The progression and obsession of a talent!
While airing my views on fast bowling with the confidence of an expert but credentials of an amateur, it would be fair to estimate that I am a formidable bowler myself and perhaps I am, at the level at which I play. It all seems very simplistic to look at the path of an international seam bowler, perhaps having grown up in poverty, perhaps having grown up in relative wealth, the path remains similar. Having taken up cricket at a certain age, the bowler has ripped up sides and moved quickly up the ranks to first class cricket, where international honours awaited around the corner.
However, my story is a bit different. I am not an international seam bowler; I am a boy of 17 who occasionally takes the new ball for my club 2nd XI with occasional success ? I hope to improve, but perhaps professional cricket is a step or four too far.
I picked up cricket as soon I could walk and before I knew it, I was taking the new ball for the Kent U9 team. I was considered a tearaway quick, bowling at approximately 50mph and spearing the ball in from left arm around the wicket. I had reasonable success on the field, but off the field, I was living a nightmare. I?d always, up till then, considered myself relatively well off. However, the experience of playing with people who had been coached professionally since they had ceased breastfeeding, had the top gear equipment and behaved like the spoilt brats they were, was not an enjoyable one.
It was then that my original talent began to peter out; my pace stagnated and although I remained quick by school and junior district standards, I fell out of the Kent setup. By the time I was 11 and in senior school, I was an average opening bowler and was no longer the skinny tearaway but a very podgy medium paced bowler who was getting consistent notices from the school coach to take fitness seriously and lose some weight.
Several months of running later, I had shed my excess weight but my performances seriously started to drop - each wicket was few and fair apart. My problems were exasperated by a succession of rather painful back and side strains. Whether it was stubbornness or idiocy, I was not sure, but I continued to play on and was reduced to some embarrassingly slow bowling lest I feel a horrendous burning pain in my lower back a few moments after delivery.
Luckily, by the time I was 15, it neither pained nor burned to deliver a ball in anger. My obsession with fast bowling developed, and it became apparent that there was a leak in my bowling action. My bowling action remained relatively textbook until release, where the ball would slip out of the left side of my hand, floating relatively harmlessly toward the batsman, albeit with some pretty significant outswing. I realised that this was not the path which I wished to partake in. Having remodelled my action, I was now 16 and a seam bowler at 60mph. The transition to seam bowler meant that the majority of my deliveries beat the bat and wickets were again few and fair between. My last season was in many ways, my most frustrating and in others my most fruitful. In club cricket, I had stagnated around the pitiful levels of club 3rd and 4th XI where the level of cricket is tremendously low and I remained at that level (albeit as a reasonably quick bowler, for the level, now) at the start of last season. I was now operating at around 65mph and had a far better control of accuracy than before. I?d realised that alterations to my action were not the way forward and that I should concentrate moreso on the areas in which I bowl. The start of the season (eight 3rd team games with just one wicket) proved frustrating, but eventually, I got a call up to my club 2nd XI due to a late pull out and got to take the new ball. That brought me an opportunity against batsmen good enough to catch the edge of deliveries which I got to deviate off the straight ? I ended up with 3/52 off 13 overs. Since then, I had remained in the 2nd XI and picked up a five wicket haul in my final game (my first ever). My confidence is now higher than before, as shown with far improved performances in the friendly games which occur on the Sundays throughout the season and midweek during school holidays. I now feel I know my bowling, know my action, and have a base to move forward upon - something I could not have ever said before.
I am determined to reach a good physical condition through some tough work in the gym combined with hard work at early winter net sessions?we?ll see how it goes?
While airing my views on fast bowling with the confidence of an expert but credentials of an amateur, it would be fair to estimate that I am a formidable bowler myself and perhaps I am, at the level at which I play. It all seems very simplistic to look at the path of an international seam bowler, perhaps having grown up in poverty, perhaps having grown up in relative wealth, the path remains similar. Having taken up cricket at a certain age, the bowler has ripped up sides and moved quickly up the ranks to first class cricket, where international honours awaited around the corner.
However, my story is a bit different. I am not an international seam bowler; I am a boy of 17 who occasionally takes the new ball for my club 2nd XI with occasional success ? I hope to improve, but perhaps professional cricket is a step or four too far.
I picked up cricket as soon I could walk and before I knew it, I was taking the new ball for the Kent U9 team. I was considered a tearaway quick, bowling at approximately 50mph and spearing the ball in from left arm around the wicket. I had reasonable success on the field, but off the field, I was living a nightmare. I?d always, up till then, considered myself relatively well off. However, the experience of playing with people who had been coached professionally since they had ceased breastfeeding, had the top gear equipment and behaved like the spoilt brats they were, was not an enjoyable one.
It was then that my original talent began to peter out; my pace stagnated and although I remained quick by school and junior district standards, I fell out of the Kent setup. By the time I was 11 and in senior school, I was an average opening bowler and was no longer the skinny tearaway but a very podgy medium paced bowler who was getting consistent notices from the school coach to take fitness seriously and lose some weight.
Several months of running later, I had shed my excess weight but my performances seriously started to drop - each wicket was few and fair apart. My problems were exasperated by a succession of rather painful back and side strains. Whether it was stubbornness or idiocy, I was not sure, but I continued to play on and was reduced to some embarrassingly slow bowling lest I feel a horrendous burning pain in my lower back a few moments after delivery.
Luckily, by the time I was 15, it neither pained nor burned to deliver a ball in anger. My obsession with fast bowling developed, and it became apparent that there was a leak in my bowling action. My bowling action remained relatively textbook until release, where the ball would slip out of the left side of my hand, floating relatively harmlessly toward the batsman, albeit with some pretty significant outswing. I realised that this was not the path which I wished to partake in. Having remodelled my action, I was now 16 and a seam bowler at 60mph. The transition to seam bowler meant that the majority of my deliveries beat the bat and wickets were again few and fair between. My last season was in many ways, my most frustrating and in others my most fruitful. In club cricket, I had stagnated around the pitiful levels of club 3rd and 4th XI where the level of cricket is tremendously low and I remained at that level (albeit as a reasonably quick bowler, for the level, now) at the start of last season. I was now operating at around 65mph and had a far better control of accuracy than before. I?d realised that alterations to my action were not the way forward and that I should concentrate moreso on the areas in which I bowl. The start of the season (eight 3rd team games with just one wicket) proved frustrating, but eventually, I got a call up to my club 2nd XI due to a late pull out and got to take the new ball. That brought me an opportunity against batsmen good enough to catch the edge of deliveries which I got to deviate off the straight ? I ended up with 3/52 off 13 overs. Since then, I had remained in the 2nd XI and picked up a five wicket haul in my final game (my first ever). My confidence is now higher than before, as shown with far improved performances in the friendly games which occur on the Sundays throughout the season and midweek during school holidays. I now feel I know my bowling, know my action, and have a base to move forward upon - something I could not have ever said before.
I am determined to reach a good physical condition through some tough work in the gym combined with hard work at early winter net sessions?we?ll see how it goes?
But yeah, sounds like you`re getting better and better every year.
