Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Cricket Admin, Facilities and Fundraising => Topic started by: edge on July 05, 2018, 08:42:02 PM
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All this palaver over the football on Saturday has got me thinking - where do you see league cricket going? Suspect the days of a 45/50 over a side game starting at lunch and going on all day could be numbered, could participation be boosted by either shorter games or earlier starts? Would it be more attractive to the yoof if we ditched all the tradition and went to pink ball t20 leagues? Place your votes now.
Personally whilst I wouldn't mind the overs dropping a bit it wouldn't feel like a proper game if it wasn't a decent length, but earlier starts I'd be all for.
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I see it all moving to 2020 stuff. Sadly I don’t think it’ll help participation at all but it’ll still go that way. Astro wickets too, turf grounds will get less and less due to cost and time
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We field 3 sides on a Saturday.
Currently we have 21 players.
Some due to football, but the majority aren’t available as everyone(oppo and most of our club) want early games. We’ve lost 8 decent lads as they work Saturday mornings.
If we went to early starts every week they’d stop playing, as Jak elequently put it last night “I build extensions and conservatories Saturday mornings, who on earth would want me rocking up at half 7 after cricket to start building in there back garden?”
Me personally always preferred 2pm starts. I am up every week day at 4.50am for work. Saturday I have a lay in till 8. Then am at the club for half ten to help mow the outfield, Do the last cut on the strip and mark creases among a few other jobs before a game.
I ask you all, if we start at 11am every game, will any off you be getting up and at the club for 7am to help with pitch prep etc??
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The Kent league have recently released a proposed restructure to make it more regionalised apart from the top 3 divisions. Their aim is to stop the drop in sides pulling out of the league (17 in 2017 apparently) and making start times earlier along with reduced overs for some leagues
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The problem is there is a fundamental difference in what ameteur cricket is there for and you can't get round it from the start
That is if it's purely a recreational game then we have to get as many people playing as possible , so limited overs, early start, 202O in league matches, all that should be tried....simply because we don't want cricket dying-which it is.
Then again are clubs there to provide pro players? If not it will remain an elite sport where the counties go to private schools (better facilities) to get players, or clubs with huge resources.
One of our clubs ex colts just played in the final at lords last Saturday...now as soon as he was spotted he went to a better club who played a longer format. Now.....he would of made it anyway I've no doubt but we are very very proud of him-we have done the intial work at 10-16-when I say we I mean our coaches, not me personally.
So...I see it from both sides. If I had to make a decision I would say the game must flourish long term-that means changes to club cricket
How that would prepare for the higher level I have no answer to.
That's on the basis club cricket is more like county cricket of course, maybe there are some who think it does not need to be, be interesting to see if others hold the view it does not matter whether the format reflects a higher level of cricket
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Would it be more attractive to the yoof if we ditched all the tradition and went to pink ball t20 leagues? Place your votes now.
I love t20 and pink balls but they have a place, and that place is firmly in the evening during week. The day it comes into Saturday cricket is the day I’m gone. Placate the yoof all we like, but the people who actually run cricket need a voice too. In my specific case i run the play cricket site, newsletters and social media, I’m fixtures sec, membership sec and a coach as well as a 1st team player. I also help a little on the ground. Leagues wise I sit or have sat on 3 league committee in recent years. I can’t see any lads who just want to play t20 and be home to play PS4 by 6 taking on all of my roles.
I’m all for starting earlier. I appreciate people work mornings but I honestly don’t see a great deal of difference between a 12 start and a 1 start in terms of work.
Other factors aside from start times are important too. On Saturdays our club moved leagues over the winter, I’ve gone from 50 over games starting at 12 to 45 over games starting at 1. Due to the new league being less stringent with over rates than the old one, we end up finishing at the same time or sometimes even later than we used to.
If the over rates were sorted than we’d finish at reasonable times, but I find myself twiddling my thumbs in the morning now. I’d be happy with an 11 or 1130 start.
English football has not been up to much during my lifetime, so I’ve never had to tell a captain I’m unavailable due to wanting to watching a quarter or semi final. But I know the answer would have been ‘fine but don’t expect to get picked again anytime soon.’
The sad reality is there are too many clubs now and not enough players to go round. So these players who declare unavailability to watch football will no doubt be begged to play next week as teams are short rather than being ‘taught a lesson’ and not being selected at all.
Maybe I’m too old in my thinking. I’m only 29 but some of the teenagers I coach look at me goggle eyed when I tell them I wouldn’t have dreamt of asking a captain where I was going to bat or bowl when selected in the 1s aged 15. It seems the default response now, and the captains answer seems to dictate whether that teenager is available or not.
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There’s an appetite for early starts in Leics this weekend at least. A league game has been arranged for a 6am (yes, 6am!) start so they can get into the pub when it opens and secure a prime spot for the game
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The problem is there is a fundamental difference in what ameteur cricket is there for and you can't get round it from the start
That is if it's purely a recreational game then we have to get as many people playing as possible , so limited overs, early start, 202O in league matches, all that should be tried....simply because we don't want cricket dying-which it is.
