[Cricket] The Village / Amateur CRICKET Thread- 2025 Edition

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Two more games for the boy in the last 2 days.

Sunday was a development game. We batted first and decided to change things around and had two of our best bowlers opening the batting. One was out 4th ball. The other lad smashed 23 off 8 balls. That set the tone of our innings. After 6 overs we were 54-4, this was a 35 over game.

We then steadied the ship a bit and got through to the end of the 15th over before we lost another wicket at 120-5. Wickets then started falling a bit more regularly before the boy came in at number 9. He smashed a quick 6 before falling. This left out last 2 batsman in who were the only adults in our team. They put on a steady 20, neither really going after the other teams young bowlers before we were all out for 175 off 24.2 overs.

My boy opened the bowling, he never bowls this was only his second over of the season. Runs in and bowls the ball of his life, perfect Yorker that smashed the wicket out of the ground. They never really got going, however our bowling was erratic. The boy bowled a tidy 5-0-21-1 making him one of our more economical bowlers. We somehow gave away 82 in extras (in development games we do wides and no balls as 2 and not re-bowled unless it’s the final over), 58 of them were wides (2 wides went to the boundary which meant 6 runs each time). We fielded really well though, great backing up and communication when needed.

They ended up at 168/6 off their 35 overs and our young team were pleased they’d defended their low total in what turned out to be a close game.

Last night he played an u15s game for another team. We don’t have an age group team so he guests for another local team when they need players but this was his first appearance of the season for them.

I didn’t stay and watch, we came back to watch our under 12 in a game my youngest should have been playing but he broke a finger playing football and is out for a while.

The other team batted first so the boy got to bowl another couple of overs for figures 2-0-13-0. The other team posted 115/4 off their 20.

He opened the batting and saw a couple of partners fall cheaply but got 24 off 30 before he fell to leave his side 41/3. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite get there and finished on 93/4 after their 20 overs.

Couple of nights off now, we’ll got to drop the oldest at training before another T20 on Thursday.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Just to lift a bit of the gloom, my own club had 2 Saturday sides and a Tuesday evening side, when I joined fully for the 2022 season.

We now have 3 Saturday sides, the Tuesday evening league side, a Thursday evening league side, 8 junior sides, a women’s team and around 120 young kids in the All-stars sessions.

Yes. For every club that has fewer players/teams than 10 or 20 years ago there can generally be found another that has increased. Overall, numbers must be down but the stats look fairly stable.

The most obvious change is the huge increase in junior cricket activity at clubs. Many clubs start with 5 year olds now and have large numbers of children (boys and girls) up to the ages of around 11 and 12. My own experience of this is that conversion rate to adult cricketers from these numbers is very low. I was involved for around 10 years a while ago during which time around 400 children participated at our club. Of those 400 I can think of only a small handful that I know are playing adult cricket now and - taking into account their family backgrounds - could be considered to have actually increased what would have been the natural pool of adult players. (i.e. the ones who still play for our club, and elsewhere, nearly all have parents who played themselves or with other ties to the club...)

https://www.statista.com/statistics/899199/cricket-participation-uk/

A great effort goes into encouraging participation in recreational cricket in Sussex (SCF) and nationally (ECB). My own view as a cricket lover is that the work done is admirable and effective. Social trends are against village and club cricket flourishing so it is an uphill and into the wind gig. The biggest positive factor in participation in Sussex during my time has been the increase in diversity with fewer barriers to entry in club cricket.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Did you get funding for the all stars thingy ?

I run the AllStars programme for my local club, and essentially it funds itself as well as contributing materially to the club. Each participant gets you a credit to spend on all the gear, and the club also gets a kickback into its own coffers.
It is the same setup with the Dynamos programme, for 8-11 year old cricketers.

In our case, it very much more than funds itself.

Or rather the bar takings from 120 sets of parents do! £800+ on each sunny Friday evening

We put a lot of work into building a bigger, more permanent bar over the winter (as in 'built ourselves', rather than having it built) as the next project on the committee's wish-list (sightscreens, nets, artificial strip, scoreboard, electric mower, catching cradle all added in the last 3 years). The kids and womens' teams greatly increase your chances of being successful in applying for available grants, it turns out.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Walking past Goring CC the other evening I saw a load of kids in the All Star tops and wondered what that was.

Both Goring and Ferring seem to have a decent number of young kids at their evening coaching sessions which is nice to see.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d47dz475vo

 

[hans kraay fan club]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d47dz475vo

I read this, and signed the club's petition.

Shambles of a decision. The reported 'incident' didn't even occur during a game, but apparently before a game - and none of the players involved have any idea that it even happened. Might well have just been a couple of kids knocking a ball about.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I read this, and signed the club's petition.

