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

Great Waltham cc Batting wagon wheels

G.Reed RHB No.3 Great Waltham cc 3rd XI

G.Reed RH bat. Batted at No.3 in this match and hung around till the end. Looks to be a relatively cautious player, not looking to smash the ball out of the park other than loose balls - full tosses. These he tends to hook for 4 through the fine leg region, in the case of his game off of one of our junior players who I think was bowling Leggies? 

Most of the shots were straight and in the V, but none of these reached the boundary although the outfield was slow. He was dropped off of Debond's bowling (I think) at Mid-wicket when two of our fielders went for the catch without calling and put each other off.

I bowled at him (See below) all the pink entries and he only scored 5 runs off of my bowling which was a little unorthodox but effective today as I bowled Flippers for every delivery except for 2 (See the other blog for an account of the game here).

Looking at the bowling analysis, it doesn't look as though he dominated anyone with the bat. Full balls he presented a perfectly straight bat, not necessarily over-reaching and always maintained his position in the crease with a stable base and doesn't look like a candidate for a stumping. The straight bat defense might be an option to exploit when we play them again. But the most interesting aspect of his play is the lack of leg-side flicks down to the fine leg region, which might indicate a weakness. If you look at his wagon wheel here there were 3 significant shots for 4 that came about as a result of the bowler bowling full-tosses. If it wasn't for them there wouldn't have been a single run in that region. Additionally, several of my balls were close to the stumps on the leg-side and he didn't get a bat on any of them.

G.Reed RH No.3 Bat - Great Waltham cc

So, off the basis of the analysis today and what we've seen I reckon the field below might be a starting point.
The light area indicated by the B (below) is his primary scoring area. It was noted that the ball didn't bounce a great deal on this wicket and stayed low, so if you have the Flipper as one of your variations it might be the variation you can turn to or use, as I did in this game as your stock delivery? As mentioned there is a perception on first look at this bloke that there is a weakness on the leg-side, so unusually I'm going to advocate bowling around the wicket targeting his stumps, keeping in mind that the ball isn't going to bounce a great deal because of the nature of the wicket. If you've got the Flipper make sure you fire in a few from the leg-side too because he struggled as mentioned before getting the bat onto these. Bowl them on a good to full length mixed in with your Leg-breaks. 

The bowler that had the best figures who bowled at Reed was Debond who may have been bowling Leg-Breaks - from where I was fielding at Fine Leg I could see that he was varying his speed and flight at least and this seemed to do the trick. It wasn't for the full tosses his figures would have been pretty good.

There's also an obvious case for bowling good line and length Leg-Breaks on and around the off-stump with a slip and potentially a gully because of his straight bat defense and proclivity to play through the V as indicated. An over-spun ball with one that has more side-spin could do the trick or any straighter delivery (Flipper or Orthodox back-spinner) combined with your Leg-Break.

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Joel Barker RH No.2 batsman Joel scored 52 before being bowled by T.Edmunds. As you can see by his wagon wheel he's got plenty of shots and that his main area for scoring was off-side via either a lofted -on-drive or one along the ground. Strong striker of the ball and times it quite well. Anything short and he's on to and puts it away. Admittedly our bowling attack lacked the kind of pace you see at 2nd XI and 1st XI standards and it might be the case that this bloke at 17 may be on his way up to the 2nd XI and might be a different prospect with a faster bowler like my son Joe Thompson?

Joel Barker No.2 RHB- Great Waltham cc 3rd XI

That said though, if we look at his wagon-wheel we can see that, like Reed above there's little evidence that he's good at anything on the legs unless it's short - as with Reed he pulls it for 4 through square. With regards my bowling which he faced a fair bit, he struggled and admitted so once he'd score a single off me saying... "At last I've got a run off you, I can't get you off the square"! I doubt like anyone he's had a bowler bowl Flippers at him let alone consecutive Flippers over after over! A far more aggressive and positive player in comparison with Reed and possibly not so susceptible to the classic Wrist-Spinner approach seen elsewhere on the blog. If we look at the Wagon wheel there was one cover drive for 4 and 1 off-drive for 4. Most of the shots were through the region B.

