Your Cricket Zorax's Tennis Ball Cricketing Exploits/Bowling Practice Diary Like Thread Thingy

[Jakester1288]

More cricket today! But I'm really tired so I'll keep it short.

6 a side, 10 over game, keeper of the bowling side.

We loss the toss, had to bowl first. I was given the ball to open the bowling, and struck gold. Got the first guy out caught behind off a thick edge on the second ball, and a second guy bowled two balls later. They got a four, the first over yeilded 2 wickets for 6 runs!
However, that is when their skipper walked in and the carnage started. 18 after 2 overs. I returned. Got pasted for over 20 runs in that one, although one was a missed catch and one wasn't such a bad ball.
The carnage from him continued as pretty much anything from his bat found the gap or soared over the fielders. 6 overs, they were 88.
Thats when we pulled in back though. My next over was a nice one, including a snarling bouncer to this dangerman, and our best bat rolled his arm over for two tight overs. We restricted them to 107 in 10 overs, with 108 to win.
Our openers set off on a blaze, 12 after 1, 26 after two, and 40 after 3. Our fifty came up in 3.5, we were steamrolling them. However, we did lose a wicket, and the pair in were our best batsmen. This includes the guy who I mentioned earlier that I batted with. He is in brilliant form.
Anyways, they took us to needing 32 in 4 overs, till one of them got out (not the guy I batted with, the other one). Then things got tricky. Our skipper came, the equation went down to 22 in two overs, and he fell. The next guy fell with us needing 18 in 8. I walked in.
And a wide. 17 in 8. And then I played an missed, but the keeper missed it too, so we stole a bye. 16 in one. I had pulled a muscle earlier while fielding, and found it hard to run, so I called for a runner.
First ball, I kept my eye on it, outside off, WHAM, but the bat was a crap one and the ball just went in the air and fell behind the bowler as they stole a single. 15 in 5.
Next ball, single by the good bat. 14 in 4.
Then, outside off, heavier bat, swing and a miss! 14 in 3.
Next ball, shortish, wound up, and it just shot up and went over my head! The keeper missed it and they stole a bye, and I was sure I had messed this up for us, but it was declared a no-ball as it was well over my head, and so it came down to 12 in 3!
Next ball, a dead ball! Ooh...the tension
Next ball, KABLAM! He smashes it for six, 6 in 2, brilliant!
Next ball, biffed down the ground. Looked like a certain four, but it held up! They still managed to run two, and the equation was now four in one ball! Apparently, he had done it before, all were nervous...
Next ball, full and outside off, and an absolutely beautiful drive through the offside. A chase for their weakest fielder, he got nowhere close as it crossed the boundary! A four, we had won! Woohoo!

I did no bowling practice due to pulling my leg muscle, but amazed the kids in my building with my mastery over legspin, offspin and left arm spin in the short passage where they play, as well as astounding them with my fielding and batting abilities

Very dramatic.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Indeed it was.

I think I'll get someone to record my bowling legspin for a few deliveries, and then find some way to upload it to Youtube, and allow you all to pitch in with advice...

 

[Insomniac]

Do you guys play in the afternoon or in the late evenings?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

From 5 PM till about 7 PM.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Another game today

They decided to have a 10 over game first, but 5 overs in they changed it to try and accommodate two 6 over games. 5 a side for both games.

We bowled first, I got the first over, and a wicket. The ball was full and wide of offstump, hit a rock and jagged back in Even then, there was only 5 of the over.
My second over wasn't as good. One misfield for four, one decent ball for four, one good ball for six, and one bad ball for six, all from this one dangerman as they ended up racking 6 odd. We would have bowled them out had we stuck to 10 overs a side, they were on their last man and a dead runner.
I came in to bat when the match was as good as over. Even then, didn't bat as well as I felt I should have. I spent some time before the match batting on some throw downs from some kids, and was using my hard-ball bat as it had some power behind it unlike the other bats there and was light at the same time. I worked on looking at the ball out of the hand, but even then played and missed at the first, and got stumped the second trying to walk down and push the ball away.

Second match, we bowled first again. I bowled the third over, and dumped my medium pace in trying my offspin, which used to be near unplayable. Four fours in the overs says it all really...guess I'm not back to form yet.
Batting was a bit better, a four and a single, but I missed a straight ball I should have atleast kept out. Don't really know why I can't bat, I have a few ideas though. Might be my footwork, although shuffling accross didn't work for me, so I might start walking down.

Despite the crap games, I did field brilliantly as usual...

Only 15 minutes of bowling practice though since the matches took long to end. I hate this really, I'll start coming down half and hour earlier for bowling practice since I can't practice after the match. Met a guy willing to bat to me. Couldn't bowl anything but fulltosses, and those that pitched were outside offstump. That tells me I must have been bowling too round-arm, which is generally a symptom of being really tired. I was really annoyed after that bowling performance, but on hindsight after a shower and a bit of a breather, it must have been because of tired legs. The ball didn't spit off the surface like it usually does either, so I wasn't getting much spin on it.

