Interesting chat about the growth of cricket

I probably could, but don't call me Surley.

 

Once again thank you, that's a brilliant offer. We score home matches on a software app which I developed myself, as we have 2 electronic scoreboards. The app puts live ball by ball commentary on the internet during games. You can see an example of what this looks like on our fixture page http://www.stainboroughcc.co.uk/fixtures.php?Index=1 by clicking on any of the "Card" links.

Away games are scored in a book in the traditional way. Either way the scorer needs to understand cricket, as I'm sure you do, but the app is far easier as it does all the adding up and recording for you - the scorer just has to click on how many runs are scored from each ball.

We've got games each weekend from now until mid-September. I'm away most of August so an additional scorer would be a great help.

 

2 seasons ago we had 4 junior teams. Last season we had 1, which had to concede several matches because of lack of players. This current season we've got none. Not a sausage. Zilch. We've got 3 or 4 juniors who would still qualify to play, and all of them are playing senior cricket. Hardly anyone watches cricket on TV these days, as it's not on except for a tiny few who have Sky, so nobody is inspired to emulate their hero. There's a test match on as I write, which I would be glued to if it were on TV, but it's not, so I'm ranting on here instead.

 

I agree.

Sometimes the administration f league cricket doesn't help either. We play in the South Yorkshire League (I'll not say what club because it'll get us into trouble) and the admin you have to do is nuts.

You need a club umpire who must stand in 75 percent of league games to qualify. If not then as of next year there will be points deductions. Getting volunteers is ridiculously difficult so to ask a bloke to stand for 8 hours on a Saturday is impossible.

Secondly everyone needs to be registered on play cricket. We recently had an official warning as one of the parents helped out the third team. But he wasn't registered on play cricket or didn't have an email address. He'll probably never play again but we had to mess about doing this or face further penalties. It's nuts.

As for juniors? They just drift away from experience. Most don't want to give up 8 hours on a Saturday to maybe get a duck and bowl 3 overs when they can be hanging round with their mates or playing FIFA. Lower down the cricketing pyramid it should probably be a T20 format starting at 2 and finishing at 5. Summat like that.

 

I had no idea such a daft rule would be brought in.

After playing cricket for 40 years, I want to sit and watch my mates play on a Saturday afternoon, not umpire on a different ground. I've been asked countless times, and I suppose I'm not doing my bit by saying no. I would umpire if I could stand at my own ground, but that would never be allowed. But points deductions for not providing an umpire??? Very harsh. In our league we get charged a levy for not having the require number of umpires. It's a 3 figure sum, but we just pay it and move on.

As far as juniors are concerned, the story was always that they lost interest once they discovered beer, and found out that girls' bodies were different to men's in certain areas. Now, as you say, you can add computer games to the list of "distractions". It's demoralising, but we just have to move on and try and improve things.

 

One of the opinions of Hemmsy that I just don't think he understands, is the "too many teams, so the quality isn't good enough". I don't think he gets that if, lets say all but 3 clubs in Barnsley folded, the players of the folded clubs are not bound to go and play for a different team.

A lot of village cricket is about the camaraderie and loyalty, and unlike football, a lot of club cricketers I know(myself included when i played) would just pack in rather than dredge all over the 'Tarn to find another club. .

 

£30 a game? I used to get seven quid and my tea, but to be fair they were good teas. From the age of thirteen, so back in 2000, i used to play five times a week, under thirteens, fifteens, seventeens, sunday team and school. If the men's team needed me to play on a saturday instead of score I did that too. Think the club i played for has two junior sides now, we used to have two in each age group, and do schools even have cricket fields any more?

 

The collective debt of County Championship clubs is in excess of £150million as of the start of this season. County attendances are up. The article in the link below reckons it's equivalent to 132 spectators per day for the 4 day game. Attendances fluctuate with the weather. A wet summer, then the figure drops. And vice versa.

The growth referred to is pretty much down to T20 format. Short duration game, admittedly good crowds to be fair. And that's what Surrey were talking about, and they are looking at projected growth, they've committed to nothing yet. Look at the $h!t Durham have ended up in.

In the similar thread a few weeks ago, I commented on the obvious decline in local cricket. It sad to see. Whilst many of them are old colliery clubs, they've survived the closures and loss of subsidies, but are being stifled by the drop in participation. Its a sport that brought communities and villages together, a sport open to all regardless of fitness/ability. A wonderful game. Where does the OP poster think our future international players will come from? We're reducing the crop available, no guarantees about the quality available. As an analogy, could we argue that academy structures have improved our national football side? I couldn't. It's generated overpaid mediocrity.

I personally find it disheartening that the authorities in both cricket and football pay lip service to grass roots sport in return for the media bankrolling it and effectively subsidising, or even promoting, the debt of the professional game, giving priority to the viewer in the home. I don't have any doubt about any media organisations priority when putting money into sport. Especially when viewing the sport is behind a paywall. And it's not the sport.

Interesting to note too that one of the biggest growth areas for interaction with cricket by the public is via BBC online and TMS. Sky's coverage is good, and up to a point I can accept their desire to cover the game. But my own view is, and always has been, that the only effect on the health of a sport by effectively blocking out that sport from the majority is a negative one. There should be non exclusive broadcasting for me. And it's to the shame of the ECB (and the FA/EPL, R&A for golf too) that they're willing to sell the soul of the game.

http://www.espn.co.uk/cricket/story/_/id/19064584/elizabeth-ammon-state-english-county-cricket

http://eatmysports.co.uk/2015/11/23/cricket-attendances-up-faith-in-statistics-goes-down/

 

I don't listen to TMS or normally read the BBC online, but ESPNCricinfo has good to great ball-by-ball coverage of the T20s and international cricket.

 

Needs more on terrestrial TV to get numbers up. Not rocket science.