Cricket Diary: Reflections (New Stuff)

As the season enters it’s final stages a look back at the ‘new stuff’ I encountered, but first – who would be a Cricket Club Official, hats caps off to all who are as it really must be a nightmare of a task and without them there would be no cricket played! It’s a fact of life that you can’t accommodate everybody all of the time, but treating everyone equally whilst accepting individuals preferences and circumstances is a skill to say the least.

The Week That Was

Monday: sad truth (for me at least) is that the time off over the last few weeks has certainly benefited the old body and whisper this please but I am already looking forward to the end of the season and working hard over the winter and coming back stronger (literally) and better (hopefully). Bank Holiday which obviously meant the weather was poor and the only cricket related thing for me with England having wrapped the test up Sunday morning was to work on a couple of bats I am repairing and restoring and will sell.

Tuesday: although not available on Saturday old habits and all that I had my usual look at Spond and once again felt more than a pang of frustration for the selection committee, players and opposition as with the scores on the doors reading 25 Available, 18 Unanswered and 20 Unavailable I suspected it would be a busy week for those involved, but I had not anticipated how busy! Not relevant to this diary but Penkridge handled a situation extremely well this week and managed to put out a 1s, 2s and 3s which is huge credit to all involved.

In general availability is certainly an area that has not really changed since I last played and on one level I suspect that it will always be this way, but there must surely be something we can do? At the very least responding on time and if you say you are available be available. From a purely personal perspective (and I am more than a tad strange in my outlook without doubts) I feel bad if I am not available. I feel bad for the committee. I feel bad for my fellow team mates, not through arrogance that they will miss my skills and company but that they may not get a game, and I feel bad for the opposition that they may not get a game or a challenging game. On the other hand there is more to life than cricket (or so I am regularly told) and we do need to spend time with family and friends. It is a huge Catch 22 the cricket club exists to provide games for the players, and it needs players to play, but without games the players can’t play. You can’t manage the club or the people as you would a business for sure, but maybe the way forward lies in a few areas that a business would work on: culture and collective responsibility.

Anyway being Tuesday I called in at Barlaston for a net after being at my parents but one thing led to another and after sorting out three repaired and restored bats, picking up a bat that needs a new handle, and sorting tickets and arrangements for Old Trafford Test and T20 Finals Day I turned left and not right and ended up in the bar for a couple of hours during which selection was held and communicated so I left knowing I was playing at home on Sunday.

Wednesday: should be a non cricket day, but reality is I am already focussed on the off season, so whilst are still four games left for me this year (if selected and fit) I today started to focus on getting ready for next year. Not much I can do but am revising diet a little, stretching a bit more and trying to walk the dogs daily.

Thursday: see above, plus the Test Match

Friday: see above plus looked a couple of bats have been offered to refurbish.

Saturday: Moving Day at the Test Match, the third day is often the decisive day. The Oval is one of those grounds that I have only ever been to on Corporate Events, and it has been a while. They have certainly done a great job with the new stand and facilities as have many of the old grounds blending the new with the old rather tastefully.

Not the most exciting day to watch, but an interesting one to see how ‘easy’ it is for a team to get on top session wise, but how quickly things can change. A good reminder that at the end of the day cricket is cricket whatever level you play at, although I would love to play on a pitch and against pace bowlers that allowed the late dab down to 3rd man, an old favourite of mine back in the day. Much of the excitement late in the day was generated by the alcohol consumed and I am not a huge of fan of the “football drinking culture” that has become more prevalent in cricket these days. Try reading this excellent article by Jonathan Liew before you go to a cricket match. And … at east that irritating Jarvo 69 didn’t make an appearance!

Sunday: and finally, some cricket! Felt a little strange to be back in the old routine: tidy the house up (good to get the old body moving and rather strangely a good barometer over the season as to much better my body was getting and bizarrely and indicator of how bad my ginger was when I cleaned the litter trays!), bath to loosen up, breakfast and prepare my tea, then 30 minutes on the bike to warm up and then off to Barlaston for the match and a bit of a family day out.

Fielded well. Bowled well! Batted poorly.

Fielding was much better this week. Stopped everything that came in my direction (including a dive), chased a few to to the boundary, nothing came my way in the air and despite the heat stayed pretty active throughout. I spent time at Slip, Short Mid Wicket, Short Cover, Mid On and Long On so I got around a bit and felt comfortable in each position.

