Your Cricket KP's Season Diary

[King Pietersen]

Update- Session with Ian Pont

Just got back from a 5 hour session with fast bowling coach Ian Pont, and it's one of the most enjoyable days I've had for a long time. We started the session by bowling in the net with the speed gun set up, quickest delivery out of all of us was timed at 71mph, my quickest was about 64-65mph, so basically Danish Kaneria's quicker ball

After that it was down to drills, walking through our actions, working out our foot placements and then doing that with eyes closed. We then learnt about the 4 Tent Pegs of fast bowling, which are back foot impact, front foot impact, release of the ball and completion of action. These were again walkthrough drills, at times used with weights in each hand to get the follow through perfected.

We also looked at the 3 knee lift, and also the dragging of the right foot (for a right armer) to help generate extra pace. At the end of the session we worked on variations, which included the various slower balls (a hell of alot of them), cutters, yorkers and a quicker ball. 1 other thing we looked at was arm pull, which is something that Atul Sharma and Lasith Malinga use, to generate extra pace. You can really feel it pulling your arm through, really effective.

I'm not now bowling at 85mph, but the session taught me all about my bowling action, what I need to do to improve it, where I'm going wrong and even taught me that I'm front on . Overall, was a really helpful experience, and the things I learnt today will definitely help me improve and start bowling faster. Just so long as I don't start bowling like Steve Harmison (who got alot of hilarious abuse from Ian ). If you ever get the chance to work with Ian, jump at it, he's a superb coach, makes things incredibly easy to understand, and I hope to work with him again. Awesome stuff.

 

[manee]

I presume this was one of his work shops that are touring the country. I'm hoping one will come down to London (SE London preferably) but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

BTW, 64-65mph top puts you at around my pace, considering I hit 62mph last winter and I tend to put on a few mph each year.

 

[King Pietersen]

I'm quicker than that now though, that was right at the start, before any coaching.

Yeh, one of the workshops, you checked the Mavericks site to see if hes got one near you? Well worth the ?75 as well, can see why Ian's got such a good rep!

 

[manee]

I'm quicker than that now though, that was right at the start, before any coaching.

Yeh, one of the workshops, you checked the Mavericks site to see if hes got one near you? Well worth the ?75 as well, can see why Ian's got such a good rep!

None near me atm, but I'm sure that there will be one in London sooner rather than later. ?75 is a bargain for a five hour workshop; unfortunately, tallying all the costs together, it'll cost about ?200 for me to get a two hour session if you factor in his travel costs, booking the thing, the cost of the session and so on and so I'm really hoping he'll come to London.

Glad you enjoyed it and looking forward to reading about you tearing up teams with your new perfect action and repetoire of variations.

 

[King Pietersen]

Would that 2 hour session be 1 to 1 though? If so, I can see that being far more beneficial than a 5 hour workshop. It was very enjoyable though, especially the little digs at a few international players, especially Harmison.

Lol, fat chance of that, I sucked at most of the slower balls and the leg cutter. I could bowl 3 of the slower balls fairly confidently, well 4 including the off-cutter. The ones I could bowl were the vulcan grip one, the one really tight into the hand and then the 'Harmison' slower-ball. The Harmison slower ball is simply the one used by Steve, and is comfortably the simplest of all the Slowies, which Ian chose to point out quite a few times at the expense of Harmison

I should certainly be bowling better than last year though. I plan on working hard on my yorker in the nets as that's a very good delivery to have, and just generally working hard on my pace, as I definitely know I can improve now that I know how to bowl fast, and what my action needs to be like. It's certainly different perfecting the action with a full run-up than with the walkthrough drills. Looking forward to getting some wickets next season though, am bowling alot better than last year. Amazing to think I hadn't bowled a cricket ball roughly this time 3 years ago, now bowling at about 70mph, pretty good progress I think.

 

[manee]

Would that 2 hour session be 1 to 1 though? If so, I can see that being far more beneficial than a 5 hour workshop. It was very enjoyable though, especially the little digs at a few international players, especially Harmison.

Perhaps, but it is just a bit too much.

Lol, fat chance of that, I sucked at most of the slower balls and the leg cutter. I could bowl 3 of the slower balls fairly confidently, well 4 including the off-cutter. The ones I could bowl were the vulcan grip one, the one really tight into the hand and then the 'Harmison' slower-ball. The Harmison slower ball is simply the one used by Steve, and is comfortably the simplest of all the Slowies, which Ian chose to point out quite a few times at the expense of Harmison

I should certainly be bowling better than last year though. I plan on working hard on my yorker in the nets as that's a very good delivery to have, and just generally working hard on my pace, as I definitely know I can improve now that I know how to bowl fast, and what my action needs to be like. It's certainly different perfecting the action with a full run-up than with the walkthrough drills. Looking forward to getting some wickets next season though, am bowling alot better than last year. Amazing to think I hadn't bowled a cricket ball roughly this time 3 years ago, now bowling at about 70mph, pretty good progress I think.

Were you timed at the end of the session? I doubt highly that you added 5mph in one day.

It is great that he's expanded your game and really given you this excitement going into the season, that sort of thing is priceless.

 

[King Pietersen]

Nah we weren't timed at the end. Wish we were though, I know for a fact that my pace has improved. I had basically no follow through, and my arms did not go all the way through, and I was unsure of my foot position. I think there's a possibility that I have improved 5mph today, wouldn't be far off I don't reckon.

