Cricket Diary: Balance

Can’t remember the last time I wore sunglasses! This was the outcome of a discussion with Sand about the weather this summer. WellI say summer! We only have two summers prior to this one back in the UK to compare but this ones seems to have been non existent, and not helped by the daily reports from our friends in Spain. Why don’t they play cricket in Spain!!??

The Week That Was

Monday: was actually planning on going to nets at Penkridge, but guess what? Rain, wind and overcast more in accord with March than August and made sitting on sofa and watching the last rites of the Test the only cricket event of the day. Or so I thought. Had forgotten that Barlaston selection was a day earlier so was pleasant little surprise to receive the WhatsApp with the photo of all four teams for the weekend. Selected for 4s on Sunday, down as Vice Captain again which I am pretty sure is just ticking a league requirement box as to the best of my knowledge I did nothing last time I was down as VC!

Tuesday: out of habit I checked Spond in the morning, but hadn’t realised that selection has been moved to Tuesday this week at Penkridge so it was still open for responses but with 29 Available, 8 Unanswered and 25 Declined it is pretty obvious with basic maths that you wont get 4 teams of 11 from 37 players so my guess is that will be another Saturday sin cricket. Netted at Barlaston in the evening. Still trying to figure out the best combination of stance and trigger (or not) to ensure I maintain the best balance of feet, posture, and head position. One thing I have become very aware of is that I take too big a stride forward and am not playing the ball under my eyes or “late” which was an issue identified at the beginning of the season. Issue really is to try and settle on one approach for the rest of the season and then spend the winter working on this. Was a good net though as not many there so had a good bat against three first team bowlers (who held back a lot), then as it was a tad wet and cold had a few beers with said first team players.

Wednesday: a non cricket day, if you take out the daily stretching, and the regular scheduled dog walk and fitness training. Ordered two sheds for the garden to be delivered on Saturday, which says a lot about my expectations. Also realised that there are only 4 games scheduled at Penkridge on a Saturday now this season, and including this Saturday I am available for 3. As I said last week, it just feels like this season may be over at Penkridge which would be a shame as has been great playing again, although I have struggled with the lack of continuity as being away for so long it has meant the stop/start nature have proven to be quite difficult to accommodate.

Thursday: netted with the youngsters at Barlaston again. I wish I had been as good and as dedicated as them at their age, but then again I wish we had had the facilities and options they have now. I am working harder at my game now than I ever did and ditto my fitness and I am proud of that. Whatever happens in future seasons this season has been a huge success for simply getting me up of my arse. Went to bed at 11pm having heard nothing from Penkridge regards the game been on on Saturday of if selected. All seems to be drifting to a somewhat premature and sad end.

Friday: woke up to no news from Penkridge as to either the 4s having a match (assumed not), or if required for the 3s (suspect not after not being available last week). That being the case the 4s have not had a game at all this August. Not sure why nobody has been in contacted. Think the phrase they use these days is ghosted? On the positive side of life the two sheds arrived early so I spent an ‘enjoyable’ half a day putting them up as surprise surprise rain was forecast for Saturday!

Saturday: the plan – relaxing day at home, then pop up to parents, call into Barlaston where Tom Taylor (Northamptonshire) was playing for the 1s (Homegrown player, one of two brothers, the other being James, the club has produced), then stop off for a bite to eat at one of only a handful of restaurants we go to, the Blanc NRI. The reality – got a WhatsApp from BCC 2s Skipper saying they had a drop out was I free, although it was raining so pretty unlikely we would play. Of course I said yes! So the actuality – stood in the drizzle for 18 overs, fetched the ball from the boundary several times, chased (and caught) a ball to the boundary, fielded several gentle nudges in my direction and shuttled the ball back to the bowler and handful of times before rain stopped play – well worth the hours drove and £6 subs!!! Quick drink with the opposition then back to Barlaston for a few more before heading home to rest my worryingly sore knees.

Sunday: set 205 we (Barlaston 4s) only really had the draw as a viable option, and that depended on a solid start to to the innings. Out walked two oldies with the expectations and hope of the team and crowd on their aged shoulders. One slapped a half tracker to mid off who took a career best catch, the other batted for 17 overs, faced 44 balls, scored 18 and talked a young batter through to their career best score in adult cricket. Guess which I was? Felt the best I have felt all season in terms of comfort at the crease: middle guard, no trigger, slightly open stance, slight lean forward I felt good. The boundaries (all pulls for 4) and 6 singles I blocked out several maidens and helped the team to a well deserved drawer. Add in a very competent display in the field with no dropped catches (no catches either), no mis fields and no extra runs to the old guy and it was a great day. Topped off by getting back to the Club house for the tail end of Presidents Day which had included naming the Clubhouse after my old Skipper of 40 years ago, so it was great to catch up with him and his wife (who trained under my father).

