Bowlers Union

Welcome.

Scroll down and you'll get a sense of what the blog is about. I play in the T-Rippon league here in Essex and if you play in the same league, you may find some of the content here useful. I'm aiming to keep records on as many batters as I can from our league to give us (The bowlers) an increased chance of taking a bag of wickets and keeping out averages low.

Hopefully, it might become a resource captains and bowlers turn to prior to games to help work out plans and set fields against these blokes. If you like the blog - share it us much as you like.
Use the links in the side-bar on the right.

Cheers and go well!

Dave Thompson.

July 2020 - 5527 views

May 2022 - 10,200 views

Beaulieu Park cc Wagon wheels

18th July 2020

The first game in the Covid 19 Pandemic. Played on a lovely sunny day at Mopsies Park, Basildon, Essex. Our team allegedly was a 2nd XI, but looking around I saw mostly players that would normally be playing in the 3rd and 4th XI. I reckon the average age of our players must have been about 52 with 4 blokes over the age of 60 and only one player under 20.

The opposition on the other hand were all pretty young, with no one under 20 and no-one over 40? So we had our work cut out. Thankfully we got to bowl first in a 40 overs game.

All the Covid 19 regulations were adhered to with everyone sitting apart and disinfectant and alcohol cleaning fluids all over the place. The ball was cleaned every 10 overs and all sorts of other things went on, that I'm not going to go into, but I reckon we were pretty safe.

This was a nice bunch of blokes and the game was played in the good spirit. I apologise for any incorrect spellings of people's names, they were taken from the batting cards.

No.1 - Andrew Barker____________________________________________________

No.2 - S Qureshi___________________________________________________

No.4 - S Ahmed____________________________________________________

No.5 - Sarminder Suraweera_________________________________________________


No.7 Tejinder Sharda____________________________________________________

No.9 Mudith Rajapakshe________________________________________________

That's it for this team, there was one other bloke J.Sheikh who scored runs at No.10, but can't seem to make any sense of the notes I made in the game as it was during Rob Brooks overs and being a spinner I had very little time to make notes.

Overall my impression was they were very positive from the outset looking to make runs from the off and then they appear to bat deep and all of them looking to score runs right from the 1st ball they face. They described themselves as a bowling team and I'd go along with that, they all bowled pretty fast and very straight.

Looking at the scoring with regards the bowling analysis I noticed there appeared to be some unorthodox symbols and some anomalies, so this gave me an idea for another post on scoring and the symbols that are used. I'm aware that people do have different ways of doing this and that it doesn't matter that much as long as it all adds up at the end of the game. Here's my take on it - it can be found  via the following links

Cricket scoring – Dot balls & runs

Cricket scoring – Wides and No-Balls (No runs made)

Cricket scoring – Byes and Leg-Byes

Cricket scoring – Wides with runs made

Cricket scoring – No-Balls with runs made ‘Off the bat’.

Cricket scoring – No-Ball Byes and Leg-Byes

One of our batsmen - Al McIver was moaning during the game about the lack of involvement in the game, the ball just wasn't coming to him and by the end he'd fielded the ball once. Then he went out to bat (See above) at No.3 for us and he was bowled first ball by Rajapakshe and this is how he left the middle stump...

Millwall star 2nd XI wagon wheels

 First the main headline...

*Note - I reckon I've got the names, batting order and faces mixed up. If I have can you contact me on Twitter or FB and let me know the correct faces, names and batting orders, Ta.

This was a Friendly game played at Holy Cross cricket ground. It was also a team that we'd never played before so had no idea of who was involved, but it kind of looked ominous on the Play cricket website. I've looked at it again and it looks like this is recently established team and there's not a great deal of data for the players. But the thing they had on their side as opposed to our team make up is they're all adults and all in the 20 - 35 age range - see the image. Whereas we're mostly old duffers and small boys, albeit some pretty good small boys, Barath for instance who they had only praise for saying that he was an exceptional batsman with a good future with the bat ahead of him. That means he'll be moved up to the 3rd XI now as always!

