Winchester Local Jimmy Adams opens up on Hampshire cricket.
It just keeps on coming at the moment, I don't even have to look out of the window to know it is raining outside - I can hear it hammering down as I tap (slowly) away on my prehistoric laptop. Almost everyone I speak to has trouble remembering a month like we've just had and it's had a serious effect on our Twenty20 matches and training as the Rose Bowl has struggled to cope with the extra water.
Normally this period of the season gives us plenty of opportunity to practice but the nets have been as wet as the ground itself, so we have been inside using the bowling machines, throwing balls at each other and facing spinners on matting.
The seamers tend to steer clear from doing too much indoors, so a quick bowl will usually suffice to keep them in rhythm. We have had one outdoor session since the Twenty20 started due to the weather and it's probably showed on the results front - it's one thing hitting through the line on an indoor surface but taking that outdoors can be pretty tricky.
Despite the inclement weather we have got some cricket in thanks to the sterling efforts of the groundstaff. Unsurprisingly though, we haven't played a full Twenty20 game since the first one against Kent (10, 12, 13 and 15 overs respectively since).
Against Sussex we batted pretty well and posted what we thought was a competitive score thanks to 66 not out (47 balls) from Adam Voges but some awesome hitting from Chris Adams and Luke Wright took the game away from us and they won with a couple of overs to spare.
Friday's game was called off early - it must have seemed strange to the crowd as it was a beautiful afternoon but I went for a wade' across the outfield and it was incredibly wet with sitting water in some areas.
Not a great deal had changed by Sunday, but with the ECB showing common sense by allowing an extra hour to get play in, we were able to wait for longer. And two hours later we started a 15 over game thanks to the two captains agreeing to play - in all honesty the pitch was probably still not fit to play on (a championship or 50 over game would not have gone ahead), but it was better than it had been.
Our bowlers took full advantage of the conditions as we restricted Essex to 99 for 8 - Dave Griffiths was particularly impressive on his competition debut (3-13) bowling with good pace and accuracy, while James Bruce (2-21) and Greg Lamb (2-17) chipped in with a couple of wickets each.
Dave has been in great form for the 2nd XI all year and seems to have a knack of getting out good players. He's had a lot of bad luck on the injury front over the past few seasons but, with a fairly injury-free season to date, he's been able to show us all what he is capable of and has been bowling with deceptive pace and more aggression than before.
Born in Newport across The Solent, Griff' is still only 21 and is a pretty quiet guy - in the past he has been an easy target for dressing room banter but this year, possibly thanks to an increased confidence from his success on the pitch, he's been giving as good as he gets.
Though he will always cop a good deal of stick if he continues to goal poach in football warm-ups - no one likes a goal hanger but it's even worse if they are incapable of putting the ball in the back of the net.
As I mentioned, Twenty20 is a good time to practise but unfortunately the extra time also means it is a good opportunity for our fitness guru' Iain Brunnschweiler to carry out mid-season fitness tests. Out come the callipers - Chris Tremlett and Nic Pothas carry hardly anything and definitely wouldn't roast well while other lads seem to be stocking up for a long winter.
There are various sprint tests but the real killer is a set of five 6s (running 6 runs with a quick rest then going again until you've done it five times) - as you turn for the fifth run your legs turn to jelly, you feel like you're sprinting but the finish line just doesn't get any closer.
At least they're done until September.
One man who has escaped from the testing is Dimi, who is away on international duty. It was great to see him walking out at the Oval last week and at Lord's on Sunday and proving that he can do a job for England - let's hope they stick with Dimi and give him a fair crack to show his undoubted match-winning potential in the one-day format.
And finally, as the Twenty20 draws to an end, we start our championship challenge again on Sunday - hosting Warwickshire and we're eager to continue where we left off against Durham. We will be without Dimi and Stuart Clark which is a loss but it will give a great opportunity to a couple of guys who have been waiting in the wings.
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