A great weekend of cricket.....

It was hot this past weekend, but still a great weekend for cricket at the India House Youth Cricket Clinic.

After two weeks of focusing on making good batting decisions, this week we focused on the bowling action. Coach Mahendra and Coach Ranjit worked with each of the cricketers on the fundamentals of sound bowling technique, then we put that practice into action playing a friendly match.

Friday evening's match was unique in that the first four batsmen on Coach Curt's team were all out bowled for just one run among them. Manav and Parth came in and formed a great fifth wicket partnership, settling the team down for three overs and rebuilding the side. Pujan and Rishabh came back in the last over and added runs, pushing the total to 30. But Coach Ranjit's team was just too strong, finishing the game off in four overs.

Best Performances -- Coach Ranjit's Team
Sagar took 1 wicket for 17 runs and Smit took 1 wicket for just 3 runs. But the best bowling performance on Coach Ranjit's team goes to Tilak -- 1-0-4-2. On the batting side, Tilak was 12 not out and Sagar was 5 not out.

Best Performances -- Coach Curt's Team
Pujan scores 13 with the bat, but he also executed an exceptional throw from midwicket to run out Aman. On the bowling side, four bowlers took a wicket: Akash, Parth, Rishabh, and Pujan.

Sunday's match was a hotly-contested duel between Coach Curt and Coach Mahendra's teams. Coach Mahendra's side batted first, but they were restricted to just 43 runs in 8 overs by a great bowling attack, with each bowler bowling a tight line and good length. Coach Curt's team made their target of 44 in 6.2 overs.

Best Performances -- Coach Mahendra's Team
Aditya S. was 10 not out, collecting ones and two to go along with a boundary four that kept his team in the game. Pawan scored 6 before being run out by an excellent throw from Sidd. On the bowling side, Aditya S. and Udai both took two wickets in their three overs, while Dhruv was economical in his two overs, conceding 14 runs.

Best Performances -- Coach Curt's Team
The best batting performance of the weekend was, by far, Anuj's performance on Sunday morning. Anuj was 22 not out -- 20 of which came from well-placed boundary shots. Yash B. was 7 not out, batting a long innings and providing a stable foundation for his team. On the bowling side, every bowler performed well: Anuj 2-0-10-0, Yash B. 2-0-9-1, Daksh 1-0-6-1, Sidd 2-0-12-1, and Rohil 1-0-6-0.

I have uploaded a series of videos from Coach Bob Woolmer on proper bowling technique. Click on the "Bowling" tab at the top to view them. These videos will reinforce what we covered this weekend at the clinic. If anyone has any questions, please ask them this weekend -- we'll be happy to help.