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The Demise of Cricket

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Old Boy

master brummie
Hi All,

England have just won the 2nd Ashes Test in Australia. They nearly won the first test. However not a word on this forum but compare it to all the football we get. I think that the public interest in cricket has almost died. Yes test matches get good gates but for county games the grounds are almost empty.

There are many reasons. Many years ago I was a keen Warwickshire fan and the ground was almost full for every game. I lost interest when batsmen started wearing helmets. It meant that most of the bowling was fast and to me boring. Cricket is more interesting when the spinners are on. More runs are being scored but wickets are usually falling st the same time.

Cricket is a funny game. It is, in general, only played by countries which were part of the old empire. Many variations have been introduced such as one day matches, 20/20 etc but it still seems to be dying a death.

R.I.P

Old Boy
 
I put my hands up and confess I like nor enjoy, either [cricket marginally less so] though My Mom was a AV Fan and loved to watch cricket.
 
G'day Old Boy!

Even though you Poms have just thrashed us in the Second Test (well done!), cricket is very much alive and well in Australia. I only really follow the Ashes Series, when I find my loyalties curiously divided! The fact that Aussie captain "Punter" Ponting is Tasmanian attracts a great deal of local interest, even if he hasn't been doing very well recently.

Thylacine.
 
I must say how delighted I am for the England teams resounding victory over the old foe, but why, ho why, must the modern cricketers have to behave like children, hugging and kissing and really being, well so un-English.
paul
 
County games were three day events when I was in the UK. and a couple of times I went to watch on a week day...when I had the flue...not much attendence then. I don't know...much preferred whites and if hugging and kissing is now the rule...welll...hmm...think I will finally ditch my whites. Wonderfull game...civilised...make a day of it and stop for tea. Great country game and it does not have to be high ability.
Qzzie Wheatly, M.J.K., Sewarandjit Singh and Kenny Ibadullah come to mind for Warwickshire. You youngsters probably are wondering who these guys were. Wish I could have my cricketing days back again.
 
Peter and our two sons love the game and follow both county test cricket. I am afraid I am not a fan and my only experience of the game was playing it in the entry's of Holte road. My son is a qualified cricket coach but does not have time to run courses any more due to work commitments. It sure is still alive Old Boy in our household. Jean.
 
It's a crying shame that cricket is rarely played in primary and secondary shcools these days. I guess that teachers are loathe to give up their time to organise games and I suppose there are "Elf and Safety" issues to worry about.
We climbed the fence at Deykin Avenue School on summer evenings and played until dusk - even the caretaker came out to watch ! Twenty or so kids engrossed and off the street. In the 50's most primary and secondary schools had a team playing matches early evening and Saturdays. Happy days !
I try to get back for the Cheltenham Cricket Festival every year. Held in the grounds of Cheltenham College. A great day out and always well attended.
 
From the the late 50s we, as youngsters would always play cricket or soccer. I played both sports for the school, we also walked to a sports ground just off St Bernards Rd Olton to watch cricket matches. We did not know who the teams were and did not support either one, we went because we wanted to see good cricket.
As for the lack of any sport in schools nowadays, most of the playing fields have been sold off and built upon. There are no sports teachers in most schools nowadays. Health and safety has been used to curtail school sports and the other crowd also had a go with the theory that the team that lost suffered mental trauma and they could be socially affected for life. The result of all this is what we have now, a child who has never heard the word NO!! We all learned from an early age that life is full wins and losses, yes's and no's. I am wandering here, back to topic, I am sure that if schools played cricket it would ressurect the sport.
 
I love my cricket Old Boy, Problem areas for me are the price of Test Match and One Day Internationals at Edgbaston, I cannot afford the £75 and upward ticket prices that were under £30 5 years ago!
Yes School Cricket has virtually disappeared due to teacher's not supporting and the loss of Cricket squares to play on. But the gauntlet has been taken up by local cricket Clubs. My old club " Earlswood CC." now run teams from under 10's to under 16's. Clubs like this should be thanked and valued by the community.
Their problem is that funds do not filter down from the Test and County Boards. It seems to stop at county level, which is a great pity. Earlswood would love an all weather strip so that the youngsters can play on everyday if possible, but the ECB and our County team won't release any funds to help at grass roots level. They do offer coaching to help professional players attain their coaching badges for onward employment.

I would love to say that the extortionate prices of top class international matches allows funds to go down to grass root youngsters cricket, BUT I CAN'T!!
 