In Other News

I am really struggling with how few games we have been able to play in August, with only one Saturday being effected by weather, and that was because of rain on the uncovered pitch on the Thursday. I know it’s boring when someone i.e. me starts with “Back in my day” but …. talking to some of the older guys at Barlaston last weekend they were of a similar view that ‘back then’ people prioritised their cricket more. Maybe that is why so many of us ended up said old one dimensional blokes, but it true: maybe miss two weeks because of annual holiday but never a lot of players at the same time, and that was about it.

That said the enforced rest has been good for my body and has allowed me to take a step back a little earlier than the end of the season to look at the amount of cricket I want to play moving forward. When I started I and the family accepted that I would “take what was on offer” and try and play as much as possible. Probably not the best plan for the old body but I wanted to get as much time under the (expanding) belt so I could see what the best balance would be in future seasons.

I have said before how supportive Sands and my parents have been, and whilst me playing again at Barlaston has been good for my parents, Sands has got no benefit whatsoever out of me playing – well apart from a lot more time on her own which she plays down but I am sure is appreciated. We knew this was likely but had hoped there would be more in it for her, but the contingency was that the Summer was mine (cricket) and the Winter was hers (Spain).

That said I need to get a better balance in my own life next season. I am going to focus on playing to as high a standard as I can on Sundays (which was the original plan before I started), and make myself available “when all else fails” on a Saturday. I would like to try a few mid week T20 games if possible, and I still have hopes of getting involved with a touring team once a year.

I will complete my ECB Stage One this winter and then look at the Stage Two. I have completed my Introductory Online Umpiring Course and have registered my interest for the proper courses when they start up again.

Body Count

Finger hurts BUT I can now exert a little pressure from it when I use a hand strengthening device and it hurts less when it is knocked.

Knees much the same and possibly always will be. The positive remains that it’s not really any of the 5 surgery issues that are causing any issues other than the lack or cartilage in my left knee and behind my left knee cap, more the extra strain I have put on them. They work better and recover quicker, but are still a sad swollen mess!

Hamstring on my left leg is probably 80% better than it was at the start of the season, but I would say at least 30% off being sorted. I am still confident this can be sorted as it is not damaged, just in need of a lot of stretching after years of not being used, and it’s the one that was used to sort my ACL out 20 odd years ago.

My back as commented on last week has responded well to switching positions and sofa and I will be interested to see how stiff it is when I next play.

I am so focussed in what hurts these days that it’s easy to miss what is hurting much less and in that list are right thigh, right shoulder, neck and right arm. All much much better and with a good winter of rehab and training they should be in pretty good shape next season.

Opinion

Moving on from The Hundred for now to Test Cricket, or what they laughingly call Test Cricket these days. Lot of debate on the players and who should play (more on that later) but surely a stiff broom is required: the ECB are incompetent, Giles is ineffective, Silverwood is out of his depth, the Batting Coaches don’t have the pedigree at Test Level (if we accept that that “mental toughness” is the key differentiator at elite level), and the structure clearly does not produce Test quality players – we have a lot of players who can and have played well in Test, but that is not the same as being a Test Player.

Burns, Sibley, Butler and Curran do not have the look of being Test Players so I think they should go. For both Butler and Curran the white ball is their future. Burns and Sibley have had their day unless the ECB gets resolved and the structure of cricket in this country allows them to spend a lot of time in the middle against a red ball, delivered by high quality bowlers on good pitches.

What can we do? Personally I would accept the status quo for now – but sack pretty much all of the ECB and England Coaching Staff at the end of the season – but would drop Butler, Curran, Sibley and Burns. I would tell Crawley and Hameed that they had the next three tests to make the opening partnership their’s and would suggest they went a spoke to as many older successful openers as possible. I would put Pope in at 3 with a similar brief, with Root at 4, Lawrence (ditto above) at 5, Bairstow at 6 (with the gloves) and Ali at 7. HIGH risk, but the only way they going to get to the ‘next level’ in the current set up is to be put at the next level and given time both individually and as a unit to develop. 3 out of the top 7 have experience (Ali would be VC) and if we didn’t get enough runs from these 7 then that is not the bowlers fault!!! Pretty relaxed about the 4 bowlers to be honest. So much depends on fitness but Anderson, Mahmood, Robinson and Wood would be a good start.

A quick one on the Hundred to finish now that it has finished: it was entertaining without doubt, but so it should be with the amount of money spent on it (a component corporate governance should ensure a assessment done on the value of the investment against a similar investment in current structure though); the cricket was good but great; the crowds were primarily existing fans with some new fans who played up for the orchestrated camera shots just as they do in all cricket the world over. To say it was a success (or failure) now though would only show you’ve consumed too much happy juice or taken the 100s shilling. Their strategic aim was to introduce a more diverse population to cricket and the earliest we can realistically assess that will be next season if the already successful Allstars, Dynamos and Junior Cricket expand with ‘newbies’, and of course there is no point in broadening the foundations if their is no path to progress so we need to see the impact on the Counties and Test cricket, both of which have suffered this year because of the 100.

Thank You

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

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