Skills Workshop – review

We are very fortunate at our Club in having two members, Liz and John Maunder, who are qualified Umpires and who were happy to give up their time to run a Skills coaching session last Saturday, covering all aspects of measuring and reading the head.

Twelve of us were fortunate enough to attend, many of us being pretty experienced and knowing something of these matters anyway! Well, it was a bit of a revelation about how much we didn’t know or could do better.  We covered how to measure distance from the jack from metres away to centimetres away to millimetres away and from positions in the ditch using the various measuring instruments correctly.

Then we examined part completed heads to decide where the target for the next wood gave the optimum chance of success. We then bowled the next wood and examined how that altered the target for the next bowler. Then the next wood was bowled etc and each time the development of the head discussed. We took a lot more time than we would have in a proper match, but it generated a lot of lively discussion.

Of course, in a real match, the correct measurement is vital and often done under pressure, but done incorrectly can lose points and potentially the match.  Similarly, the development of the head happens quickly in real time, and a better understanding of the possible shots available and their potential positive and negative outcomes has immense value.

These are skills I’m sure we are all aware of, but which most of us could improve.  I guarantee that those who attended went away feeling much more confident in what they should be doing to improve these areas of their own game.

As a result, Liz and John are prepared to arrange to run another of these sessions if there are sufficient Members interested in taking part.  Please let me know if you are interested and we will see if we can arrange another Skills coaching event.

David Woodman – Secretary