Nets - Lively

Wickman attended nets at the Oval yesterday with Matti, Cranesy, Lloydy, Jimmy C, Clarky and new boy Matt. Matt O for those of you who might find it hard to cope with another Matt. Wickman is a fan of netting. This winter he has been working on the usual technical adjustments - grip, backlift, trigger movement, switching on and off between deliveries etc (you bowlers won't know what we are talking about here so don't worry).

After a few gentle sessions recently Wickman was most discouraged by a genuine going over and roughing up from this new guy Matt. Netting at the Oval obviously requires lugging kit in to work in the morning. The decision to "leave the helmet behind because Joey's not coming to the net" was a massive miscalculation. One Matt bouncer was past Wickman's cheekbone before he had had time to react. A couple of perfectly pitched and rather rapid outswingers were not played with much elan. One found the edge. Wickman could only hope that it could have been grassed in the real world. Helmetless and low on confidence Wickman then lost all grasp of technique, stopped getting in line and largely just began trying to slog his way out of trouble. Not good. The picture was taken shortly afterwards as Wickman considered ending it all at the nearby Southbank Centre.

So now its back to the living room mirror. There his backlift is metronymic. His elegant back foot plant with weight evenly distributed on the balls of both feet would outdoo Ramps and Goughie in a dance off. The imaginary ball is laced with precision through the tiniest of gaps in a cover region patrolled by fleet of foot Aussies. Ah yes. It's all coming back now...