Neil Pickup

Weren't exactly brilliant conditions today. Bloody British summer.

Interesting about the batting, I don't play with a closed face and have never chopped on. I play most shots with an open face yet still get inside edges. Unless I do something different when playing into the offiside as opposed to when I try and go straighter/legside...

Went ok..
A few byes which were harsh calls, a few byes which were bad misses. A few good takes and a near leg side stumping.
Ended up being 46 overs of standing up. Held one, shelled one.

Anyway, a batting technique question.. I seemingly get quite a lot of inside edges. Could this be a result of playing in-to-out a lot? If so, how can I stop that? I assume it's a grip thing.

I've got standard mens size. They fit ok in general terms but move somewhat noticeably when I dive etc. Will probably use mine as they're what I'm most used to and changing on a one off might seem more odd.

Might make do with standard inners tomorrow, a combination of potential raining off and potential not keeping again this season puts me off the investment.

Wetting is an interesting Q, our overseas part-time keeper basically laughed at anyone who didn't and the bloke who was my first keeper swore by it.

Yo Neil, keeping tomorrow for the first time in ages and have got a few questions for you if that's ok.
I realise these will be things of preference but...
- Would you recommend tight/snug fitting gloves? Or Looser?
- How important are padded inners? Mine ripped last time I kept and cbf going into town to get some today but can if you say to do so haha.
- Wetting your inners, always?

Work on BC2006 completely ceased?

Where can I download a copy of your beach cricket game from? ffs

Hi Neil,

It's been a while now since I tried to edit ICC2002, but with a new county season upon us, I thought I might have a go...but Magpie isn't working for me.

I'm using a new laptop (since my last update 18 months ago) and I'm getting an error running convdb.exe which just crashes when I try to de-crpyt the database.

I think the problem is that I need the amended dll files but I can't download them from here any more.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Can you clarify your answer for question 9 in sheep?

I haven't specified whether or not it's Full Members, so take what you want from that.

I don't intend on missing any tutorials/seminars. Lectures are slightly different though as they're all available online. And yes, I have already caught up on those I missed this week. Believe it or not I've not come to Uni to doss, however I will make the most of my first year which contributes exactly 0% towards my degree in order to have a bit of a laugh and have an experience or two before the nose hits the table for real next year. I'm assuming what you said was at least moderately tongue in cheek so best leave it there :P
And yeah, of course. I'll admit that my initial reminder was meant (at least partially) as a joke, I appreciate that your job is ridiculously intense so it would be at your convenience of course. Though a chance to buy you a pint for no-showing at Taunton would be sweet

Touche! You might be pleased to know I've started work on 2 of my essays. Though I have missed a few lectures this week, I think I'm excused from Tuesday though as I was mugged on Monday...

But yeah, IIRC when we spoke about a potential net we said we'd speak about it a lot nearer the time (October/November) when we both knew what timetables and stuff would be like. Obviously it'd be a lot more difficult for you to make it than me so it'd be when it suited you; this is all assuming you're still open to the idea of it at some point?

Currently ignoring me in 2 places

Getting my cricket bag brought up some time this month. Don't think I've forgotten about the coaching session I was pestering you about before the new season starts

Cheers mate, thanks.

Page four was pretty useful. Always used to explain to kids that your head should be the first thing that moves towards the ball, the rest of your body will follow. The way you explain it makes more sense. Will definitely try the beanbag/cone on the head with them as well, to help their balance.

One thing I see new guys do a lot is that once they've been taught the basics, they get so obsessed with each of the individual movements that they end up being really 'stiff' and rigid with the movements. They start feeling for the ball, sometimes ending up playing too early and hitting in the air. Important to teach them the concept of timing and to wait for the ball imo. It's something I struggle to drill into their heads at times.

Thanks for the document, might even print out a copy or two for the new guys, if you don't mind of course.

Mate, the kids in my young bloke's under 11s are pretty solid defensively, but how can I get them to force the ball more? They're batting for a long time but they are scoring too few runs. Suggestions?

Oh and delete that post once you're done, thanks again.

Heh. I'll keep that in mind. I'll be coaching my soon to be ex school's U-13 team for a while till their coach returns from a surgery, bunch of crazy kids and besides 6-7, the rest are really terrible at cricket (It's Singapore, so even that's a decent number)

Bet Andy Flower wouldn't have the patience to coach a Chinese kid that's never watched or played cricket before and is absolutely terrible at it, the most effective way to score runs while batting at 11. Well tbh neither do I, but that's part of what I'm going to have to do for a couple of months. :P

Anyways, good luck with your coaching, love reading that thread of yours about your cricket season.

Thought this might interest/inspire you

Andy Hurry, the Somerset coach, talks about his international ambitions | Specials | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Oh man. Sorry this took 2 years. I have the 1.1 patch DLL's from ICC2002 if you need them. (the whole patch is just a cut and paste into the main ICC2002 folder if you want it)

Scritty

Happy birthday brosef.