Bowling! One over, one maiden and a bang on LBW declined, what else can I say? I am a under utilised bowler in my humble view.

Batting was my own fault as a) I have not been batting or practicing recently so should not have avoided the nets on Tuesday and b) I was exhausted after 40 over in the sun and walking off with a total of 144 to chase I suggested that as we only had 4 seniors I could go in at 5 and hopefully see us home. At 72 for 3 this was a realistic plan but having seized up while waiting to bat and feeling extremely lethargic I only managed to edge my first attacking shot onto my stumps. Still nearly the end of the season and was good that a lot of people are talking positively about next year, and I have accepted that I need to concentrate on opening and accept my ‘flair player’ days are not going to return! I have fought this throughout the season and have never really had my mind committed, but I see now that this is by far the best option for me and the team. Talking this through with the skipper and a few fellow seniors they agreed!

Personally I think it better if you have as many players as possible batting (and fielding) in the same positions each week so to repeat an earlier post I would structure the batting around: Senior, Senior, Development, Senior, Development, Development, Senior, Senior, Development, Development, Development on the theory that we usually have more Development Bowlers, and I would try and establish a good foundation up front to keep us in the game longer, and then have Senior players lower down to support the Development players.

In Other News

You may have noticed references over the last couple of weeks to Cricket Bat Repairs and Refurbishments which is a new hobby/addiction I have developed and which has surprised me both in terms of how much I have enjoyed it and how well the three bats sold. You may have noticed a Chris Marshall Cricket logo on the sidebar of the site, which has been done by Sarah at Zoomies as I have started to develop a range of cricket related services with each one contributing to both the NHS and our ALStrays Rehoming and Transport project, specifically to help a number of Galgo rescues that we have been involved with for years. Early days yet but will be working on it over the winter with a view to launching more formally prior to the start of next season.

Body Count

Finger obviously still broken but it will bend a little now. Not voluntarily, I have to force it, and it hurts a lot, but it’s easier to bat and field if I can tape it up bent.

The daily stretching and playing less have certainly helped the knees, thigh and hamstring, but so has focussing on not using my arms to assist me. Sounds like a OAP I know but it has amazed me just how much I was using my arms: to hold the banister going downstairs (because my knees hurt), on the arm of a chair or on the sofa to get up, on the car door frame to get out of the car. I am not sure if I have been doing this for years (that’s the thing with habits you don’t know you have them) or just since the body started playing cricket again, but it has been a good barometer of how much better things are getting. Swinging my left leg onto the left hand drive van after walking the dogs is not something I could do easily a month ago because of my hip, but whilst I don’t resemble a spring chicken neither do I resemble an old cock!

Opinion

So what is new since I last played? Electronic Scoreboards, Availability Applications, Social Media, Online Messaging, Bowling Machines, Play Cricket, Helmets, significantly better equipment and if you are so inclined flashing stumps.

Hard not to love an electronic scoreboard as it basically does what the old ones did, just in a bright lights and linked to Play Cricket, but I suspect many a scorer prefers it as they don’t have to sit in isolation, although it can get confusing for the umpire as I have seen many signal the scorebox when the scorer has been sat at the other side of the ground!

I can see how the availability and applications, and online messaging have made the selection process easier, but am not convinced they have made it better? Possibly worse in some ways as people maybe get a little lazy about replaying and leave things to the last minute.

Play Cricket I love and it has certainly been good to keep track of games in real time, although the down side is that when a game isn’t being digitally scored it is frustrating. Maybe it should be mandatory? I do wonder how much the statistics it provides are used though. For example checking that the performance statistics justify continuing a selection strategy rather than focussing on an individuals performance. A little fixated on this at the moment and have spent far too long looking at it!

I have only used one bowling professional bowling machine and even then not on all settings so the jury is out. I disliked the impact it had on trigger movement but I loved the fact that it allowed consistency of shot making. I intend to spend a lot of time in front of one over the winter.

Probably all I need to say about equipment is take a look at all the reviews I have done this year!! Downside has to be larger and heavier bags and less room in changing rooms but I love the kit, always did to be fair!

Thank You

Gray-Nicolls are generously supporting this diary and my return to cricket for the 2021 Season.