*Note, I've had to a basic version of these wagon wheels as I started to get the bowlers mixed up. additionally because they've done their scoring on a tablet there's no way I can make sense of the bowling and come up with any detailed analysis which is a shame.

Viyjendra Kumar No.1_________________________________________

Kumar didn't hang around and made good use of the poor bowling at the start of the game and pretty much set the standard for those to come, hitting a quick 36 off of 28 balls. Then I came on and caused him problems and trapped him LBW. 

Allan D'Souza No.2_________________________________________

Bowled Jesse Melius. Not a lot of info. I didn't get to bowl at him at all, but I'd have deployed the same field set-up as in the little diagram.

Hamdan Khan No.4 _____________________________________________

Pankaj Kansodariya No.5 ___________________________________________

*Note, I've struggled with the names and the order a bit so if I've got these wrong contact me via twitter and let me know and I'll make the corrections. 

Our captain for the game was Al McIver. We lost the toss and with the wicket looking pretty decent the opposition decided they'd have a bat. The upside of that meant at least I'd get a bowl. Al at the start said I'd bowl the full 8 overs, but somehow that didn't pan out, but I wasn't too fussed. 

Having suffered an awful May for weather, at last that had come good and both the wicket and the outfield looked pretty good.

A general over-view of the game was that they were a good bunch of lads, but they weren't holding back and let us have it, right from the outset they smelt a victory and went for it all guns blazing making good use of a pretty good batting surface. Being a friendly, Al opted to give everyone a bowl. By the end of their innings they'd accumulated 320 with a Maiden century for one of their players... Gokul Najarajan. Batting at No.6.

I don't generally take control of setting my own field, but the captain McIver who was standing in for the usual captain Tim Edmonds was telling everyone to set their own field. So knowing what I wanted to do and having some variations up my sleeve I set this field below.

With an increasing amount of data to look at the analysis I've been able to make is that (1). If I bowl short, I get hit leg-side between deep mid-wicket and deep long-on.

(2). If the balls leg-side I'll be nudged down to deep fine leg generally . But bowling Flippers the ball generally doesn't get up high enough to be pulled. So I can afford not to have a square leg and that might entice the batters to try and pull me and increases the chances of an LBW. 

(3). My main variation; the extremely rare off-spinning Flipper tends to hit the inside of the bat and if it doesn't hit the stumps goes down to Fine Leg. So as long as I bowl my stock ball and keep it in the corridor of uncertainty I need a well loaded off-side field as per this diagram. 

All of the blokes I bowled at in this game seemed to struggle against my bowling and they all commended me personally at the end of the game which was nice. 

Rayleigh cc - Batting wagon wheels

Updated June 2025

Philip Wolff 7th XI batter

Played against this bloke 14/6/25 on the 3rd ground at Wickford memorial park. He batted down the order at No.7 and from the outset looked like a bloke that could hold a bat.

Looking at his data on Playcricket which goes back to 1980, he looks like decent batter and with my first over being as usual a bit ropey and the field up, I went for 13, but then settled. Once settled and getting the line and length sorted he was then reduced to singles and watched from both ends realising I was potentially a threat. 

In this game, he was the linchpin to any chance of a win or resistance and so had to go. As I got through my overs and took the wickets of two of his partners; One caught at square leg and one LBW, he could see that I had a couple of variations. In the end I got him bat/pad caught by the keeper in a silly point position. Not a dismissal I've had before. In my first ropey over Wolff hit me for 13. Thereafter a cover drive for 4 that should have been fielded. 

On reflection, I had the field up on the first over that I didn't bowl well in, but could have easily reduced the impact setting a deep legside field with blokes on the boundary, so this is something I might look into doing in future with my first over, then adapt the field as I settle. I think it's also useful to see if the batter see themselves as strong on the leg-side and possibly sets them up to be caught if they get it wrong?  Definitely something to consider going forwards? *Not Steve Lynch though (See below). 

Steven Lynch 1st XI batter

I've not been keeping up with this of late as the means to record the wagon wheels has changed and its not as efficient, but felt that this one needed to be done.

