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[edge]

Firstly I'll declare a slight conflict of interest - I bowl seam off an excessively long run-up.

Are slow over rates genuinely an issue in amateur cricket? In my view late finishes are almost entirely down to cricket being a game that takes a long time and games starting at 2/2.30 etc for no real reason. Start earlier or play less overs - problem goes away? Also seems it's easy to forget that the huge majority of amateur cricket is played with no neutral umpires - can't imagine it ever going well when the batting captain pops out to the middle and says (in best wally voice) 'excuse me skipper, you're only going at 16.852 overs per hour and I'm going to have to insist your team forfeits us 12 runs if you don't speed up'...

[tim2000s]

Up to the captains to show a bit more urgency and stop spending half the over changing the field for crap bowling.

This - it's the cocking around between balls that really slows things down.

[HallamKeeper]

I think the umpires could do a lot more to speed things up. We tend to have at least one appointed umpire each game.

I haven't captained much but I certainly haven't heard any instructions from the umpires, or via the captain that we need to have people ready to find a ball if it gets hit for 6 into the bushes etc. or how long we have for tea. Fairly often we aren't pushed to start bang on time. All these kind of things that might cost you 20 minutes each game.

I also have a problem with the toss. Personally I think it should be done 30 minutes before the match without fail unless the weather is dodgy. Sometimes it has been 10 minutes before and as a keeper who often opens I find myself scrambling for the right pads/shirt/gloves and most importantly mindset.

Start time is my main issue, as I said before. I don't really mind if the over rate is a bit slow. I just want to be able to tell my very patient girlfriend that I will be able to meet her for food/drinks no later than 7.30pm and have time to have a beer with my teammates after the game. I increasingly find I have to rush off after games which I don't want to do. I think drinks after with your team and the oppo is very important and probably decreasing now.

The other thing is, I am bored out of my mind on Saturday mornings waiting to set off to cricket.

[six and out]

I think the umpires could do a lot more to speed things up. We tend to have at least one appointed umpire each game.

I haven't captained much but I certainly haven't heard any instructions from the umpires, or via the captain that we need to have people ready to find a ball if it gets hit for 6 into the bushes etc. or how long we have for tea. Fairly often we aren't pushed to start bang on time. All these kind of things that might cost you 20 minutes each game.

I also have a problem with the toss. Personally I think it should be done 30 minutes before the match without fail unless the weather is dodgy. Sometimes it has been 10 minutes before and as a keeper who often opens I find myself scrambling for the right pads/shirt/gloves and most importantly mindset.

Start time is my main issue, as I said before. I don't really mind if the over rate is a bit slow. I just want to be able to tell my very patient girlfriend that I will be able to meet her for food/drinks no later than 7.30pm and have time to have a beer with my teammates after the game. I increasingly find I have to rush off after games which I don't want to do. I think drinks after with your team and the oppo is very important and probably decreasing now.

The other thing is, I am bored out of my mind on Saturday mornings waiting to set off to cricket.

I brought a rule into our league when i was 1's captain that both captains have to be in the middle to toss 20 mins before start of play or the oppo can claim the toss.

I heard last night that another new rule has gone through in our league that after a successful trial due to the Euro's last summer - clubs are now allowed to start at 12.30pm if they get agreement from both captains (and league umpires if applicable) - usual start time is 1.30pm.

This will be really interesting how many clubs do this as we have seen alot of us think start times are a big issue for people.

 

[ppccopener]

Yes def a big issue, the start times

just wondering people posting on here 17 over an hour should be achieved, I've been playing a long time in 100 over games starting 1pm and the only teams in my experience that achieve this have two or even three quality spinners. I just cannot see even if the umpires/captains pushed things a long a bit how it can be done

we have a 20 min tea break in the Middlesex championship-reduced from 30 mins a couple of years ago.

I'm absolutely convinced myself 10 overs should be gone from league games and it should be 90 overs......

somehow we have to shorten the games, I have finished at 8pm many many times

[HallamKeeper]

Are later start times mainly because of Saturday morning workers? Golfers trying to fit a round in before playing? Or another reason I can't think of? 

