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[forester123]

Do you know who your overseas will be? Who has been the best/worst you have played with? Do they work when they are over here/what do they do in their spare time? How much roughly do they get payed by the club?
I play in glos div 4, what league would it be appropriate to have a over seas?

[ProCricketer1982]

Do you know who your over seas will be? Who has been the best/worst you have played with? Do they work when they are over here/what do they do in their spare time? How much roughly do they get payed by the club?
I play in glos div 4, what league would it be appropriate to have a over seas?

if you got a decent one in for that level he would destroy the league. No game would be close unless he get's out cheaply

[Nickauger]

Prem I think is an apporpriate level!

[the little ripper]

my club pays anyone for 1st xI a few seasons ago a 14 year old got all top range kit bought for him he played for 1sts like 6 times...

[procricket]

The club I use to pay paid 12k on the pro a player who averages 55 in first class cricket over I think around 200 games

Then they paid around the same for expenses and performance repeated to the ameatures

[forester123]

my club pays anyone for 1st xI a few seasons ago a 14 year old got all top range kit bought for him he played for 1sts like 6 times...

Who pays for all this? the club or a wealthy benefactor?
I can understand wealthy people chucking their money at football and rugby where there is more of a audience but i cant see the same appeal with cricket? do you agree?

[ProCricketer1982]

Who pays for all this? the club or a wealthy benefactor?
I can understand wealthy people chucking their money at football and rugby where there is more of a audience but i cant see the same appeal with cricket? do you agree?

Depends why you do it. I'd assume if your favoured sport is cricket and you wanted to see your club play at the 'highest' level then you'd happily spend the 150/250 quid per saturday to get the player you want etc or pay an overseas a few k's etc etc.

[forester123]

I see your point but i wouldnt want to play 2nd or 3rd team cricket at a club where they pay their first team. I wouldnt feel valued as much as the first team. The 2nd and 3rd teamers are the ones having a drink in the bar at the end of the game and half the first team go staright home because they may have a long drive.

[ProCricketer1982]

I can understand when your in the top couple of divs having an 'overseas pro' or maybe a home based 'pro' as they can do coaching and just add that bit of quality (in theory), but I do agree than having more than one 'paid' player in a club wouldn't make it a club I'd go for. Not because I don't feel valued, or anything but mainly because that to me isn't a club. It's just a bunch of players brought in. A club should be locals who want to play for that club for various reasons other than being paid. All I think though is each to their own, you can see the clubs that pay they way and the clubs that have good youth teams and train locals up etc. I'd hope people give the respect to the teams coaching and bring local youths up to the top level over the paid teams but I suspect that isn't the case.

[SOULMAN1012]

We had Steve Smith for a couple of games a few years ago. He did ok but didn't set the world alight. 18 months later he was on TV in a Aus shirt.

[johan95]

We have Carman Mapatuna, a Sri Lankan all-rounder. We're in Div 3 of the Middlesex League and most clubs tend to have overseas players.

He is a very good batsman, took him some time to adjust last season but once the wickets started to improve he really looked top-class. His bowling dug us out of holes many a time, canny mediums that are some of the hardest things I've kept to for a long while.

Not sure what he's paid but he doesn't work when over here. He is given accommodation and coaches during the week, but that's about it.

I feel he's been the best overseas I've played with. We are rebuilding as a club at the moment (struggling for bowlers especially) so he has been a valuable asset to us and I'm sure he will continue to be so this season.

[Manormanic]

We had Steve Smith for a couple of games a few years ago. He did ok but didn't set the world alight. 18 months later he was on TV in a Aus shirt.

where he was also okay but didn't set the world alight....

[Red Ink Cricket]

i dont see the benefit in overseas pros/ pros at all unless its in the highest leagues. a team local to us had a couple of ex northants and leics guys (Tony Pemberthy and Mike Strong)playing for a few seasons. they would score the bulk of the runs and take pretty much all the wickets between them. they kept winning leagues as they started around div 6/7. got up to div 1/2 and then they both stopped playing. yes the kids growing up playing along with them probably benefitted and the rest of the team got someting out of winning but now they are getting hammered every week and i think they are now around div 3/4 and tumbling! there were rumours they were paid to play. what benefit has the club had from rising to a level they cant sustain only to come crashing back down to earth very quickly

[samhop10]

My club plays in Everards Leics League Div.1 and we've got a 20yr old Aussie from just outside of Sydney coming back over for his 3rd year for us this season. Doesn't look like a cricketer; tall, gangly and scruffy as anything, the opposition in his first year used to laugh as he dragged his bat along the floor to the crease. But he's the best cricketer I've played, 2011 he took 70 wickets and scored 960 runs, 2012 he scored 800 runs @ 60, needless to say the opposition don't laugh any more.....Nicest lad you'll ever meet too, soooo laid back, got offered Leicestershire 2nd XI games but turned them down because 'he doesn't wanna play that seriously'!!

[Fezballoh]

At Henfield we're playing Sussex Div.3 and will proabably take on an overseas this season. I'm for it, but only feel like it's been worth the money if the pro really buys into the club and helps out with things like training, especially with the colts who get a lot out of things like that.

Also, I don't see how its spoiling things getting a good clubbie in at our level when Sussex attatch their staff to County Prem sides. Imagine turning up on a Saturday and seeing Monty Panesar or Jimmy Anyon on the oppo's team sheet? Dinesh Mongia, Yasir Arafat and Saeed Adjmal have all played in thre Sussex Prem. too.