Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Your Cricket => Topic started by: charlie15 on June 22, 2012, 09:47:56 AM
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As the title suggests I'm skipper of our 6XI tomorrow, having never done this before I thought I'd see if anyone out there has any tips or do's and don'ts. My team is made up of a couple of colts some more established guys of average ability and some new guys of unknown talent!
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Don't open the batting and the bowling!
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Make a hash of it so that they ask you to never to it again
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Do something completely outrageous and if it works you'll look like a genius haha
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set a field based on the quality of the bowler and dont follow the ball around if boundaries start flowing from bad balls.
Make the bowler bowl to the field. the better the bowler the more offside fielders but i wouldnt have more than 4 on the leg side with a deeep square leg for the inevitable long hop that will come in each over!
if a batsmen is scoring a lot of runs work to keep him off strike, give him an easy single and tighten up for the weaker batsmen ........ let the waeker batsmen have 1 off the last ball.
this may sound controversial but the slower the fielder the closer they need to be to the bat, your two worst fielders stopping 1 on the off and on side .... if they miss it you only lose 1 run ..... if they let it through their legs on the boundary you lose 3 runs.
Try to get your bowlers to keep the wides down, makes a big difference.
never berate a palyer for bad bowling or fieldign and clamp down on any palyer that does. always ecourage, nobody means to drop oa catch or miss the ball on purpose.
battign shoudl take care ofitself, jsut get them to bat responsibily and keep hitting the singles.
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Sound advice Garrett. Only thing I can add is make them all welcome.
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What format?
If you're young, I would suggest trying to get an ally in one of the senior players, the wicket keeper would be best. He'll know more of what people are capable of, and the fact that you value his opinion will endear you to him.
One of the best captain's I ever had always had a plan for the good bats, middle and lower order and set fields and changed his attack accordingly.
Good luck.
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We're playing 50 overs and I'm 34, my Keeps is 18 and I've made him Vice Captain on the basis that I have played with him more that anyone else, and know him better, plus I feel the extra responsibility will help his game.
Garrett thanks for your advice very good.
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We're playing 50 overs and I'm 34, my Keeps is 18 and I've made him Vice Captain on the basis that I have played with him more that anyone else, and know him better, plus I feel the extra responsibility will help his game.
Garrett thanks for your advice very good.
no problem. Any particluar questions charlie or scenarios you are worried about .......... fire away and i'll try to answer
I forgot to add, try to keep the first ball of each over down to a single and no more, gain the upper hand on the batsman.
You may also see a batsman scoring in a particular area or working the ball to a favourite point in the ground, try to close off that area with a fielder and force the batsman to change.
One other thing, have a look how the batsman is holding the bat ............ if his bottom hand is tightly gripped around the bat and the back elbow is pointing to square leg when he picks it up, its 99% certain he wont be playing textbook cover drives more like swiniging through the line and aiming over long on/sloggers corner.
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I captained our T20 side the other night and i wished id never bothered, i didnt realise people can be so unhelpful. as it was the first time id skipped since i was u13's i was expecting a bit of help actually. I dont think the usual captain liked me doing it
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Basically follow the really good advice already given. I'd also encourage you to make sure you field close to the bowlers so you can have a quick chat when needed and make sure they're happy with the field too. Try to sound confident when you make a decision and plan your field changes for the next over so you can make them quickly.
One of the best things we were always told to do when I was a kid was bowl our overs quickly and that's something I try to do when I skipper our midweek team. I try to get field placings sorted quickly, encourage people to move quickly between overs and generally try to keep things going. Also you can never encourage enough so plenty of shouting. Cracking advice from garretj about looking at the batsmen as you really can tell by their stance, grip, etc where they look to hit the ball.
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Garrett & gd, thanks some really good advice in there. I'm normally one of the more vocal in the field and I'm certainly keen on getting through our overs quickly so there shouldn't be to much of a problem. I'm probably going to field Mid Off, possibley starting shortish.
