[Cricket] The village / amateur 2024 CRICKET thread...

[Moshe Gariani]

Just a quick check, do you mean Michael Gould as in this guy (https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/michael-gould-297487), or does Ian have another son called Martin as you've written?

I only ask as I've just spent longer than I can reasonably justify trying to work out if there's a family resemblance to Martin Gould the professional snooker player.

Michael Gould... (I always assumed he was financially rewarded sufficiently to justify the nonsense that was his run plundering in the lower reaches of the SCL...)

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Just a quick check, do you mean Michael Gould as in this guy (https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/michael-gould-297487), or does Ian have another son called Martin as you've written?

I only ask as I've just spent longer than I can reasonably justify trying to work out if there's a family resemblance to Martin Gould the professional snooker player.

I seem to recall the name Martin Gould as a maker of leather jackets and racing suits for the motorcycle fraternity - the business was called "Martin Gould Leathers" and was based in central Brighton. I'm going back to the 1970s/80s so probably long since gone.

 

[dazzer6666]

Just a quick check, do you mean Michael Gould as in this guy (https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/michael-gould-297487), or does Ian have another son called Martin as you've written?

I only ask as I've just spent longer than I can reasonably justify trying to work out if there's a family resemblance to Martin Gould the professional snooker player.

Sorry - I meant Michael not Martin

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Sorry - I meant Michael not Martin

Legitimately disappointed that Martin Gould didn't spend his youth smashing bowlers around Sussex before just deciding to become a snooker player on a whim.

 

[amexer]

He has certainly done the rounds of Sussex league clubs

Think he has played for Worthing, Brighton & Hove St James , RMUCC Preston Nomads and Bolney Maybe more.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Bishops Waltham 2nd XI v Ampfield 1st XI
Hampshire League, Division 4
Albany Cricket Ground, Bishops Waltham

That's the theory anyway. In reality, the weather forecast hints at a very frustrating afternoon...

 

[Arkwright]

Bishops Waltham 2nd XI v Ampfield 1st XI
Hampshire League, Division 4
Albany Cricket Ground, Bishops Waltham

That's the theory anyway. In reality, the weather forecast hints at a very frustrating afternoon...

I think I played against Bishops Waltham when I lived in Hampshire. Use to play for Rotherfield Park in East Tisted.
Use to coach the colts at Ropley.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I imagine everybody's played with or against somebody who's clearly playing several levels lower than they really should be.

Probably not this many levels further down than they should be though.

Howzat! Sri Lanka legend Sangakkara makes Dorset Cricket League debut

Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara scored 68 and took one wicket for Shillingstone against Kingston Lacy.

www.dorsetecho.co.uk

Even at this stage in his cricketing career, I might be inclined to push him a bit higher than no.5 in the batting order in a Dorset League County Division 3 match.

At school, we played matches against both the MCC and Lashings CC. The latter had Tino Best playing, who was stepping up his comeback from injury at that time.

He was bowling medium pace essentially. I was at the non-strikers end and my batting partner smashed him through the covers for four, before politely advising him that 'he shouldn't bowl there'. I then witnessed as first hand three balls off Tino's full run. It wasn't that nice even from the non-strikers end.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Bishops Waltham 2nd XI v Ampfield 1st XI
Hampshire League, Division 4
Albany Cricket Ground, Bishops Waltham

That's the theory anyway. In reality, the weather forecast hints at a very frustrating afternoon...

washed out.

 

[Audax]

washed out.

Uckfield 1st's played away vs Lewes St Michael's. Start was delayed an hour and overs reduced to 36 per side, in theory to give everything a chance to "dry out".

We won the toss for the first time this season, and elected to bowl (as you do on a wet pitch with the sun coming out). Bowled them out for 93, which we were initially quite happy with. However ... the state of the pitch after the first innings should have given us a clue. We were all out for 57 in reply, a total not helped by some dodgy batting decisions but also some balls doing fun things (keeping low or rising high off a length) after hitting the divots left after our own bowling effort. 93 was an achievable target with application, but there's not much form in our top order currently.

For myself:

Came on as the 5th bowling choice, quite late after the first 4 had gone through their overs in an effort to finish it all off. Leaving me late was unsurprising given my efforts earlier in the season, but an experiment of going back to my old boots paid off. Got right back onto my normal good length, out swing was back (assisted by the gale), and picked up the final wicket. 2.3 overs, 7 runs, 1 wicket, with the 7 runs including a streaky 4 off a thick outside edge. Batting was difficult, spent a few overs in the middle, contributed 3 runs, before being plumb LBW to quite possibly the quickest bowler I've ever faced in the UK. That was at the second time of asking ... narrowly got away with one after getting my toes a bit *too* close to the pitch of one. Middle toe is sporting a lovely bruise...

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Shrops u14 boys trounced Worcestershire at Stourbridge CC on Sunday. We lost the toss and were invited to bat and put on a competitive 266/7 in 45. The reply never got near the asking rate and the pears were bowled out for 179.

Vikram Solanki was at the game watching his lad play ....

Next Sunday we're away to Northants, another early start ....

 

[Audax]

Bit quiet in here given weekend is so close .