Joel Barker LH Bat - Great Waltham cc 3rd XI

With the lack of shots through the cover-drive region, this has made me consider that perhaps he's avoiding that region for a specific reason? I have to admit it's not an observation I made during the game and only now looking at the diagram I made during the game and converting it to this, that this is now apparent. This coupled with lack of shots through A (Behind square) gives us options. 


With this first look at Joel, it looks as though we should deploy the Shane Warne approach to starting our spell (See here). Start over the wicket and target the stumps looking to turn the ball. Get a sense of whether it does turn or not. *Note, in this game I was bowled off a turning off-break from Joel bowling RH Orthodox finger spin, so the wicket does turn at their 3rd XI ground. If it turns try different positions on the crease with your stock delivery threatening the stumps - have a slip in and leave the gap, in this case initially a big gap,

Joel Barker, Great Waltham cc 3rd XI

Cut off his scoring shot 4's with the your fielders at 8,9 and 10, this should bring his run rate down and keep him down to singles, it may even induce a catch? Bowling over the stumps turning the ball away from the outside edge of the bat, he may still look to hit the ball either straight or through the on-side. If that's the case, the chances are he's going to edge one through to the keeper, slips or Gully or mis-hit a shot to be caught at cover or backward point. 6 is there for the late-cut or anything that evades the fielders on the off-side as he might go at it hard. 

In the first over definitely consider coming around the stumps and bowling full on the leg-side turning the ball into the stumps especially if you're getting it to turn off the wicket. As with Reed, Barker does look lacking with shots through here and many of my leg-side balls totally evaded him yet they were only just down the leg-side for most of the time. Even the wider ones that most batsmen would sweep he kept well away from. So it's worth a punt mixing your Leg-Breaks with straighter deliveries (In my case Flippers). 

16th July 2022 Update Joel Barker

Played against him at Holy Cross on a hot day just a few days before the UK record for the hottest day ever. 

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P.Rolfe LHB No.6 The last bloke we have a look at here is P.Rolfe who was a totally different prospect. The word was that some years previously he'd been a 1st XI batsman and this season was his return to cricket. He scored 16 off of 9 deliveries only dealing in 4's two of which were powerful reverse sweeps down to 3rd man. This was primarily against one of our better bowlers - Alastair Hayton who in the previous week took 3 wickets for 1 off of 4 overs 

almost. As I recall he didn't hang about either to have a look, 3rd ball and he was pulling out the reverse sweep! 

Not much to go on though if we look at this wagon wheel. I guess we have to consider that he was a 1st XI player and that he's going to come at us hard. He stayed in his ground and almost without exception every ball was bound for the next county or the North sea, no boundary was safe!

P.Rolfe LHB No.6 Great Waltham cc 3rd XI

P.Rolfe Wagon Wheel LHB Great Waltham cc

Bowling plan for P.Rolfe - Great Waltham cc

Not having seen much of P.Rolfe as he came in at the end of the game, there's not a lot to work with. The impression we have is that he's going to come hard at you if you're a slow bowler which may play into our hands? Be prepared though to change tack and adapt to the situation as it may turn out that he plays differently in accordance to the game situation.

The basic idea here is to attack the stumps. Come round the wicket bowling leg-breaks and your straight variations if you have them. Have a look at whether you're getting the ball to turn and if it is vary your deliveries and the width that you bowl. One tactic is to bowl relatively wide and full outside of his off-stump especially if he's swinging at it, looking to get a toe end mis-hit. If this looks viable you might want to get a fielder into Gully? 

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Please note - You set these fields at your own risk. The owner of the blog is in no way responsible for you getting carted around the park for 4's and 6's. Seek professional advice and guidance if in doubt.

Check out 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

Benfleet cc - Batting Wagon wheels

Joe Owen

Joe Owen - More of a bowler than a batsman, In the game I played against them he was the best player with both bat and ball, so deserves a plan.