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First rule of captaincy - Delegate
You are captain, tell somebody to:-
1. Collect the money
2. Setup the ground
3. Umpire/Score
Don't take it on yourself. On the field:-
1. Don't be afraid to ask or receive advice - you don't have to take it
2. It's easy to captain in the field when your bowlers are bowling well and taking wickets. It's a nightmare when your guys are going round the park. Try and keep calm and don't be afraid to try things.
3. Try to get everybody involved and enjoying it. A bit of banter doesn't hurt. People look at captains to set the mood - serious can give off the wrong vibe but too jokey can seem like you don't care. Light hearted but firm.
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One other thing, have a look how the batsman is holding the bat ............ if his bottom hand is tightly gripped around the bat and the back elbow is pointing to square leg when he picks it up, its 99% certain he wont be playing textbook cover drives more like swiniging through the line and aiming over long on/sloggers corner.
Good advice that, we used to drop a man deep to sweep the leg side if the opposition had a player taking guard on middle and/or holding the bat low down the handle. It may be worth looking at where they bat in their crease too, good players really do use the lot of it.
If you're facing a particularly good bowler too, you could try a wildcard batsman. Throw someone in early who'll have a swing and can hit the ball but who is ultimately lower order. Uses up some of their allocation, potentially, and may save a better bat from the new ball. Also will make the promoted batsman happy.
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Well meaning advice, I think you're over complicating it a bit. First of all the guy is 34 and I assume has played a fair bit of cricket.
Secondly the grip thing isn't correct. It is likely they'll favour leg but plenty of asian lads have a low bottom hand yet drive fine through cover simply by opening the face to compensate.
The admin/management of the game will be the biggest problem, the on-field stuff will work itself out I'm sure.
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Well meaning advice, I think you're over complicating it a bit. First of all the guy is 34 and I assume has played a fair bit of cricket.
Secondly the grip thing isn't correct. It is likely they'll favour leg but plenty of asian lads have a low bottom hand yet drive fine through cover simply by opening the face to compensate.
The admin/management of the game will be the biggest problem, the on-field stuff will work itself out I'm sure.
Yeah, take your point about the Asian lads. The admin stuff too is difficult, particularly if you're hosting and the onus is on you. That said, if you're playing away, you've got to make sure everyone gets there too. On the playing side of things, I'm sure he'll do okay. For me the big difference is having to really pay attention to smaller details that I would have ignored otherwise as a selfish batsman type.
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Don't forget to fill in the match sheet afterwards - and make sure that the details get to the right place (if it's a league game).
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And dont forget teas - that would really annoy all concerned!! :D
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The admin/management of the game will be the biggest problem, the on-field stuff will work itself out I'm sure.
That is true, 27 emails from one chain and other captains trying to take my players! Throw in the fact that I've sent good knows how many txts and phone calls to try and get everyone to confirm I understand why so many people don't want to do the job!
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Don't forget to fill in the match sheet afterwards - and make sure that the details get to the right place (if it's a league game).
It's a friendly
And dont forget teas - that would really annoy all concerned!! :D
We're away! :)
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Anyway guys thanks for all the advice and keep it coming :D.
I'm sure I'll be fine and will post a match report on this thread after the game!
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I am leading a team this season after a period of 5 years and I have noticed my attitude is very different.
Basically I go in with the mentality that this is the team I have and I am going to make the best use of it to try and win the match but more importantly enjoy. If you worry too much about how poor your team is you will never enjoy playing as a captain.
Tell your players that it doesn't matter if you lose or win but what matters is they give their best (You have believe in this yourself otherwise you will see yourself getting frustrated). Ppl will misfield and drop catches, tell them to move on and focus on the next ball, never yell at your teammates, if someone makes a mistake cheer them on to do well next time..
and good luck
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Cheers Tushar
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Charlie, I would add that you should listen to advice from your team mates when they offer it, and seek advice from your senior players and vice-captain when you need to, but always make your own decisions and stand or fall by them. That way, you don't go home wishing you'd not gone with the advice you were given when your instincts were telling you to do something else.
