Time for another catch up..

I didn’t quite get out the post I wanted to last week during the Essex match for which I do apologise for. I said I would and I didn’t get them done; I’m starting to wonder how I have managed to get my blogs done after a day’s play during the nine Tests that I have blogged through. Somehow I have got each day's play round up and thoughts down and got it posted before the next day’s play has started. I have to admit it’s getting harder to keep it fresh and keep it interesting, although I’m sure you’ll let me know if what I’m blogging isn’t up to scratch. I’ve got a couple of things I want to start doing during this two Test tour to Sri Lanka, and with Suneer’s (a guest blogger) thoughts on other things happening in world cricket, I’m pretty sure I be able to keep it fresh, interesting and most importantly a good entertaining insight into this world and my head.

We (Leicestershire) had a Pro40 match at Northants last Sunday, which I quickly previewed in my last blog. I had been looking forward to this match for a bit as the pitch there is one that I knew would suit me. The pitch has been, over the last couple of summers, a belter, a good deck with a bit of pace and bounce. Unfortunately, I only got to bowl one over on it and I was maybe lucky to have even managed to get that one in. Rain was forecast and the rain came. We lost the toss and we were put in and got off to a great start; Allenby (who has been in brilliant form throughout the summer) and Cobb (a current England U19 player) both scored 43 in two completely different manners. Allenby has been the ‘bully’ in the past, this time it was Cobb who took the sword. We sat in the changing room, on the edge of our seats watching a young confident player play some audacious shots, one in particular, a straight bat through wide mid on from a length that probably should have been worked to square leg for a single; seriously one of the best shots I have ever seen, that’s no hyperbole either!

We were on and off a couple of times and ended up losing a couple of wickets at tough times with the stop start nature of a rain affected innings. It’s always tough batting first when the innings is interrupted because a good score is a mystery and it was a good partnership by New and Dippenaar at the death that put a handy score on the board. More rain then came and it cut the chase to a 17 over, 122 run affair. We got into the 5th over before the rain finished us off for the day and both teams shared a rained off point each.

I then turned into an Uncle for the first time. My ‘big sister’ had a healthy eight and a bit pound boy. Happy days, he’s a beauty and got a great ‘appeal’ on him already!

Next up was Essex in a Championship match; I trained really well for this one and had one of the best bowls of my summer in the nets the day before the game. I felt great and a small change I have been making to my thumb on the ball was working and my release was as good as ever. Unfortunately this form in the nets didn’t quite transfer to the middle after we won the toss and bowled first. I bowled ok but as I so often write; ‘it’ wasn’t just quite there. Whatever ‘it’ is, I didn’t have it. We had lost the first day to rain, a complete wash out so after winning the toss the pressure was on to take wickets and get the game moving forward. I picked up one early, again with a yorker, and if you’ve been reading my weekly updates, you’ll know that they’ve been really successful for me in the last three weeks here. If you’ve seen any of the Sri Lankan-Pakistan series you would have seen that the yorker has been a good weapon. Obviously then I needed to make it more of a part of my ‘red’ ball bowling plans and so far it’s going great. And that wicket was the only one I picked up in the innings. I had a catch dropped but nothing else really happened for me. I missed the rhythm I had had in the last couple of weeks and in reflection I tried too hard to get it back. I need to just let it come sometimes, relax, breath and just run in and bowl. I’ve spoken about this before a couple of times before too and it is probably one of the hardest things for me to work on. Technical things, no problems, I can feel where my body is and can generally fix those things by myself, but the ability to just drop it all from my head and to run in and bowl is hard.

I didn’t bowl badly, I just set high standards for myself and as my own worst critic I am very hard to impress; which is part of the above problem. I know I can’t bowl the perfect ball every time and I have to accept that more than I do.

