The fixtures for the coming season are out. Prince Alfred will be fielding four 2-day teams (A1, B2, C1, and C2) alongside two one-day sides (LO1 and LO5). Looking at the fixtures, C1 has a bye on November 2 and 9 with the one-days teams having a bye on October 12 and January 11. Regardless, it seems that it’s likely that I’ll be able to get a game every week, which would make the annual fees of $315 excellent value for money.
Moving on to training, Trent English apparently threw up around himself and did not rock up to practice. So his assistant, Keegan English, took over proceedings. Due to the numbers, training finished earlier than the scheduled time of 7.30pm. Immediately, I got bowling. Last week, I felt I was often bowling short rather than the length. Having reviewed my bowling footage at the time, I had changed my bowling approach so that I can not only hit a fuller length but also get the ball to move away.
Initially, I continued hitting the shorter length, but after small adjustments like my head position, I finally managed to start bowling at a fuller length with movement. Even though I wasn’t consistently getting the ball to move, I was at least testing the defense of the batters. The next step is to deliver the ball in a fluid motion so that the ball I can deliver the ball I intend to bowl all the time. What I find is that if I pull my left-arm slowly yet in a rhythmical manner, my bowling arm will be able to come around and finish on my left hip. Perhaps I could model my action on Mitchell Starc.
Unfortunately, my batting hasn’t progressed in a similar way to my bowling. Even though I managed to sort out my bottom hand grip in between training, I still continue to have issues with it only because I forgot the change I made. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop me from guarding my wicket while wearing the British Compliant Gray-Nicolls helmet I purchased recently.
Two weeks in, I have managed to make some progress with my game. But again, more work needs to be done. Mainly on my bowling if I want to be considered among the first-choice attack in any grade. The key is consistency in line, length, and movement. I just need to get the mechanics right.
Diary of a Grade Cricketer 