March 4, 2017

February 28

It was business as usual at training today. Just bowling and batting was all I did, and I was able to make some progress with my bowling as practice went on. I was initially was bowling too straight and short at times, which make me cannon fodder to batters like Dominic Ross, who kept smoking them out of the middle. Although I managed to get him out with a short ball that he under-edged to the keeper, I was perplexed that he’s not able to replicate this confidence and form in the matches. I wonder why? He had his chances with the bat during this season, but I feel he hasn’t quite grasped those opportunities, or he’s just likes batting on astroturf.  At least he tried to bat like he did last weekend only to cream a catch straight to silly mid-off. Some progress there, I hope.

Anyways, back to the bowling, I realized that my front arm was the main culprit for my bad bowling as it was closer to my bowling and pointed down towards the batsman. I made an adjustment by keeping my front arm away from my body and pointing upwards. As a result, I was able to reproduce my bouncing out-swingers, which allowed me to bowl well against John Prior and Matthew Bell (who later nicked off twice against my bowling). I cannot go further without discussing who I was able to square up Matty Bell and take the edge of the shoulder of his bat without disappointing Isaac Deeker.

Batting was okay, but the bouncy nature of the pitches in the nets has made it harder to find my fluency with the timing of my batting strokes as the ball tends to hurry on, especially against the quicker bowlers. That’s why I occasionally like facing spinners or slower bowlers at practice. But batting in the nets hadn’t harmed my batting in matches yet as the wickets are slow, which does help with my fluency in playing shots and keeping out good balls. During practice (including my batting session), Isaac was bowling spin to me (yes, you read it right!) as he was apparently carrying an injury from bowling fast over the weekend. With a quick arm action, Isaac was able to impart significant spin without much flight, which will undoubtedly make it hard to advance down the wicket to him but perhaps easier to paddle sweep if he strayed down leg. I thought after training if he can’t bowl fast ever again one day, he could turn to spin because I would think he has potential even if the wickets are slow because of his pace and spin.

March 4, 

Leading up to the game, I wonder if I should really play as I had actually caught a cold on Thursday, which certainly had sucked the life out of me by the afternoons. It was why I ditched training (the rainy weather also played a part as I didn’t want to aggravate it) on Thursday. I had thought it’s only the last game of the season for us might as well play because I won’t be playing with these people until next season. On the other hand, I was risking worsening my current all-round stats, particularly with the ball as Weston Creek Molonglo has some powerful batters in their line-up.

Overnight rain plus rain in the mornings eventually caused the pitch in Mawson to be unsuitable for play as it was covered in mud, and Chris Arcella thought we may need a canoe to get by for the game. Hence our last game was canceled, and our season came to an end. Some I would imagine be disappointed in not playing, but I was glad for once the cricket was canceled since I didn’t have to risk my health to play one last game for now.

I had pretty much decided to stay at home all day because I wanted to fully recover since I was heading to Melbourne for the long weekend to spend time with Neethu and her parents. More importantly, I didn’t want to get other people sick since several of our guys will be playing semi-finals next weekend. Further washouts ensured that our 2nd and 3rd grades were off to the semis.

Later on, our 1st-grade side did too after chasing down 169 with 2 wickets in hand. As it turned out, it was the first time in 24 years, Ginninderra has had a 1st grade side in the ACT Premier Cricket competition, which is a tremendous achievement. As our coach, Mick Delaney, said, “There’s more work to be done.”