This match also saw my first ever visit to the Umpires room for anything but picking a new ball. I got in trouble for the first time on the park. I’m no angel, sure, but I’ve always managed to stay within the guidelines and rules set. Not this time though. And it happened when I was batting, is that irony!? I’ve been working hard on my batting and I’ve got the bruises to prove it, I’m always doing stuff I hate in the nets, trying to get better at the parts of batting no one likes. So when I was given out caught behind on a surface that I felt great on and was really looking forward to batting for as long as I could, I was a little miffed (well, maybe miffed is an understatement!). I didn’t hit it, I don’t know if I can actually say that, but I have. The strange thing is, I thought it had bowled me. Good length ball, just swung away a touch, I missed it and heard that horrible sound, the ball clipping the off stump. My head went down straight away and I then realised they were appealing; what for??? It had bowled me?? I looked up at the Umpire and he raised his finger. He doesn’t need to raise his finger for a ‘bowled.’ I looked at the stumps, the bail hadn’t come off. It was at this point I made the mistake of showing ‘dissent.’ I hung around, I didn’t walk off like I should, I then told the Umpire that the ball had clipped the stump. I’m also not allowed to do that either. I didn’t swear or show any real anger and I’m guessing that is what helped me to not be penalised greater.

Lesson learnt! I didn’t like the feeling of ‘getting in trouble’ and am disappointed that my clean record has been tarnished. It was, though, fair that I be reprimanded for my actions, I have no problems taking my medicine if I’ve done wrong. I did get in a bit of bother for this blog though going back a bit(http://iainobrien.co.nz/node/67); that was the blog that a couple in the media with nothing to write about picked up and ran and grossly blew out of proportion my comments about the crowd. Oh and then there was the dismissal of Ponting at Adelaide that the media again reported stuff that wasn’t there which I covered in this post: http://iainobrien.co.nz/node/60.

So hopefully that’s the end of that, my first real on-field digression, I’m not saying that it won’t happen again, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll react better next time anything like this happens.

Next time you’ll hear from me I’ll be in hot and humid Colombo with more regular updates. Hopefully it’ll stay interesting and I’ll keep my nose out of trouble!

Right then, where to start...

I had a really good couple of days in Prague with my parents who have come over to visit my sister and me. We walked miles and saw virtually everything there was to see there. A great city for sightseeing and enjoying a cheap beer. There was a small break in our schedule that allowed the quick trip away and it was nice to spend some time with Mum and Dad and also away from the game for a couple of days; after getting back there was time for a good training session and then into another Championship match against Middlesex.

Last time we played Middlesex we held on for a very good draw after being in some trouble. A really good maiden hundred from James Taylor made sure we didn’t lose. The team we faced then, at Southgate, was, in the batting department anyway, stronger. Strauss (England) and Hughes (Australia) opened up and put on around 180 for the first wicket; they batted brilliantly and I bowled poorly in this game, no rhythm and no direction. Both these two are facing off in the Ashes and that was a good thing for us.

After looking at the wicket I was hoping for a toss win and have the feet up watching the batsmen do the work. It looked a good deck to bat on, and I’m still undecided as to if it was. Dippenaar lost the toss and we were having a bowl. I’m never too disappointed to have a bowl first up in a four-day or Test match; if it’s going to do anything for you, it’ll be now, so I wasn’t too displeased to be ‘rocking and rolling’ first up. And we got off to a pretty good start. We controlled runs with some pretty good bowling and after nine overs we had a breakthrough. I probably don’t bowl enough yorkers in ‘red’ ball matches, I have been bowling them well with the ‘white’ ball so I thought I’d try more, and it worked first time up. It wasn’t quite the best yorker I’ve ever bowled; it hit Compton just below the knee on the full dead in front. Either way my first wicket of the match and a really good start to my birthday.

Next in was Shah, this was the guy I felt was going to hold the key to the Middlesex innings. I wanted to get him early and make some big inroad. The previous night I had had a really good evening with a mate from the team, not currently playing, but he’s got a few good ideas on some of the batters around. We came up with a plan for Shah and I tried it right from ball one; it didn’t quite work. It was if Shah had been sitting with us when we were discussing the plan. First ball, smash, four. Second ball, smash, four. Not what I was hoping for. The track didn’t quite suit that style of bowling so I was going to have to go back to a standard plan. Smash, four of a good ball. That’s 12 off my over, damn. That sort of start can really propel a batter onto a great innings and it was now very important that we drag it back, bowl tight and play the waiting game.

