G. Flower may bring radical bowling device with him to Zim

[CrimsonAvenger]

http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/sport ... ticle.html

CRICKET: Farmer crops up with cricket 'arm' idea to help batsmen
Farmer crops up with cricket 'arm'

THIS cricket-mad farmer has come up with an invention which he hopes will change the life of batsmen the world over.

Despite having no design experience, club cricketer Frank Thorogood from Writtle, has come up with the 'Sidearm'- a flexible throwing device which allows coaches to work batters with swinging, seaming and speedy deliveries all with the flick of a wrist.

And he could be in line for £50,000 after being shortlisted for Barclays One Small Step Competition, which helps fledgling businesses with great ideas and innovations.

"I saw something similar when driving around that people would use to throw balls to their dogs," said the father of three who is spending the summer driving combine harvesters at his Dad's farm and running a horse feed business.

"The problem there is that they throw the ball very far and high, which is obviously not right for cricket so I put my ideas across to a company that drew up the design and it seems to be working well.

"It means rather than a batsmen waiting for ages between bowlers (when they are practicing in the nets) this can be thrown down very accurately at the same height of a bowler and you will get a lot more deliveries testing the batsmen, so it speeds up the whole practice process.

"It would be great to win the money, it would help me sleep a bit better at night!"

The beauty of the polypropylene creation is that the ball is set at an angle, so it swings and can generate speeds of up to 80mph - it has a patent pending.

"The ball is set in the cup at about 11'clock," he said.

"So the ball is released at the optimum moment and that's what I'm tying to patent."

And even though the product is still at the proto-type stage it is already being used by Essex and England batting coach Graham Gooch, as well as soon-to-be Zimbabwe batting coach Grant Flower and Essex head coach Paul Grayson – quite an endorsement and Frank says the interest of some of the games top names has helped the innovation reach this stage.

"I did have a bit of a crisis of confidence at one point," said the 30-year-old who has spend around £43,000 on getting it to the production stage.

"But Essex used it on the first day of the season and I know Goochie has been using it with England, so that really gave me the confidence to push it and make it happen."

Frank, who also runs an indoor cricket centre in a farm out building, first had the idea in March last year and after tinkering with the first model, sent to him from the manufactures in China, he spoke to Flower in October who started to use it.

"I'm going to take one to Zimbabwe if I can get one," said Flower.

"It's actually a pretty realistic thing for the batsmen because it gives you a proper net, I'm all for it."

Essex coach Paul Grayson says it is proving particularly useful because it saves his arm doing thousands of throw downs each week.

"It's a really good thing,"

"It could really take off and I'm all for these innovations in the game. I know Goochie (Graham Gooch) has got it working really well."

At the moment Frank is waiting for the arrival of 2,000 products which should arrive from China by mid July.

There are two separate types of 'Sidearm' one for club cricket (£19.99) and one for professionals (£24.99) and he will sell them himself but is also in talks with cricket equipment makers Duncan Fearnley who provide the ECB with coaching gear.

If you want to vote for Frank to win the Barclays prize you have until July 4.

[sloandog]

Interesting. Never heard of the machine, though if Grant Flower likes it, hopefully It'll be benificial for our players when he brings one over to Zimbabwe...