Cricket needs you

[spurs]

Are you all ******* 50? Stunned at this non-helmet talk.

No...49

 

[Kram]

I was an early adopter back when you got called *ahem* a ****ter for wearing one for no better reason that I wasn't much of a batsman and I had a lot more confidence going back and across knowing I wasn't going to cop it in the mush.

I hated wearing them when they were made compulsory (and blamed it for my batting average dropping considerably that season ) but never remember anybody thinking anyone was 'weak' for putting one one on beforehand. Possible exception was I did think wtf when a keeper put one on.

Weak is games getting cancelled in Perf because it was nudging 40 degrees recently.

 

[Gough]

Turf cricket in the early 90s was a little more robust in character than it is now.

 

[Kram]

In saying that these helmets that the Strikers don do look a bit fruity.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Possible exception was I did think wtf when a keeper put one on.

Our 'keeper got hit in the eye by a bail the other week. I made a Mark Boucher joke at the time but he's seen a specialist and might not be able to play again.

 

[Borisdog]

My association brought in this year that all batsman have to wear helmets when facing anything other than spinners, as do all keepers standing up and all non -slips fieldsmen within 7 metres of the bat.

Funny watching the older blokes who have never worn helmets trying to cope (but provides a good excuse when you get out)

To paraphrase Douglas Adams.

"Safety Johnnies - the first bastards up against the wall in the revolution"

I believe helmets are the root cause of a lot of the very poor short ball technique we see from a lot of players now. They just don't watch the ball well enough when it's short.

I get that they're "necessary", but it's awful to watch blokes just turning their head to short stuff. FFS watch the ball and either duck or get inside the line.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

To paraphrase Douglas Adams.

"Safety Johnnies - the first bastards up against the wall in the revolution"

I believe helmets are the root cause of a lot of the very poor short ball technique we see from a lot of players now. They just don't watch the ball well enough when it's short.

I get that they're "necessary", but it's awful to watch blokes just turning their head to short stuff. FFS watch the ball and either duck or get inside the line.

It does seem to be the case, but I don't get it. Even with a helmet on, there must still be enough incentive to learn to avoid the ball. Its surely not as though you don't feel anything.

Limitations on, exclusion of at some levels, short pitched bowling may be a bigger issue. The one per over rule applied in some higher level aged compeitions is a decent compromise for all levels IMO. With compulsory helmets there isn't any real danger, and its not like most 12 year olds can bowl a decent bouncer anyway. Some 14-15 year olds can at least get the ball high enough. It must be better to learn against slower bowling than face it at full pace with zero experience.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

It does seem to be the case, but I don't get it. Even with a helmet on, there must still be enough incentive to learn to avoid the ball. Its surely not as though you don't feel anything.

It's been something I've been on about for years. There are more batsmen getting hit now than ever before, and the reason is the poor technique batsmen deploy for the short pitched ball since the helmet. Batsmen aren't getting inside the line of the ball, they are behind the ball and try to hook or pull it off their noses. You even see batsmen electing to allow the ball to strike them, much like Wade was doing against Wagner by allowing the ball to smack him on the body. But most of all, they take their eye off the ball rather than watch it as it passes overhead.

I'm like you, a decent whack in the scone by a ball at 150kph surely must impact on the batsman, so I don't know why they aren't taught a better technique. Then again, with all the calisthenics batsmen go through these days with ramp shots, etc, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised when a batsman is hit.

 

[TigerCraig]

Local clubs are merging, playing numbers have declined, standards have declined. Where blokes once block-booked their summer Saturdays and rarely missed games, these days it's a weekly battle to rustle up enough players to fill elevens. You're never ever at full strength except for finals. Blokes go on holiday with the missus, attend weddings, music festivals and the races and occasionally even admit to such things as preferring a day at the beach. It ain't cricket that's changed, it's people. Cricket is a relatively slow sport, and we have conned ourselves into believing we are time-poor.

Sorry, I don't have the answers. Nothing lasts forever; maybe cricket has simply had its day, like jousting.

My Assoc has a rule now that you can play 14 in a 2 dayer (need to nominate on the team sheet before the toss who is playing week1/week2), so guys dont have to commit to both weeks

 

[The Speaker]

The NFL has the same problem. Helmets make people think they are invincible. They are necessary, but people need to be taught the correct technique for them.

As for the drop in numbers, every sport is facing the dilemma, and few will face as much of a challenge as cricket, as it has very high barriers to entry for both time and money.

Richard Pryor is right in spotting the weakness of T20 - it's all very samey. It's like a running a simulator a few times to see what results it can spit out, which means that to maximise its cultural effect it actually needs to take up less time in our lives. The franchises will also never, ever have the same deep roots as state teams would.

ODI cricket is in serious trouble, not because of the quality of the games (although they aren't as good as they could be due to messing around with powerplays and field restrictions too much, and the two new balls are still a problem), but because they're locked away on Fox and people aren't away that there's also a championship taking place for it.

Tests are going fine as always, as people seem to have a positive image of even the not-up-to-standard D/N matches. Boxing Day was the largest non-Ashes day crowd since before World Series Cricket!

 

[to1994]

Netflix once said their biggest competition isn't other streaming platforms, it's Fortnite.

Cricket (and most other sports) is very much in the same boat. There's way more entertainment options out there then there were many years ago and the prospect of going out to watch a one-sided Test match in most cases isn't all that thrilling to anyone.

ODIs have no context and have started to feel like longer t20 in a lot of cases and T20s have pretty much gone backwards in this country with overseas stars looking for better options while we're left with players who can't even make their state side in other formats.

When it comes to following the game, more emphasis on apps and good quality streaming is the way forward. Channel 7 much like Channel 9 can be incredibly off putting at times with their commentary and marketing gimmicks and far too often am I tempted to just follow it on Cricbuzz/Cricinfo while I do something else. Those sites are pretty much just Indian focused so a service that's catered to the Australian fan with supporting media like interviews, analysis etc. would go a long way.

Participation at younger levels is the biggest challenge. There's a number of obstacles, not just the kids themselves but also parents as if they aren't diehards themselves the last thing they're going to encourage is a sport that requires them to sit around in the heat for 4+ hours to watch their kid field in the sun all day. It's not so much bout getting the genuinely good players interested, they'll stay interested because of their own skill level, it's the players who aren't very naturally gifted who barely get a go who the clubs need to focus on and ensure they're motivated to turn up each week.

It's a real tough one and I think it would have to start with Cricket Australia making more of an effort in being involved in schools because there's far less kids willing to just give things a go on their own anymore, when they can go home and just play Fortnite or something where they can learn and do everything without having to practice, involve anyone else or purchase any equipment. Whether there is a solution I'm not sure but it's Cricket Australia's responsibility to try new things to find one as the landscape is going to completely change in 20-30 years when there's no more Test diehards around and less Dad's pushing their kids into playing.