To the crease

A handle and a blade is the start of something I've been meaning to do for a while. Cricket is a contemplative sport - it gets you to thinking. As a fan of the game for a little over a decade, since first starting watching in my late teens, and a player for four seasons, I've spent a lot of time absorbed in watching, reading about, practising, talking and thinking about cricket. It's become a little obsessional at times, frankly, and every obsession needs an outlet.

This blog aims to do a few things. First it'll be a repository for my thoughts about the game generally and its development specifically in the time I've been watching (which happens to coincide with the advent of T20). Second I'll write about current matches, players and news. Third I'll touch on the history of the game and books I'm reading. Finally, and bear with me here, I'm going to start keeping a diary of my development as a player. These posts will come under a series called 'from the coffin' and will probably have quite a niche audience of other 20-something men who've come to the game late and are struggling to develop. It's not going to be journalism. It will be personal, partial and doesn't claim to be an objective view or expert opinion. 

Before I go further, full disclosure. I have now played four summers for a thriving work team that plays T20s on weeknights and a smattering of one-day weekend friendly fixtures through the summer. I consider myself a batter, not because of any particular prowess, but because it's what I love and want to excel at. My first season in 2009 I probably recorded more ducks than I scored runs and my top score was seven. The year after I clambered to the heady heights of double figures and learned to defend but still not score runs. In my third year, encouraged by a pre-season in which I attended countless net sessions, I started confidently with several more double-figure scores, but couldn't seem to press on. Last winter I attended the Friday night adult coaching class at the Oval which started to pay dividends in a summer in which I achieved new high scores of 27 and 38. So it's been baby steps, but I am getting there. I have become a resilient batter, and hard to get out. I still don't have many boundary options, but I'm a pretty effective nurdler and judge of a quick single. This winter I'm aiming to gain a few more scoring strokes and stop playing round my bloody front pad. I will keep you posted.

Please comment if you want to start some debate, flatter me with praise or flatten me with abuse.

Eric