Next over I went back to bowling line and length to Shah. I played a little with where I delivered it on the width of the crease and had success. I got him to leave one that nipped back in just a little and it clipped the top of the off stump. That’s where I should bowl, that perfect delivery which is so elusive.

The day continued like that for us, wickets and boundaries. Sure it’s nice picking up wickets regularly but we gave away too many runs at the same time. Something we would really have to address in the second innings. We bowled Middlesex out for 159, and on my birthday, I picked up six wickets. That was my second six wicket haul in as many games, the first time I have done this. I got my action right, the rhythm, the direction and the results came. A very happy boy went back up to the changing room to put my feet up for the afternoon.

It wasn’t quite like that, the wickets kept tumbling and by the end of the day I had my pads on. I don’t think the pitch was that bad looking back; it was a ‘patience’ pitch, wait for a bad ball and put it away, and in between times keep the good ones out.

A young lad, Finn impressed me bowling for Middlesex, a tall kid with a strong action and good pace caused our boys some problems. He wheeled through 24 first innings overs, a real good effort for good reward. Our tail did a great job in grabbing a very handy 86-run first innings lead. Cobb and I put on 50 for the eighth wicket and then a 49-run tenth-wicket partnership between Harris and Gurney really added some salt to the wounds. As I said in my last blog ‘any first innings lead is good’ and this one had gone from being slight to something that we were hoping to pick up four wickets before Middlesex would get in front.

It all didn’t quite go to that plan though; it went a whole lot better. We ended up only bowling them out for 91. We needed seven to win; brilliant. This innings we bowled a whole lot better, we kept their scoring to just 2.25 runs per over and this pressure brought us wickets. We dried up the boundaries, bowled really good lines and reaped the rewards; four for Harris and three for me. Both of us were chasing milestones heading into the 3rd day. I had one wicket, needing three of the four to pick up four and therefore 10 for the match, which would have been just the second in my career. Harris was after the same, three of the four for a five wicket innings. We cancelled each other out by both picking up two and wrapping up the innings like a good bowling attack should.

A very good win for us and the first Championship win of the season. It was great sitting down to lunch after already having a cheeky celebratory beer in the changing room with the lads.

I missed out on the ODI and Twenty20 team that is to continue the tour of Sri Lanka after the Tests. I am pretty disappointed about this. I was in the last ODI eleven to play and am now not in the 15 for the series. I asked why I had missed out and got the reason that I had been too expensive and I couldn’t really argue with that too much. The the only thing is that, in the last ODI series, apart from Dan and Millsy, we all were expensive. I just have to keep working to get myself back into that team, there is a Champions Trophy coming up which I want to be a part of and hopefully after a good Test series in Sri Lanka I’ll have done enough to get myself back into the team.

I have a Pro40 match tomorrow at Northants, a pitch that I had a good look at last summer during a match we played there in between the 2nd and 3rd Tests, although not playing that game, it looked a real good surface. Then starting on Tuesday a Championship match vs Essex at home. It’ll be a busy week and I’ll get a couple of more posts out during the week. You can hold me to it!!

Right then, currently in Prague in the Czech Republic. I'm just having a quick couple of nights here with my parents who came over to England to visit myself and my sister. I thought a good taste of European sightseeing was in order, so Prague it is. It's been a great couple of days and even the weather has played ball; today was supposed to be heavy showers, only a couple of light ones turned up later in the evening. Brilliant!

And as it's only a quickie I just thought I'd have my two cents worth on the upcoming Ashes series:

If England can keep their bowling attack on the park, I think they go into the series as favourites. Two very good spinners who have both won matches for England plus some very much in-form quicks who swing it, especially Jimmy Anderson who has won matches for England. So there, my pick is England and if I had to pick a score line: 2-1 with two draws, one rain effected.

