So the template is to tick along for 20 overs, gradually increasing the rate from 2.9 to 3.3. The middle overs consolidate at 4s before the long handle in the final 10 overs. Sensible stuff.
Outside the last 10 (where there was not enough data to make a sensible decision), each phase has a different influence on the final score:
- Above average 0-10 score makes the average total 182. (Below average is 124.)
- Above average 10-20 score makes the average total 152.
- Above average 20-30 score makes the average total 164.
- Above average 30-40 score makes the average total 206. (Below average is 176.)
From this you can the most important time to improve the rate is in the first 10 overs and - even more so - overs 30-40.
For next season, I will hope to boost these scores to at least 35 runs in the first 10, and 50 runs in the pre-death phase. That's only an extra 14 runs in 120 balls. Shouldn't be too tricky, especially as we have done it this season several times.
You might say target is influenced by wickets. So let's look at that now.
A good start makes a difference. When two or more wickets fall in the first 10 the score averages to 136. It's 169 with fewer wickets.
Losing wickets between overs 30-40 makes no discernible difference to the score, neither does losing wickets in the last 10.
That said, you need five wickets in hand at over 30 to be confident of making it to a good total, and certainly no fewer than three.
It seems clear to me that we are at our best with the bat when scoring at 3s in the first 10, maintaining the good start without losing more than five wickets up to 30 overs, accelerating to 5s after that and going big at the end.
Thrive with intent!
Certainly this tactic should work both chasing and setting a target. The only difference is not to restrict yourself in the first innings if you think you can go past the average target.
Speaking of chasing, West won 71% of chases and 75% batting first.
The average chase was 129, which we got four down. However, we also lost our two biggest chases with our best chase just 162. These two fact contributed to the general feeling we are not good at chasing. I disagree that losing four wickets chasing 129 is not good. It's simply using your resources. It could be better, but it's not even close to losing. We won two from four games when losing more than four wickets, so even when we wobble we are still in with a good chance of winning.
However, not being able to chase 215 and 300 (the two losses) is a concern. Perhaps we need to work on batting under pressure towards a big target.
When setting a target, there is no pattern to the losses. We lost after scoring 239 and 189 but won after scoring 85 and 118. Naturally the ideal is to average more than 164 batting first, but with our bowling it was not needed very often (and the plan next year is to score 20-30 more batting first as previously outlined).
So, let's move on to bowling now.
Bowling
The bowling was exceptional this year, consistently bowling out teams all year for low scores.
Five bowlers did the bulk of the work. Two spinners took 72 wickets between them at less than 13 runs a wicket. Three seamers took 77 wickets at under 14 (under 15 is excellent work). That alone tells you all you need to know.
The plan was consistently executed: Take early wickets with seam then bring on the spinners to remove the rest. This was true batting first or second.
On average, the opposition were four down after 20 overs and all out in 39 overs. It was 36 when we bowled second.
One main seamer took most of his wickets up top. His contribution of 22 wickets at 9.86 in this phase is easily the most valuable because it was often the best batsmen. He opened with a seamer who also got 12 wickets at 13.67 in this phase.
The main spinner took 32 of his 41 wickets in the middle overs. He was not far ahead of the other spinner, who took 28 wickets in this phase. However, the first spinner was also pretty good at bowling in the last 10 overs too, and nabbed a few wickets from tail-enders. The third seamer bowled most in the middle, taking 19 wickets at 10.11.
Impressive from everyone in these roles.
As a crude measure of bowling accuracy, I also compared wides through the season. West bowl three fewer on average, and bowled fewer wides in 13 from 19 matches.
Incidentally, wides is another broad indicator of success. When West "won" wides we won 84% of games. When we "lost" wides (bowled more) we won 50%. Turns out bowling straighter and giving the opposition fewer runs is helpful!
In the games that went the distance, we were less successful. Death bowling saw us average three wickets and concede 62 runs (compared to our own death performance of four wickets and 57 runs). West lost two of these three games.
The back up bowlers were all good. The main one was a batsman who could bowl a bit. He played every game but only bowled a few overs. From outside the main eleven, one leg spinner, one off spinner and one seamer had a game when someone was out. No one failed to do a solid job. One other seamer was brought in as a "horse for courses" choice to open the bowling early season. It didn't quite work out but he still took a couple of wickets. Overall all, they were not needed much, only bowling an average of 7 overs.
All that aside, the real secret of success is no secret: early wickets starting a cascade that almost always ends before 50 overs.
