Playing Cricket Again: Part Two (Equipment)

Anyone that has met me, or read the blog, or engaged with me on Facebook or Twitter will know that I am a cricket fan.

I have written recently about getting a new cricket bat and of my thoughts on playing cricket again, 32 years after I last picked up a bat.

Another trait I have is that I am somewhat compulsive …. and yes, I am aware of the phrase All The Gear And No Idea!!!!

I have made some progress, but not had too much luck so far with the weather.

I have been to Penkridge Cricket Club (my local club) and they have an impressive number of teams, including a couple I would be able to play for ie. are other older players in them, if I am actually any good. They said I could go along to their nets on a Wednesday and Friday but the poor weather has not helped! I have managed one informal net with two members. Felt great to be honest. 20 mins bowling which was never my forte but I landed more on the mat than off, then 20 minutes batting. On the plus side I was seeing it well and felt comfortable even in borrowed helmet (first time using one and too small), a £18 eBay bat that had no springs, an old school thigh guard and some reasonable pads. Feedback was that I had obviously played before and looked good. From my perspective came away with a lot to work on:

• my head was not level (an issue with stance not helped by shoulder issue)
• my grip was too top hand dominant so shots aimed to off were going onside
• too front footed
• lack of a crease on the nets meant I wasn’t taking a guard in same place so not great awareness of where the stumps were.
• two bowlers one after another meant that I wasn’t going through a regular set up routine and with one using a dog throwing stick (another first for me) I found it hard to judge my trigger movement.

But as I said absolutely loved being back, and it didn’t feel like 32 years – although the following two days my body reminded me: shoulder stiff from bowling but as it’s my bad shoulder from driving it was no worse than after a long pet transport. Neck a little tight from the angle of batting and possibly the helmet, and my hands and forearms tight from gripping the bat – but if I say it felt great you will understand if you have ever played sport.

Formal practise has now stopped for the year (Closed Facebook Group told me that), but will hopefully get a few outdoor sessions in with my two new practise buddies.

I have also been back to one of my old clubs, Barlaston Cricket Club, where I played in the Second XI as a 15-18 year old. Guys that I played with 40 years ago are now officers at the club, and they kindly said they remembered me, although I am not so sure!!! They have been very welcoming and said they are happy for me to go along to their net sessions on a Tuesday, although at the time of writing this has not been possible first because of rain and secondly because a couple of members tested positive for COVID-19 (not caught at the club) so the club closed down for a while to await test results following a successful use of contact tracing and a deep clean of the club. They do have winter nets so if I can’t get to an outdoor session this season I will hopefully join then over the winter.

YMCA North Staffordshire have cricket nets which can be booked for £10 per lane, per hour, but at the moment individuals can’t go they can only be booked out by a cricket club so I have two plans: 1) join the two clubs above and see if anybody fancies giving the nets a try, and 2) get cricket on the curriculum at Merit PRU and book some sessions for the kids.

To that end I have also been in touch with Staffordshire Cricket to see about taking some coaching courses, but at the moment COVID-19 has these on hold.

Anything else? Well yes a club cap, sweater and short sleeved shirt but they really will wait until have joined the club – unless of course they have a Christmas Sale LOL.

As for the financial side of things. I did set a budget, and I set a preferred lower level of spend and a worst case top end. Wont bore you with details but to date I have spent 83% of the planned budget and am at 96% of my lower limit. Factoring in the current prices for the remaining items I anticipate ending up at 84% of my original budget and at 108% of my lower target.

All very “new” looking and I certainly intend to make it a little less obvious before I give it a public airing …. anyone remember scuffing your new shoes and bag before wearing them to school.

So what next? Now I have all the gear, but the season has ended. In many ways this is a mad approach, but I am quite motivated by it. Having got the bug again, had a go and realised that it will be an option to play the odd game, it gives me the winter to focus on as many indoor nets as possible and a targeted fitness schedule to get both fitter and cricket fit. Again am really looking forward to this as I have never been a good trainer for the sake of training, but have been good at training to be better at something.

If I get bored over the winter can always knock the other cricket bat in as well ….

Knocking Bat In

No real surprise that in this day and age you can pay around £30 when you buy a new bat to have it knocked in for you! Or you can buy something like the above, google how to knock a cricket bat in, and have a go yourself. The key areas are the edges and the bottom six inches, especially the toe. You need to stay away from hitting the edges directly (aim for a 45º angle) and what you are looking to do is compress the willow such that when you hit a cricket ball you get no seem indentions on the bat, so is a bit trial and error. Best do this with a good quality, but semi soft ball at first and don’t get tempted by cheap balls – they will damage your bat! Typically you going to need to knock in for 4 hours, so plenty of sessions but it really is trial and error. You test by getting in the nets with a slightly used ball and see if it leaves any seem marks on the bat. If it does more knocking is required.