This was a game during Rayleigh's cricket week and the 3rd time in succession that I'd been involved and I came up against this bloke again (Steven Lynch 1st team bat see details below), having faced him last year and got the same treatment again this year. 

So I was brought on around the 20th over after drinks with both players batting well nearing their 50's at which point they'd have to retire. The wicket was either the end wicket or '2nd in' over to one side meaning one side was very short and the other big. I was brought on to bowl from the northern end meaning the off-side was short and the leg-side big. 

My first over was eventful, opting to try and bowl at the stumps, the first few balls were decent and singles were had and a dot ball. Then I bowled at Lynch... leg-stump line-pretty full and got his pads, went up for it and the umpire... a kid - looked flummoxed as though he new it was out, but was more than aware that this was their best player and the consequences of giving him out were the game would probably be gone, after a few seconds of going over it he said 'Not out'. I don't bother questioning these decision, it happens so often and there's not point. 

That kind of threw me...what am I supposed to do I thought? The decision seemed to be that he was susceptible to a ball on the leg-stump and that I should continue, completely ignoring what happened last year. The next one was fuller - too full in fact - a full toss on leg-stump and he thumped it for 4. I persisted with this same line as the other bloke Same Keene looked lost as what to do. But Lynch was in my head and I couldn't seem to bowl at him and eventually in the 3rd over he hit me for a massive 6 over the leg-side and Michael Gray pulled me out of the attack, which I was fine about. 

The game progressed and both of these blokes reached their 50's and retired and I said I'd come back on if needed. But in the time, the rest of the team were bowled out, I was able to reflect on what had happened and decided that if I bowled at him again I'd bowl a mixture of Flippers and Leg-Breaks on an off-stump or just outside line. Which seemed risky with the short boundary. The last wickets fell and coincided with coming back with these two batting again and it worked. For Lynch everything was either off-stump and just outside and he was seemingly only able to hit singles down to deep mid off and to covers on the boundary, which was fine as it meant I was then able to bowl a more attacking line to Keene and he was lost as to what to do and eventually a ball on a good length targeting middle was edged as he defended and Keagan too his 8th catch behind the stumps to finish the game. 

In conclusion, for next year, or if I'm in the return match at our ground in August during our cricket week the key points are (1). Just don't bowl anywhere near a leg-stump or wide of leg-stump line. Otherwise its going for 4 or 6. What worked today even with the small boundary was to bowl a channel or off-stump line. (2). Vary your deliveries; I just bowled Flippers and Leg-Breaks, but I've got a top-spinner which I had tried earlier that didn't work out - that would be an effective delivery. One of the other players I was speaking to about how relaxed he looked while they were retrieving one of his 4's said that if he was going to get out it would be to a slow spinning ball and that what I was doing was what normally got him out.

On the off-side, the shots weren't expansive, he seemed to have a lot of time and played the ball late well within the crease. Looking at his records he has never been stumped, so that's not an option!

This is an approximation of Steven Lynch's wagon wheel from this game - all bowlers. TBH the majority of the leg-side in front of square were mine, but anyone who strayed legside was hit. He hit 10 x 4's and 3 6's and scored 84 off 50 balls for a not out. 

The ariel photograph shows the position of the wicket/strip and the shortness of the boundary. Once I'd figured out that it was a lost cause trying to bowl at the stumps with leg-breaks I then went for the off-side line as mentioned and this then restricted his shots to the green zone. The field set is a suggestion and not one that I used. The field I bowled to had 9 and 10 on the boundaries on the leg-side deep mid wicket. Maybe someone also in conventional mid-wicket. 

This is based on a vague memory of last years game and this game. It could well need modifying, but my analysis was that he didn't look to place the ball short leg-side in order to rotate the strike, it was either 4's or 6's. 

Some of his data...

