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Be Prepared For Your Kayaking Adventure With the Corrrect Paddles
The paddle is probably the most important part of kayaking.
Harmony paddles are the best for both new and experienced
kayakers.
Professional and sporting kayakers know how important paddles
are to their kayaking abilities. Harmony kayak...
Creatine: More than a sports nutrition supplement
Copyright 2005 Internet Publications Although creatine offers an array of benefits, most people think of it simply as a supplement that bodybuilders and other athletes use to gain strength and muscle mass. Nothing could be further from the truth. ...
Pacing and Avoiding Performance Predictions
No athlete likes to be passed during a race. A natural reaction is speed up and attempt to keep pace with the person whose dust you are now eating, but in doing so you just got pulled out of your game and put into theirs. Most likely you have no...
Why I Would Rather Be A Slugger Than A Pitcher
During the last NLCS, I asked Brandon Backe of the Astros what the hardest thing was for him in making the conversion from outfielder to pitcher in the minors. He said it was "not playing every day." That is why I would rather be a slugger, to...
World Series In Russia – Huh? What?
As we watch the Astros choke or White Sox perform valiantly depending on your point of view, I am reminded of my baseball experience in Russia.
World Series
I always find it interesting that most of our professional sports call the...
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Cricket bat care and maintenance: knocking in your new cricket bat
Ideally you should knock in any new cricket bat for at least six hours, yes it's a lot but it will help condition your bat for heavy usage without damaging it.
You should also knock-in your new cricket bat even if it comes advertised as 'ready to play', as it still won't be ready for the full force of a hard new cricket ball, especially if you catch an edge or the ball hits the toe.
I've seen players go out on to the square with a brand new cricket bat, which hadn't been knocked in. In the first over he dug out a Yorker, which resulted in a 'fatal' crack in the toe of the bat. If it had been knocked in properly it's unlikely this would have ever happened. If you don't knock in your bat you could literally be 'throwing £200 down the pan'.
To knock in your bat I highly recommend you use an old high quality cricket ball.
Begin gently by tapping the bat, particularly focusing in on the edges, as these are a very vulnerable part of the bat and by the end you want the edges to be almost slightly rounded.
Spend 2-3 hours doing this stage of knocking in the bat, making sure you cover all of the face of the bat, excluding the splice area. Don't knock-in the back of the cricket bat.
After you have done this gradually
increase the force with which you hit the bat, making sure you systematically cover all of the face of the bat. By the end you should be hitting the bat with full force to simulate the impact of a real cricket ball.
When you have finished knocking in the bat, you should first progress to using the bat for out field practice and then in the nets against an old used high quality cricket ball, especially avoid 'bat breaker' cricket balls, you know the ones, cheap, hard and usually shiny. If your bat is going to break or split it's these balls that'll do the damage.
Once you've played the bat in for a few hours in the nets it'll be ready to take out on to the square.
It's a tedious process but well worth the time and effort for the results you'll get for your hard work. Its worth mentioning that some sports shops may offer a knocking in service for a small fee. Personally I like to do it myself to see how the bat progresses as it becomes more knocked in.
Discover amazing cricket tips and tricks at Cricket Secrets.com that you can use today to explode your cricket results!
Or visit our cricket forum at the Cricket Secrets Forum
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