And like that, I’m out of here. I’d be interested in your views for the series. Oh, and yeah, of course I’m disappointed in missing out on the ODI team for the Sri Lanka tour, very disappointed. But that’s for the next blog! And don't forget to add me on 'Twitter' – iainobrien.

Since I was last here I’ve played three T20’s and currently in a four-day Championship match for Leicestershire.

We had a day off after the Lancashire T20 and played Nottingham at Trent Bridge, a ground that I’ve played well at in the past, well the one time I played there I went ok. We got a pasting from Notts, we only scored 120 odd and that’s never enough to defend. It was not a great effort from us; that meant that we would have to win our last two matches to reach the quarter finals.

Home game vs Yorkshire, in what turned out to be Michael Vaughan’s last match, a game that we probably should have lost. We scored 160 batting first and Yorkshire got to roughly 100 without loss; 60 off 10 with 10 wickets in hand. They should have cruised it, and didn’t. We ended up scrapping it out and wining by 11 runs in the end. A really amazing result and that just shows that this is one very silly game at times. The crowd at Grace Road was brilliant, an almost full house, vocal and energetic and they were rewarded with a great win from the jaws of defeat.

It was Durham at home next, a win for either team would put them into the quarters; and it wasn’t going to be our day. We just haven’t been consistent enough throughout the whole team. Jimmy Allenby, throughout the T20’s, has been brilliant, he’s been our stand-out player. No one really came close to replicating what he did. There were moments of brilliance, but not enough to get us through to the next stage. I bowled ok, stats maybe don’t quite tell the whole story. I had a really good day at Liverpool and then the three next games I felt like I bowled well without being great. You need luck sometimes and I didn’t get it. That’s fine, I am happy with what I’ve learnt, my ability to bowl yorkers has got a lot better and the thinking process behind one-day and T20 cricket is a whole lot better than it was before.

Which brings us to this championship match against Derbyshire at Derby. I spent quite a bit of time training with a couple of the Derbyshire lads last summer before I headed to India and then Bangladesh on the Test tour. I had bowled out in the middle and had enjoyed the pitch and was looking forward to a good bowling deck. We lost the toss and were put in on a deck that we were going to bowl first on as well. As a championship team we have not scored enough runs in the first innings, we had a great first day; 348-5 after being put in was a great result. Unfortunately we didn’t kick on to the giddy heights of 500 and were dismissed for 412. I contributed just five of that in a rather poor display from me; really angry with myself in how I got out. I’m better than that; I nicked a shortish ball through to the keeper kind of fending it away from my body; really not good enough.

My chance to get back into red ball-bowling, the different pace of the game, the different altitudes from batters, bowlers, different field positions and working to different plans. I just wish I could have bowled as well on day two as I had felt going into it. I chose to bowl downwind, not a big wind, but still it was there and felt great to have it at my back. It’s probably fair to say that I am not as good a downwind as I am upwind, and it was no different here. I’m trying to get better at other parts of my game that I need to be better at to be a more ‘whole’ player. I bowled both sides of the wicket, my lengths were not bad, just my lines. I did have it swinging nicely, except it was into the two left-hand opener’s pads. Grrrr!

Day three was a better one for me, although again my downwind spell, first up, wasn’t as good as I should be. Dipps came up to me and asked me if I wanted a go up wind, “why not, I can’t be any worse.” Three overs before lunch and I found what I had been looking for; a) some nice rhythm and b) a wicket. It was good to finally have one in the wicket column and go to lunch feeling a bit better about things. At lunch I said to Dipps I wanted to keep going, he had already asked Jimmy Allenby to start up into it. I wanted to keep bowling, do my job and take a couple more wickets. I ended up with six for the innings, all in one spell, with lunch in the middle, into the wind, and did the job I am here to do.

It was a better feeling going home last night with a good bag of wickets but I still have to work on my downwind rhythm and control. Not much chance of play today to finish off this match which was set up for an interesting last days play ...