Ah yeh he's definitely expanded my game, and given me the thrill for fast bowling again, which was somewhat lost in the winter nets where I was incredibly inconsistent. Really looking forward to this season, could really be the season where I show consistency, take a decent haul of wickets and also have a good chance of getting some runs as well, been batting nicely recently! Looking forward to the first game on Sunday now, just hope the weather stays decent!

 

[King Pietersen]

Update- First Game/s of The Season

Well, the season has officially started for me, and it started with an Interclub T20 Test Match . We planned on just having 2 T20 matches, but decided mid-way through to play a T20 Test. My team bowled first, and I got the new ball early on, and bowled a decent first over, going for just one. Getting some decent pace, but because we were playing on the artificial wicket I got nothing off the track. The 2nd over wasn't as successful, as by this point the 2 batsmen had their eye in and were just slogging like mad. I didn't do too badly though, going for 2 boundaries, both of which were due to fielding errors.

I also bowled a no ball in that over, which led to a free hit, and the free hit delivery couldn't have been bowled better, a perfect inswinging yorker into the toes leading to a dot ball. I then had a break for the next few overs, until being brought on for the last over of the innings, which went really well, going for just 5. I was getting my yorkers in well and mixed in a few slower balls as well, which in a proper pitch would have held up more in the surface. They ended up with 133 in their 20 overs.

Then we had a bat, and managed a measily 91 all out. Thanks mainly to 49 from one of the openers, and 21 from his brother. I came in at 6 and batted ok, got 3, but was caught at mid on trying to go over the top. I played the reverse sweep and picked up a single in that innings as well Wasn't a bad start.

We then went almost straight into their next innings. I didn't get the ball first up in that one, as a few of the other lads got a go, but I still bowled my 4 overs towards the end, taking 1/16 off 4, bowling to last seasons 1st XI captain for the most part. My wicket was just full and straight and the lad played all-round it. I also had 2 chances dropped in my 4 overs, and also put one down myself, but it was an almost impossible C+B chance. I got a run out during my 4 overs as well, the batsman just knocked it down and went for the single, I ran onto the ball and nonchalantly just under-armed it into middle stump. Easy.

They only managed 88/4 declared in their 2nd innings, leaving us 127 to win. We started well, the 2 openers making 20 apiece, and it sort of fell apart after that. The 2 other guys that could have won it for us fell for 1. I batted for about 7 overs, and made 9*, taking the season average to a healthy 12 :cool: Was one of the worst innings I've ever played though, should have been stumped about 4 times, and probably out LBW once as well, but got away with it. Certainly will be looking to play better than that over the season. Already matched my high score with the bat for last season though, not too shabby . Only 3 runs off my season tally from last year already haha.

So, we drew, and I had a decent enough match. Got a few runs, picked up a wicket and a run out, and bowled pretty dang well. Was getting some swing, was getting the yorkers in with regularity and bowled at decent pace. Good start to the season, happy.

 

[manee]

Good to hear. Always find it difficult, myself, to hit the straps in my first few games, but looks like you bowled okay. How is the action feeling?

 

[King Pietersen]

The action's feeling good. I tried not too think too much about it yesterday, just focused on running in and getting it down there. I'll be working on my action more in the nets, trying to build up the pace. Unfortunately summer nets don't start for a week and a half, so I'm either not going to be bowling till next Thursday, or I'll have to find some other local nets to just go and bowl in. Feeling a decent season coming on though, hoping to crack the 20 wicket mark at least for this season, managed 18 last year, want more this year.

 

[aussie_ben91]

How many games do you play?

Hope you get your pace up to 80mph because 70kph isn't very quick (it's as fast as I bowl ).

 

[King Pietersen]

I doubt I'll be getting upto 80mph anytime soon, without a hell of alot of work anyway. Tony Palladino who plays for Essex bowls at 78-82mph at most, so I doubt I'll be bowling that quick anytime soon!

I'll hopefully play anywhere from 16-20 games this year, maybe more.

 

[aussie_ben91]

You need to take some initiative and start aiming to take atleast 3 wickets per game; get some white sinc and permanately paint it on your face and hell, the next time a batsman hits you for a boundary and they walk past you - Scream "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" as loud as you possibly can straight into their ears. Not only is this in the rulebook, but giving them an ear ache will affect their concentration. It also shows that you mean business and reminds them that you mean business.

Also, if you do scream into a batsman's ear then at the end of the match, make sure that you spit into your shaking hand, right before you shake that particular batsman's hand. This will not only will it gross him out, but it will send a message to him the next time you play against him. He'll remember you and he'll either try to overattack your bowling and play a false shot or he'll throw his wicket away due to your menacing intimidation factor.

Everyone will refer to you as "Freaky" Dan Manley and before you know it, the ECB will hear about you and will want to recruit your extra assets into the squad. You might even get a bottle-top cap if your lucky - Just make sure that you don't spit into your hand right before you met with the authorities of the ECB.

 

[King Pietersen]

Lol, thanks Ben. Your advice and guidance will help me immensely. I'll work on the scream in the next few weeks to make sure it's ready for the first game of the season (Y). Cheers again.

 

[Cricketman]

Hey, could you explain that 'pull' part in the action a bit more? Sounds interesting.