One of our guys stuck this up on facebook about how we all need to bat more and it gave me a good chuckle.
An open letter to the playing members of Brighton & Hove Cricket Club
Re: Batting
Dear playing members at Brighton & Hove Cricket Club,
After spending the Christmas period meticulously analysing the Play Cricket website, it has come to my attention that something needs to change in the batting department at Brighton and Hove Cricket Club. I have come to the conclusion that we just need to bat more.
Our best bat last season was Chris Liddle, with a bat of 209* against Eastbourne followed by a bat of 130 by Michael Rippon, again against Eastbourne. Third of our best bats last year was Connor May, who batted 101* against Eastbourne Under 12's. We can't expect to play Eastbourne every single week for goodness sake.
Yes, Dave Marks batted 100 against Worthing 3rd XI and Steven Crosby batted 98 aginst Horsham, but apart from this, we didn't bat nearly as much as we should have.
Just imagine how long Preston Nomads bat for. Preston Nomads go on all expenses paid trips abroad just to bat more. They've got stumps in their blood. I can't stress how little we batted last year. How many of us can genuinely say that we had stumps in our blood at the end of last season? None. That's how many.
It's time to wake up and bat more.
Brighton & Hove Cricket Club had 192 different batters last year. Not one of you batted as much as you should have batted.
This may come across as negativity, but things need to change.
The main problem is our attitude to batting more. I've seen quite a few of the Playing Squad this winter not even batting a little bit. Hello?!?! This is why we were so nearly relegated last year. We need to bat at every opportunity. At the bus stop. Walking to work. In the shower. Just carry a bat with you and bat your way all the way to the summer of 2013.
Sometimes I feel we just aren't passionate about batting more. I look at our opposition on Facebook and regularly see status updates telling us how much they are batting. Probably to put fear in our boots, but we need to use these as wake-up calls. The other day I saw one of Stephen Rigg's updates saying he was "batting for the other team". That is batting at every opportunity. Heck, he's probably batting now.
Winter nets start soon and I expect everyone to bring at least two bats to each session. The more bats, the more batting that gets done. Don't forget that. Use your brains. If we are going to push for the league title this year, we need to make sure that we bat more.
I'm sorry if I have upset anyone in this message, but unfortunately it needed to be said.
Kind Regards,
Tim Jarvis
Brighton & Hove CC