I Am A Cricketing God!

For the past few weeks I have been attending pre season nets. I enjoy nets before the season starts for two reasons.

The first is that I do find the hour or two in the nets fun. The kinetic feedback you get when you middle a ball is a pleasure in itself; outside any competitive performance you could take pleasure in during a game. Middling a ball feels good. Also, bowling in nets is also good exercise. Not ‘I’m in training to do a marathon’ levels of exercise but you do feel achy and tired by the end of the session and get those physical exercise endorphins kicking off. I always come away from a net session thinking ‘yeah, that was fun’.

The main reason I enjoy nets before the start of the season though is that in the nets, I am fucking awesome at cricket! Completely unstoppable, batting, every ball I middle for a 4, my bowling is full of guile and skill; every other ball would take a wicket. As there are as yet no games being played, I can luxuriate in the unlimited possibilities that the season may bring, safe in the confidence that my performance level at the moment is so high I am considering entering myself in the next IPL draft. OK yes, lurking in the dark recesses of my mind is the knowledge that the fantasy of my cricketing brilliance will shortly meet the brutal inswinging yorker of reality but for a few short weeks I can ignore that and dream.

My cricketing psyche after a successful net session

But for not too much longer though, as the season is nearly upon us. Who will we be playing? Well, the way Hampshire are organising the lower leagues has changed. It used to be large leagues of about 18 with everyone playing each other once. Now they are leagues half the size with everyone playing home and away. The main argument in favour of this is that it means all the teams are closer together geographically so there are shorter journeys to away games; which is good. A down side for me though is that we are no longer playing at some of the more interesting and picturesque grounds in the forest, which is a shame. I do remember reading that the people arguing for this also said that it would mean that we would no longer have to have 2 teams from the same club in the same league as there would be another league very close by so the teams could be split up. So, who will we be playing?

 Hants League Division 6A

This league covers the area from Bournemouth into the south west of the New Forest with a decent mix of teams. Although what is this I notice? Mudeford has two teams in this league? Oh FFS. Not complaining about Mudeford, sure they are lovely guys. But whoever decided who would go in which league, why make this decision? Perhaps they were no other teams close enough and they had to put teams from the same club together? But checking the 6B league, there are two clubs based in Ringwood and another in Ferndown that could be swapped with a Mudeford team and no one would have batted an eyelid. So am slightly annoyed.

Never mind though, who do I think will be chasing promotion? Hard to tell this year really as there are a lot of teams that seems quite similar to us, the clubs 4^th or 5^th team. I am guessing that Mudeford 2s will be a force, as they came close to promotion last year and as they now have a third team the weaker players will be in. Remember playing Suttoners 2s at the end of last season and they seemed pretty decent but who knows? Be interesting to see how it pans out.

But, you ask, how do I see Winton Dev Team doing this year? Well, am setting a target of mid table. Think we have enough in the squad to pick up a decent number of wins. If we are at the top of the table though, this will mean we have some players doing very well and perhaps should be looking to play for a higher ranked team within the club. Remember, the aim of this team is not to get promoted, but to develop individuals so they can play higher up the leagues. If we had a standout season and got promoted this would be a problem as next year we would lose the better players and be in a higher league. So, aiming for a mid table finish it is.

Before we start out on the long hard road of league games, we do have a friendly. This is against Bournemouth 6^th Team. An ideal friendly in many ways for both teams, as they are similar, made up of the ‘to young and to old’ and hoping to develop younger players. This Bournemouth team will be playing in Dorset so we will not meet them in the league – so much the better.

However, it is good to report that the opposition is already running scared. Talking to their captain he said the team was him, a few other dads and a lot of youngsters and he then asked me to go easy on them. It is just a friendly and more about clearing out cobwebs then trying to win, so it will be good to have a relaxed game to get into the swing of things without worrying about a win.

If you are playing in the Winton Development Team or have children that will do so, please ignore the above sentiment. It is the sort of thing that I feel obliged to say. Also, If in any game I talk about ‘don’t worry about the win, just make sure you enjoy yourself’, please be aware that I am just saying that to make myself look relaxed and unbothered and please ignore me completely. So, you ask, what is our aim?  I can answer in one word: it is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no feeling of petty smugness you may get at winning a Hampshire League Division 6 cricket game.

How is the team to be organised? Well, I have asked most people what they feel their strengths are and trying to match their role with that. This is especially true for the youngsters. I will try and make sure they have a regularity of position in the team. So if they are developing as a bat, I aim to keep them in the same batting slot. If they are more a bowler, then make sure they bowl every week, which will of course mean they will bat down the order. The possible problem with this is a lot of youngsters still like to bat and bowl but playing with adults is a big step up, having to learn how to deal with adults. So I want to keep their role in the team consistent so they do not have to worry about changing from week to week. If they want to continue to bat and bowl, that is what age group cricket is for. If they mainly bowl in adult games they can make sure to get to bat in age group cricket (and vice versa).

So, a few net sessions done, feeling confident, squad is sorted, friendly organised to help prepare, good to go. So, what’s the weather forecast for the game tomorrow? Oh, ffs………..