My diary for the 2006 season

[open365]

This is my cricket centered diary for the upcoming season,secrectly i'm hoping that this'll somehow make me a better player but if not,at least i'll be able to look back on this when i'm 20.

This'll be different from Neil and Eddie's because i'm focusing almost entirely on my season as a player(exciting i know).

Any comments welcome.

Tuesday January 17th
School nets start tomorrow, and about bloody time as well, it’s been nigh on 3 months since I last had a proper net (excluding a Saturday in December which I’d rather forget). I can’t wait to get bowling again, hopefully my winter training will have paid off and I’ll be able to get my line and length under control for a change. Batting wise, I’m feeling better than ever and after months of practicing my forward defensive in the mirror, I’m now certain that I have a better defence than Gerraint Jones, which has always been a personal target of mine.
The season starts here for me, and I’m hoping that this will be the year when I become classed as an actual all-rounder instead of a bowler who bats last year and a batsman who bowls the year before.

 

[Kweek]

Good luck mate. Defense like Geraintand a line and lenght like Jones
where have we heard something similair :')
just kidding mate good luck, cant wait to start myself either!

 

[BlackCap_Fan]

Who're you playing for?

 

[The Baconator]

Good luck with that, my nets start on Thursday, should be great.

 

[open365]

Who're you playing for?

Quite a lot of sides this year-

Liverpool CC 3rd team(hopefully 2nds)
Liverpool CC U15s
Liverpool CC midweeks sides
My school year 9s(aged 13/14)
My school year 10s
Maybe my school's first team
Liverpool schools U14s
Liverpool school U15s

 

[no1_gangsta_786]

My cricket nets start on thursday as well (Blackheath) hopefully i do good and so do you. Good Luck.

 

[open365]

^Blackheath? Where abouts is that?I've heard of it before....

anyway, next entry

Wednesday January 17th
How many times will I have to start a season before I learn not to go all out first ball? I’ve told myself every day for the past week to warm up properly and start of slowly but when it came down to it, I just couldn’t stop myself. I’d waited too long. The result? Apart from a sore shoulder(note to self-Always warm up properly) and an aching ankle(It felt like that most of last season so it’s not serious) I thought I bowled pretty well, I was scaring my team mates of no paces which is always a good sign, even if none of them have ever got double figures before. My good vibes about my batting this season didn’t exactly prove right today. I’ve always been too arrogant to were a box against school bowlers, as they’re all *****, but as I found out today, ***** can still hurt, and hurt badly. What’s worse is I’d lied to me coach before going in that I was wearing a box so I couldn’t show any signs of pain. OUCHHHHH…….

 

[Matteh]

^Blackheath? Where abouts is that?I've heard of it before....

I'm pretty sure i've played Blackheath last season in a Sunday match....
although i may be completely wrong i think it's around Birmingham?

 

[vic_orthdox]

My good vibes about my batting this season didn’t exactly prove right today. I’ve always been too arrogant to were a box against school bowlers, as they’re all *****, but as I found out today, ***** can still hurt, and hurt badly. What’s worse is I’d lied to me coach before going in that I was wearing a box so I couldn’t show any signs of pain. OUCHHHHH…….

OK, any person who doesn't wear a box deserves that.

 

[andyc]

OK, any person who doesn't wear a box deserves that.

Haha agreed Jack.

 

[Smudge]

I’ve always been too arrogant to were a box against school bowlers, as they’re all *****, but as I found out today, ***** can still hurt, and hurt badly. What’s worse is I’d lied to me coach before going in that I was wearing a box so I couldn’t show any signs of pain. OUCHHHHH…….

Excuse the pun, but stiff bikkies. Who exactly are you trying to impress by not wearing one? It's not like anyone takes particular note of whether a batsman is wearing a box or not - unless the batsman is hit in there.

I hope it leaves a lifelong bruise to remind you of your stupidity.

 

[no1_gangsta_786]

Blackheath is in London.....South East.

 

[luckyeddie]

Blackheath is in London.....South East.

There are 5 places called Blackheath in England.

In Birmingham, London, Surrey, Suffolk and Essex

 

[no1_gangsta_786]

Oh right! Well im talking about the one in South East London.

 

[Jono]

If practicing your forward defence in the mirror actually improved one's defence than I'm pretty sure I'd be more of a wall than Rahul Dravid by now. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work, for me anyway. Chalked up my 2nd golden duck for the season yesterday in 40 degree heat. It was a long, hot walk back to the pavillion.

 

[Matteh]

can't wait to get into the new season and improve the batting....the only time i felt confident in my batting last season was in the very last match and the rest of the team got out and i was stranded on 5*

 

[marc71178]

If practicing your forward defence in the mirror actually improved one's defence than I'm pretty sure I'd be more of a wall than Rahul Dravid by now. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work, for me anyway. Chalked up my 2nd golden duck for the season yesterday in 40 degree heat. It was a long, hot walk back to the pavillion.

Hope your off-spin Vettori-style is more successful...

 

[Jono]

Lol

 

[open365]

If practicing your forward defence in the mirror actually improved one's defence than I'm pretty sure I'd be more of a wall than Rahul Dravid by now. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work, for me anyway. Chalked up my 2nd golden duck for the season yesterday in 40 degree heat. It was a long, hot walk back to the pavillion.

Ha,it's annoying isn't it?you spend ages making sure you have a perfect technique then it all goes to pot during a match.

 

[open365]

Wednesday January 24th
I was once told by my old coach that cricket is 99% mental and 1% physical; I was about 12 when I heard that and tbh I didn’t really believe him. I mean, cricket isn’t chess, it’s a game for tough athletic people isn’t it?
Today I finally realised how wrong I was. In the past, I have never been a very strong player mentally, I never thought about it really, I believed that playing with a straight bat and keeping the ball on the ground would be enough. I turned up for training with my brain half on, I never thought about what I was doing, I just ran in, bowled and hoped I would get a wicket.
Today at nets (after some prompting from my dad) I actually started to think hard about what I was doing. While batting, I visualised myself in a game situation and made it my top priority not to get out instead of seeing how many times I could blast the ball out of the net like I did before. It felt great, no longer was I flailing the bat at everything, trying to see how far I could hit it, I was playing properly, and I think my timing was a lot better for it.
While bowling, I made a conscious effort not to bowl no-balls all the time and pretended I was bowling a real over instead of concentrating on single deliveries as I used to do.
It makes me feel a bit stupid that In two years of playing I’ve never really thought about what I was doing.


Btw,i'd like to reccomend 'Greg Chappel on coaching' to anyone wishing to improve their game as it made me realise the other side of cricket.