Chairman of the Competitions Committee of the Georgetown Cricket Association, Shaun Massiah is urging all cricketers to utilize their time wisely.
With over a month of the cricketing season already lost and no immediate course of action to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, players are left at home and are unable to use recreational facilities.
They are also restricted from gathering with fellow cricketers.
“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to all the cricketers in Georgetown and around that they should use this opportunity to push in a lot of work at home,” said Massiah.
The Transport Sports Club veteran said that it is a good time to revert to an old localized form of training, which is dubbed ‘the ball in sock,’ where a cricket ball, laced in a sock is suspended by a string which then swings like a pendulum.
“Maybe they have to go back to the basics…I mean the local things like the ball and socks which is very good. We know the ball and sock turned to bowling machines for the national and international cricketers and they are using that now who have space. This will help them with their timing, ball-hand-eye coordination so whenever the covid-19 would go away and cricket resumes you know they could somehow be in shape and scoring and I think if they do that, around the globe you will see a lot of runs would be flowing out of those bats.” Massiah posited.
The GCA executive also suggested that this method is a good way for bowlers to improve on their batting.
Massiah said the above technique and other training alternatives should be implemented.
“I want to feel too that around the world, whenever the cricket resumes we will see a lot of centuries being scored and runs being scored because I know for a fact the batsmen are using the machines but for the locals, I don’t think the younger guys are too into the ball and sock thing because it may be something new to them,” he stated.
“For those who don’t have space, they can look to find somewhere to string up the socks and try to hit as many as possible, I would say 1000 plus balls or if they want to go by the hour is good too.”
The veteran revealed that he is using this tactic in order to keep up with his training.
“I myself have a ball strung up under the house. I would usually hit 1000 balls a day if possible. Maybe if you don’t want to hit 1000 balls in one go you can break it up into 500 balls per session if you could go to 3000 would be great, it works, it really works to bring in your timing, bring you on the front or back foot.”
Often functioning as the coach when with Transport SC’s youth teams, Massiah, however, suggested that bowlers would feel the brunt of the pandemic since space is not so readily available for them to practice their art. Nevertheless, he indicated that they can use the time to do some strength training and improve on other aspects of their fitness to avoid becoming overweight and lazy.
“The batsmen will enjoy it more because they get a lot of practice hitting the ball than the bowlers who are not getting to practice
“I’m sorry for the bowlers because you may not have enough space to go through the paces and landing the ball in the right area,” he noted.
“They can improve their work ethic, try to find ways of putting in some work. If you have yard space and if you don’t, you can do a lot of exercises, like pushups, pull ups, planks and skipping, you know just keep yourself in shape. Don’t just sit there waiting and when you get back to the cricket you become overweight, you’re slower than before and so.”
