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[Manormanic]

A theory on this - one that is not mine, but to which I do subscribe - is that the very elite players are not so much better than decent clubbies that the clubbie can't compete ball by ball, but they are of a level such that over the course of a spell or innings or season they are that much better as to make a massive difference.

I can think of a few players I've played against who were just "too good" - Michael Vaughan, Ijaz Ahmed and Clayton Lambert with the bat and Kenny Benjamin with the ball - but have played against a lot of other first class players and coped for a while a least.

[iand123]

James Hockley plays for our 1's and he's a country mile ahead of any other batsmen in the Kent premier league. He's also a top bloke

[DevAussie]

Agreed bud, the difference is probably over a season their class rises to the top....anyone can have a bad day!!

[toenails97]

Have played and batted with Ryan Pringle who is in the Durham T20 set up and is just unbelievable to say the least, absolutely belts it and is a handy off spinner aswell. Play a T20 at the start of the season against Sunderland CC who had Mitchell Claydon aswell as Washington who have Chris Rushworth who I also thought was a class above. Not to mention Tom Latham who absolutely smacks it around the park and looks like he has soo much time to play a 70-80mph ball

[The_Bird]

Agreed bud, the difference is probably over a season their class rises to the top....anyone can have a bad day!!

Maybe you should've played him from the crease instead of square leg...

[GarrettJ]

A theory on this - one that is not mine, but to which I do subscribe - is that the very elite players are not so much better than decent clubbies that the clubbie can't compete ball by ball, but they are of a level such that over the course of a spell or innings or season they are that much better as to make a massive difference.

I can think of a few players I've played against who were just "too good" - Michael Vaughan, Ijaz Ahmed and Clayton Lambert with the bat and Kenny Benjamin with the ball - but have played against a lot of other first class players and coped for a while a least.

Who were you playing for when you played against Ijaz and Lamby?

I was a 16 year old playing as keeper with Clayton and he made me stand up the whole 50 overs while he was bowling his bouncers

Superb batsman too. Seen him reverse sweep an opposing team pro first ball of the match out of the ground.

[smilley792]

I played against humayun farhat(pakistan international, 1test 5odi's) twice in our midweek league.

He looked every bit as class as he should have, but his ego cost him IMO.
First two league games he had two Tons in 30 odd balls.
Against us he was on 21 after the first over before smashing one to cover(who caught it but new little about it)

In the return fixture, we put on 196 in our 14overs. He got to 38 quickly but was cross batting everything to the short boundary(was very short) so I slipped in a slower ball well wide of off stump. Which he top edged and I caught it.

If he'd have batted properly,he would have knocked them off with ease on his own.

[DevAussie]

Maybe you should've played him from the crease instead of square leg...

But that's my style....back away a waft

Watched you face Lister too much I guess mate

[acko109]

mohammed zahid is another who ive played against.. lara said he was the quickest hed faced.. bowled 8 overs of gas before getting injured again year later was bowling maybe mid 70s..

[King pair]

I went and watched the final of our leagues cup comp the other week (haslingden vs burnley) and Michael brown now chairman of burnley, ex Middlesex, Hampshire and Surrey. (Sponsored by red back, really nice looking stuff! Bat sounded awesome! That's irrelevant though) he went in at 5 with 14-15 overs left and ended up 83 no. Just times everything. Put one over the pavilion at burnley, no small feat! But my point was that he has literally not had a score the rest of the games he's played really. No one can do it everytime they walk out

[tailender]

mohammed zahid is another who ive played against.. lara said he was the quickest hed faced.. bowled 8 overs of gas before getting injured again year later was bowling maybe mid 70s..

I played with Zahid when we first came to the UK and he was recovering from a bad motorcycle accident.... he was still very quick but admitted to only being able to bowl quick for 3 or 4 overs before needing a cold shower.

I believe he then signed for a lower league club and lost all interest.

Liverpool comp has seen many quality ex players but just as many rubbish ex players.

Mahmood playing for Ainsdale should, in theory be ripping through players on their pitch but hes not. in fact hes taking tap!

I find its the younger lads who are trying to prove themselves who are the stand out performers... the older fellas have probably had enough!

[Vitas Cricket]

Ray Tudor plays for a club in the league below me. Alex turned out for their Sunday side yesterday, but Ray outshone him with an unbeaten 49 ball ton.

http://rutland.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11615139

I've played with or against a number of top players plying their trade around Cambridgeshire. The main thing they have in common is a lot of them are just going through the motions, not exerting themselves unless they have to. Fahad Masood (current first class player in Pakistan) spends most UK Summers playing club cricket over here. He spent 2 seasons at a club local to us, breaking wicket taking records in the Lincolnshire Prem League while he was there. We spent a fair amount of time with him and he told us that in the UK he runs in off ten paces, then he showed us some video of him playing for Habib Bank in Pakistan, pushing off the sight-screen!

[Johnny]

A theory on this - one that is not mine, but to which I do subscribe - is that the very elite players are not so much better than decent clubbies that the clubbie can't compete ball by ball, but they are of a level such that over the course of a spell or innings or season they are that much better as to make a massive difference.

This

Matt Sinclair apart, all other pros I've played with or against you felt you could hold your own against.

Even some international cricketers. So if you are talking about a county pro, the ability gap is even less. And if you're talking about an ex-pro (so either they failed as they weren't actually up to the standard, or else retired through injury/old age) then it's even less again.

[trypewriter]

I think it might depend how many seasons they've been playing at the lower level, more from the batting point of view than bowling.

[acko109]

I played with Zahid when we first came to the UK and he was recovering from a bad motorcycle accident.... he was still very quick but admitted to only being able to bowl quick for 3 or 4 overs before needing a cold shower.

I believe he then signed for a lower league club and lost all interest.

Liverpool comp has seen many quality ex players but just as many rubbish ex players.

Mahmood playing for Ainsdale should, in theory be ripping through players on their pitch but hes not. in fact hes taking tap!

I find its the younger lads who are trying to prove themselves who are the stand out performers... the older fellas have probably had enough!

completely agree mate.. played ainsdale 2 weeks ago.. nazim was a far better bowler than saj was.. Dissapointed cant argue with how jaffer n redmond go though