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[radiomark]

If we don't manage to get a side this weekend our 5th xl will be barred for next season.
We have conceded twice already now.
Some at the club want to disband the 5ths now.
I was speaking to the scorer at another club who told me that their 4th xl was now gone
as they had conceded 3 times and he said that at least 4 other local teams were losing
sides for next season.
lack of interest from the 15-16 age group was a factor that we discussed while scoring the game.

Just wondered if anyone else is cutting back on teams next season?

[Mattsky]

Our Thirds are in danger next season. We've had a couple of oppo sides cancel league games and their Thirds are in the balance too.
You're lucky to field four teams, frankly!

[ppccopener]

Not sure exactly yet for our club but this is happening all over the country...
We run 4 adult sides and 4 colts groups-the colts are getting less numbers as we go on
And its the older groups we have number problems with...
Very difficult to resolve i hope you find an answer to keep the teams.
For me my idea was scrap u-17's and make the forth eleven a side for younger guys with a couple of colts coaches running it-therefore using it to get them into adult cricket
I still believe this is the best way to manage colts to adult cricket.
As far as adults go...four clubs in my immeadiate area have folded or been swallowed up by bigger clubs
I hope no one is bored of my banging on about this
Amateur cricket has a very real problem.

[radiomark]

Totally agree.massive drop out of 15-16 year olds this year.
Holiday time kills it for us.we only had 4 players available to play
For the last 2 weeks in the 5ths.

[ProCricketer1982]

Maybe the problem is too many clubs have big youth systems, clubs have too many adult teams so swallow up small clubs etc. big clubs lack friendly atmosphere, they generously aren't that good club wise etc, more just a collection of people who turn up, play cricket and go

You guys must know the difference in how it feels when you play with mates and when you end up with randoms who change every week etc

[Vitas Cricket]

Everyone locally is talking about their 16-18/19/20 years olds showing no interest/commitment, but on the other hand everyone seems very excited about their very keen U15's and U13's.

[WalkingWicket37]

Everyone locally is talking about their 16-18/19/20 years olds showing no interest/commitment, but on the other hand everyone seems very excited about their very keen U15's and U13's.

We have 6 league sides but have been struggling to get the 6th XI out most weeks, and Sunday Friendly cricket went from having two sides a week 2 years ago to being totally dead and all fixtures cancelled this year 

I think the problem here lies with keeping the keen kids interested.
The U13s and U15s get to play colts matches with their mates every week. These aregenerally slap, bang, wallop T20 affairs and only take up one evening a week.

Fast-forward to being a 16 year old. No age group cricket any more, spending the whole of your Saturday with a bunch of blokes you hardly know and no guarantee you'll get a bat or a bowl.

I think that the keen U13s and U15s need to be integrated into an adult side while they're that age. And not just one or two of them, but enough that they are keen to spend the day playing cricket with their mates still. It's upsetting to see the number of decent colts who give up the game as soon as they finish age group cricket.
It's all well and good having a strong colts setup, but it's retaining said colts so they continue playing is where the challenge lies.

[smilley792]

Our u17s has ........ 2 true u17s in it.


Only reason we kept it this season is the u15s wanted to utilise that side for more game time(even though they play for thirds sat, sun side and we'd 2nd xi too. 5 game week! Woohoo)

16-18year olds get jobs leave for college/uni, Discover sex(is that too early for cricketers....)beer. Spend there money on cars etc.

It's natural they drift away from a game. And relaying on them can leave you in the mire

[calcurtis98]

We cut our second midweek team this year, and our only one is now struggling for numbers. Our third team has to play on a Sunday to field a team and just about scraping a team together for a second eleven!

[ProCricketer1982]

Just look at the threads on here about winning at all costs, playing your best regardless and expecting people to turn up and do feck all.. That's why young ones leave!! Plus, they want to play with mates, not randoms.. Oh, and they defo want to have a game, not watch overgrown egos do everything in the name of winning

[JB]

We are struggling to get a firsts and seconds out! We haven't got a youth set up to lean on either

[ppccopener]

Just look at the threads on here about winning at all costs, playing your best regardless and expecting people to turn up and do feck all.. That's why young ones leave!! Plus, they want to play with mates, not randoms.. Oh, and they defo want to have a game, not watch overgrown egos do everything in the name of winning

I think youre getting close to the crux of why club cricket is declining.i cant think of a solution to the playing with your mates you mention-its impossible at my club,in the past yes we did but not now...
I think youth should move up as a team if possible as i mentioned but apart from that unless clubs are privately financially backed they are facing difficulty on and off the field.i removed our land line to bt because we couldnt afford it.
And they way the ecb funding is now dished out-its mainly based on colts-and its these youngsters that are leaving the game.
Ive had my time(im 48),i dont want to find the game is not there for younger guys.
It needs surgery-but where to start? Shorten the game to make it more appealing to what they see on tv?

[Stuey]

We are struggling to put a 4th team out now and only field a Sunday side for half the season. Going back 10 years we comfortably put out 5 sat teams, 2 Sunday sides and a midweek team. Having played at my club for 25 years i see the older players retiring and the younger players only wanting to play with their mates or not interested in playing 40-50 over cricket.
when i was a teenager i wanted to play 7 days a week, teenagers 16 plus today dont seem to

[Seniorplayer]

My club like other clubs in the Worcester league have stopped playing Sundays also I know of 3 clubs that started the season with a third team but dropped the side after a few matches in due to not being able to raise teams.
Also to play in the top two divisions of the league the league rules state you need to have a third team this means teams without a third team will be dropping divisions and playing in a division which they are to strong for  and could lead  to players  leaving there clubs due to playing at a level below there ability.

[Cin88]

Just look at the threads on here about winning at all costs, playing your best regardless and expecting people to turn up and do feck all.. That's why young ones leave!! Plus, they want to play with mates, not randoms.. Oh, and they defo want to have a game, not watch overgrown egos do everything in the name of winning

This is why I considered retirement earlier in the season. I've played every non-schoolboy/mess about game as a turn and up field player since I was 14 and i've finally had enough of standing about whilst the same 3-5 people try to do everything. I actually plan on raising the issue this year at my club's AGM because i'm not the only one feeling the same way.

My club's 1st XI captain has actually tried to get a 3rd XI, for those of us who aren't getting much of a game, set up for a few years now but has always been turned down by the committee. He agrees with me when I said that we have enough players on file to fill out a 3rd XI including a few first and second teamers on a double header (fringe and struggling for form players), but the committee are stuck in their ways with the view that we'd never fill all the fixtures. Personally I think the committee are talking out of their backsides as there's at least 30 active players at the club so all we'd need is 3 first or second team players to make up the shortfall if everyone was available every week, obviously there's going to be weeks where more than 3 1s or 2s are needed but that's just a fact of club cricketing life.