Bowlers Union: Boreham cc - Batting wagon wheels

George O'Halloran RHB No.1___________________________

An impressive of knock of 104 made up of shots primarily through the V. A powerful big hitter of the ball and especially so against finger-spin. We saw 3 sixes in one over go sailing into the gardens at the estate end. Having said that the same bowler was dropped at Gully once and the ball almost went to hand a 2^nd time in the same place.

If you look at the pitch map 95% or more of the shots were played in the V region and for the most part played with a straight bat. I didn’t bowl so I don’t know how much the pitch may have helped with the ball turning, but two of our faster bowlers were bowling cutters and they were getting the ball to deviate quite a bit and nearly had him.

It might therefore be possible to get him with a ball on the right length that deviates more than normal. I would therefore suggest luring him into a trap by bowling a sequence of small leg-breaks or straighter balls knowing that you’re potentially going to go the distance. I would have a bloke out at deep long on and deep mid-off both on the boundary. With the ball going away from the edge of the bat he’s not going to middle it and he has a propensity to hit marginally on the on-side, so a skewed ball might go either straighter or to mid-off. The idea would be to give the impression that the amount of turn you’re getting was standard and therefore from his point of view predictable. Length is critical and you’ll have to maintain your length consistency as much as possible in the build-up to the big turning variation or your straight ball. George doesn’t go for nurdling the ball around, he hits it hard, so the extra turn or lack of turn hopefully will see him miss-hit the ball or edge it through to the keeper or slips.

It might be also worth looking at the possibility of attacking from the leg-side given that there’s so few shots clipped off the legs, so this may be a weak area. In your first over have a look at how much the ball turns using your stock ball, don’t use your big Leg-Break keep that back for the sucker-punch. If it is turning go round the wicket and have a few balls into the legs and change your field accordingly.

I netted with this team in the winter and have beaten him with the ball in the nets as I recall, but have also been smashed, but, I’m not going to say that he is susceptible to wrist-spinners on the basis of a few successes in the nets. What can be noted is that he seemed slightly more likely to lose his wicket to slower bowlers especially if the ball is turning off the wicket, the caveat being that this could also be a costly approach.

Ben Wilkes RHB No.5________________

Again another powerful paper who took to our bowling, hitting our off-spinner for a few sixes before finally succumbing to the same bowler with a ball that was caught on the boundary at deep mid-on.

The remainder of the other players came out with pretty much the same intent with no-one looking to nurdle the ball around or playing sweep shots either side of the wicket. Two of the remaining players below came out with more intent than George… Ben who scored *** and Taymour who scored *** Ben in particular hit a number of sixes into the gardens.

Most of them with their similar style and approach and the fact that they were all seeing the ball well will be a challenge to bowl against. At least two of the wickets were taken at deep mid-wicket/cow corner region in part due to the fact that the boundaries on the opposite side to the pavilion are quiet big, so this might be something to consider as well as the wind direction, not that the wind today was a factor. The position of the cut strip will also be a factor too, in this game it was pretty central, so choose your end accordingly.

If you’ve got a good variation I reckon you’d be in with a good chance if you’re stock ball is decent. Our off-spinner nearly had George twice at Gully so I can only assume he was playing for the ball turning to leg and the ball went on with the arm clipping the outside edge? It might be worth considering bringing on your spinner in the opening overs for a couple to see if you can get him early before he’s settled?

Over the years I’ve looked at a lot of bowling analysis (Score sheets) in 50 over club games and the data indicates that bowlers are far more likely to take wickets in their first two overs more than any others. There’s an argument and a case potentially to take a similar approach as seen in T20 matches when you know you've got destructive players like George and Ben looking to go big and score fast?

Taymour Sharif RHB___________________________________

Taymour didn't hang about either! Bowled Debond, caught Thompson (Me). In among the runs indicated here there were 7 dot balls, but no indication as to where these were struck. The only thing I can add (Writing this much later) was that right from the get go he was looking to be aggressive - hitting the ball cleanly.

Dominic Kempster RHB_________________________________