_______________________________________________

S.Harwood - Opening Batsman R/H

I'm writing this up 7 months later in the winter, so only have basic notes to work with. Bowled Joe Thompson (18) caught Sam Good. Joe Thompson Medium/Fast see here
Notes on Harwood- "No front foot defense, hardly moves his feet, slashes at the ball which appeared to be his main shot - top-edged Joe down to long off. No record of how many times he played and missed, but looking at Joe's bowling data and knowing how Joe bowled I'd have guessed a good few times.

M.Walker - R/H - No2 

M.Walker - This game I watched rather than played in, my son was the opening bowler. As I recall I was experimenting with different ways of recording the data and may have also been trying to video the action as well. Having seen both the openers playing and missing it wasn't until Harwood was dismissed that I started to record the play and misses. He struggled against my son Joe Thompson with Joe going for 6-2-9-1. It wasn't until Hayton came on that I got into that aspect of the analysis. From that analysis the initial impression is that he plays and misses against the slower bowlers Hayton and Debond, with his wicket being taken by Hayton on 46.
S.Gosling - R/H - No,3 Bat 

Very static - slashes at the ball outside of off, played a supporting role allowing the other players to take the strike. Bowled Debond (SLA) mixed with LA wrist-spin.

Owen Davies - R/H - No,4 Bat ______________________________

Played and missed against Chris Debond and willing to leave the ball outside of off. Doesn't move around the crease and looks susceptible to a good off-cutter. The balls on the on-side where hit off of a shorter length.

Bowled LBW A.Hayton who bowls R/A finger-spin varying length, speed and mixes arm balls with balls that break.

B.Walker - R/H - No,5 Bat ________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

J.Wright - R/H - No,6 Bat

J. Wright was the most destructive coming in at No.6. He seemed able to hit the ball pretty much where he wanted. Uses his feet well to both the fast and slow bowlers - of our bowlers he struggled the most against A.Hayton who bowls off-spin mixed with arm balls accurately, varying his speed and bowling generally a good full length. Despite all the positives on his part he was recorded as playing and missing against all of the bowlers - but especially A.Hayton.

________________________________________

Updated Aug 22.

S.Harmonsworth - R/H - Bat No.3

Bowled against this bloke today 2/8/22 Three years after the initial wagon wheel and he's three years older and considerably better I'd say. I was brought on to bowl early bowling against Sam batting at No.3 along with an aggressive big hitting No.2. Sam himself is an assertive and aggressive bat walking down the wicket to bowlers if the keeper is back, looks to hit the ball hard, no deft shots, don't recall any late cuts, just sees the ball and hits it hard. In 2022 if you look at his data on Playcricket he's scored 100 + in a first XI game.

The *blue lines on the updated wagon wheel are representative of his shots today. He played with a 59 off 52 balls not out; having retired and come back on at the end of the game. Strike rate of 113.

*Most of the data has been recalled from memory rather than notes made, but I reckon that's about right or thereabouts.

_________________________________________________________________________________

M.Patel - R/H - No,8 Bat 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Richard Virrender - 6th XI                  Bat No.2

The following batsmen I have very little notes on and the wagon wheels are lacking in detail as the records were made using a different format. I've not made any notes on whether they're right or left handed, so if just guessed based on the wagon wheel records. What I do remember was that this was a close match that we lost and they were good bunch of blokes.

Richard Virrender batted at No.2 and was not out for 57 off of 104 balls. Predominantly a leg-side player from this first look... Pull-shots primarily, not always aggressive ones, sometimes a deft one just to steer the ball down to fine-leg for a single. The other shot was the on-drive to the position I was fielding at (7), but this was easily dealt with. The impression I've got was that he was far more susceptible to getting out playing shots on the off-side. Shots on the stumps on a threatening length he gets behind with a straight bat. Actively looking to make runs all the time - a busy player. His data on play cricket is pretty impressive... He's recorded as having played since 2005. In that time he's scored 651 x 4's, he's scored 50 on 40 occasions, 1 x 100. On average he's scored 15.73% of teams runs, one year he contributed 30% of the teams runs and averages 30.92% runs per game. Only had 9 ducks and gets out by being caught 32.71% of the time and gets bowled 35.51% of the time. Hardly ever has been stumped 0.47% of the time. A solid player.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dan Athol No.6

Athol didn't hang around 29 runs off of 36 balls. Strike rate of 80.56. Match data here
Bowled LBW Rob Brooks (Off-spinner).