Then again are clubs there to provide pro players? If not it will remain an elite sport where the counties go to private schools (better facilities) to get players, or clubs with huge resources.
One of our clubs ex colts just played in the final at lords last Saturday...now as soon as he was spotted he went to a better club who played a longer format. Now.....he would of made it anyway I've no doubt but we are very very proud of him-we have done the intial work at 10-16-when I say we I mean our coaches, not me personally.
So...I see it from both sides. If I had to make a decision I would say the game must flourish long term-that means changes to club cricket
How that would prepare for the higher level I have no answer to.
That's on the basis club cricket is more like county cricket of course, maybe there are some who think it does not need to be, be interesting to see if others hold the view it does not matter whether the format reflects a higher level of cricket
There might be a future in having two structures. A “proper” cricket system and a 2020 system. One caters for the pro circuit and those not interested in 2020 and the 2020 caters for casual players who just want a quick hit. These can be played at leisure centers and schools astros to save time, cost and of course.. they can just rock up and play.
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I think it will end up 2 tiers and sooner than you think... with so many clubs folding or struggling.
Think it will be the 1st team playing 45-50 over games and then having a morning and afternoon/evening T20 teams.
Players can choose to play in the morning or later afternoon/evening.
Players will also be bale to play into older age also and still stay competitive..
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Shorten the format and start earlier . Not everyone wants to dedicate there entire Saturday and evening to cricket.
I know a lot of people that have stopped playing because it is too long and I can honestly see why.....
They could implement 8 ball overs also to speed things up.
Cricket is a dying sport and the old timers that are running the commitees need to get with the times
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On another note why do we still wear whites in amateur cricket ?
I think there are so many things that could be improved in the amateur game
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On another note why do we still wear whites in amateur cricket ?
I think there are so many things that could be improved in the amateur game
Because red balls are still better than white/pink ones ?
But yeah , if you're playing limited overs it would be better to play in coloured kit .
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Shorten the format and start earlier . Not everyone wants to dedicate there entire Saturday and evening to cricket.
I know a lot of people that have stopped playing because it is too long and I can honestly see why.....
They could implement 8 ball overs also to speed things up.
Cricket is a dying sport and the old timers that are running the commitees need to get with the times
As has been said before.. not everyone wants shorter games so for every person you may attract, you’ll lose another so it won’t help.
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As has been said before.. not everyone wants shorter games so for every person you may attract, you’ll lose another so it won’t help.
Fully agree.
I’ve been playing atleast 47 overs on a sat for 21 years now and don’t want to change.
I can play t20 ties wed and third if I want. Be a waste of a Saturday if it was just the same overs. Okay I like my tea!!
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I'd hate to see the game reduced to T20 on a Saturday. Much prefer the longer form of the game. However, I'm nearly 50 and I suspect that there would be a far greater proportion of younger players that wouldn't be so bothered. My club gets 4 teams out every Saturday and has never conceded a game but we do have more older players that will leave the game soon than younger players coming through at present.
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I think one thing that stands out from everyone's respones is that you aren't going to please all, and there isn't one solution. Start earlier and Saturday morning workers get affected but carry on late finishes then risk losing more players etc...
Jake makes some great points about over rates, our league this year got reduced to 40 overs (from 44) so not a great difference but they put in a strict you must bowl your 40 in 2hrs 30mins. So it means that every game finishes at 7pm. And that's with a 1.30pm start! So if it moves to 12.30pm which it could easily you could be done by 6.
My point is that sometimes it isn't the start time it's the match structure that's the issue.
We also have a huge problem in MK of attracting players because of the sheer numbers of clubs for the size of population in MK. The market is completely diluted if you like, so makes it very difficult for any club to keep going.
One thing is for certain what we mustn't do is alienate the hard working long standing members at the club's who do everything. We all have them, I am sure some of us are them. If they go clubs will definitely go under.
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For me the number one reason to play cricket is for the social life. Pre-injury I was spending Thursday night running nets, all day Saturday with the 1st XI and then occasional Sundays and midweeks helping out. I do this because my club is full of great people and at the same time doesn't run itself. I agree with Jake, the kind of people that want to shorten the game are less likely to put effort into the running of the club overall.
The idea of turning up at 10am to play T20 on an astroturf and go straight home afterwards is just. not. cricket.
I don't think there's any need to panic over one football match. Don't forget it's 22 years since England got this far in a major tournament! I would argue that scheduling the India T20 series games for the days when there's no World Cup matches would have made sense, though...
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There will always be a place for Saturday league cricket but if we want to keep both young players who have grown up with T20 cricket involved in the game as well as seniors with young families then leagues need to embrace T20 cricket.
The point about slow over rates is one that needs to be assessed at all levels of the game.
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Its a very tough one this as there is never an one size fits all scenario. Personally i hope the longer format stays as 20/20 would be crap on a saturday. I have a young family so earlier finishes would be my preference but keep the same number of overs.