Oh no, not again...

Today was our first outdoor nets of the year, and after all that's gone on in the past few weeks I'm afraid it was a huge let down. I bowled terribly, batted terribly, and my catching was as every bit as terrible as ever.

I don't know what it is about the outside nets. They're slightly smaller than the nets we use indoors so maybe I have some sort of subliminal claustrophobia or I lose my frame of reference, but today my bowling was, quite simply, abject. After bowling maybe two bad balls in an hour on Sunday, this evening the equation was reversed as I only bowled two or three balls of any real quality. One was an absolute peach, and I knew when it came out of the hand that I'd hit the third-finger sweet spot, with my good mate Duncan spooning the ball up for a dolly of a caught-and-bowled that even I could have taken. But still, the simple fact is if it had been a match I would have been taken off long before that delivery, with wide after wide (and some pretty big wides at that) and my previously immaculate length having totally and utterly deserted me. It was miserable. To be honest, it was absolutely heartbreaking.

Ice ice baby

After that rather nasty blow I took on the ankle this weekend just gone, I'm pleased to report that it's nothing serious and it seems to be sorting itself out remarkably quickly. It's about a day and a half since I got hit, and after spending yesterday struggling to even walk, right now my ankle is up to about 90-95% of it's normal range of movement and the pain is virtually gone save for the odd twinge.

In the wars but undefeated

Today's nets were probably my most encouraging yet. My bowling was exeptionally good, and my batting was, to use a cliché, "gritty", but pretty effective. Sadly they were also the most painful yet, as you'll find out below...

I really was exceptionally pleased with my bowling today. As far as I can remember there were only two (yep, just two) bad balls, and plenty of played-and-missed, nailed-on stumpings and a few catching chances. My line and length throughout was absolutely superb, and I think it's safe to say it's the best I've ever bowled at a batsman over a sustained period. It all felt so wonderfully natural. I'm feeling pretty confident about getting a regular bowl on merit now, and pretty confident of taking my share of wickets. I'm over the moon, to be honest.

Steady progress

Nets today was another good day for me, my bowling in particular feeling very solid and pretty consistent. I've definitely hit on a good trajectory as time and again I'm consistently beating the batsmen in flight. It's giving my confidence a big boost to know that I'm bowling mostly good balls and my wayward deliveries are slowly disappearing. People are beginning to notice my improvement and hopefully Sam will be able to have confidence in what he'll be getting if he brings me on to bowl.

There was one batsman who seemed to be smacking everyone about and I couldn't find a way to beat him, but looking at the field I tend to imagine setting (see the diagram on the left, if it's not clear enough click on it) I doubt he would have scored too many, and his singles would have got him off strike anyway. I did get him to edge one to or possibly just over the slip. Most other batsman appeared to be having real trouble dealing with the way I flight the ball so like I say, I'm pretty confident that given enough time in the middle to establish a rhythm I can do a decent enough job and, most importantly, TAKE WICKETS.

Double Plus Good

Finally today, everything felt right. It feels as if I'm beginning to get the hang of this ridiculously technical sport. OK, it wasn't perfect, but for once I came away satisfied with both my batting and my bowling.

As usual, I started off bowling, and in fact I asked Sam to give me the last batting slot so my bowling wouldn't be interrupted. One thing which helped was that I didn't face any left-handers today, but while that's still a question mark I should focus on the positives. My bowling was a little wayward at the start, but in a short time I found a decent length and was bowling a lot of dot balls and possible singles. As usual the batsmen were out to slog, but I still think my imaginary field would be a very effective one in the middle.

At least my inconsistency is consistent

Apologies for the lack of updates lately, I missed nets last week as my dad turned 60 and we had a family day. I've finally finished the post on nets the week before last, and that's below this one. As for nets today, rather frustratingly while my batting was much better than last week, my bowling took a dip. Why I can't get them both to improve simultaneously God only knows, and it's rather a pain.

So first, the bowling. I suppose I'm being hard on myself, as I was bowling a reasonable length from the start and feeling fairly rhythmical, but the end result somehow failed to satisfy. Again, I was lacking spin and not feeling that "flick", something I'm becoming increasingly concerned about as I'm simply not turning the ball as much as I could last year. My top-spinners do dip and my zooters do float, but I'm not detecting any drift from my leggies. For once I was disciplined enough not to venture outside these three variations, but the batsmen didn't seem to be in any way uncomfortable. At least my mental field settings seem to be fundamentally sound, and in the middle it probably wouldn't have been anything like the run-fest it looked like.

The Curate's egg

I don't really know how to describe nets today, I was just about good enough not to be especially bad, and just about bad enough not to be especially good. I suppose on balance I'm a little disappointed that I haven't continued my recent improvements.

My bowling was OK as it goes, I was bowling a reasonably decent line and for once it was my length that was wayward to begin with. I have to confess I was very tired even before nets began, so maybe my concentration wasn't what it should be. My run-up was still a big mess! One guy was hitting out so I started throwing in top-spinners and zooters and managed to stitch him up good and proper with a ball even the most average keepers could have fashioned a stumping out of. A decisive victory for me!

Diagnosis of Leg Spin disorder

Chippyben, a regular partcipant in the spin bowling section of the BigCricket forum, recently posted this and it's so brilliant I couldn't help but share it with you:

Leg Spin Disorder

A disorder that has elements of a mania and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Sufferers have an overwhelming desire to make the batsman look stupid. They have trouble defining cricket from real life. Nothing pervades their thoughts as much as the dilemma of how to put the most possible spin on a cricket ball. All round objects must be picked up and spun. Sufferers feel an overwhelming need to bowl and refraining from it causes mental anguish similar to that of a drug dependence.
Sufferers can bowl alone for hours in a seemingly monotonous task with ever increasing determination until dark or exhaustion overcomes them.They often come away dissatisfied and already planning the next session. They seem to prefer this solo bowling.
The most severe cases can involve googly syndrome. A mania inside a mania where sufferers become so obsessed with one aspect of leg spin bowling they fail to be able to perform any other leg spin deliveries and becomes seriously frustrated.

Recognising the Disorder

- A distant stare whilst making strange contorted movements with the wrist
- Constant acting out of the bowling action, no matter the environment
- Spinning any object that comes to hand

Treatment

There is no known cure. The only relief is a perfectly flighted leg break that drifts a little before biting sharply, turning and clipping the off bail. Unfortunatelythe relief is only temporary and may result in increasing obsession.
The disorder is worsened by poor and unsympathetic captaincy which can result in a feeling of isolation and for them to seek comfort in their fellow sufferers.