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50 overs is a long time for some people to concentrate, especially the young lads.
Keep an eye out for people who seems to be slipping away into day dream land and who look bored. Maybe swop their field position so they get something a little different.
With regards to Asian lads playing inside out through the covers, it is practically impossible to drive a ball with any control along the ground with the full palm of your bottom hand on the handle. Let them drive and wait for the catch to present itself but dont drop short or it will be hammered through point.
and dont forget to make it fun, have a laugh between balls and overs but demand that as soon as the bowler runs in everyone is concentrating 100% and walking in with the bowler.
with the risk of sounding like a s.ex offender take a couple of packets of sweets and put them in your pocket, nothing like a couple of cola bottles to pep up an ailing fielder or tell the team before the match you will buy a pint for the player who you deem to be the best fielder ..... soem lads will do anythign for a free pint.
The admin bit is the worst esepcially if someone doesnt turn up or is late or oyu ahve a cry off or some tool forgets half his kit.
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with the risk of sounding like a s.ex offender take a couple of packets of sweets and put them in your pocket, nothing like a couple of cola bottles to pep up an ailing fielder or tell the team before the match you will buy a pint for the player who you deem to be the best fielder ..... soem lads will do anythign for a free pint.
I've got 4 colts, I like your idea, but maybe not tomorrow!
If I'm the best fielder does that mean I get a pint from the rest of the team?
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I've got 4 colts, I like your idea, but maybe not tomorrow!
If I'm the best fielder does that mean I get a pint from the rest of the team?
Haha i think the idea is to reward you team mates for doing their best, even if you are the best reward them :)
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1) never let anybody undermine you
2) lead by example, your attitude will set the tone
3) treat the oppo with respect, regardless of how they treat you
4) make your own choices
5) try to give as many people an opportunity to bat or bowl as possible
6) even if things get tough, never drop your head, your team will follow.
7) ensure that everyone helps out, umpiring, scoring, ground work etc. (not the same people all day)
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if you see somebody drifting away in the field, move them in a couple of paces towards the batsman.
not only does it put them in their toes a bit more but they start thinking about why you've done it and gives them something to think about.
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Some good advice in here. I've recently taken over skippering our 2nds this year and find i'm learning more every game - after playing for the same club for over 15 years.
I have played with our 1sts for about 10 years now, so am trying to bring the same approach towards the game that the majority of 1sts teamers have - which is hard work as we have a fairly mixed bunch in the 2nds, both age and ability wise.
Hardest thing I have found so far is all the extra work off the field that is required - which I didnt really appreciate until now. On paper we have a really strong set of players, but getting anything like that team together is impossible - mainly due to university/work. Trying to organise teams is hard work with only 2 teams, so I cant imagine what it is like with more.
On the field I open the bowling and generally bowl my overs straight through. One thing I have found is that I struggle to do both - concentrating on my bowling, and then organising field/motivating team-mates so I find it useful to delegate part of it to the vice-skipper. Its something I am working on and hopefully get better.
Also I found that running around organising everything before the game - changing rooms/screens/flags meant that I had little time to warm up. For the first few games I always seemed to put a ridiculous wide/no-ball/half-tracker in my first over, so again this is something I am working on changing - simply by getting to the ground earlier and makign sure everyone else gets there at a similar time.
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As promised here is my match report from Saturday! 40 overs each.
Having acquired an 11th player on Friday night and no dropouts between then and Saturday morning Woking & Horsell 6XI set off to play Weybridge 4XI at Spelthorne Sports Club a 25 minute drive away, well 25 minutes for 9 of my team, as my lift decided to ignore his sat nav and take the scenic route through Staines! Arriving 15 minutes before the start of the game I headed straight out for the toss with the oppo skipper, having looked at the track (quite briefly) I decided that we would bowl first. The coin went up "Tails" I called confidently only for it to land Heads and the oppo skipper electing to bowl! Good start I thought.