[Neon Cricket]

Are later start times mainly because of Saturday morning workers? Golfers trying to fit a round in before playing? Or another reason I can't think of?

Morning workers is the general concern with starting earlier - I know for a fact at least 3/4 of our players each week work the Saturday morning.

[six and out]

Morning workers is the general concern with starting earlier - I know for a fact at least 3/4 of our players each week work the Saturday morning.

Yep it's the Saturday morning workers that will mean that no matter how many times the earlier start time gets but forward at our League AGM (the last 6 years by my count) it will never get voted in due to the amount of players that work Saturday mornings.

Thats why our league finally agreed on this 'compromise' where if the clubs agree you can start the game early.

It won't happen for us because our 1's captain works Saturday till 12 

[HallamKeeper]

I understand about the workers, can't exactly rule a huge number of people so I can have a good Saturday night. The compromise of starting early if both teams agree seems the most sensible option. Even if you could start 4 games a season early it would make for a better experience.

[Manormanic]

Firstly I'll declare a slight conflict of interest - I bowl seam off an excessively long run-up.

Are slow over rates genuinely an issue in amateur cricket? In my view late finishes are almost entirely down to cricket being a game that takes a long time and games starting at 2/2.30 etc for no real reason. Start earlier or play less overs - problem goes away? Also seems it's easy to forget that the huge majority of amateur cricket is played with no neutral umpires - can't imagine it ever going well when the batting captain pops out to the middle and says (in best wally voice) 'excuse me skipper, you're only going at 16.852 overs per hour and I'm going to have to insist your team forfeits us 12 runs if you don't speed up'...

I doubt your run up is longer than the likes of Ian Botham, Graham Dilley and Bob Willis at their peak...yet they managed 17-18 an hour for England...

[OwzatOllie]

When I was playing 3rd XI cricket 5 years ago we bowled 20-22 overs an hour!!

[Woodyspin]

It's been said before but 50 overs in 3 hours, just below 17 an hour, we've done it a few times and the umpires praised us for it saying, we don't see that very often. however what i've actually seen, majority of the umpires take alot of time walking to their ends or even finish what they are writing down... given that this may  last 30 seconds some times, that's an extra 25 minutes per innings, and nearly an hour for both! Which can make alot of difference!

We were forced not to bowl our seamers last year in a bid to finish the match off, it was getting dark but the batsman could see fairly well as they were tonking the medium pacers about pretty well. It got darker and darker, and the umpires told our captain he has to bowl 2 spinners, he turned around and said i dont have 2 spinners, let's not argue about this the less time we spend discussing it the quicker we will be done. Needless to say it ended in a draw due to umpires taking their time to begin with, had those 25 minutes for innings been nullified, we would have been able to bowl our seamers and finish them off.

[Vitas Cricket]

Lost count of the times I've barked 'we're ready' from behind the stumps in the last couple of seasons because as a fielding team we are all in place and ready to start an over but umpires are still messing about or batsmen are still having their meeting between overs.

[ppccopener]

Lost count of the times I've barked 'we're ready' from behind the stumps in the last couple of seasons because as a fielding team we are all in place and ready to start an over but umpires are still messing about or batsmen are still having their meeting between overs.

Good point this, got to own up I do like a 'meeting' between overs when batting to chat about pretty much the same stuff, it's amazing the habit of keep going,watch the ball, look for the singles can be repeated over after over.

Batters should be ready when the fielding side is for sure. There's not really any excuse not to be.surprisingly in our league anyway, umpires don't often mention to batsmen to get ready, but they do to the fielding side.

[Churchy1989]

Good point this, got to own up I do like a 'meeting' between overs when batting to chat about pretty much the same stuff, it's amazing the habit of keep going,watch the ball, look for the singles can be repeated over after over.

Batters should be ready when the fielding side is for sure. There's not really any excuse not to be.surprisingly in our league anyway, umpires don't often mention to batsmen to get ready, but they do to the fielding side.

Its normally 'We have loads of time, if we get a steady 3/4 an over we can push later on, lets not do anything silly' I then watch from the non strikers end where the batsmen swings so hard he almost breaks his back in the process and gets clean bowled middle stump.