Get a Hundred Part 1

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Our summer club season just began last week. Now at the beginning of each season, I set myself some sort of goal. Two seasons ago, I began an experiment to reinvent myself as a front-line legspinner/tailend batsman. It failed miserably. Last season, I adopted Aloof Theory. While it was one of my better seasons, the whole nature of Aloof Theory is to not set goals so, well, it was all a bit wishy washy really.

So this season, I'm taking a leaf out of Get A Hundred and setting myself the goal of scoring a maiden club century. Already after one week, I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. This goal will be very difficult for three reasons.

Firstly, my knee has gone bad again. I had a knee operation in March and while I sailed through the winter season without a hitch, a week of jogging about a month ago has it as sore and aching as it was pre-op. So when I batted last weekend, I always ran the bare minimum speed required to not get run out. It was like Damien Martyn 2005 every ball. I could sense the frustration in the fielding side as I hovered out of my crease and they had to weigh up run-out opportunities versus overthrows. Spending several hours running backwards and forwards will not do wonders for my aging joints.

Secondly, all our matches are on turf pitches this summer. Usually my B grade team gets relegated to synthetic pitches. But this season, one of our teammates Pappy also happened to be on the scheduling committee and ensured we got to play on turf. Which is great - much more interesting than synthetic. Also harder to bat on. I have a bad record on turf. While I haven't played on it many times, my highest score is 9. Yet to crack double figures, let alone triple!

Lastly, I just wonder whether I can score that many runs in a day. Get A Hundred isn't satisfied with a club hundred. He's set himself the goal of scoring it at a run-a-ball. I batted for 1 hour last weekend and scored 9 runs (my top score on turf, remember). Most of my scoring shots were behind the wicket - leg glances, late cuts, outside edges. Scratchy stuff. Somehow I'm going to have to develop some more scoring strokes. Perhaps start using a backlife. Maybe even follow through after I hit the ball.

So that's the goal. Get a hundred.  I'm off to play in 30 minutes - it's the second half of a two dayer and I'm one wicket away from batting. I'm taking it one step at a time. First goal - crack double figures on turf. Then I'll take stock from there. Maybe halfway through the season, I'll downgrade it to Get a fifty.

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Posted by JC on Sat 26 Sep

58 comments

Fantastic JC, you've joined the getahundred club.All you have to do now is visit a bookmaker to get some odds. Get the ton for charity, try anyway; a higher purpose!

Any chance of some vids.
where in Oz are you btw

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Posted by getahundred on 2009-09-27 08:03:24

No chance of vids - that only happened when my cricket ground was a hundred metres away from Gaz's house (he had a video camera). I'm in Brisbane.

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Posted by JC on 2009-09-28 09:19:56

I've just spent the whole of the morning watching the 'get a hundred' Vlog - absolutely brilliant!

As for the vids, well, a wobbly hand-held analogue cam just ain't gonna cut it. Don't forget about the youtube link for him JC!

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Posted by virtualgaz on 2009-09-28 20:19:39

Hi, I'm a pom and we only play on grass pitches here. The key is concentration, because uneven bounce is your biggest enemy, especially if the quality of some of the wickets you're dished up with is not great. In theory, your wickets are quicker, but that should be an advantage - I get fed up with the ball dying on me because I like to cut and pull a lot and it makes it hard.

I can certainly understand why making the transition would be difficult, but I reckon if you play on turf every week, you'll be surprised at how quickly you adapt to it. Good luck!

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Posted by Jayser on 2009-10-02 07:19:01

Good point about concentration. My approach as I go out to bat now is just to laser focus on the ball as it comes out of the bowler's hand and concentrate on getting my feet into the right position as quickly as possible. And doing it ball after ball after ball.

Thanks for the English perspective - good to hear from a club player from another part of the world.

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Posted by JC on 2009-10-02 10:18:48

If you look at footage of Ponting closely, EVERY BALL he is saying "watch the ball, watch the ball" to himself as he takes strike. I've also seen Michael 'chuck-a-sickie' Clarke do this...

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Posted by virtualgaz on 2009-10-02 18:39:20

While all here seem to be ignoring the ongoing Champions trophy, let me comment on some stuff ive been noticing - for one Tim Paine seems to be a much better keeper and has a better attitude than Haddin, Watto somehow seems to avoid injury and I can see Ponting regaining some form - awesome!

Doesnt matter if we dont win this cup but we seem to be moving in the right direction :)

I for one love how the South africans talked themselves up before the competition, they dont learn do they?

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Posted by sillypoint on 2009-10-03 18:59:52

Love this site. I'm so glad that cricket is finally getting some love in America. It seems even in just the past few years it's getting more popular. If you want proof just check out this link I stumbled upon when I was checking out cricket sites online.
life123.com/sports/team-sports/cricket/who-invented-cricket.shtml

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Posted by jamesaprufrock on 2009-10-23 05:42:14

I think sachin tendulkar is the only batsmen which can play in then first line leg spinner , i have seen his videos and he is naturally very good a t it like that what he did with warne in the past test series.replica purses

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Posted by martin on 2009-11-27 17:07:39

Everything OK, JC?

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Posted by MT on 2009-12-26 22:36:02

Jealous of B grade turf wickets! Must be a refreshing change from the 30 year old mats with burnouts on a good length. And on the ton; make sure you've got a quality celebration up your sleave. ie, helmet pash or better still, do a lap riding the gray-nic.

ss

behindsquare.wordpress.com

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Posted by shores on 2010-02-12 09:23:06

can some one tell me is it stump out on the ball? yes or not

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Posted by SANDEEP_UK4 on 2010-02-20 23:57:15

Our club cricket season starts in the middle of April, although because we're in England it will probably be rained off!

Just watching us massacre Bangladesh has got me hoping I will be able to squeak out a few runs this year, hopefully maybe a 50 or two.

I am also a but more rotund than I used to be, this season I WILL improve my fielding!

I play for a club called Chorley St. James' CC in lancashire england, this is my blog

http://lifeonlimbrick.blogspot.com/

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Posted by Life On Limbrick on 2010-03-12 21:49:52

I hope you get your century m8, good luck with it, Ill follow see how you get on.
Si

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Posted by sonobby1 on 2010-04-13 02:42:19

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