The first game of the season..
This is the day that I’ve spent looking forward to over the long cold winter months; the first day of the cricket season. Last season I had a good year with my bowling taking 48 wickets. This was during one of the worst summers we’ve ever had over here with virtually June and July totally wiped out. I would like a few more runs this season, I always consider myself as more of a bowler but I’m a fairly good batsman.
The season starts with an U15 match against local rivals Elvaston. The wicket looks good considering the rain we’ve had. I never really bowl very well at this ground so to get some wickets today would be great. We bat first which was the plan. Once informed that I’m opening I get padded up and have a few throw downs. The quality of these throws seem to vary from beamers, full tosses and Yorkers and not the ego-boosting half volleys I would of liked.
We start well with a good build up of pressure through singles and the odd boundary to shake of the indoor nets shots. Wickets start to fall however with a combination of good tight bowling and bad shot selection things go from bad to worse as we finish on just 56 for 5 of 20 overs. These games aren’t Twenty20 slog outs but we always look for more than 100 as a completive target. The mood in the dressing room isn’t great. We know we’ve got to bowl tight and take wickets but also field well and take catches.
The first few overs pass with us taking a couple of early wickets and then a run out. Then the time comes for me to roll my arms over and bowl. What happens next is the most successful spell of bowling I’ve ever had. The first few balls beat the bat and are slowly pushed back to me, which is a decent start. After that everything seems to just go right. My first wicket is taken three balls into the over. It's a good leg break which pitches well and bowls the batsman. The next over I pick up two more wickets and suddenly everybody really believes that we can win this game. For saying I never bowl well at this ground I'd say I'm doing alright at the moment. My third over is probably my best. I have a man caught close and bowl two other batsman out. With eight wickets down the chance to win the game is massive.
The contrasting mood of their supporters is also visible but our crowd seem to be enjoying every moment. My fourth over hosts a catch which puts them nine down and then the fifth ball is another bowled to win the match. Figures of 7 for 11 are my best yet. The contrast of moods in the dressing room after is incredible as endless people keep saying well bowled Isaac and shake my hand. It’s been an incredible evening. Talk in the dressing room after seems to revolve around how good a game it was and also how hot Gemma Atkinson is. She’s a model over here in England who is incredibly gorgeous.
Driving back in the car I know its important to keep my feet on the ground as I know not every game will be like this and games will come when I get hammered around the ground. But for today I can safely say its been awesome.
| Posted by Isaac on Wed 14 May |  2 comments |
Derbyshire eh? Some big footsteps to follow, Mike Hendrick and Geoff Miller being personal favourites...
I guess there's no room left for specialist bowlers (or batsmen?) these days with the advent of that 20-20 rubbish so 'good on yer' for diversifying.
Oh yeah, JC, perhaps this guy may need censoring as he's now taken more wickets in one Inns than most of us have taken in a career!
Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-05-14 17:12:19
Posted by JC on 2008-05-14 22:15:18
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