2011

It has been a long time since my last post and so much has happened. I have moved house, although not to the one I originally thought, Im renting my flat. The Essex pre season tour to Barbados is back on and the team are back into the rountine of indoor cricket training and last but not least England smashed Australia in the Ashes.

Regarding the move, the lady who was going to buy my flat pulled out the day before the exchange of contracts which is totally late (stupid a**e). This meant I had to remove my offer for the house I was going to buy and with the looming cricket season my partner and I couldnt face anymore more house hunting. So my flat is being rented and we have moved into a really nice house just the other side of town in chelmsford. Its so good to get all the moving out of the way because it really is one of the most stressful things you can do, it feels great to be settled somewhere and to be able to focus properly on training and things again.

On the training front not much has changed since before christmas, only a slight shift in emphasis to more cardio and a lot more cricket, particularly bowling indoors. Gradually there are more and more of the team coming back from their winter stints abroad either playing as an overseas pro or in some cases getting married. It really is good to have more guys around, sessions are lots more fun and its great to see the changes people have made to their games and fitness. Sadly at the moment im on my way to losing a bench press bet with the physio which means I will be taking him to dinner somewhere of his choice (nandos).

Cricketwise im working with Chris Silverwood the bowling coach on a few different deliveries for the new season in an attempt to be more successful in all forms of the game. One of my main goals for the year ahead is to reduce my economy rate in all cricket which should hopefully lead to some more wickets. On the batting side I really want to increase my training workload fullstop. It can be quite difficult sometimes as a bowler but im going to make sure I hit more than my fair share of balls this season. Great news is that the preseason tour to Barbados is on. In the past few years Essex have toured UAE and Barbados and the trips have been amazing and so productive. When some teams are stuck indoors training it can really give us an edge on the competition to be outside in the sun, not to mention how good the trips have been for team morale!

Poker has started well in the new year. Im currently in 4th on the sharkscope leaderboard for Holdem 9-10 players non turbo total profit (www.sharkscope.com/PushTheEdge). I am tring to decide if it is worth moving up in stakes and risking my ROI coming down as a result of tougher games or to just keep beating the $10s for a tidy amount per month. I have also set up a pokerstars home game for friends if people are keen to join. I dare say it will be mostly cricketers who do but anyone is welcome see the link below.

You are invited to join my private poker club for Home Games online.

- If you don't already have it, download the free PokerStars software from www.pokerstars.com
- Open the main poker lobby, then click on the Home Games tab
- Click the 'Join a Poker Club' button
- Enter my Club ID number: 27359
- Enter my Invitation Code: cricketers
That's it! Once I've approved your membership request, we'll be ready to start playing Home Games online together.
If you want to find out more, visit www.pokerstars.com/homegames

Aside from cricket and poker I am trying to coach as much as possible right now so if anyone is interested in some coaching please feel free to email me at chriswright500@hotmail.com. Coaching can be done online as well. If you have any comments about this or any other post i would be pleased to here them and you can leave them below or email or Facebook me. Anyway enough from me I hope you have all had a good start to the year and will chat soon.

Regards Chris

 

Hi Everyone

One of the best things about cricket is that generally you meet some great people and get to go to work with your best friends. This can really make horrible gym and track sessions brilliant fun, which was definately the case this week.

We had a cardio session on wednesday. Unfortunately for the lads who were there it was a 400m speed endurance session. It is a totally minging distance to run ( unless your Maurice Chambers ). We had the perfect pick me up right before the session though. We were on the outfield at ground about to strut our stuff and sprint some laps when some nutter approached us. He asked us if we could take our sprinting elsewhere because there was an exam being conducted inside the pavilion. He said he was concerned that we would distract the participants and could we go on a road run basically. LOL. Its our ground for starters Essex CCC Ford county cricket ground not ARU campus. Secondly we would be running around the ground not just shouting and screaming right where they were. Also you deserve to fail your exam if your attention span is so bad that a couple of people running in a big circle blowing out their bumholes puts you off! This bloke got laughed at. Mikey Comber said he wouldnt get away with that in Clacton!

Anyway after all the fun and games we got on with the session. I found out that after two 400s my performance drops. We had to do four more after that, ouch! Im still feeling my calves as I write this, although a nice weekend off will see me ready for next week and a bowl on monday.