Shambles of a decision. The reported 'incident' didn't even occur during a game, but apparently before a game - and none of the players involved have any idea that it even happened. Might well have just been a couple of kids knocking a ball about.

This petition I assume?

Sign the Petition

Resume Cricket in Danbury – Preserve Our Heritage

chng.it

Just signed it myself. This sort of thing's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

This petition I assume?

Sign the Petition

Resume Cricket in Danbury – Preserve Our Heritage

chng.it

Just signed it myself. This sort of thing's absolutely ridiculous.

Singed!

 

[BN9 BHA]

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/the-kent-and-sussex-weald-has-been-a-hub-for-cricket-bat-making-for-centuries/bd0qd9l

 

[hans kraay fan club]

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/the-kent-and-sussex-weald-has-been-a-hub-for-cricket-bat-making-for-centuries/bd0qd9l

Interesting stuff - and didn't even mention Newbery (Lancing). Proud to use a Newbery bat still - it is better than I am at wielding it.


As a DULL aside, with my professional H&S (hard) hat on - uncomfortable watching the Salix guy using the industrial sander with no face mask (or proper eye or ear protection). Chap is asking for serious long-term trouble

 

[Simster]

I really should post the chuckles from our 4s match last Saturday.

We were playing away and found ourselves in massive trouble at 27/7 after 17 overs! (At that point I was top scorer with a princely seven runs before throwing my wicket away.) Unbelievably, we went on to make 99 and made use 36 of the 40.

In response, we had them jittery at 15/2, but then their 3 & 4 came in and steadied the ship. Bearing in mind that no result is declared unless 20 overs are bowled, they were comfortably in control as they reached 47 in the 14th over as the drizzle arrived.

We continued to play until the 17th over, by which time we had been playing in a monsoon for at least 2 overs with their umpire doing his best to pretend it was all fine. We came off, torrential rain for a solid hour or two and "sadly" had to shake hands on a draw.

What a pity. We stay above them in the table then.

Shows the value of a wagging tail though. Criminal that they let us off the hook like that.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/the-kent-and-sussex-weald-has-been-a-hub-for-cricket-bat-making-for-centuries/bd0qd9l

I used to work at Robertsbridge Community College and a group of our Year 7s went to Gray Nicolls to see a bat being made for Alastair Cook when he was England captain and present him with the bat at the end of it. I was asked to go and photograph it for the school website and social media, until another member of staff “pulled rank” on me as they normally did the photos for the school. Gutted and still not over it almost 10 years later.

On a side note Alex Hohenkerk is also a vocal coach and used to teach my daughter to sign when she was younger.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Interesting stuff - and didn't even mention Newbery (Lancing). Proud to use a Newbery bat still - it is better than I am at wielding it.


As a DULL aside, with my professional H&S (hard) hat on - uncomfortable watching the Salix guy using the industrial sander with no face mask (or proper eye or ear protection). Chap is asking for serious long-term trouble

I did some work in an a charity shop several years back, I noticed a Newbery bat and cricket bag on sale, bought them for my son, can’t remember what i paid but both a bargain price.

Agree about the no face mask and ear protection, I’m suffering from serious Tinnitus in one ear, I’m sure working with power tools and not wearing ear defenders in the past has caused it.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Frankie has used various bats over the years - but swears by Keeley these days.
Tim & Nick have just repaired his bat from Oz, and done a great job getting it back into condition.

 

[Audax]

Frankie has used various bats over the years - but swears by Keeley these days.
Tim & Nick have just repaired his bat from Oz, and done a great job getting it back into condition.

I'm not hugely fussed by brand. It just has to feel right. I've been using a Kookaburra for a good few years now. And as much as I get accused of being an Aussie picking an Aussie brand, it genuinely wasn't about that. It just had the best pick up feel of the bats that were available to me at the time I chose it.

When I find it, it's got a lovely middle ... goes all the way to the leading edge, with which I nearly managed a towering 6 a few weeks back . Instead it got dropped just inside the boundary for a single. To be fair, the fielder did well to get to it.

 

[Audax]

How'd everyone get on this weekend?

I started mine by slicing quite deeply into the pad of my left thumb on Friday night while making potato wedges. Thankfully with a nice sharp knife and not all the way through. Bandaged up tightly and it was ok to play (good thing I'm a right hander!) with a request to field somewhere out of the direct line of fire...

Uckfield 1s were away to Tunbridge Wells 4s at the #2 pitch at the Nevill. Arrived to a bone dry pitch, hard, previously used but in very good condition. We lost the toss and were asked to bowl first.

