The one game I commited 2 was going to be in 2nd grade after 2 years not playing lol but then some work came up Friday afternoon so I had to pull out

 

[Chip and Chase]

Binga always claimed the key to his pace was dragging down that front arm quick but keeping it in close to his body. I'll have to give it a go and see what muscles and tendons I can destroy in the process.

 

[cherry_poppins]

My weight has went in the wrong direction,i like sugar too much and I'm taking the year off trying to kick it down

I had work issues to resolve and this year our house will be built

I hope i get my pace back,whenI'm around a certain crowd 1 delivery gets spoken about

Out of over 100 overs in my wildest season i broke the matrix for one ball

I guess i just got the body doing the right thing for one delivery,by the time I'd looked up the ball was half way to the boundary having been missed by everything and it was moving,FAST

The batsman,slip and keeper were shocked,I'd estimate my fastest effort ball to be around 120kph,not great not terrible but this one tracer bullet its come to be known as,if i could've tapped into it,damn