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

[ZoraxDoom]

Sure, because Sri Lanka has vast areas of dry sand surrounded by many tall buildings :

Cricket today!

And I got stuck as Jack. Booo, Hisss.
Beh, bound to happen to everyone once in a while. I was supposed to be in a side, but if a player of the other team didn't show up, I would have to be jack.

So the side I was supposed to be of started first. Few overs in, I became official jack. And that same time, I had to come in to bat. It was me and the last guy, with the score 23 after 3, in an 8 over match. We were in deep trouble.
So I rose to the occassion.
Lots of nudging, proding, taking quick ones and twos, and we both put us back on track. We took advantages of wides and ran as many runs as we could, and we ended with 68 runs in 8 overs! Partnership of 45 in 5, the last two overs brought 29 runs. Only one boundary in the whole partnership, hit by the other guy. We actually got bowled out with a ball to spare. In the final over, second last ball, I got runout going for a sucidal runout, and then he got runout on the last ball which happened to by a wide as well. My inning wasn't pretty, and a bit chancy too (A catch or two fell short, and a runout where I seemed out turned out to be not out after lots of arguing), but it did the job.

We had 69 to play with, and they lost two wickets in 1.2 overs for like 8 runs. 4 overs in, I was supposed to bowl the fifth, and another wicket fell meaning it was me and the last guy. The last guy got runout, and I was lef with50 runs to get in 23 balls as the last man! This time I whacked a two, and got a short ball which I should have hammered away, but top edged instead and gave an easy catch. Oh well, atleast one of my teams won!

Then some bowling practice. Got to bowl to some batsmen this time. Bowled about 5-6 balls to a lefty, and apart from a few deliveries which got stuck in the hand, I hit a nice line and length bowling around the wicket. I'm not sure about length -he was playing everything on the backfoot and I was bowling it full as a result- but the line was good.
Then he left, so I bowled to a righty for a while, before he started bowling too and we just bowled to the stumps with the bat as a marker.
My legbreaks came out very well, and I had a pleasant suprise when I noticed that I could bowl it well without thinking about it too much, with a more relaxed mode. Like it was coming naturally. That was nice. And I got the googly going, eventually. Lots of failed attempts, lots of having it drift down leg and spinning like a legbreak, but I finnaly started sorting out my mistakes and getting it right. So I'm pleased about that.
I tried the triangle-grip thing. I don't think I did it right. Bowled it four times, first was a good line but short length, spun in. Next pitched around legstump, spun like an offbreak again. Third went wayy wide of legstump, spun like an offbreak. Fourth was just as wide, spund like a legbreak. Clearly need more practice. Didn't work on the topspinner, as I was obsessed with the legbreak, and didn't do my Second Legbreak either. But I can practice these again soon, going for cricket on Sat (likely), and since school starts on the 10th, I could get one or two more practices in.

 

[6 x Afridi]

Say its Ajantha Mendis when he was 16 years old playing in a gully

hhahaha

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Cricket today!

First off - No bowling practice. I know. Awww. Got down a bit late (Watching a TV show, sitcoms all day during Ramadan, it rocks.), and it was quite dark by the time we were done (Only 6:45, winter is coming in).

We batted first in a 6-a-side, 9 over match. I wasn't called on to bat, but did a lot of work as a by-runner. We ended up with a solid 96 in 9 overs. However, they had one dangerous, 20 something lefty who could win it for them, and they had an extra wicket as one of their guys left, so 96 might not have been enough.

They lost a wicket in their first over, their idiot skipper out for a duck. Now, you would assume that with an extra wicket in hand, they would wait to use it on their best batsman right? That is, the dangerous lefty (Who was the non-strike right now). Well, wrong. The selfish skipper took it for himself.

So I bowl the next over, score 7 after 1. And a single first ball to their captain. Next ball, not so good, six. After that the captain starts complaining that I am bowling no-balls, and then they both start giving no balls every second delivery! I bowled a good dot ball, bowled what should have been the last ball of the over, only for them to say when the over is done that the last two balls were no balls! They could have atleast signalled it. And it really makes no sense, as I was bowling from the very far edge of the crease! I bet they could barely tell where my foot was landing. My teamates got into the arguement, and it turns out there are 2 balls left with the score 19. I'm mad, so I return to bowl, bowl it full and outside off, the same way I have been for the whole over, try to tempt him to hit across the line and get a top edge or something. He does just that, I run around to about short mid wicket (Bowling from around the wicket to the lefty) and take the catch to get rid of him. And due to their captain's idiocity, he can't come back to bat.
The match was as good as ours from there, and we were well in control. However, with aout 2 overs left, it gets too dark, and our team captain and their's agree to call it off as a draw. I would have liked to keep playing on, but the keeper could barely see the ball, so I guess it was the right call.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Right, this is starting again.

For a change though, I'm primarily bowling legspin with the hardball and practicing with a friend, doing some batting too, and will occasionally play some tennis ball cricket.

First day was today. I realise that this summer I'm going to have to make some tweaks in my action, mainly because the area in which we are playing at doesn't give a lot of room for a runup. So a shorter runup and easier action. Less pace on the ball, but still got spin and I was fairly accurate. Couldn't bowl the googly, that'll need work, but landed the legbreaks and topspinners. Also working on bowling a fast-ish offspinner with the same action. Bit difficult, there is a slight difference in my action, but with some work it should be okay.

Batting was nice though. Finding the middle well.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Had a few more sessions recently.


Legspin bowling is coming out alright. I haven't used the topspinner a lot since using the shorter runup, and the googly hasn't worked yet, so still some work to do.

Batting has been pretty decent too. Getting the middle of the bat more, just need better shot selection.