Their openers made a strong start, reaching drinks at 20 overs for just over 100 for no loss. I came on for the 17th over, bowling 2 ahead of drinks for the cost of 12 runs with a couple of bad balls duly dispatched and a few singles. Third over went for 5, another 4 thanks to a comedy mis-field (bowl dropped at cover onto a swinging foot that kicked it all the way to the boundary). My next over we finally separated the openers, although I didn't really deserve it - a low full toss took a leading edge and was well caught at mid wicket. Later in the over we got the other opener run out as the new batsman tried to take a sharp single to cover. We tightened things up for a while, and I should have had their #3 caught behind off a thick edge in my 8th over but our part-time keeper shelled it.

I ended with 8-0-32-1, and the innings ended on 243/6 as they lost wickets chasing runs at the end. Both openers and the dropped #3 all made 50's.

I won't go into detail, but our batting innings went the way of the season so far. Some poor shot selection and we were in trouble early, with the innings closing early at 151 all out. I went out at #8, made 7 from 12 before playing on off the back of my front pad. Ball angling in to leg, played slightly late on it, got it off the inside half of the bat trying to poke it to midwicket. Unfortunately it was late enough that it went from bat, to the back of my pad, and back onto the stumps.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Roffey beat Bognor to go 2nd in the Prem. Considering its such a young side, they're doing incredibly well.
One of the spinners took 7 wickets for just 34 runs I believe.

 

[Ali_rrr]

We were away this weekend and had the luxury of playing on a grass wicket.

We bowled them out for 105. One of the strangest things where their 2 opening batsman were really tough to get out but they just weren't scoring. They were 23/0 after 10 overs leaving the rest of the order having to play risky shots which meant we bowled them out in 29 overs.

We started well as the conditions went from overcast to sunny, but we then had a huge collapse where I came in at number 7 when we were 54/5 with the opener realising he needed to play sensibly. The two of us chased it fairly quickly but there were definitely some nerves when we originally collapsed.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Thursday, Saturday and Sunday fixtures for the boy this week and remarkably 3 victories.

Highlight for the boy on Thursday was his keeping performance, just 2 byes all game as we ended up winning a T20 friendly by 46 runs.

Saturday he played for the seconds, was disappointed to be batting at number 7 but ended up contributing to what was probably the match winning partnership. He came in with about 6 overs to go and we were at 197-5. Some fantastic running by both him and his batting partner saw them shift the score to 257-6 when his partner fell for 84 with just 3 balls left. They boy ended up being run out on the final ball of the innings he’d only scored 10 off 13 balls but the final score of 260 for 7 looked like it would be enough.

The other side started steadily but a devastating spell just around drinks removed 3 batsman without advancing the score to leave them 100-6. Our 14 year old spinner had a ball for both a hat-trick and a 5 for which narrowly missed the stumps, he finished on 4-28 off his 8 overs and we ended up bowling them all out for 163 with a couple of overs to spare.

Sunday saw a friendly no one was looking forward to against a team who when the boy last played them in a development game last season blew us away. They scored something like 300 off their 40 overs, before bowling out, a team of teenagers who were mostly playing their first ever game against adults, for 60. A real baptism of fire.

Fast forward 12 months and although the boy was playing for a different team this time him and 4 of the other players from that massacre were back for more.

We were put in to bat, the boy fell early for just 4 runs, but a steady contribution from a few players, including a good 53 from one of our 18 year olds saw us post a respectable 178 for 9 in our 35 overs. We still expected them to run this down easily.

However in one of the best fielding performances I’ve seen from the boys Sunday side they kept at them. Wickets fell regularly and when a batsman did get themselves in and score a few runs they kept at it. The boy ran someone out with a great throw from point.

With 3 overs to go it was a straight race, they needed 5 runs but only had one wicket left. We brought back on our opening 6ft 5, 18 year old fast bowler. He’d taken a wicket and 3 catches already. First ball padded away by the batsman for a single. Second ball, batsman swung and missed, middle stump flying and victory by 4 runs. With half the team having played in the absolute thrashing a year ago this was a huge victory and shows how our younger lads are maturing as players.

 

[Mackenzie]

My sons game was called off on the Saturday, that's two weeks running now which is a bit frustrating.

The girls game went ahead on Sunday though, which they won by 9 wickets. My eldest took a neat caught and bowled and hit the winning runs, the youngest took a catch and bowled a very tidy 5-2-9-0. Their Abergavenny women's team sits third in the table on 40 points (maximum for 2 games) having played a match less than the two teams above them. They are playing their third season now, it was a really young team but they've stuck with it and are improving massively. Some of the team are getting Wales and regional call ups which is great and we're regularly putting out u13 and u15 girls teams (all hardball cricket). It's quite heartening.

Hopefully the boy will get a game next weekend.