You will learn the unique ABSAT (Advanced Biomechanics Speed & Accuracy Training) methods founded by Ian Pont. On the workshop you will discover how to:

• Bowl faster & straighter
• Access power in the body
• Break down and understand the bowling action
• Learn what works for you and what doesn’t
• Find the elusive ‘timing’ of the bowling action

……plus how to bowl yorkers, bouncers, swing, seam, and variations including the world’s best slower ball – The SLOB

You will also get the chance to bowl against the MCI Speed Gun so you can find out for yourself just how fast you really bowl!

For anyone interested the details are below.
Venue: SWALEC, Glamorgan CCC, Cardiff CF11 9XR
Date & Time: Tuesday, 30th March 6pm – 9pm
Cost £65
Further info at www.maverickscricket.com

Steve Hood walked off with the Player of the Year award, Russell Palmer was Bowler of the Year, Ben Horlock was Batsman of the Year and Dave Manley picked up Clubman of the Year.

Duck cup was won for the second time by Barrie Willacott and Champagne Moment went to Ashley Chedzoy for his diving catch with injured hand effort in our penultimate game.

After the awards the team attended the Glee Club where Ashley played a starring role, congrats to Baz for coming up with the suggestion and Dan Jones for organising it.

Finally it was announced that Charles Brain will be standing down as captain and Jimmy Vaile will be stepping up to the plate for the 2010 season.

The date in question is Thursday 1st October and the plan is to meet in Terra Nova at 6:30 for the awards and entry into the Glee comedy club at 7:30-8:00.

Usual rules, players who’ve played in 5 or more games get to vote and these are the following:-
Brain, Britton, Chedzoy, Clarke, Hood, Jones (Dan), Manley, Palmer, Perkins, Willacott.  That list have all been texted as a prompt – please vote ASAP.

To vote either text me or click on the About Us link at the top and use the contact page. Don’t reply to this as it’s supposed to be anonymous (apart from me as I count them up).

And don’t try voting twice!

To summarize we should have played 23 matches this season (plus the friendly at St Fagans).  We actually played 10 games, won 2 by forfeit and had 11 off.  We played on friendly on a rained off day and we played one on a forfeit day (which was rained off before the end).  Pretty pathetic all told.

Final league table will be up soon but I’m guessing at about 6th or 7th of 10.  Plus we had the only draw in the entire league season.

EDIT: In all the drama of the weather we didn’t twig that no-one finished that night hence the games all go down as not played and we don’t get the forfeit victory.

Northern ended up having a 15 over a side friendly against another team without an opposition.  Ben Horlock and David Manley opened the batting, Dan Jones picked up a few at 3, Barrie Willacott hit a monster six that sailed down the river, Martin got a duck and in the end the score ended at around 80. I missed much of what happened at the end of the innings chasing the ball down the river.  Horlock finished with a 6 off the last ball which took him to 48NO – second time he’s carried his bat in two games.

Northern opted to mix up the bowling in reply and Perkins bowled some lovely stuff, Chedzoy took a couple in 2 balls and were it not for one horrific over from Clarke 6-2-4-6-6-4 (or similar) then the scores would have been close.  In the end the rain came down heavily and the match was abandoned – in the absence of Duckworth-Lewis tables the game was declared (by us anyway) a draw.  Credit should go to the oppo opener who walked when he was the only one who knew his “bump-ball” had actually hit his foot and not touched the ground.

It has to be said that it put the game on an early downer from which Northern never really recovered.  Brett bowled 3 overs for a miserly 8 runs but the score kept climbing.  Manley caught the opener behind, off Charles Brain, for 12 following a bit of a juggle with the umpire again trying to find an excuse to not give it until the square leg was consulted and Brain took his second wicket with a brilliant diving catch from Ashley Chedzoy that surely wins catch of the season with only 2 games left.  Chedzoy himself took two wickets, one caught and one bowled but the other Marshfield ticked on steadily towards his total of 62.  Dan Perkins had a direct hit run out as the Marshfield attempted to run off a wide but when Charles’ last ball in the 17th over was blasted for 6 leaving him with 42 conceded off only 4 overs the writing was on the wall.  A solid last over took the total score to 120.

Charles elected to open the batting with Manley and they both moved the score on slowly for the first few overs before Charles pulled his usual trick of running out his partner, Manley choosing to walk when the umpire wasn’t sure - Marshfield take note.  Simon Dutton and Dan Jones batted well as they both passed double figures but as the light descended batting and fielding got more and more difficult and only a duck from Barrie Willacott (to go with his dropped catch in the first innings) was of particular note as Northern moved onto 90 runs losing by 30.

Ashley Chezoy picks up man of the match for his all round display and Dan Jones top scored with the bat for the first time in his long Northern career.