Although I can attribute that poor bowling practice to tiredness, I'm really losing some hop. It's already mid-way through July, and after 7/8 practices I can't even get my legbreak right yet. How am I going to make the U-19 team at this rate?

 

[6 x Afridi]

Another game today

They decided to have a 10 over game first, but 5 overs in they changed it to try and accommodate two 6 over games. 5 a side for both games.

We bowled first, I got the first over, and a wicket. The ball was full and wide of offstump, hit a rock and jagged back in Even then, there was only 5 of the over.
My second over wasn't as good. One misfield for four, one decent ball for four, one good ball for six, and one bad ball for six, all from this one dangerman as they ended up racking 6 odd. We would have bowled them out had we stuck to 10 overs a side, they were on their last man and a dead runner.
I came in to bat when the match was as good as over. Even then, didn't bat as well as I felt I should have. I spent some time before the match batting on some throw downs from some kids, and was using my hard-ball bat as it had some power behind it unlike the other bats there and was light at the same time. I worked on looking at the ball out of the hand, but even then played and missed at the first, and got stumped the second trying to walk down and push the ball away.

Second match, we bowled first again. I bowled the third over, and dumped my medium pace in trying my offspin, which used to be near unplayable. Four fours in the overs says it all really...guess I'm not back to form yet.
Batting was a bit better, a four and a single, but I missed a straight ball I should have atleast kept out. Don't really know why I can't bat, I have a few ideas though. Might be my footwork, although shuffling accross didn't work for me, so I might start walking down.

Despite the crap games, I did field brilliantly as usual...

Only 15 minutes of bowling practice though since the matches took long to end. I hate this really, I'll start coming down half and hour earlier for bowling practice since I can't practice after the match. Met a guy willing to bat to me. Couldn't bowl anything but fulltosses, and those that pitched were outside offstump. That tells me I must have been bowling too round-arm, which is generally a symptom of being really tired. I was really annoyed after that bowling performance, but on hindsight after a shower and a bit of a breather, it must have been because of tired legs. The ball didn't spit off the surface like it usually does either, so I wasn't getting much spin on it.

Although I can attribute that poor bowling practice to tiredness, I'm really losing some hop. It's already mid-way through July, and after 7/8 practices I can't even get my legbreak right yet. How am I going to make the U-19 team at this rate?

practise practise practise, not with a tennis ball, but with a hard ball, everything is different between these two balls man. they make the difference. just practice, god willing u will make the uae u19. just focus, if u give wides, bowl slower, after u have mastered line and length, try going for pace and try learning all the deliveries a legspinner can do.

 

[Cricketman]

Perhaps practice batting

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Haha. I would if I could actually, but I'll always need someone to bowl to me.

And thanks Afridi. I'm actually really struggling to get a rhythm going in my runup and action. I'm hoping I'll get there with some more practice. I almost had it a while back.

 

[6 x Afridi]

Haha. I would if I could actually, but I'll always need someone to bowl to me.

And thanks Afridi. I'm actually really struggling to get a rhythm going in my runup and action. I'm hoping I'll get there with some more practice. I almost had it a while back.

if u have trouble with runup, then count the steps u are going to take, and take a run up like that, if u arent comfortable, u can always change it!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Yea, I am counting the steps I take.

It's that I keep shuffling my feet when I bowl, trying to stop myself just as I get to the crease because I'm trying to avoid over-stepping. This throws off my whole runup and action. I avoided it in the practice before this, but it re-occured. And my arms starts going ronud-arm instead of straight when I'm tired too. So I really should work on all these features to make it smoother. I need more practice, a lot more.

Cricket tommorrow, I'll be going down half and hour earlier for practice!

 

[Ollie_H]

A good tip is to not worry about over stepping and you wont. If you do overstep regularly just move your marker back a bit.

 

[6 x Afridi]

avoid looking at the crease, or ur concentration will be at the crease not the pitch. (my coach told me that)

when praveen kumar does it, the commentators always point it out!

so dont worry about it, and tell someeone else to check if u are overstepping

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Cricket today!

A whopping 15 people came today ( Thats a record I think) so it was 8 vs. 7, the team with 7 getting a keeper from the batting side and an extra wicket. Fielders were littered everywhere. I was in the team with 8, and we batted first.

