Back at nets tonight, I had a little real-world frustration to get out of my system so I turned up about half an hour early. I did a more thorough warm-up than I usually do, then started to bowl. It seemed to be coming out pretty good, and my first two bagfuls (I have a bag of a dozen or so balls I bowl at a time) was some of the best bowling I've done all year. Too bad that, as usual, I was the only one there to see it...
Of course when other people do turn up it inevitably gets in the way, as they'll want to have a chat, borrow my balls, use the net I'm using... They're entitled to, obviously, but it does distract me. I hate queueing up to bowl. It's impossible to get the rhythm you do when you're just bowling on your own, and those pesky batsmen just look to slog. Much better to just aim at a mat and bowl as many as you can one after the other.
God alone knows why but I still keep sending my first ball wide down the off-side when a new batsman goes into the nets. Thereafter I got into the groove of things and was doing OK. The first guy up was one of the 1st XI so it's not surprising he can hit me pretty regularly. I did tie him down a bit towards the end, but then while I was waiting to bowl he really middled a powerful straight drive, sending the ball straight towards me at speed. I didn't have time to get out of the way and it hit me flush on the right shin. It was one of those "I can't feel the pain yet but I know it's in the post" moments...
The club bar hadn't opened yet to I had to wait a bit before I could get some ice for the swelling. Afterwards I had a bit of a bowl but my right knee, perhaps as a result of the ice on my shin, seemed to be doing some uncomfortable things so I took it easy. I tried to bowl a few short-range flippers in the empty net but it's clear I'm way off in terms of hand strength and my technique needs a lot of work before I can think of working on it seriously - the ball seems to slip out of my hand rather than actually being propelled. Bowling at batsmen in the nets I was definitely creating problems for those closer to my own level, so that was encouraging.
Then finally with the light closing in I got a few throw-downs, mainly concentrating on the forward defensive but also starting work on a cut shot so I can score the odd run off wide balls. It was reasonably encouraging but it's one thing to do it with throw-downs and quite another to do it against full-paced bowling. Anyway, it's good experience and can't do any harm.
I got back home and finally gave in to the urge to buy some proper pads. the Slazenger County pads I've got at the moment are all well and good for what they are but they're ambidextrous rather than right-handed, a little uncomfortable and pretty heavy. I've treated myself to a pair of Slazenger Ultimate pads which given the price should hopefully last me quite a number of seasons...
1 comment:
I've had 2 hit me on this shins this season, both at a real pace off the bat. If you've been hit hard you'll probably see most of your leg swell up and bruise over the next 5 days or so and go yellow, purple and browns. The earlier one - square on the shin about 3" below the knee had bruising that extended right down and around the ankle. That was tender for months through, April, May, June, July eventually fading away in August! The more recent one is 6 weeks old and isn't as bad, but the area where that hit is tender and feels like the tissue under the skin is going through some trauma process. November maybe before that dissipates. It'd be interesting to know what the healing process is and whether there is any damage to the bone in these cases, cos bloody hell does it get tender a few days later! Keep the ice going and get your leg up in the air as much as possible!
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