1:00 pm, Speed Training
Something new from Mike, as Pilates was now finished, speed training is the new activity for Mondays! Taken by a chap called Gerard, the idea is to teach us a better running technique and to speed up our reaction time and feet movement. I think I’m going to enjoy this more than Pilates simply because I can see a relation to cricket, working and improving these types of skills can only benefit batting and fielding, and I’m sure it’s got some positives for bowling as well.
The lads really enjoyed it as well, Godders was particularly good at some of the exercises, I’m looking forward to him and Parky (Gary Park) having some sort of race! They both have feet that remind me of the Road Runner, beep beep!
2:00 pm, Gym
Another weights session, a few new exercises though as we enter another phase of our winter training, one exercise in particular comes to mind, the Hip Raise. We lie on our sides, bring one leg up to about ninety degrees, extend out and raise it up to about forty-five degrees, fifteen times. It’s meant to work our gluts, myself and Killer were the unlucky ones to have this on our programme and I think the word, excruciating is not an exaggeration! At one point we could just about see a tear in each other’s eye as we hit number fourteen, knowing we still had one more to do! I’m not looking forward to trying to get out of bed in the morning and not being able to feel my rear end!
10:30 am, Fitness
Tough session this morning, we were outside on the pitch today, I shan’t go through the whole session, but one exercise, where we had to go hard pace around the outside of the ground for a minute, then a slow jog for minute, five times, was a real test of stamina!
4:00 pm, Net
A little bonus for me this week, Steamy (Head of Academy John Windows) invited me to join a couple of his u16’s. It was actually for Judge to get some more footage of me on camera, but it turned out to be a very beneficial net. Starting off on the slow tennis ball machine, it was a nice opportunity to work on quick feet, trying to either skip down the wicket and play on the front foot or sit back and pull it. The later you made your decision on what to do, the harder the exercise was, which is great practise for spin bowling for the later you make your movements, the easier you’ll find spinners to face, after they’ve let go of the ball there’s nothing they can do about it, but if you start moving before they’ve let go, then they can adjust accordingly.
Next was the real bowling machine with Steamy, back foot work looking to punch through the covers for a quick single or even a two! Found it very beneficial, proving to me once again that it doesn’t matter what or how you practise in this game, you can always learn something! This was followed by facing a few of the many spinners who came along the next hour, it’s so good to see so many young spinners there, all with massive potential!
9:00 am, Net
My first bowl of the winter, all because Muchy wanted to start batting against real bowling before the Christmas break. I wasn’t going to have a bowl before I went to New Zealand but hey, Gordon needed me, so I was there! I can think of only two words that some it up, painful and bad, it took me eight deliveries to bowl a ball outside off stump! I think I might need to get a few more over’s under my belt before I go! Batting however was a different story, I batted with fluency and balance. There was two shots in particular, the pull and the drive, I struggled with both of them last season. It’s still early days, but it was good to feel a months work come together in what was my first net against seamers!
12:00 noon, Gym
A short drive over to Gateshead stadium for a weights session.
9:30 am, Gym
Another weights session, the third of the week, Mike feels that my fitness levels are pretty good, so he wants me to concentrate a bit more on my strength which like I’ve said, is one of my goals this winter!
10:30 am, fitness
Very tough today, after the weights session I found myself fatigue very quickly, especially in my legs which didn’t suit this particular workout. Two minutes on each C.V machine at hard pace, but in between about a minutes ladder work. This was followed by a minute on, minute off on the rower, myself and young Scott Redhead (academy player) verses Godders and big Luke, we lost, that’s all I have to say about it! To finish, a repeat of what we did at the start, two minutes on each machine with ladder work in between. Most of us on finishing the session went looking for our legs!
12:00 noon, Net
With all due respect to Muchy and Judge, today was a much more intense net! Facing Big Luke and young Lobby, it was a much tougher exam of how far I’ve progressed with my new trigger. I’m pleased to say that it was another good net, I didn’t actually play that well but I don’t mind too much about that, I’m just pleased that the timing of my movements were spot on, even against the quicker bowling of Luke!
I bowled a lot better as well, I think it’s important to build yourself up after a long break, so today was the start of that process, just coming off a few yards, I stayed tall and strong at the crease and hit good areas consistently. The highlight of the net was definitely Godders throwing a wobbly whilst batting for miss-timing a couple of shots.
To view Will’s first installment click – www.durhamcricket.co.uk/news/will-gidmans-winter-diary/
To view Will’s second installment click – http://www.durhamcricket.co.uk/news/will-gidman-winter-diary-extract-two/