Quite horrible really. One opener went bowled, one went caught in the deep. Then the next, the main dangerman. played a terrible shot, then our in-form bat left a delivery which hit his legstump! I came in, and got runout by our skipper's runner. It went behind the stumps just behind the keeper, I was just taking a start as normal, and the runner went for the run, so I obliged only to be runout at the strikers end. He then claimed I was running so he ran. Thats what you get for playing with 'galli' cricket specialists : Out for 2 runs in 2 balls.
So anyways, we were dismissed for a miserly 68. However, with 6 fielders anything above 80 would have been good, so we were in with a chance. They had a horrid batting lineup too, just one studying-in college, big lefty who was the skipper. Left handers had a shorter boundary anyways, and he delt in only sixes, not fours. So we basically had to bowl everyone else out.
And we did. Kinda. 3 wickets in the first 2 overs, all crap bats, he was still in. Some better bats came, we took some more wickets till we needed just 2 more wickets to win, but they needed like 30+ runs. I came on to bowl, and bowled a nice offie to the lefty first up. Next was an edge and caught behind. 'NOBALL' cried the umpire. I couldn't believe it. Lost my focus, next a rubbish fulltoss despatched for six. Then a tight ball, and then another six, and once again he said no-ball! This was ridiculous. Next was a slower, low fulltoss which he could only get one off, and so another guy on strike, only 3 balls done. I changed to bowling pace to him. Dot ball to him, then he got a single. Last ball to the lefty, offbreak, slightly short, mis-hit, high in the air. The fielder could have got to it, he was closer and I sprinted from further away and got closer to the ball then he did!
Anyways, we didn't get another wicket until the lefty was controversially stumped with 2 runs to win. So in short, we lost.

Bowling practice was great though. I ignored bowling no-balls, and just bowled naturally. Before the match I tried a few to another guy, got the line more or less perfect but they were full tosses until the last two. Then since the match was done quick, I had a 20 minute bowling practice, and did some batting practice too! A kid stayed back for a while, so he bowled an I batted. Didn't bat great, got bat on ball but didn't hit them very hard. Atleast it was something. He then left, so bowling practice alone then. Bowling was good, I kept my bat as a marker for the length, trying to hit the wooden part for line, and got a lot of deliveries on target, something I'm very pleased about. I might have bowled tons of no-balls, but atleast I was getting accurate! A guy then came in to bat to me just as I was about to leave. So I bowled to him. I lost it for a bit, wasn't used to bowling without a marker so got some wides and fulltosses, but it eventually clicked and I bowled like 3 good balls till I felt I should stop for the day.

So a productive day. I'm getting some spin, although to be fair fast bowlers get spin here, but I'm getting huge bounce too. I need to work on the googly now, but I'm feeling more in control of my bowling than before, which is good.

 

[6 x Afridi]

what i learned from spinning is it will spin more if u can work out the angle u are bowling from, over the wicket, around, what action etc.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Had some more cricket today.

Got 15 minutes of bowling in (About 2 and a half overs worth) before the match. The heat is killer. Anyways, using tips from Ollie and Afridi I just didn't think of bowling no-balls and tried to bowl naturally. This saw my action change a bit! It was quite similar now to the action I use when bowling pace, which makes sense I guess. This had one huge advantage I discovered as I bowled - I get the ball to drift in now. Just like I do with pace! If I bowl well and get good speed behind it, the ball drifts in late before pitching! I've never been able to do that before. The ball also bounced less than it normally did, and I had a bit more control over whether I was bowling a topspinner (Which still bounced okay) or a legbreak, although I didn't test that out a lot. The downside was the when I lost control, or over pitched the ball, it would just flot harmlessly and drift to the legside. But when I hit the correct spot, it looked fantastic. I got my accuracy going quit well, in about 16 deliveries I hit the target directly 4 times and got it around there several times. My line and length strayed a couple of times, but only 2 balls I would consider real shockers, which is quite good. I wanted to bowl a bit more, but the heat kinda stopped me.

So it came to the match. 5 a side with a jack (who fielded and batted for both teams). So 4 fielders at a given point. We were sent in to bowl first, and took 4 wickets in the first 3 overs, leading them to forfeit that match

So the next match with the same teams and us batting first. 9 overs. Our openers took us to 39 after 4 overs, then one went right after hitting a six off the first ball. Our skipper, this college lefty, came in and set about smashing everyone with the other opener. But he got bowled with 10 balls to go, so another good bat came in, and I became runner for the opener. Final over, second ball, opener plays and misses and I take a start. I could have turned back, but the non-striker started, said no, then tried to complete the run and got himself runout. He knew it was his fault.
So I had 4 balls. First one whacked for four, then the next one for two. Next was a wide, then a dot ball. So I had 1 ball. Shortish, clipped the two of my bat as I tried to pull, and we stole a single. Then an overthrow, we ran for two. I dropped my bat as I just avoided narrowly getting runout going for the second, and that throw led to us being able to steal 2 more overthrows! 4 off the last ball, they needed 109 to win.

First over, only 2. I bowled the next over. Still tired, I bowled a few lazy balls of a shorter runup and some good ones. There was one misfield, and I missed a tough caught and bowled chance, but even then just 11 came off the over.
We got a wicket next over, then another one in the fourth as I held the catch, and at 29 after 4 overs they were pretty much out of it. I bowled another tired over which had 2 fours hit off it, but some good balls to end it, and it came down to them needing 58 to win in 2 overs, after which they declared.

So not much excitement on the pitch, but some promising developments in my legspin. I'm just hoping this will hold up, and that I can bowl with this action and not get tonked when I play against proper batsmen. My fielding is as good as ever, getting some batting form back, and bowling is alright.