Our first pair in was a club debutant freshly in from India and one of our U17's who put on a credible 49 for the first wicket before the first of 3 LBW's that our keeper decided to give whilst umpiring (it's a friendly). Our next man in (also making his debut) strolled to the crease took a huge swing at one that straightend and flattened his off stump, so in walked yours truly, with the oppo bowler on a hat-trick, first ball was a Malinga like delivery from around the wicket which was easily defended away to square leg for no run. Next ball, well I don't really know what happened, I went forward to it bat and pad together, before feeling the ball slam into the instep of my back foot, so I know it stayed ridiculously low! After what seemed like an age our keeper's finger went up and I was on my way back to the pavilion for a big fat 0, not really the skippers innings that I wanted, leaving us at 49-3. The usual W&HCC collapse I thought.
With my No.1 on debut scoring freely at the other end all seemed fine before our keeper struck again to give him LBW on 43. We now had batsmen 5 and 6 in both new to the club this season and having played with them both I was more than slightly nervous at this point. My worst fears were realised when No.5 (also my lift) played a nothing shot offering the simplest of catches to slip 60-5.
Next up at 7 was one of our U17’s, which is by some way the strongest side in the club with many of them having already experienced playing senior level and 2 or 3 ready to break into the 1XI next season. What followed next was quite staggering with our No.6 taking his time to get his eye in No 7 proceeded to harvest the strike, and a position of 60-5 went past the 100 mark, then the 150 mark approaching the promised land of 200. By this time I was fielding (having some peace and quiet and thinking about our bowling attack) for the oppo who only had 10 players, with 5 overs remaining I told the batsmen to start going for it, both wickets quickly fell with them making 63 and 55 to very good catches. We lost 1 more wicket before posting a very credible 216-8.
I opened up with one of the few guys in our team who I played with last season and one of our U15’s. Whilst my No.1 bowler wasn't at his best, our U15 bowled very nicely picking up the wicket of the dangerous looking No.2 bat. Meanwhile at the other end a mixture of the odd good ball, full tosses and wides ensued, before an absolute pie took the wicket of the other opener! At this point I bought on my U17 fresh from his batting heroics for a 5 over spell, whilst using another all rounder bowling some nice medium pace from the other hand. Our U17 took out Weybridge’s dangerous looking middle order taking 5-3-6-3, all three wickets bowled. At the other end keeping it nice and tight, but without luck my medium pacer bowled 8-3-24-0. Around the 20 over mark I introduced my off-spinner, yet another debutant, who bowled beautifully taking 6-1-18-3. The Weybridge innings ended when I bought our U15 back into the attack and he picked the final wicket in his second over finishing with figures of 7-2-11-2, and Weybridge all out for 88, giving me a 122 run win on my captaincy debut!
All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience (apart from my duck), and considering I had only played a decent number of games with 2 players in my team it was a great achievement, with some of the guys really putting up their hands to be considered for selection higher up the club, not that I’m planning on letting them go! Next up Monty’s Beard’s bunch, although sadly Liam will be sunning himself in Greece!
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Sounds like you should name your heroic u17. Sign him on. Oh, and well done.
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congrats, sounds a like good effort by the team..
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Sounds like you should name your heroic u17. Sign him on. Oh, and well done.
I've spoken to our Chairman of Cricket to see if I can get him as Vice Captain, although if I am honest he should be in the 4's.
congrats, sounds a like good effort by the team..
Cheers Tushar, it was a great all round effort and everyone performed which I was really happy with. Although I know it will get tougher, but it was nice to start with a confidence booster!
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well done. you key lesson learnt here is that you should ensure your keeper is tasked with scoring in future...
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well done. you key lesson learnt here is that you should ensure your keeper is tasked with scoring in future...
Trust me Buzz I'm not letting him anywhere near the middle, although to be fair to him my wicket was out (although there might be a question mark over where it pitched), but the other 2 I couldn't comment on.