kidderminster
Goalkeeper
Yes he was, a superbly talented opener, but he's not played at all since becoming a footballer. Sean, as you can imagine from his build, is a quick bowler.
NEPL 2022
- Thread starter GordonMuchallNo1Fan
- Start date
brandon
Striker
Canny chanter
As for the Longstaffs, that’s a cracking sporting family. Dad has only recently been overtaken as GB Ice Hockey’s all time most capped player.
Not bad for a Whitley Warrior
I'd have him back at durhamScott Steel 117* and 1-20 off 10 overs for Willington at Gateshead Fell.He was out of favour for the last couple of slap and tickle for Leicestershire so maybe injured.
Fits in with club policy of recruiting other counties rejects rather than promoting from within.
harryCLSsafc
Central Defender
The pandemic, major capital works and the death of the chairman have hit the club hard. Blooding a lot of youngsters in, particularly at second team level and won't see the benefits of that for a couple of years yet. First team seem to have lost their way.
Definite transition period for the club. Guess it happens to all clubs at some point.
MURPHY1973
Central Defender
Not the NEPL but didn't know where to post this but I see someone scored 49 from one over in Tyneside and Northumberland league Division 4 fixture Clara Vale v GEMs
safctommie
Winger
Excuses.Do the players frequent the bar?
One of the downfalls of the pyramid structure. It can be very difficult to keep blooding youngsters at the top level, without a serious risk of being relegated. At which point Durham start telling those kids you have spent so much time developing to go elsewhere for top division cricket.
No coincidence that the majority of sides that have competed for titles over the years, produce the square root of nowt in terms of young players.
safctommie
Winger
Are second players as committed these days? How many at Ch Le St for example commit themselves for the whole season?
harryCLSsafc
Central Defender
Part of the issue is that neither the firsts nor the seconds are particularly settled. Also one or two lads who played on a Saturday and were influential players aren't playing at all or very much on a Saturday.
There are some really talented youngsters at the club but it takes time, as we know, to bed them in, especially when the standard of the firsts and seconds is so high.
I suspect and we have seen it with SAFC that once the chairmanship and Committee at CLS CC are all finally settled (we don't have a chairman ATM) then we will see the cricket club with a new direction and purpose. However I'll say again that the club that went into the pandemic and the one that came out of the pandemic are different.
There may be some difficult days ahead for the club. It would be a massive shock for the club if the firsts or seconds were relegated, but no one is contemplating that and we all hope that we will have enough to stay up and regroup in the winter.
safctommie
Winger
If players in the 2nds aren’t committing themselves for the full season then there’s your problem,surely? You’ll never have a settled team.
I don’t think this is unique to CLS. Bloody difficult getting the older teens and twenty somethings to commit a whole Saturday, especially for 2’s. Cricket plays second fiddle to holidays, festivals, piss ups, girlfriends, graft overtime. The pandemic is partly to blame, goes deeper than that though, lots of systemic and structural reasons, crickets place in the sporting pecking order.
The football season starts in July this year..
Cricket in the younger generation has never been more popular when it comes to playing. Under 9s, 11s, 13s, 15s and 18s. When I first started playing late 80s it started under 13s and even then you hardly played any games at that age group. From an uneducated eye seems to be lots of young lads padding out second teams on a weekend
While ultimately it could be argued the experience will stand them in good stead it could also be said that playing long cricket matches against much better older players before they are ready could be helping them eventually turn there back on the game
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May just be my club but for me the problem with kids not wanting to play on a saturday has been around standing around all day while the same 3 or 4 players do everything. It's a difficult balance to find, especially with 2s having promo/relegation in extremely competitive leagues, but its crucial for clubs to make sure that pathway from junior cricket, to actually contributing in senior cricket is there. Success occasionally has to be on the back burner in order to keep that cycle going, and ultimately secure the clubs long term, sustainable future. Even 1st teams need to start considering this. While teams are paying 4 or 5 bang average players who might get 150 more runs a year than a kid coming through, the problem will continue.
