Print

[charlie15]

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!

[Bruce]

Don't open the batting and the bowling!

[Alvaro]

Make a hash of it so that they ask you to never to it again

[Pitbull]

Do something completely outrageous and if it works you'll look like a genius haha

[GarrettJ]

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.

[trypewriter]

Sound advice Garrett. Only thing I can add is make them all welcome.

[stevat]

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.

[charlie15]

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.

[GarrettJ]

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.

[Blank Bats]

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

[gdb19]

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.

[charlie15]

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.

[uknsaunders]

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.

[stevat]

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.

[uknsaunders]

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.