Bowling challenge - celebrity appearance!

The kack-handed bowling challenge gathers pace.

Perhaps it is because we improved the prize at stake, I don't know. Anyway, we are delighted to have received a video from the one and only ... Steve Harmison. Good on him. It's not the best of efforts, but it's all about taking part. We might send him some shoe whitener anyway.

Bowling challenge - exciting new Christmas prize

As it's Christmas, we've decided to improve the prize on offer for anyone talented enough to match Cow Corner's "BOWLING CHALLENGE" (see the videos posted last week).

There'll now be a tube of shoe whitener for the lucky winner. So pick up the ball in your "wrong" hand and get bowling...

Shoe whitener

We have a number of things that are really difficult to sell. But what has been THE worst performing product in the history of COW CORNER. Shoe whitener?

It was my idea. I said we needed some and we bought a pack of 12. In two years we have sold ... 1 tube of the stuff. Surely the bloke had another use for it, NOT cricket-shoe related.

Shoe whitener: for people who wear leather cricket shoes and who want to ensure they are kept sparklingly white.

In the world of shoe whitener do people still wear cotton flannels and woollen cricket sweaters? Are they either clean shaven or sporting a splendid set of whiskers? Batsmen probably smoke at the crease. And they don't cheat. And maybe there are wives making cricket teas. And there aren't competitive league games. And the draw wouldn't have been abolished in ESCA (our local league).

Kack-Handed Bowling: the great £1 challenge

Pre-season training, hey? What better time to launch Cow Corner's legendary £1 Kack-Handed Bowling Challenge? The princely sum of £1 will go to the first kack-handed bowler to hit the stumps.

COW had the camera running, but unfortunately the batteries ran out after only 5 attempts. Other Kirk Brae challengers will have to wait. Saturday's efforts were mostly pitiful and more dedication is clearly needed.

First up, setting the bar at a very low level - me:




Azzy had one of the better attempts, showing that Kirk Brae's junior policy is already paying dividends:




Steve Colvinates those stumps big time:




Ben shows us how it is done:




And, last but not least - Ross, who (like the rest of us) turned out to be all talk and no trousers on this occasion:




Please send video evidence of kack-handed excellence to mail@cowcc.com

Rotten Woodworm

So what went wrong with Woodworm?

COW loved the worm logo - and we always liked the gear, almost in spite of the brash and bold marketing. We always thought that the stuff was well made and of a high quality, whether it be bags, clothing or bats...

I did wonder when they started looking at golf. Then last year, we shook our heads in disbelief when we saw the catalogue for the 2008 cricket season. It was never going to work - they'd kept the "cartoon" look on the pads and gloves, but had that ludicrous bat range - designed to confuse your humble retailer and customer, with it's messed up colour / naming scheme and a naff 80's computer vibe. "Yeah - I'll have a bronze mega-byte. Yes, the one with the silver grip. Not the one with the bronze grip ... that's the platinum hard drive." Jeez.

Funnily enough, all the grizzled reps (from Grays, Kookaburra, County etc.) had always maintained that Woodworm wouldn't be around for long. At the time I thought it was sour grapes.

I think it's a shame. They made some decent gear, but made some awful moves! Anyone want one of our Bronze Hard drives?

England collapse

Well, England lost their warm up game against the Mumbai President's XI by a massive 142 runs! How strange! How this could happen?

England's run up to the Indian tour has been perfect in every way. The ECB must be extremely baffled. Surely by 'loaning' the England Cricket Team to a self promoting American billionnaire so he could pit their wits against the likes of Middlesex is the perfect preparation for a tour against a team that have just beaten the Aussies 2-0. Pietersen says the huge loss to a team made of of mostly club players was just a blip. Of course if by 'blip' he means incompetent batsman and injured bowlers then he's quite correct.

England now have......wait for it.......SEVEN one day international matches in little more than a two week period followed closely by two back-to-back test matches. The word 'whitewash' springs to mind!