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Getting in to playing at an older age

CraigyWatt said:
I read the first three sentances and was about to advise coming down the wicket to slog him :lol: :lol:
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wednesday1957 said:
Aye, course it had...sure yer not from Yorkshire....;)
Nah only joking mate....hated tweakers...I would have done the same thing, but if you are playing for the draw, its really a shot you should ignore...
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I’m pretty sure I gave the lad some sound advice about the shitty slow bowlers and not opening his shoulders . Obviously didn’t read it:lol:
 

PeteFTM said:
Is this possible/anyone done it?

When I say older, I’m not old, but stopped playing at 11 to focus on other sports. I’m now mid 30’s and quite certain I’d be absolutely shite at cricket.

However, I’ve seen videos of blokes about 80 year old wicketkeeping and feel like that’d be my level.

I know nowt about local leagues nowadays, but I’ve seen some local ones have a thirds team, can I be certain that they’d be mostly cack and therefore I wouldn’t be out of place with a bowling action that looks like a dog swimming?
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@I am Boss is late 30s and only started playing last year for the first time
 
Can’t believe this weather. Ain’t managed to have a net in 10 days because of it. Could really use the practice before Saturday too (assuming it’s on).
 
I played a little bit of cricket when I was young. My boys were lucky that the village we live in do Cricket Colts and they love it. They've played and trained from 5 years old. The elder son is now 14 (going on 17!) and plays for the seconds but also the Development Team on the Sunday. That's basically a lads and dads team and we all have a laugh. You get the odd arsehole who smashes the youngsters for boundaries and celebrate but most players in the Dev Leagues get the idea that it is to develop the younger players.
 
Kent_Mackem said:
I played a little bit of cricket when I was young. My boys were lucky that the village we live in do Cricket Colts and they love it. They've played and trained from 5 years old. The elder son is now 14 (going on 17!) and plays for the seconds but also the Development Team on the Sunday. That's basically a lads and dads team and we all have a laugh. You get the odd arsehole who smashes the youngsters for boundaries and celebrate but most players in the Dev Leagues get the idea that it is to develop the younger players.
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The celebrate bit is off obviously but there are some cracking juniors in Academy sides and it’s fair game for adults to enjoy successes and play to win too.

I’ve played games with adults who’ve never been coached (just played on the streets with their mates) against 16 yo private school kids who get taught by ex pros. Why should they ease up?

Absolutely fine for anyone in the game to enjoy the good days regardless of age or background imo, it’s one of the class things about cricket. Versus say rugby where kids can’t move up to play against adults.
 
NorthCountryBoy said:
The celebrate bit is off obviously but there are some cracking juniors in Academy sides and it’s fair game for adults to enjoy successes and play to win too.

I’ve played games with adults who’ve never been coached (just played on the streets with their mates) against 16 yo private school kids who get taught by ex pros. Why should they ease up?

Absolutely fine for anyone in the game to enjoy the good days regardless of age or background imo, it’s one of the class things about cricket. Versus say rugby where kids can’t move up to play against adults.
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I meant when an adult is in bat who can properly hit a ball is batting against a 14 year old bowler who is nervous and giving easy hits for the batsman. The batsman then slogs him for 5 consecutive sies and celebrates like he has beaten The West Indies at Lord's.

I agree with you that it's fair game when against the decent younguns, and there are lots of them, but some of them are in those sides having only just made the transition from colts to adults cricket. The whole idea of the Dev Leagues is to encourage that transition, not exploit it for batting averages. That puts younguns off and is exactly the opposite of what the intention is.
 
Inside Forward said:
I’ve just joined a local club. Going down to meet all the players in a few weeks. Told them I’ve never played before but am keen to get stuck in and learn and they welcomed me with open arms.

Nervous but also excited. :lol:
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You’ve inspired me to actually go for it, I finally joined a club this week. Looking forward to the first session and finding out just how shite I am and how unqualified I am to criticise England cricketers.
 
PeteFTM said:
You’ve inspired me to actually go for it, I finally joined a club this week. Looking forward to the first session and finding out just how shite I am and how unqualified I am to criticise England cricketers.
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Haha it’s funny because once I’d faced a few 50-60mph pies and realised how shite I was I resolved to never criticise Zak Crawley for nicking off a 90mph out swinger again. :lol:
 
