First day back

Sunday saw the first nets of our pre-season preparations, and as usual I didn't get what I was expecting. What was I expecting? Well I was expecting to be a bit rusty, but I wasn't anticipating quite the level of problems I encountered with my bowling. In short it was abysmal. I started off in the third net, which was empty at that point as not that many turned up on time, and right from the off it didn't feel right. The ball wasn't coming out of my hand correctly, the feel wasn't there.

As they were only the first few balls bowled after four months off I wasn't too perturbed, but unfortunately as the hour went on I just didn't make any progress. I was as bad at the end as I was at the start, and when I say bad, I mean BAD. There was simply no consistency whatsoever, some balls would fly into the roof of the net, some plopped out of my hand and landed at my feet, the odd ball didn't even end up in the net at all, and any balls that did actually go the distance were usually well wide down the leg side and far too full. It was a nightmare from start to finish.

On light bats and manky boots

My ongoing search for a bat-maker who makes a full-size bat lighter than 2lb 7oz is still ongoing. I've looked up every bat manufacturer I could find, and I found at least 36, but as yet I haven't seen one that says anything other than something along the lines of "our hefty bats have monstrously large edges, a middle the size of a planet and when you walk out to bat with half a willow tree under your arm the fielding side will have no alternative but to face up to the sheer inadequacy of their own respective manhoods and spontaneously burst into tears". I exaggerate, but we all know that's what they're trying to infer.

Two great leg-spinners, two anniversaries

Something momentous happened twenty years ago, but it didn't seem so at the time. On this day in 1992 a scruffy fat kid was first given the ball and asked to bowl in International cricket. First up he got spanked for four runs. Two days later he took his first Test wicket, completing figures of 1 for 150.