Author: Henry Howeld

PART ONE: DANNY BRIGGS

So, I said i would be doing an analysis on a leg spinner. Instead, I’ve done three, well two leggies and a left arm off spinner. This is a video analysis of 3 of Hampshire’s spinners. 2 of which have now left the club. Thus this video is a little old. This was the quarter final of the 2O/2O trophy against Durham in 2O11. Here is said video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvjswVfgxH0

Danny Briggs 1st over

2nd Ball: (1:18-21)

If you pause at 1:2O you can see Briggs’ jump outwards just before he gets in the delivery stride. This jump outwards was supposedly brought in to help give Briggs some natural variation, as, if he didn’t get enough tweak on the ball he could use that angle to his advantage with the ball running on. But i have four problems with this:

1) It’s not a natural repeatable action
2) It’s working against any natural spin he is getting
3) It’s opens up the leg side for a batsmen
4) It’s working against all his momentum gathered previously.

Now, he continues to do all these throughout his two overs. All in all though, you can’t be too harsh on him, he picked up a good haul of wickets. In the end, that is all you really desire , but for me, he needs a little bit on contingency, because as a bowler you want to maximize the number of wickets you take. Briggs’ would have more of a chance of fulfilling this goal, if he played for a longer amount of time. There are parts to his action that may get in his way

1) It’s not a natural repeatable action: All this jerking around is not good for the body! Another reason is that it’s a variable. And in cricket, if there’s any margin for error, it usually get’s exploited! This could be viewed as another natural variation. In my opinion this has been brought on by the frequency on limited overs cricket that is being played. These players have been brought up on doing different things each delivery. Surely before any of this experimentation should occur, you need to have the basics down, being a spinner speaks for itself! You need to able to put revolutions on the ball to impart turn!

Which brings me onto my next point…………………….

2) It’s working against any natural spin he is getting! You see, as the action of the left arm spinner is turning away from the right-hander, going wide of the crease would increase the angle going into the batsmen, whereas Danny Briggs is trying to turn it away from him. This means that any amount of spin wouldn’t be as significant as the angle and trajectory of the ball would be working against it. This means that a ball that would straighten for him going wide would actually turn a little , thus casing the batsmen more trouble when playing straight.

3) It’s opens up the leg side for a batsmen! The angle of the ball will be going down the leg side and so will the ball, so the batsmen can open up and play through there, in 2O/2O that’s a bread and butter slog really. This means that Danny Briggs is being more defensive than he ought to be, and that is why in my opinion he doesn’t find as much success as his potential fills in the longer format.

4) Lastly….It’s working against all his momentum gathered previously! There are five Key Points that any spinner should be getting his/her momentum from:

1) Run/meander up: You need this to start everything off, to get some kinetic energy behind you
2) Explosive jump forward: to get you into your bowling position, to get you moving
3) Hips pivot: this is used to gather spin from your movement, and to get you in a follow through position
4) front thigh: This is thrust forward to get your head and momentum going forward over your front foot.
5) Shoulders/fingers/wrist: Where you impart your spin as well as gain that last push.

This is not letting him get his momentum going forward because his run up momentum is going sideways with the jump. His Jump isn’t explosive in the right way, as it doesn’t go forward enough, this makes it harder for him to pivot which because he has more to do in less time. This is another reason for Briggs’ lack of spin and purchase. The jump means he is side on, i.e. the front thigh is out of the equation!

What this means is that his shoulders and fingers are taking the most damage! If continued he will carry on to lack contingency with his action!

Overall Danny is a good young bowler, and although has a lot of potential, needs to work hard to fulfill it!

By Henry Howeld

This is the paragraph said by Romeo just before he dies:

ROMEO:

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here’s to my love

Some notes:

In the beginning line Romeo is personifying  his eyes and telling them to look at the world while they can.He is also saying he is fatigued and so is his skin from the world.

He is continuing to personify his body and telling his arms that this hug with Juliet will be there last, then he begins to say about his lips, which for me, his language looks like he thinks they are his best quality.

Romeo says to his lips that this kiss with Juliet will be there last and to remember it, he says the great doors of breath, because breath is right, will close with a kiss which is the right thing to do, ( and i think it has something to do with death and performing the last rights/rites at a funeral).

Next he says his last thing he does is see the “engrossing death” which he is making out to be a bargain that he doesn’t want, a fruitless bargain you could say. Then in the next line he beckons for death to come and describes what he does as bitter. Then in my opinion he leads onto that God made death and is feeling disdain for god.

He says God is desperate and that god is the pilot who actually steers him to the harbor which is his destiny, which is death. He says now run into the danger and the heartbreak of the rocks and the wild sea that pounds against them.

Romeo compares life to the sea and uses the metaphor I am sea-sick which translates into i am sick of life and i want it to stop. He then says he is doing this for his love.

The main metaphor’s are at the end when he is referring to the sea and the pilot.

What Romeo is really saying is that… fate won,that he has been trying and trying to run away from his fate, he has been trying to fight it, he has been trying to steer it away from there, he can’t. Romeo has given up. Romeo has made some mistakes and referred to it earlier by saying he was “fortunes fool”. His tone is suicidal. This stanza is one of the most significant, as he is putting up his hands up, this is also viewed as tragic as the audience knows that Juliet isn’t really dead, and a few more minutes she would be awake. Juliet dying subsequently kills Romeo… dramatic irony is… She is not dead.

An earlier example of this him reliseing that fate was in play, was him saying:  “He that hath steerage of my course, direct my sail”. This final passage in many ways is a end to what has been a “great game.” You could compare it a bit to the movie where the main charachter is always being filmed for his own 24 hour T.V show and he knows nothing, then he begins to find and figure out, the one difference would be : He wins the battle V fate. Like most media, there is usually a happy ending, but in Romeo and Julie, fate is the only winner.

MY PEE PARAGRAPH

Shakespeare is known for his fabulous plays but his writing had a lot deeper meaning than what is blatantly reveals. He uses many metaphors like

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!

What this means is that Romeo says god is the man steering him to his destiny of death, this he refers to as ” The dashing rocks ” and he says he is sea sick, he means that he is sick of life. I hope this proves my point that Shakespeare wasn’t just a great action writer, he also put a lot of thought into writing his marvelous plays.