Welcome to Howzat!, the free magazine from www.cricket-for-parents.com.

This issue looks forward to the Indian Premier League in South Africa, how to protect your new cricket bat, and how to win matches with your fielding skills.

Indian Premier League in South Africa

South Africa will now host the 2009 Indian Premier League, after security concerns convinced the Indian government that it just couldn’t take the risk of the tournament being played in India. The organisers eventually chose South Africa instead of England, because of its success in staging the World Twenty20 championship in 2007, but mainly because of its reliable cricketing weather. From my experience of playing cricket in a wet and cold England in April, I think this was a very wise move.

Relocating to another continent at short notice has been a logistical challenge, but the IPL organisers and Cricket South Africa have triumphed. The tournament will start only a week later than planned on 18 April at Newlands in Cape Town, and will end with the final at The Wanderers in Johannesburg on 24 May. In total, 59 matches will be held in eight cities - Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kimberly, East London, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. Nearly half of the games will be played at Durban and Pretoria, who have the highest population of South Asians.

Despite this masterpiece of reorganisation, it’s a desperately sad day for sport in India, and I hope it doesn’t set a precedent. But for now, as Harbhajan Singh has commented, its time stop lamenting what might have been, and look forward to the IPL in South Africa. It may not be the cauldron of cricket passion that blew away the Indian TV schedules in 2008, but the 2007 T20 championship also created massive excitement with a South African flavour. And, the matches will begin at the same prime time slots on Indian TV, to cater for their massive audience of IPL fans. So, will it be good? You bet it will – I can’t wait for April 18th, when last year's winners the Rajasthan Royals will take on the Bangalore Royal Challengers at Cape Town.

Want to know more about the IPL? Visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/indian-premier-league.html

Protection for Your Cricket Bat

So, you’ve chosen your new bat and carefully oiled it and knocked it in, but how do you protect it from the wear and tear caused by hitting a fast moving cricket ball? The best way is by “facing” it with a thin, adhesive, polyurethane sheet on the edges and hitting area. But, this has been controversial - one view says that facing can affect a bat’s performance by reducing its “ping” and increasing its weight, whereas others say that facing a bat can protect it and prolong its life.

Both views have merit but fortunately, the modern thinner and lighter facing materials are a vast improvement on the older heavy, thick and spongy types. The best bat makers in the world now support the use of high quality facing materials, and many of them supply new bats which are ready-faced. Having tried both methods, I have to agree with this view – I currently use a faced Gunn and Moore bat which has now performed excellently for three years, which is much longer than its uncovered predecessors.

As the faced part of the bat won’t receive any bat oil after it has been covered, its wise to apply an extra very thin coating of oil to the facing area before fitting the covering. Make sure that the oil has soaked in completely before applying the facing – leaving it outdoors (but undercover) will help the oil to soak in. The uncovered areas can be oiled normally after the facing has been applied. During application, smooth the facing from the centre of the bat outwards to remove any air bubbles. Every two years, peel the facing off sideways across the bat, give the bat a light sanding and fresh oiling, then fit a new cover. The only other advice is – do use your bat to score lots of runs!

For more information on cricket bats, visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-bats.html

Fielding Skills to Win Matches

Many junior and senior cricketers treat fielding as a chore that has to be done when they’re not batting or bowling. But, top fielding can make the difference between winning and losing, and it pays to practice this as much as other cricketing skills. Every ball is an event to be won by the batting or fielding side, and “joining the dots” is a great way for bowlers and fielders to build up pressure on the batsmen. The modern coach has a repertoire of many fielding games to make sure that players have fun while they learn these skills.

Try the “fast fielding” challenge with your team mates to build up your speed and throwing accuracy. This needs one set of stumps, six cricket balls, one marker disk – and a wicket keeper to catch any throws that miss the wickets. Measure out ten paces from the stumps, and place three of the balls about one metre apart in a line across your path. Measure out another five paces and place the marker, then another five paces before placing the other three balls parallel to the first set. Then, you’re ready to test your skills against the clock. Starting at the marker, run towards the furthest line, pick up one ball, turn and throw overarm at the wickets. Run to the second line, pick up one ball and throw underarm at the wickets, then run back to the first line and repeat twice until you have thrown all six balls. The highest number of “hits” in the shortest time wins the challenge.

Want to see how the experts put this into practice? Watch “The Predator”, Ricky Ponting, pounce in the covers and make a run out with a direct hit. Its amazing how many unsuspecting batsmen try and steal a run to Ponting and fall short in the process – he strikes like lightning and rarely misses the direct hit. This doesn’t happen by accident, and practice can help you be “The Predator” in your own team.

For more information on fielding, visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-fielding positions.html

Until next time!

Best wishes,