Inside Forward said:
Haha it’s funny because once I’d faced a few 50-60mph pies and realised how shite I was I resolved to never criticise Zak Crawley for nicking off a 90mph out swinger again. :lol:
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I would have been chuffed to get a bit of bat on owt at 90mph...
Sheffield Caribbean had a keeper they called "Windows"..dunno why, but he was a great bloke,
The lad turned out for our side when he was about 12, playing sheffield Caribbean, "Widows" could have stumped him about 3 times first over, but simply kept hold of the ball and had a word..A mate told me about when he played against them, caribbean had a fast bowler over from the Windies who had played professionally...The bowler started taking his run up walked back to a place like Willis used to run from, "Windows" walked up to a foot behind the stumps, me Mate looked at him, and back to the distant bowler, then heard a chuckle behind him "Windows" said ..."Joking man"..and walked back 20yds....which made me mate feel worse
 
wednesday1957 said:
I would have been chuffed to get a bit of bat on owt at 90mph...
Sheffield Caribbean had a keeper they called "Windows"..dunno why, but he was a great bloke,
The lad turned out for our side when he was about 12, playing sheffield Caribbean, "Widows" could have stumped him about 3 times first over, but simply kept hold of the ball and had a word..A mate told me about when he played against them, caribbean had a fast bowler over from the Windies who had played professionally...The bowler started taking his run up walked back to a place like Willis used to run from, "Windows" walked up to a foot behind the stumps, me Mate looked at him, and back to the distant bowler, then heard a chuckle behind him "Windows" said ..."Joking man"..and walked back 20yds....which made me mate feel worse
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We’ve got a bowling machine that can be cranked up to 95mph. I wisely decided to watch instead of facing it. Funny as fuck watching our batsmen trying to hit it. One of them got hit on the foot first ball said “fuck that” and came straight back out of the net. :lol:

He said he couldn’t even see the ball. You see it come out of the machine and then you lose it.
 
Inside Forward said:
We’ve got a bowling machine that can be cranked up to 95mph. I wisely decided to watch instead of facing it. Funny as fuck watching our batsmen trying to hit it. One of them got hit on the foot first ball said “fuck that” and came straight back out of the net. :lol:

He said he couldn’t even see the ball. You see it come out of the machine and then you lose it.
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We hired the one at chesterl le street that Durham used and all five of us had to face an over at it at full pace 95 mph - no helmet and only one leg pad and you were allowed to add swing to the ball...... I have a video of me being hit in the knackers by it. The ball is released then you dont see it in the air and then its like a foot away. Yes I know the above was a bit silly but we were young and daft - about 41 I think I was.
 
Inside Forward said:
We’ve got a bowling machine that can be cranked up to 95mph. I wisely decided to watch instead of facing it. Funny as fuck watching our batsmen trying to hit it. One of them got hit on the foot first ball said “fuck that” and came straight back out of the net. :lol:

He said he couldn’t even see the ball. You see it come out of the machine and then you lose it.
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95 mph...honestly can't imagine it mate
would have been pointless at the level I played at to have a 90mph bowling machine tbh....and anyone who could bowl at that pace would have been hung for manslaughter should he bowl at that pace on most of the wickets we played on
 
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Inside Forward said:
We’ve got a bowling machine that can be cranked up to 95mph. I wisely decided to watch instead of facing it. Funny as fuck watching our batsmen trying to hit it. One of them got hit on the foot first ball said “fuck that” and came straight back out of the net. :lol:

He said he couldn’t even see the ball. You see it come out of the machine and then you lose it.
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Amazes me when you watch Test cricket and see batsmen playing bowlers like Wood with such control.
 
PeteFTM said:
Amazes me when you watch Test cricket and see batsmen playing bowlers like Wood with such control.
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Quickest bowler I've ever faced was around low- to mid-eighties mph - that was quick enough for me. Anything faster than that would have needed a far greater level of skill than I ever possessed.
wednesday1957 said:
I would have been chuffed to get a bit of bat on owt at 90mph...
Sheffield Caribbean had a keeper they called "Windows"..dunno why, but he was a great bloke,
The lad turned out for our side when he was about 12, playing sheffield Caribbean, "Widows" could have stumped him about 3 times first over, but simply kept hold of the ball and had a word..A mate told me about when he played against them, caribbean had a fast bowler over from the Windies who had played professionally...The bowler started taking his run up walked back to a place like Willis used to run from, "Windows" walked up to a foot behind the stumps, me Mate looked at him, and back to the distant bowler, then heard a chuckle behind him "Windows" said ..."Joking man"..and walked back 20yds....which made me mate feel worse
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Back in the '60s, the club I (much) later played for had as their club professional Lance Gibbs - the great West Indian spin bowler.

For his testimonial, the entire West Indian touring side - including the fast-bowling pair of Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall - turned up to play against a Durham Senior League Select XI.

One of the Select XI was on strike against one of the pair (not sure which one) who was pushing himself off the sightscreen to begin his run-up. In he steamed, the ball hit the batsman on the pads and a great appeal went up. The batsman immediately turned and began to walk off the pitch.
"Come back, son," shouted the umpire. "You're not out."
"I f@cking am," came the reply.
 
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