If you read my last blog you will see im trying to move house. Good news is i should be moving within the end of the month. This whole moving process has gone on so long and its great to finally see the finish line. I doubt i will ever want to move agian after this.

Regards Chris

Frustration

Hi

Hope everyone reading this is in good health and a little less annoyed than am.

It seems getting a mortgage is a complete pain in the arse if you play county cricket! This is what is causing my frustration at the moment. I have been in the process of moving house for about 3 months and every week the bank seems to come up with a new obstacle to overcome. I originally agreed a mortgage and deposit about 2 months ago. Only last week did they decide I needed to nearly double my deposit otherwise they couldnt lend me the money. Once I got that sorted, they then also decided they didnt like my job and the fact I earned match fees! The job is to insecure they said. I dont get it though, stock markets crash, business go bankrupt and most normal 9 to 5s can quickly disappear from layoffs. Anyway hopefully will be sorted shortly so i can finally move, my 2 bed flat doesnt have enough space for my girlfriends clothes and all my sons toys and in it.

Had a few more gym sessions since my last post. They have been going pretty well, except for the fact that it seems as soon as I go into the weights room, im joined by all the meat head steroid freaks in chelmsford. Needless to say this doesnt do my confidence any good. I realise I have a specialist programme to follow specifically for bowlers etc and i should be focused on that, but it is never nice to see someone bench more than twice as much as you, warming up lifting the weight you use for a 1 rep max.

On other fronts Iwent to one of best mates houses for dinner the other day. He cooked a great meal for me and my girlfriend to soften me up for the killer blow. He had auctioned off an hours coaching with me without asking lol. I think he got a decent price for it and its hopefully for a decent cause. The coaching itself will be good. Im actually looking to do a lot of bowling coaching this winter, so if you are interested let me know!

My main hobby, poker, is going well at the moment. After reading a book called, Treat your poker like a business, I have been doing really well. The book is not based around strategy but how monetise your ability and small ways to increase your profit margins. Its quite an inspiring book, and lots of the information in it crosses over into business and even cricket.

Speaking of cricket I would quite like to be playing again already. I am jealous of Billy G who is going to perth for the winter and playing for my old club, Bayswater Morley. It was an amazing winter and they were ggreat blokes. He will need help singing the team song though. It is totally confusing and is sung to the theme tune from the beverly hillbillies. I have also watched little bits of India v Australia and am really pumped for the Ashes, they cant come soon enough. I think I will start nets and stuff at the end of the month. I know Michael Comber is keen already.

Anyway take it easy

Chris

First blog and start of winter training.

Hi Everyone

There a variety of reasons for me writing this blog. Firstly there are cricket supporters who might be interested in knowing more about what professionals do, both on and off the field. Secondly I have friends and family scattered all over the place and sometimes cant speak to them or see them as much as id like, so this is a way for them to catch up with what im doing on a weekly basis. Finally, its for me. By writing this blog it works as a bit of a diary for me and will hopefully give me some direction. At the end of the week when i write, its a chance to properly analyse my week and plan for the next.

This week I started my winter gym programme. Typically players tend to have a few weeks off at the end of September or early October but i have decided not to, primarily so I can get a head start in the gym. Im not going away this winter because im trying to move house with my girlfriend and son, and also my son George is at a very young age where i want to be heavily involved. Also it has been a particularly long cricket season this year especially for bowlers, im sure every county cricketer would agree its been a tough summer. I want to give my body some time to recover from bowling, and a winter in Australia would be a fun and great opportunity but not sensible. Also we have a great support staff at Essex who are around all winter to help with training, both cricket and fitness.

My gym sessions this week and for the first couple of weeks in October will be focused on weight training and trying to build strength back up and put weight on. I tend to lose a bit of weight and muscle during the season so getting both back as quickly as possible is a priority. Its quite difficult because i dont put weight on easily so i have to try and eat 5-6 times a day combined with my strength training. Our strength and conditoning coach Ant Sharp, who i will no doubt mention in more of my blogs, leads all the gym sessions and makes all the guys work really hard and points us in the right direction.

I will update more next week after some more gym sessions.

Take it easy

Chris