A new season beckons. It will start in four days when teams within the ATCA two-day competition will kick off the season with a one-day match. As for me, both work and family commitments have and will prevent me from attending training and making myself available for selection. As it stands, I am targeting a return to cricket later this month.
Yet, it will be with a new club. My season with Adelaide Warriors was very forgettable. Lack of opportunity combined with lack of faith by captains and teammates alike resulted in me getting shuffled around the field every time I dropped a catch while only bowling fifteen overs all season. It wasn’t like I wasn’t trying (I wasn’t bowling too badly either), but it seemed that the club was very result oriented despite the warmth I had felt from the players. The feedback I got during that season was that I had to put myself available for selection more, but that’s really out of my control.
Thereby I had decided to switch to Gepps Cross, a decision that I had decided towards the end of last season. The secretary Danica MacMillan, was very helpful in actioining my clearance which only came through last week. Thankfully, no one from Adelaide Warriors contacted me about my request to move clubs. They probably know why. Let’s leave it at that.
I had joined Gepps Cross as they were going to field an LO6 side, which is the kind of my preferred standard based on my current priorities. Yes, this club may have some two-day sides, but there is no way (this time), I would be swayed to play two-day cricket. Not so much for my uncertainin availabilities, but after some retrospective, I felt that I was in the side for my adhesive batting more, as opposed to my bowling whenever we have decent bowling depth. Which I felt was the case, most of the time, ever since I started playing two-day cricket ten summers ago. I had finally come to peace, that one day cricket will be my calling. I can bat for sure, but I prefer to bowl, which has always been my strength.
Speaking of bowling. Despite my disrupted build-up, I managed to work on some drills indoors regarding my bowling action. First of all, I worked on the fundamentals of my bowling action, so that I can move the ball both ways without giving early clues to the batters as to how I intend to swing the ball. Secondly, I managed to work on my run-up, whenever I had the space to do so. I had come to the conclusion that I can maintain my rhythm with twelve paces (as opposed to fourteen) after three weeks of drills. It must be noted though that I am yet to bowl a single bowl to a single batter. That is something I would want to rectify as soon as my commitments will allow.
Diary of a Grade Cricketer 