The tricky part for next year will be finding something to try and develop!
Fielding
Finally, the tricky one.
Fielding has always been unmeasured, so this year we tried to put some simple numbers on fielding skills:
- Catches and drops
- Good stops and misfields
- Throws at the stumps
What we found was interesting.
We were pretty happy with catching through the year but still only caught 57%. While this included half-chances it's still lower than you would hope. More of a worry was that this number didn't change much through the year. I would hope for it to go up, but it remained around mid fifties percent the whole time.
As catching practice volume was high, it's time to look in more detail at why so many were dropped. Sadly we didn't record any more than catches and drops so I can't see any trends for types of drop.
My instinct is to say we need to make catching practice both harder and more specific with more flat and low catches. We also need to make sure fielders are protected from weaker areas. So, if you are poor under the high ball, stay off the rope as much as possible.
Also, we are better catching at home than away. I put that down background. The ball can be picked out easier in familiar surroundings.
Stops and misfields were better. We averaged out four misfields per game and six good stops. Misfields dropped from six earlier in the season. And was my secret aim for the second half of the year. Anything under five seems to be acceptable to the players. Good stops fluctuated a bit but always between five and seven. We will continue to work hard on ground work, perhaps looking at diving as a next step.
Throwing at the stumps was poor. We hit 21% (24% at home) and didn't get enough run outs. This fluctuated hugely through the year but the average fell from 60% after six games to 8% in six matches at the end. We seem to get worse in the second half!
Without detailed analysis of what was going wrong, I can only say we need better practice to get the numbers up. We always practice a few throws but I can't say we do it with full commitment, at different angles or with work on technique. So, a winter mission might be to develop throwing accuracy through a technical programme. I'm still to work that out.
So, overall a superb season for the first team, with still key areas to develop further: consistency with the bat, strike rotation, bowling accuracy, catching and throwing.
Mainly thanks to winning, the spirit of the club has also been much higher this year. The first team are tightly knit, good mates and led by a couple of social butterflies who were not around last year. The rest of the club share in the success of every team and I see no signs of cliques of favouritism.
Other teams
Obviously my focus has been on the first team mainly this year. However there are many other teams at the club!
The strong 2nd XI won their division. It was perhaps slightly tighter than we would hope, but the side is filled with experienced guys and is well-captained. There is a core of guys who all stepped up to fill in the first team with no problem.
The challenge for this team in the next year is to continue to bring through players who can step up to the first team. Clearly, young cricketers are the priority here and we have a few who can fit 2nd team cricket around school and University.
The Development team, playing on Sunday, is even more focused on young players. It was my aim to almost turn the side into a Youth 1st XI, and we are well on the way to that, often fielding five or more under 23s. We also fielded one 12 year old and two 13 year old boys this year, all who were not out of their depth. Also, first team players have turned out to help out youngsters. Brilliant.
However, we also have a core of less "serious" guys who don't train much and are not on contention for regular Saturday cricket. These are important club players and great lads to a man, but they don't fit the Development model too well. I have been trying to encourage them to play for the midweek 3rd XI over the Dev team. That said, a member is a member and we are an inclusive club. Sometimes youngsters play midweek over Sunday and sometimes less serious guys play Sunday over midweek.
I've been clear about my general policy of preferring youth on Sunday and no one seems to mind too much as long as everyone gets a game somewhere.
I also never write off anyone keen to play cricket as I believe we can all improve given enough work and time.
We fielded six age group teams this year. That was probably too many with the experiment of adding U14 and U16 to an already packed schedule. The strongest team was the U13 boys, with the U15s also having a good showing. The U18 were weak purely due to numbers.
The long serving Junior Convenor has finally throw in the towel and retired this season. This is sad as he has been an incredible servant. It does give us a chance to look at the setup.
I feel there are too many age groups at the moment and hope we can pair this down, ideally with eight a side cricket for the younger boys.
I also want to look at the training of 12-15 year old lads. 11 and under are served by Monday sessions, 15 and up and join in senior training, but the in between ages are playing on Monday in the summer and also need practice the most as they are learning to play hard ball. The simple solution may be to have an older junior session before one of the senior practices next summer.
And so that is the 2016 done and dusted.
Personally it's been fun, and challenging. I have learned a lot and felt I have been part of a far more positive environment than any other season I can remember. We have our focus areas for the winter and are moving forward to 2017 full of hope for another step forward!