  H Thomas       Not Out                   62
  M Tucker       Ct (Manley)   Brain       12
  N Lewis        Ct (Chedzoy)  Brain       16
  A Hagger       R/O (Perkins)              1
  L Thomas       Ct (Dutton)   Chedzoy      1
  A Danson       Bowled        Chedzoy      2
  P O'Brien      Not Out                    5
  G Jones
  D Thomas
  D Jones
  Extras                                   21
  Total                                   120-5

                    O   M   R   W
        B Clarke    3   1   8   0
        L Foley     4   0  22   0
        C Brain     4   0  42   2
        A Chedzoy   5   0  24   2
        S Dutton    2   0  21   0

  C Brain        Caught        G Jones      7
  D Manley       Run Out                    5
  S Dutton       Run Out                   14
  D Jones        Caught        H Thomas    15
  A Chedzoy      Not Out                   12
  B Willacott    Bowled        H Thomas     0
  L Foley        Run Out                    8
  D Perkins      Not Out                   10
  M Britton
  N Thomas
  B Clarke
  Extras                                   19
  Total                                    90-6

                     O   M   R   W
        A Hagger     5   0  27   0
        G Jones      5   0  19   1
        M Tucker     4   0  25   0
        H Thomas     4   0  15   2

                 bat bowl catch runout stumping play TOTAL
  A Chedzoy        6   35   5                    10    56
  S Dutton        19    0   5                    10    34
  D Jones         20                             10    30
  C Brain          7   15                        10    32
  B Clarke             18                        10    28
  D Manley         5        5                    10    20
  D Perkins                       10             10    20
  L Foley          8    0                        10    18
  M Britton                                      10    10
  N Thomas                                       10    10
  B Willacott     -5                             10     5

Man of Match - A Chedzoy

Swindon dogs has been suggested and shouted down, Dan Perkins has suggested paint ball followed by food which might make for a good weekend activity.

Any other ideas? – add a comment below and we’ll see what the consensus is.

Northern struggled to get an XI together and took to the field with only 8 players. It was always going to be a challenge to be competitive against the top of the league with a depleted side.

Northern bowled well with the ball swinging with Hood & Chedzoy keeping the home side down to 5.25 per over for the first 8 overs. Hood bowled Mohammad for 6 then bowled Lloyd for a golden duck with a yorker which just skimmed the bottom of off stump.  Northern crowded the new batsman and Hood was unlucky not to take a hat-trick as Thomas fended a straight ball in the air which fell just short of Perkins.

There were too many gaps in the field which allowed Clwb Criced to up the run rate, even off good balls. The batsmen took a liking to Perkins’ bowling, which was slightly too short, and scored 36 in two overs. Clarke took over from Perkins and bowled a good line and length ending up with 3 wickets off two overs for 11 runs. CCCC scored 147 off their 18 overs – this was not just a mountain to climb for Northern more like the whole range of the Himalayas.

Northern went into bat with the intention of trying to score batting points rather than win the game. Thomas, who was only asked to play at 6pm arrived just as Northern were preparing to go into bat. CCCC bowled well with both their opening bowlers getting away swing and the odd ball to lift. Hood, Brain, Palmer,Jones and Chedzoy all lost their wickets cheaply which put Northern in a precarious position. Perkins and Dutton both batted well and scored 11 and 19 respectively. Neil Thomas played well for his 3 as he defended the straight ball and looked to score off the bad balls. It was good to see Clarke swing the bat but the majority of his shots managed to find fielders. Northern was bowled out for 56.

All in all Northern were short of players and beaten by a much better side. CCCC were probably the strongest opposition we have faced this season with both bat, ball and fielding.

  I Weighell     Bowled        Clarke      64
  M Campodonic   LBW           Chedzoy      5
  S Mohammad     Bowled        Hood         6
  R Lloyd        Bowled        Hood         0
  G Thomas       Bowled        Brain       13
  A Edwards      Ct (Jones)    Clarke      27
  R Llewellyn    Bowled        Clarke       2
  P Grzonka      Not Out                   11
  J Jones        Not Out                    7
  G Skelding
  A Vittle
  Extras                                   12
  Total                                   147-7

                    O   M   R   W
        S Hood      5   0  25   2
        A Chedzoy   5   0  32   1
        C Brain     4   0  36   1
        D Perkins   2   0  36   0
        B Clarke    2   0  11   3

  S Hood         Caught        S Mohammad   0
  R Palmer       Caught        S Mohammad   0
  C Brain        Bowled        J Jones      3
  D Jones        Caught        J Jones      1
  A Chedzoy      LBW           J Jones      2
  D Perkins      Bowled        G Thomas    11
  S Dutton       Bowled        Campodonic  19
  N Thomas       Not Out                    3
  B Clarke       Bowled        Weighell     1
  Extras                                   16
  Total                                    56-8 (all out)

                     O   M   R   W
        S Mohamammad 2       2   2
        J Jones      3       4   3
        A Vittle     3      14   0
        A Edwards    2      10   0
        G Thomas     2   1   3   1
        P Grzonka    2       9   0
        R Lloyd      2       5   0
        I Weighell   1.1 1   0   1
        M Campodonic 1   1   4   1

                 bat bowl catch runout stumping play TOTAL
  B Clarke         1   30                        10    41
  S Hood          -5   35                        10    40
  S Dutton        24                             10    34
  D Perkins       16    0                        10    26
  C Brain          3   10                        10    23
  A Chedzoy        2   10                        10    22
  D Jones          1        5                    10    16
  N Thomas         3                             10    13
  R Palmer        -5                             10     5

Man of Match - B Clarke