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

[ZoraxDoom]

ZTBCE/BPDLTT for short.

Since I've got holidays now, I intend to practice my legspin bowling a bit more, for about 2-3 hours every morning. Well, not every morning, probably atleast 4 days a week.
All my friends are free too, so I'll be playing a lot more tennis-ball cricket, so I'll record my performances here as well.

My first match is tommorrow, and my first practice session on Sunday. I may practice tommorrow as well if we stop playing before it gets dark.

So, a bit about my cricket. Here is my profile for tennis ball cricket (The stats could be a tad inaccurate due to mis-calculations or forgetting to include certain matches):

Name: Zorax
Matches: 54

Right Hand Batsman
381 runs @ 13.14, Strike rate = 119.1
43 fours, 10 sixes, highest of 31*

Right arm offspin/Right ar medium
36 wickets @ 18.72
Economy rate of 8.32, Strike rate = 13.5, Best bowling of 3/24
17 catches and 0 stumpings


As for Hard ball, well, I bowl legspin. I know how to bowl a Legbreak, Topspinner, Googly and a Backspinner. However, I just learnt the backspinner and haven't bowled it yet, so i need to try it out. I've bowled the other three before, although the googly very scarcely as I can't controll it well. I aim to have all 4 deliveries under my control by the end of August.

I hope that this thread will act as some sort of motivation, especially if I can see my progress over the weeks.

Well, wish me luck!

 

[Niv]

Did you seriously take score of 54 TB matches you've played?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Yup! Well, not the whole score, just my score. Runs I scored, balls I faced, and how many runs were taken off my bowling. The others couldn't care less

 

[Cricketman]

Good luck, Zorax.

How do you bowl Leg Spin in tennis ball cricket and not get tonked?

 

[Insomniac]

You're a team man Zorax, a real team man :cool:

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Good luck, Zorax.

How do you bowl Leg Spin in tennis ball cricket and not get tonked?

I don't. I bowl off spin or medium pace. Legspin is just for hardball.

And yes I am mario, yes I am :cool: I could be keeping wicket and taking it easy (Notice how I have 0 stumpings in 54+ games?) but instead I'm the one running around the legside boundary all alone :P

 

[Insomniac]

I don't. I bowl off spin or medium pace. Legspin is just for hardball.

And yes I am mario, yes I am :cool: I could be keeping wicket and taking it easy (Notice how I have 0 stumpings in 54+ games?) but instead I'm the one running around the legside boundary all alone :P

So as I understand it, you're the ballboy for the legside boundary?

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Haha...

I'm the only fielder there fast enough to cover the legside boundary, as it's large and the batsmen often hit it there.

 

[Insomniac]

Haha...

I'm the only fielder there fast enough to cover the legside boundary, as it's large and the batsmen often hit it there.

You mean you're the only ballboy whose fast enough to cover that legside boundary right?

 

[Niv]

Good luck, Zorax.

How do you bowl Leg Spin in tennis ball cricket and not get tonked?

Me mate's got a decent sized backyard, all turf. Makes for good movement, what with the uneven surface

 

[angryangy]

You mean you're the only ballboy whose fast enough to cover that legside boundary right?

He's imagining you in a cute little ballboy uniform, Zorax

 

[ZoraxDoom]

You mean you're the only ballboy whose fast enough to cover that legside boundary right?

No!! I'm actually playing! Although it does feel like that at times...


And angy...uggh...

Anhyways, first match in like 10 minutes. I'll report what happens tommorrow!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Looks like I found time to report what happened today.

Wasn't a very good game back from me.

We bowled first in a five-a-side match, with a keeper from the batting side (Until this old guy asked to join us, he became a batting jack - batted for both teams and kept wicket).

I bowled the second over, and gave only 7 from it, which was good. Started with a dead ball (Bounced more than twice) bowling a bit of medium pace early on as it was very windy (Stayed windy throught), but turned to offspin. Two singles and a 2, then a wide, then a no-ball (Overstepped, and it was a catch in the deep to boot!), but then 3 dot balls.
My second over wasn't so good. 10 over match, and they were 39 after 6. They were 54 when I was done. A not so good bat somehow managed to sweep me twice between two fielders for fours, and there was a bunch of singles and twos and a wide in the mix too. So not very pleased. I blame the windy conditions a bit, especially since I bolw offspin and the wind blows from off-to leg. Makes anything I bowl end up on the legside. It is also infuriating when the ball just spins and bounces all of a sudden when I wanted it to stay low, turns a full delivery on off to a waist high delivery on leg, too easy for the batsman.

Set 81 to win in 10, we thought it was do-able. But a slow start, and I was in when we needed 57 runs from 6.3 overs. 3 dotballs to me as I tried to get my eye in, and it was 57 from 6. My partner had a fantastic over though, and it was 39 from 5. The guy who had swept me for two fours when i bowled came on, and looking for revenge, I played a rubbish pull shot straight back to him. I was disgusted, it was an easy ask and I'm sure had I hung in there we would have made it. As it turns out, we fell 10 short. I made 1. I also was the runner for the last man out, runout although I'm pretty certain I was in. 11 of the last over, crap bat on strike, I was running for him and runout going for a single in the first ball.

So not a great day. Bright spot was a great runout I made though. They took 1, got an overthrow, and almost got another, but I ran in from square leg, one-handed pick up and throw to the non-striker's end which almost had me tumbling over, straight to the bowler's hand and as easy as they get. My fielding was pretty good throughout.

So tommorrow, bowling practice!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Bowling practice done today.

Started of by trying to run two laps of the area at full speed. got just 1 and a half then couldn't do more. Endurance really needs work.

I was a bit all over the place when I started, as expected, and throughout I struggled trying to get my line and length right. I used that tip where you get into a batting stance, go on the front foot, and mark that length as the length to bowl, but struggled to land it there. A lot of full tosses, and if it did pitch, it was outside offstump. Day got worse as a dog did his business on my bag - although thankfully the owner was nice enough to wash it for me at a nearby tap - and I lost my bowling action and my runup.

However, it did pick up towards the end of the day. I was exhausted (After just an hour, geeze, I better get in shape quick!) , but decided to bowl just 4 more overs and at full throttle. And so I did, and I reverted back to my original action where my left hand goes high and it almost looks like a fast bowler. It takes more effort to bowl with this action, but it was certainly worth it as my accuracy really picked up in those 4 overs. I got a good rhythm going, and ended the day well with a series of sharp legbreaks. I also discovered some things about this action, that if I'm tiring I should bowl from wide of the crease as my deliveries tend to slide down the legside then (My arm goes more round-arm then straight), and that my stock ball is a topspinner with this action.

So i guess what I have to work on now is making this action more regular and fluent, and work on bowling a legbreak with this action. I can also bowl offbreaks with this action (yay!) so that could be handy.

 

[Leggie]

Great stuff Zorax. Isn't it a bit hot playing Cricket and running two laps in Dubai?