Would it be more attractive to the yoof if we ditched all the tradition and went to pink ball t20 leagues? Place your votes now.
I love t20 and pink balls but they have a place, and that place is firmly in the evening during week. The day it comes into Saturday cricket is the day I’m gone. Placate the yoof all we like, but the people who actually run cricket need a voice too. In my specific case i run the play cricket site, newsletters and social media, I’m fixtures sec, membership sec and a coach as well as a 1st team player. I also help a little on the ground. Leagues wise I sit or have sat on 3 league committee in recent years. I can’t see any lads who just want to play t20 and be home to play PS4 by 6 taking on all of my roles.
I’m all for starting earlier. I appreciate people work mornings but I honestly don’t see a great deal of difference between a 12 start and a 1 start in terms of work.
Other factors aside from start times are important too. On Saturdays our club moved leagues over the winter, I’ve gone from 50 over games starting at 12 to 45 over games starting at 1. Due to the new league being less stringent with over rates than the old one, we end up finishing at the same time or sometimes even later than we used to.
If the over rates were sorted than we’d finish at reasonable times, but I find myself twiddling my thumbs in the morning now. I’d be happy with an 11 or 1130 start.
English football has not been up to much during my lifetime, so I’ve never had to tell a captain I’m unavailable due to wanting to watching a quarter or semi final. But I know the answer would have been ‘fine but don’t expect to get picked again anytime soon.’
The sad reality is there are too many clubs now and not enough players to go round. So these players who declare unavailability to watch football will no doubt be begged to play next week as teams are short rather than being ‘taught a lesson’ and not being selected at all.
Maybe I’m too old in my thinking. I’m only 29 but some of the teenagers I coach look at me goggle eyed when I tell them I wouldn’t have dreamt of asking a captain where I was going to bat or bowl when selected in the 1s aged 15. It seems the default response now, and the captains answer seems to dictate whether that teenager is available or not.
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22 (51.2%)
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Topic: The future of league cricket (Read 11398 times)