Well, this season’s nearly over and what a ride it’s been. From the elation of hard fought wins & glee of the odd trouncing victory to the agony of oh-so-near misses & disappointment of hammerings & underperformance.
What then, through this gamut of emotion & experience have we learned as a team? I’m sure there are things that every Rosaneri player who has played throughout the season has noticed improve; and conversely mistakes that have been perpetuated all season.
Below are some of my observations.
Top of the class
Extras: a bugbear all season for most bowlers however total extras have significantly been reduced. Think back to the Tendring match where we basically lost by the amount of extras conceded compared to the Queens Head match recently which was very tight. Practice, practice & more practice will pave the way for continued tidy figures all round.
Don’t panic!: certainly this season we’ve had our share of mini batting collapses and moments of alarm as our last specialist batsman hears the death rattle. However time & again (increasingly as the season has progressed) the middle to low order batsmen have showed that the ability to keep calm, occupy the crease & look for scoring opportunities without resorting to rash shots had paid dividends (the Downing & Freeman last wicket partnership at Ockbrook a particularly good example). The ability to stick around & bat out our overs, choosing the moment to hit out & bowlers to go after with wickets in hand shows a general maturing of our batting, and also that we can think as well as play shots.
Ground fielding: the meat & drink of fielding and encouragingly the Rozzers have a healthy appetite. From starting off pretty well, if a little inexperienced this is now an area where the team regularly excels. Coxy’s whippet-like patrolling of large areas of the boundary & Tony’s terrier-esque refusal to let the ball beat him to the boundary are just two examples of the team’s total commitment in the chase, pick-up, throw & backing up, highlighted by the number of run outs we’ve executed this season.
Could do better!
Catches: …as they say win matches! They’ve been mentioned before in other articles but they are such an important part of fielding. I’d say (without checking!) they are the way we’ve taken most wickets this season and most likely the most frequent way we’ve surrendered wickets too.
Those that played in the Ockbrook match will recall that several batsmen should have been out far more cheaply than they were, gifting the opposition a cushion of wickets when hitting out at the end of their allotted overs. Conversely the catching by the Queens Head team was of an unbelievable calibre, without which they’d never have been in contention highlighting the importance of making most if not all chances stick.
A quick catching practice before going out to field may just give everyone enough of a touch of the ball to increase the ratio of catches held.
Quick singles: on the whole we’re still quite reticent to pressurise the opposition by scampering for quick singles when the opportunity presents itself. They demoralise a fielding side due to the constant haemorrhage of runs plus it helps to rotate the strike and keep both batsmen in the right mindset to play shots. Also, nudging singles doesn’t require the type of shots necessary to pierce the ring of fielders when gaps and boundaries are hard to find (remember the Jack of Diamonds away game anyone?) The reasons behind this I believe are twofold: lack of confidence in judging a safe quick single; and more crucially the distinct lack of decent calling for a run or otherwise.
Impossible to practice in the nets, these are elements that individuals will have to work on out in the middle, with the onus on senior player to lead by example.
In conclusion
I’ve heard it said several times recently that if we replayed Tendring at this end of the season then the outcome would be very different than at the start & we’d have no trouble rolling them over. I’m inclined to agree, such has the team as a whole has matured over the past few months but with the caveat that cricket is a game where you are continually learning, such are its myriad subtleties & facets, and we all have plenty of homework to do!