Won by nearly 200 on Saturday, but yet another game where i wondered what the point of playing for my team was again. Batted 7 and made 11* in a few overs as we racked up 230-odd. We then skittled them for 50-ish, i took 3-5 from my 2 overs. They had quite a few players who had never played before so it was a bit of a hollow victory as they really did try their best but looked way below par with bat ball and in the field, but i applaud them for making the effort to come and play the game as it was hard on them.
However, I'm wondering whether i'm justified in being a bit annoyed at my participation (or lack of) in my games this season, or whether i'm overeacting.
I've played 6/8 games this season. My batting positions thus far have been: 9(dnb,) 7, 8, 6 (with 2 needed), 3, 7. I only batted 3 that day as our usual one dropped out just before we batted and we had nobody who was willing to move up the order, i was down to bat 7.
And i've bowled 15 overs in those 6 games. 6 were in the first game when we had no bowlers. So in 5 weeks i've bowled 9 overs.
I'm averaging mid-teens with the bat and am in our top 5 batting wise for runs/average, having often been sent in with a few overs to go and told to give the strike to the batsman at the other end who can whack it, or with the goal of protecting 10/11 as our middle order has collapsed again.
With the ball i've been going at 3/4 an over (twice i was bowling at the end of the innings) and have taken 6 wickets so far @ 10. In comparison our regular bowlers (two of whom bat in the top 5) have bowled roughly 50 overs each. I'm our 4th top wicket taker, having bowled the least out of our bowlers. Again, i'm usually given the ball when our regular bowlers are away, and have been coming on as 6/7th choice bowler and our captain has run out of ideas.
So in 6 games i've batted above 7 twice (so had 2 games as a batsman, one of which was with a few balls left) And bowled less than two overs a week for the past 5 games.
Am i justified in being annoyed at my lack of involvement? I'm constantly shunted down the batting order to accommodate people who don't play every week, and constantly given a few sympathy overs every couple of weeks to accommodate bowling from people who, for the most part bat above me.
The thing is, i'm happy to have my role change from week to week to reflect our team. I don't mind batting low down but getting my overs in, or batting top 5 and not bowling to ensure everyone gets a game, but that seems to have been taken advantage of. I've raised it yesterday only to be told by two people that 'it's a team game mate' (which is incredibly easy to say considering one of them opens the batting and the other bats top 5 and opens the bowling)
The only constant this season has been fielding at gully where i've taken 6 out of 7 catches including a diving one-hander yesterday. Whenever i look a bit annoyed at the fact i've not really gotten a game very week my captain seems to make a real point of telling me how good of a gully fielder i am, but i find it bloody patronising to be completely honest. I could understand if i was someone who bowled a 10 ball over, or a batman who didn't know which end to hold, or if we played a high standard. But we play in the bottom Saturday league, and i don't really want to keep paying subs to be looked at as an afterthought for our captain, especially when i'm more than capable of bowling a 10 over spell or batting in the top 5.
Compare this to my new Sunday side which is a better standard, and our captain has said to me "if you don't bat top 6 you bowl or if you're not a bowler you bat top 6, nobody spends their money and afternoon to not get a game, that's why cricket clubs die" which is exactly how it should be. Despite not doing well personally with the bat at my sunday club, i enjoy the fact that everyone gets a game, even if it does mean some of the top 6 averaging 3/4 with the bat, everyone is happy to play and the atmosphere is good.
Apologies for the rant but it's getting a bit annoying that i essentially spend my saturday standing in a field watching other people play cricket.
Author
Topic: Your 2018 Season (Read 150881 times)