Our cricket at primary school was organised by a teacher, there were no "specialists" back then. How I agree with you about the costs of a day at the Test or a one day game. The Pakistan tour this year was a great example, over half empty grounds, nothing to do with the scandals, ordinary folk could not afford a ticket.
Stories to brighten our gloom :- An Archbishop could never walk down the nave of his Abbey without wondering whether it would take spin.

It's a funny kind of month, October. For the really commited cricket fan, when you discover that your wife left you in May.
 
What an alarming state of affairs. Sports should be on the curriculum as an equal subject in schools for everyone, wether cricket, soccer, rugby or whatever and resorces should be allocated accordingly. With the dissappearance of quality jobs in our world, we need other outlets for gainful employment anyway and sport is a much better entity to spin money than casino's. OK many of the great old buildings have gone for ever but these games can be reinstated at the school level from junior onwards...easily. It's hard to believe that health and safety is an issue but in this regard I think that the hard full size cricket ball is a bit much for juniors...a slightly smaller and softer ball may be the way to go as an introduction to the game for youngsters. The hard ball was always a daunting thing to catch for a young male kid and even worse for girls. In soccer a smaller ball is used at the junior level and also smaller (3/4 size) pitches, so why not something for cricket and perhaps rugby for that matter.
Perhaps schools in the countryside still support school sports. Some must since the games still seem to be played at the proffessional level.

We played soccer on the streets with a tin can some of the time and like Jean the cricket stumps were chalked on the end wall of a building. Surely we have advanced a bit since then. Still, if you can control a tin can on a speedy run down the wing...a real ball would be a piece of cake. Oh! the arguments about chalk marks on the tennis ball.
 
Cricket is a bit like the Church of England, once they start tinkering with it, to give it a more 'populist' appeal, they ruin it! However, 'village' cricket, as with village churches, is still going strong. As us older one's know, cricket is a way of life, and not just a game!
 
Local sports leagues for both cricket and football teams are still alive and well out in the rural Counties. No famous names, just people of all ages enjoying a sport they enjoy. It can be tough making your way into some of these teams even at this low level.Take a look in your local paper and see what games are taking place.Forget the Celebrities and high entrance fees, go watch local players often for free and support grass roots sport. Three of my grandkids have played for School teams at County level.
The only thing with young lads it is not long before the discover young lassies and interest in sport has to take a back seat.
 
Technique is the thing and there is no substitute for propper tuition at an early age...to get off on the right foot so to speak. Even if the end result for most would be local and amature teams, there would still be more extreame tallent produced if this were so. Sport is not for everyone. It could be a career for more people maybe; more than at present anyway.

Do you still have private schools now? Are the finer points of cricket still taught at these places? How about cricket scholarships.
 
The main demise of cricket is due to schools not having the large playing fields they had in the past, the cost of grounds maintanance is now prohibitive for most, and the demise of compulsery sports in schools from an early age also compounds the problem. It has always suffered from a competitive point with the more popularist football with its media hero's especially in the larger city's where working class lads were always pro football, together with kit cost's and being a summer sport when schools are away for most of the summer months, this plus the "Nanny States health/safety regs" really has nailed the coffin down, so to speak.
paul stacey
 
This is all so 'short sighted'....give a kid a way out. It's funny; I have a monitor to keep an eye on the stock market by the side of my computer and just as I was typing this, there was a scene showing a kid with a gun in an entry and then the whole skin was peeled from him and the gun melted...revealing a kid in a soccer outfit who ran on to a pitch where other kids were playing soccer. The statement was 'give a kid a way out'. What a coincidence. It applies to cricket also and this game should be more mainstream and it can be if the decision was made so to do.
 
I saw on today's news that four schools in Birmingham have each sent a group of young lads to a centre within the city where a professional cricket player is giving them tuition. The youngsters are made into groups, each containing pupils from all four schools. They use a tennis ball wrapped in some sort of tape and the lads really enjoy it. This could be the re- birth of cricket but it also gets kids from different postcodes playing together instead of them fighting each other in gangs. The lack of activities between schools as we knew it years ago must be a contributing factor in postcode gangs. I do not suppose for one minute this will stop gangs, but it may stop some youngsters from going the wrong way.
 
Stich they have just knocked that stand down believe it or not it was still intergrated into the old players main stand. the pillars and arches used to be still there, but no longer. The new stand looks very mod and expencive to sit in I'm told by members who are not happy about the season ticket price hikes!!

Bob
 
Hello Bob, I am up to date with the view of the new stand because I pass the ground when I visit family or friends in Acocks Greeen, but I know nothing about the prices nowadays.
 
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