A Personal Victory

As a kid I used to play cricket a lot, and was a pretty good batsmen. But somewhere during my growing up years I got hooked to bowling and being a left arm bowler it helped. In the process I lost focus on batting and was always part of a team as good bowler who can somewhat bat.

Fast Forward to 2008, for the last couple of years I have been playing cricket once in a while. But once I moved to Austin I started playing once per week. Within the first week itself I was able to establish myself as a good bowler. But the first two weeks have been disastrous as a batsman such that in the third week I was taunted as "one ball batsman".

So today, during the third week I was very determined to bat well and decided upon one thing I am going to stay on the crease for a long time even though I am unable to score runs. The first couple of balls were with minor hiccups but the turning point came when I hooked one of the good bowlers for six. A SIX....after a long time, I don't even remember the last time I hit a SIX :-). After that it was quite a smooth ride and I led a good batting innings which took the team to victory.

So how did I manage to play well and surpass my own expectations. Well couple of things

1. I was determined to play well today.

2. Every ball I faced I tried to focus hard on that ball not thinking of the past or the future just the moment. This is easier said than done.

3. I was very aware of the fielders and tried to play the game at my pace than at how the bowler wanted.

Overall a good innings to get back my batting confidence and a personal victory for the day.