Uckfield 1st's are at home, hosting Laughton. Big game for me - when I first started playing village cricket in the UK, it was with Laughton - because that's where my wife is from. Other than injury, I played pretty much every game with them 2011 through 2015, then occasional games 2016-2018 after the birth of my son left me unable to commit. Given we live in Uckfield, when I resumed playing in 2022 I elected to join them (off the back of always enjoying facing them, and a willingness on Uckfield's side to accept limited availability initially).

Should be fun - looks like a few faces I know are still at Laughton.

 

[Audax]

Lost again...

7-1-24-2 bowling figures for myself, helping bowl Laughton out for 148. We fell short in the chase ... threw my wicket away for 5 late on trying to chase a required run rate that was over 2 per ball.

 

[Timbo]

Bit quiet in here given weekend is so close .

Uckfield 1st's are at home, hosting Laughton. Big game for me - when I first started playing village cricket in the UK, it was with Laughton - because that's where my wife is from. Other than injury, I played pretty much every game with them 2011 through 2015, then occasional games 2016-2018 after the birth of my son left me unable to commit. Given we live in Uckfield, when I resumed playing in 2022 I elected to join them (off the back of always enjoying facing them, and a willingness on Uckfield's side to accept limited availability initially).

Should be fun - looks like a few faces I know are still at Laughton.

Many years ago I used to play village cricket for Ashburnham and Laughton always used to be our toughest game of the season, one year I broke my nose over there running into a 12 year old boy's elbow after neither of us called for a catch

Village cricket out that way seems to be on it's arse a bit. Most sides have now joined the SCL to play in Division 23 West (South Central division, Eastern section) and Sunday friendlies seem to be a thing of the past.

 

[Timbo]

This season I've taken on one of Preston Nomads junior teams. It's an incredible place to be involved with, a very special setting, and hanging around to watch the first XI play after our games is a bit of a treat. They are some team this season.

 

[Mackenzie]

My two daughters played today, the youngest top scored with 28 not out and eldest took 4-20. My son didn’t have the best of days on Saturday with a duck and no wickets in his couple of overs but did take a good diving catch to get in the book. All three of them are so enthusiastic about their cricket, it’s really heartening.

 

[Arkwright]

Many years ago I used to play village cricket for Ashburnham and Laughton always used to be our toughest game of the season, one year I broke my nose over there running into a 12 year old boy's elbow after neither of us called for a catch

Village cricket out that way seems to be on it's arse a bit. Most sides have now joined the SCL to play in Division 23 West (South Central division, Eastern section) and Sunday friendlies seem to be a thing of the past.

I get the feeling that club cricket is in decline at all levels. My old club Caterham use to get four XI's on a Saturday and two on Sunday's and are down to two and one. Junior cricket at all age groups has declined to two across the board.
Really don't know what the answers are, counties seem to be regonalising leagues which us a start, travelling to Haslemere for a duck was a long day.
I took my Level 2 coaching badge and loved coaching at Ropley in Hampshire however looking at Play Cricket none of them are playing ten years on.
That said friends who play rugby and football say club sport is in decline with many clubs merging.
I'm sure some club's are thriving but in general more are closing and playing fields falling into ruin.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I’m away this weekend so no game for me. My lot lost in my absence, failing to defend a total of 229, with the bits and pieces bowlers going for plenty. I’ve no doubt it will be my fault!

 

[Audax]

Village cricket out that way seems to be on it's arse a bit. Most sides have now joined the SCL to play in Division 23 West (South Central division, Eastern section) and Sunday friendlies seem to be a thing of the past.

I get the feeling that club cricket is in decline at all levels. My old club Caterham use to get four XI's on a Saturday and two on Sunday's and are down to two and one. Junior cricket at all age groups has declined to two across the board.
Really don't know what the answers are, counties seem to be regonalising leagues which us a start, travelling to Haslemere for a duck was a long day.
I took my Level 2 coaching badge and loved coaching at Ropley in Hampshire however looking at Play Cricket none of them are playing ten years on.

Definitely a bit of a decline - most significantly during the years I wasn't playing. Laughton have dropped from 2 sides to just 1, but that looks to have been mostly about the retirement of some older players and a lack of kids coming through after losing their junior coordinator. They've got a decent crop of younger players into the side now, if they can keep them around they'll carry on with a strong side.

The flipside is us at Uckfield. We're putting out 2 adult sides (which is down on 5-10 years ago, but stable), but the signs are looking good for regeneration. Part of the reason the 1st's are struggling this season is one of our best bats is also our junior coordinator, and has stepped down to the 2nd's to focus on helping bring through our first new juniors. They're the product of a few years work running Sunday morning junior cricket sessions and it's worth us ensuring their introduction to adult cricket is done with familiar faces in the side.

I've been helping run the sessions for a couple of years (having done the Dynamo's / All Stars activator course). We've got 40+ kids across primary years, and a good group from secondary. Last year we had an U12 side, this season the U12's have stepped up to U13 and we have an U11 side as well. For primary, we split out into 3 groups (up to year 2, years 3-4, years 5-6) and all 3 groups have enough kids that we need at least 2 adults for supervision (per the ratio rules).

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

My lad had probably his best game for Mayfield for quite a while on Saturday, even though it did end in a comprehensive defeat to B. Hill.
48 with the bat, and a decent bowling economy as well.