On the play cricket website his records suggest that he doesn't play all season (8 games over 2 years). Athol accounts for 4.73% of team runs (2019) and average 8.83. The data suggests that he's most likely to be either bowled or caught as both record around 28% of dismissals. Looks to be a potential candidate for a run-out as he's been dismissed that way 14% of the time. Get your fast younger players in the game if they're looking to run singles? Athol's play cricket batting data can be accessed by this link here

________________________________________________________________________________
Sean Treweek No.8 

Not a lot on Treweek - from this first look primarily a leg-side player. His data goes back to 2016 and he's played primarily in this team. His contribution to the team batting is 6.99% (2019) and his highest score was 64 in 2018. Generally loses his wicket bowled or caught which accounts for 22% for each method. A fair number of not outs 29%, but that's down the fact that he bats at 8. Average 22. See his play cricket data here 
2019 saw him play 17 games, so he'll probably be a regular in 2020?
_________________________________________________________________________________
Jack Himpfen Jones No.4

Himpfen Jones (All-rounder) bowled 2nd change in our match. Played for Rayleigh since 2007. Played 55 games at an average of 8.11. High score of 51 (Only 50 + score). Scores 4.13% of team runs. Gets out primarily being bowled 55% of the time and that's followed up with 30% being caught and 4% of the time stumped. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jack Andrews No.3

Jack Andrews; His records go back to 2015. He's played 29 games, scored 381 runs at an average of 15.24. An aggressive or accurate player with 48 fours to his name and 2 sixes. Scores 8.88% of team runs and has had 5 ducks in 29 games. Gets out bowled - 50% of the time, caught 21.43%, LBW 7.14% of the time and stumped 3.47% as of 2019.


Cheers to everyone for letting take the pictures and go well this coming season - be sure to check out the oppositions wagon wheels in the side-bar right. Hope to see you this coming season!

Check out some of my other posts here...

Cricket scoring – Dot balls & runs

Cricket scoring – Wides and No-Balls (No runs made)

Cricket scoring – Byes and Leg-Byes

Cricket scoring – Wides with runs made

Cricket scoring – No-Balls with runs made ‘Off the bat’.

Cricket scoring – No-Ball Byes and Leg-Byes

Oaklands cc - Batting wagon wheels

Ryan Davies____________________________
Oaklands cc - Batsman No.1

Davies who I know quite well (I've batted with him a few times and he's a bloke I really enjoy batting with), values his wicket and takes his time as you'll see below in the batting analysis. There's loads of dot balls and there'll be hardly any that were play and misses. He's the kind of player that'll look for the loose ball and put it away and his strong area is down that leg-side. As I recall these runs on the leg-side were mostly mine and were balls that only just strayed on his legs, but that's his bread and butter shot. The leg-side 4 looks as though it was a bye looking at the batting analysis?

Neil Sullivan_____________________________
Oaklands cc - Batsman No.2

This wagon wheel probably isn't a decent reflection of the blokes batting. He had to face Wayne Morgan who plays for Essex over 50's, so the ball for much of the time was on or around the top of off-stump. We'll have to wait and see if I get another look at him in 2020 and update the blog. But if your bowling a good line and length it looks as though your average will be okay in the opening couple of overs.

Paul Martin______________________________
Oaklands cc - Batsman No.4

The notes for this bloke were a bit vague and incomplete,but he did come out with intent and his a number of 4's before Wayne bowled him. Again I've got to concede, this is a bit lacking in information, but if I get another look I'll update the information this summer.

Check out some of my other posts here

Cricket scoring – Dot balls & runs

Cricket scoring – Wides and No-Balls (No runs made)

Cricket scoring – Byes and Leg-Byes

Cricket scoring – Wides with runs made

Cricket scoring – No-Balls with runs made ‘Off the bat’.

Cricket scoring – No-Ball Byes and Leg-Byes