You should check him out on Play cricket with regards his bowling as he's very effective and yet he's only about 17 or 18 (2019). He's accurate and it's a case of - you miss - I hit. So be very wary - he deserves some respect - play straight and watch for his variations. I faced him at Benfleet cc on the pitch furthest from their pavilion - late Aug 2017, on a wicket that offered little in the way of turn, so the ball wasn't doing much. Our best batsman Frank McLeod who watches the ball out of the hand said that he was bowling cutters, finger-spin and an over-spun leg-break, getting the ball to deviate either side of the bat, but nothing that was too worrying. What he was doing though, was every ball was at the stumps forcing you to play the ball. He varied the speed, length and flight massively, but still got it on a difficult length. But watching from the boundary it looked like slow medium pace.


As a consequence two of our more aggressive batsmen fell foul to him - simply through not showing any respect for him from what I could see. Our better batsman dealt with him fine, but was dismissed by the bowler at the other end. When he got back he said that Owen was a good bowler and that anyone going out there to face him needs to be exceptionally watchful.

Here's his bowling stats...

In-game analysis

As a batsman - he was okay, as you can see from my pitch diagram and based on other people's observations he either favoured or only has pull-shot that he's happy to play. The obvious conclusion looking at this and from the results of bowling at him is not to bowl legside. We were playing with 9 blokes, so setting a field was a little tricky and many of these runs could be negated by having your better players at fine-leg about 1/2 to 1/3rd of the way in from the boundary as the shots were in the air. Similarly a bloke at square leg, in a more conventional position and another bloke at deep mid-wicket sweeping. In theory, then cutting off his runs and dependent on the need to make runs he's going to be forced to play through the off-side which he did on a few occasions playing straight drives bringing the potential to find the edge of the bat.

I found on that wicket the ball didn't turn much at all and didn't see anyone else turn it in any significant way. Although, as I said in the account of the match here I wasn't getting any real spin on the ball, so on a better day it might turn? If it is turning and you're able to bowl a reasonable line, the usual mantra applies... keep the ball off of anywhere leg-side, if you're able to do that, you're going to cause him problems, especially if you've got either a top-spinner, wrong-un or a ball that goes on. With the ball not turning, he struggled to get the ball through the covers (B) with the fielder intercepting the ball the majority of the time, again this will need to be one of your players that's willing to put their body on the line and dive around a little.

With the field set like this I reckon you're going to cut off most of his primary shots as well as reducing the run rate and keeping him on-strike. Anything that is a little off-line on the leg-side he is going to look to pull, so the potential for a wicket is there for that shot. But a stock Leg-Break on the off-stump varying flight, speed and the amount of spin is going to cause problems... edging it through to either the keeper or slips or with a variation such as a Top-Spinner cramping him up the close in fielders and you yourself are going to be in with a chance.

The other thing you might want to consider if you're a risk-taker and the game is either set in your favour or requires a more attacking approach is the tempter approach...

With this field, you do need to be bowling well, getting the ball on an off-stump line. Leave both areas A and B empty. The idea here is that you'd be tempting Owen to try and drive the ball through the off-side, or revert to a higher risk approach and attempt to fetch the ball from the off-side looking to hit it through zone B. Again, I reckon this may work if it entices him into playing aggressively looking to hit fours through the empty regions A and B. Combine stock Leg-Breaks with over-spun Leg-Breaks and Top-Spinners. 11 and 6 need to be your fastest and more agile fielders and six might mover round into a more mid-wicket position. I think this might induce a miss-hit leading edge of the bat that'd be caught by the close in fielders or if he manages to get something on it - one that might go up in the air a long way for the fielders at 11 and 6.

John Hearn

Update March 2020 during the Coronovirus pandemic. With a bit more time on my hands I've had another look at the Benfleet page and updated it and hopefully added a bit more info. Much of it gleaned from the Play cricket website - John's details can be found here  but there's a summary below. In the game these notes are from he scored 47.

His records on play cricket go back to 1995, so he's experienced. He played well in our game as you can see from his wagon wheel. He was able to manoeuvre the ball into the gaps with some really nice shots. The late cuts I thought were pretty deft.

At no point did he look like he was going to get himself out and as you can see he had a good cover-drive. Unfortunately I didn't write this up at the time and I've had to play catch up, so some of this may be a bit vague. As I recall he didn't move his feet that much, but played me with soft hands fending the ball off into the pitch if it looked threatening - he may have stepped or reached forwards to the ball, but never left his crease and historically if the Play Cricket data is correct he's only been stumped twice since 1995. Anything loose and he had the ability to manuovre the ball into very precise gaps. Several of my balls went through the 3rd man zone via a nice little late cut that he has.

