Comments on balls from C.C.C. - used at HKCC
Personally I found them OK to bowl with. We used the 4 piece given to us. There was not a great deal of swing and the ball did have a heavier feel about it. The odd one seamed on the artificial surface and there was more bounce. The ball retained its shine and hardness for the whole innings and certainly for a bowler of my gentle pace, this extra bounce was useful. However, there was considerable concern from team mates, fielders and batsmen, relating to the hardness and extra bounce of the ball. A medium paced short ball from Adrian Lee put a Witherers player in hospital (5 stitches to the eye brow) It looked as if he was beaten through 'lack of pace' as he tried to hook, but alarmingly, the ball was head high. There were no genuine quick bowlers on show (C.C.C. v Witherers at HKCC), so not surprisingly, batsmen did speculate on the dangers of playing a 'quick' on a track such as KGV or Sandy Bay. Even, just a tall guy bowling short pitched would be a handful. Batsmen obviously saw the ball well, but the orange ball against the green background of trees, was a little more difficult to pick up when fielding. Our players are reluctant to experiment further with these balls during the rest of the competition. For these reasons, C.C.C. would recommend we revert back to the yellow ball. (unless of course, we are the only team allowed to bowl with them)
Whilst captaining HKCC over 45's to yet another victory over KCC this weekend, 6 out of seven victories since 95, I will not go into the art of captaincy too deeply other than to say if Doug Jones could do the same we would win the League. Anyway I was reminded of a Doug classic last weekend when he managed to defend 250 scored by us after not being able to defend 270 the previous week.
Picture the scene, HKCC v. Witherers, Stead had scored an unusually low 80 and was on the terraces with the rest of the team, eight men padded up ready awaiting a normal C.C.C. collapse.
Stead in his innocence turns around and makes a comment about something that has occurred in the middle.
Dougie, in the middle of his 5th pre match beer quickly chips in, "What do you know about the game from out here on the sidelines Stead, you have no idea, you are normally out in the middle so you understand nothing about the game like those of us who spend most weeks analyzing from here".
