2nd game - we won !

Excellent start to the season so far.

Second game was tonight and despite a shaky start, our bowlers came through by taking wickets at steady intervals which keeps the scoring rate down nicely.

My fielding was again : average but enthusiastic. A little too enthusiastic as I'm rushing the fielding and snatching at the ball. That ends up in :

Me getting hurt (yep - I'm broken again)
Missing good chances to get wickets (by fumbling the ball when I should be throwing in)

What I should be able to do is swoop in, pick up the ball one handed and get the release away. Doesn't have to be a hard throw (cos I can't do that no more) but accuracy and fast release save a lot of time and get you wickets. Still, I saved a few runs by looking as if I knew what I was doing plus I have grass stains where some people don't have places. (I'm lighter and have Speed again but I'm still tubby)

How did I get hurt ?

I don't count superficial stuff there, outside bruises being great to show off. The leg/knee shiner from yesterday doesn't really count, as I still had full running power available. I got hit on the shin again. 2 years ago, that was Very Bad News as I suspect I had it caused a crack in my shin bone. It was a similar hit again tonight, a solid shot going through my hands and on to the shin bone.

I was able to continue fielding and did a short amount of batting later but I'm worried by it again. 2 years ago it blighted most of that season as I just couldn't put any power through my left leg. (Run, walk but not sprint) We'll see how it goes. Yesterday's bruise came up quickly, tonight's hasn't developed yet.

Batting was ... different.

Yesterday's problem was that I was thinking too much. I had thoughts rushing around my head as the bowler came in for what I was going to do with the ball. That doesn't help. Instead of playing an appropriate shot, I was picking a shot before the bowler let the ball go. Bad news.

Tonight, I managed to follow one plan - "Empty my head, think of nothing". Which worked. Everything was working much better for the short time I was out there. But ... main plan was - "nudge singles, play yourself in". Our star batsman was in at the other end whacking boundaries, so the nudge singles plan would have been awesome for the team and had me at Position A for watching the fun.

What happened ? The bowling was so juicy that instead of nudging singles, I was going to whack every ball (and connecting) but popped one up fairly early for a decent catch. Waste of an opportunity.

But my own performance isn't really that important (although I would like to be the star player like how it used to be when I bowled). What matters is the team scoreline and it's : 2 games played, 2 games won.

I'm quite stiff and sore now, I'll be in work tomorrow but I'm looking forward to some chill out over the weekend watching England in the test match. Cross fingers for no rain.