At the end of the 2019 season he averaged 28.3. Over the time he's played he scored 44 x 50's and 23 x 100's. His contribution to the side is 12.84% of the team runs and has an all time high score of 120. 

How to get him out

Historically he's been caught 45.5% of the time and bowled 29% of the time. In 2019 this changed a bit - Bowled 44.4% of the time and Caught 22% of the time. 

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

Stanford le Hope cc- batting wagon wheels

Robert Pearne

I've been in two games now which have included Robert Pearne, the first one I bowled at him and the 2nd game he was dismissed before I was brought on to bowl. From the notes and diagrams from the 2 previous games there are a couple of key observations. One is that he is pretty consistent in his approach and this is useful from our point of view as bowlers as it enables us to make coherent plans. 

The two previous "In-game" pitch maps when over-laid with each other, along with the scoring percentages pretty much matched up. I didn't bowl well in the first encounter and leaked runs on the leg-side which wasn't helped by the fact that we were at least 1 man short in the field. The 2nd game - facing medium pace and faster bowling, he still made sure he capitalised by scoring off anything that was on the leg-side, so Rule No.1 - don't give him freebies on the leg-side as he has a couple of good sweep-shots... a deft paddle sweep and a conventional sweep shot which, as I recall for the most part he gets the bat over the top of the ball and it's hit hard along the ground. His other main shot is a good cover-drive which you'll need a decent fielder for as he hit it hard through that region. The final shot which he utilises is a late cut. If you can get those areas covered with decent fielders you're going to potentially reduce his scoring rate by a high percentage and that'll put him under pressure as he is the king-pin to their side.

In-game analysis

Another thing he'll do that you'll need to watch for is the change up in his approach. By manipulating the field and he'll go from hitting the ball powerfully to just poking the ball into the middle of the wicket and running singles. He tends to do this with quite a high risk percentage and he'll have a look at your close in fielders and make a judgement as to whether he thinks they're on the ball or not.

So, what do we do?

Well, here's my idea/plan...

(1). You need to avoid bowling on his leg-side unless it's turning off the wicket ridiculously in which case you might try this  but we'll assume that it's not.

(2) You'll need to be relatively accurate and more so if like me, you bowl relatively slowly, because he'll step back into his crease and cut you through the off-side (point) or through the covers with a back-foot punch drive

(3) When you start the spell, bowl over the stumps and move around changing your angle of attack. Start close in to the stumps and as much as you can bowl stump to stump at the off-stump in the event that there's no turn off the wicket. If you're spinning the ball hard and getting some turn - then consider moving around the wicket to change the angle of attack see here for an in-depth explanation of this.

This field is wholly reliant on the your ability to keep the ball on the off-side, anything leg-side is going to potentially go for 4. Leaving the leg-side so empty will hopefully encourage attempts at trying to fetch the ball from the off-side with a cross bat shot with the ball being top-edged and caught by anyone in that inner circle. Look for opportunities such as stepping in front of the stumps to get the ball on his leg-side, if that happens zip in a straight one (Flipper or Orthodox back-spinner) or just some straight ball and try and trap him LBW which accounts for 12% of his dismissals. See here for his play cricket data on dismissals.

His favorite way of getting out is being caught which accounts for 33% of his dismissals - so this plan sounds very feasible. I'd aim to bowl leg-breaks at the off-stump mixing 45 degree seamed balls with 90 degree seamed balls -hoping that the 90 degree ball lands on the smooth section of the ball and skids on to hit the stumps. I'd also try Top-Spinners with more dip and a lot less side-spin. If you have something that comes into him from out-side of off (Wrong-un) use that as well.

To recap on what not to do...

(1) Don't bowl on or outside of the leg-stump

(2) Don't bowl short.

Please note - You set these fields at your own risk. The owner of the blog is in no way responsible for you getting carted around the park for 4's and 6's. Seek professional advice and guidance if in doubt.

More content can be found at…

http://wristspinbowling.blogspot.com/

http://theoldwristspinner.blogspot.com/

This is an example of some of the bowling vids on my Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBodRls5i80&t=21s