I've been a member of Chester-le-Street camera club for many years now, so when Durham County Cricket Club offered our members the opportunity to photograph some up and coming matches I jumped at the chance.
The first match to scheduled was the ladies Durham v Lancashire. I had been watching the weather forecast all week, knowing that rain would interrupt play and would also require various waterproofs and layers. Typically the weather had been glorious all week but the 100% chance of rain on Saturday never moved. However Chester-le-Street seems to have it's own micro-climate, so with camera and various lenses in my bag off I set to the ground.
I had been to Durham County Cricket ground as a spectator before but never as an official visitor. Arriving at Gate 6 the carparking staff were super helpful. They gave me directions on where to park (with strict warnings not to go past the corner!) and told me where I would find the media centre. Anybody who knows me and my sense of direction, knows this would be the most challenging part of the day!
Fortunately Robyn and Sam were on hand to guide me to the visitors room in the media centre. By this time the weather was starting to turn, there had been a few showers but the wind was starting to blow the clouds over and the covers were being slowly and carefully removed, whilst the ladies started to warm up.
Although I hadn't photographed cricket before, I had photographed football matches and dogs in action. So with zoom lens on, shutter speed set at 1/2000 and continuous focus mode engaged I thought cricket would be a similar experience. How wrong I was! First problem where to focus - the bowler or the batsman. This was very quickly followed by where's the ball!
The average bowling speed for ladies cricket ranges between 65-75mph. But speed is not everything, slow balls can be just as devastating and bowlers can swing the ball not only in the air but also by using the seam to change ball direction when it touches ground.
I'm told that hitting a cricket ball and hitting it well is not just pure luck! Batsmen will begin to formulate what shot they will make from the beginning of the bowlers run up. Grip, wrist position, and body angle all give clues as to the delivery. Then once the ball leaves the bowlers hand batsmen have just hundreds of milliseconds to decide whether to attack, defend, leave, or do something innovative like flipping the ball backwards. What stroke will they play, will the ball go high or low, is it going to slip through the gaps or be smashed to the boundary.
Finally don't forget the wicket keeper and fielders. The chasing, stopping, catching and sometimes acrobatic moves that are all used to stop the ball in it's tracks and send it back to the stumps for a run out or a catch.
Following all this when you have full view of the pitch and both eyes in play is difficult enough. Narrow this down to using one eye through a 1" view finder and you can begin to understand the challenge.
Sadly we weren't lucky for Durham ladies and they lost the match, but thank you to Durham County Cricket Club for giving us the opportunity to photograph the match. We had a great day in the sunshine with our high vis looking like media pro's!
If you would like to see the whole gallery, click here.
To see more information about Durham County Cricket Club go to - https://www.durhamcricket.co.uk/
