Game 1 - we win !

And the thought running through my head right now is : I'm too old for this !

Beautiful day today, if a little cold. Lots of sunshine, no rain. Great conditions for cricket. (The sunshine takes some of the squishiness out of the pitch by drying it up). Pitch was pretty good, if a little variable in bounce. Not much evidence of all the rain, although the bits of the pitch that were down the hill were still a bit squishy. I wouldn't want to play on the BAWA pitch (the one where my legs always explode) at the moment, it's probably unplayable.

As a quick aside - with all the hate against Google+ at the moment, you'd have thought Facebook would have its act together ? Far too many posts (including all of mine and a few others) disappear from a News Feed that is supposed to show everything.

One thing I'll say right now - a lot of this will read depressive, even though we won because I'm tired, didn't play great and I've got a lot to work on.

We batted first, with me being one of the opening pair. I need to work a lot on my technique - shot selection was great. I scratched out 7 runs, plus a few sharp singles for the other guy. I seem to have a lot of my speed back again, which is awesome. But I still need to work on that shot selection and the trigger movements that get everything started.

How did I get out ? This is embarassing. I got bowled (ball gets past me and hits the stumps). But I stood there ... cos I was thinking : "they're not celebrating" and "that was too high wasn't it ?" and I thought the noise from behind was the ball going into the keeper's gloves. Oh well :-) Maybe they weren't celebrating cos they wanted me to stay there !

That's the way my seasons tend to start, I get desperately in need of having the cobwebs dusted off. My breathing wasn't great and will hopefully improve over the next few weeks.

I didn't catch the full score but we got just over a hundred, with lots of banter going on. Next up - fielding.

I got consigned to the outfield, which I really don't enjoy because you're waiting for big shots instead of anticipating the batsmen dropping the ball down and attempting quick singles. I just love to swoop in on those and try and get run outs. Keeps the Sleepy One awake as well. I didn't keep wicket, which was good because the fella who had the gloves for us did an excellent job behind the stumps.

Good display by us in the field, despite the cold there was a lot of energy going in. Lots of catches taken held up the opposition enough for us to sneak a very tight win.

I appear to have my speed back, which is great. However ... (and this is the source of the depressive mood) the damage is triggering thoughts of "you're too old for this"

Groin tear/strain is still there. But it doesn't stop me running at top speed.
Shoulder is down to maybe 1 good throw in a game.
I'll have a massive shiner on my right shin where I stopped a boundary.
Not damage but my fielding technique needs a lot of work. I appear to have a few trained in faults (actually good technique for a left hander ...) that I need to work on.

That's adding to an awful lot of rustiness.

Anyway - had me shower. Had a very late dinner, caught myself nearly flaking out due to energy debt (was training today so didn't eat as much in prep as I should have) and I know that when I eventually hit the sack, it'll be a struggle to get up those stairs.

Another game tomorrow ! Hopefully a similar result to tonight's game.

PS The Pink Cap is escaping the pyre of a ritual sacrifice. It did ok tonight and a firm brim is better for looking into low sun than the floppy brim of a sun hat.