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looks like we are going to try again tonight, two nighter at the meadow downpatrick. Forecast seems a bit better today so hopefully we will get some play.

Been a few years since i have played a two nighter, i remember when i was first starting in senior cricket two nighters were pretty common for rearrangements. Far from ideal though, but if it actually means getting a game played then happy days

40 overs fielding restrictions no ball free hit poss two 5over power plays or just 40 over games below PREMIER? The biggest annoyance with cricket is playing sat & sun id try play rearangment on midweek as 20/20 and give the sunday back to family life and midweek means one less practice so ? Just think we keep going down this route of 50 overs sat and sun double headers that unless your single an no commitments then serious trouble lies ahead !

nile, i'm not saying do away with school cricket, i'm saying do away with saturday cricket.
i remember we usually got a game crammed in between 10 and 12 on a saturday morning, then the mad rush would be on to get to your club match...it was a real pain.
i dont see why a game cant be played sometime between 3 and 6 mid week. it wont interfere with classes, it wont be as rushed and i think the players would actually want to play then.
it just needs a change in mindset. i think i'm right in saying that most schools have their 'games' sessions on the same day each week straight after lunch, therefore year 11's could get used to playing every wednesday.

i also agree with the idea of a 'pro4o' style league. this together with 12 starts would provide a better structure to cricket on sat...games should all be over by 6pm then.

Google maps says Lurgan to Clogher 43 minutes, and Lurgan to Newtownards 54 minutes. That aside travelling over an hour once or twice a season isn't surely any big hardship. The number of players on the forum is still relatively small and we get a small number of opinions. Also even some club representatives haven't got a grasp of things in their own club.
Let's do this open poll. Surely those who participate in our sport are like " the customers" of the NCU business and it's always good to know what "your customers" want.
If you don't you will soon have less customers. Maybe it's approaching the time where the Unions appoint a CEO to run cricket and he or she goes away draws up a fixture list, league structure , sponsorship programme, pr campaigns for serious cricket, competitive cricket and social cricket as well as a development programme at youth level. When you think we have Cricket in the community officers, club coaches in schools, summer schemes, bigger numbers than ever at youth practices and LESS people playing on a Saturday.
If I saw those trends in one of my shops my first reaction was always , what's the competition up to, what's the manager doing ? .
Despite the protests I read on here I can't help but think that the facts speak louder than words.The number of people playing Saturday cricket is dropping and as a result standards are falling and you seem to get more and more one sided games which then adds to the problem.
The Junior Task force last season wasa step in the right direction of bringing about change, we now have a Senior Task Force but this question of starting or maybe it's finishing times needs to be addressed. It's a bullet that needs grasped.
Could I suggest a second poll. Every club can probably identify 20 guys who have drifted away from the sport over the last 3 or 4 years. Contact them and ask them to put down the main three reasons they stopped playing.
Every business needs to know their customers and then supply what they want NOT WHAT YOU THE BUSINESS THINK THEY NEED.
Those boarded up shops on the high street are depressing , lets not start to see boarded up cricket grounds with the sheep grazing on them.

Ivan it's really down to marketing. The 4 Ps, one of which is place or channel or distribution pathway. You 're right my first club match was u-15 graham cup which we lost. But my first cricket match was ballymena academy v foyle age 12. Clubs are doing more for younger cricketers now i can see. But don't let the headmasters and authorities sell off our school cricket fields.

Hello Ivan maybe our supporters only turn up for the big games??????
Wouldn't say you boys had many at Shaws on Saturday or was your bus arriving at 335pm!!!!!!!
Maybe you missed the green plastic seats and also Carson putting out the large wooden seat donated to the Club.

Start times are obviously a hot topic. I don't think its fair for people like myself in their 50's to be making decisions or suggestions to the young player of today. I think my last Senior game at Laurelvale I poured in home at 2am thanks to having Harry Cook as a teetotal driver. That was the norm nearly 20 years ago but no chance today.
That's why I think a secret ballot among every player in every club can let us know the real feelings. There are arguments about PL cricket and the rest, about 1sts/2nds cricket and then that in the lower teams, discussions on the merits or otherwise of school cricket.
Social habits have changed and I think it's a bit unfair of the Editor to highlight the word " wasted ".Idon't think anyone who plays the game feel they are wasting their day. I think for the sport to grow we need to remember that the majority of club cricketers do not have ambitions or desire to play at PL level.However these people help provide the infrastructure to nurture the players of tomorrow.
T20 Cricket has not caught the imagination here as proven by the sides put out by some clubs in this years competition.
Have an open vote without lobbying to see the results. 11am , 12 noon, 1pm , don't mind.
As for captains agreeing starting times I think this 1. raises suspicions and 2. is not spectator friendly. We want people to get into a habit of attending and it's better if the start times are set.
The schools cricket argument will run and run and what Nile needs to consider is that in his day of schools cricket the underage cricket at clubs consisted of a Graham Cup match(s) and a Colt's Cup match(s) , but now we have Under 11 cup/leage , Under 13 cup/league and Under 15 cup/league and under 17 cup. Boys practice was 10 maybe 15 boys now clubs get 80/100 at youth practice. However these increased numbers of youngsters being introduced to club cricket are not converting to an increased number playing club matches on a Saturday. That's what I think we need to address.

A few points....

We have said that 50 over cricket puts off people who are new to the game. But surely people who are new to the game won't be playing Senior cricket of in Junior 1.

People don't want to ruin their Saturday nights? Some of the best Saturday nights I have had, come after a game of cricket, and beers with your team-mates.

Also, for the further away places, if we had an 11am start at Ards, Donaghadee or Clogher we would aim to be there for 10am, and would have to leave at 8.30, meaning being up at 7.45 on a Saturday morning. Even three times a season.... No thanks!!!

Schools cricket
Many of us emerged from the parks and streets to play our first proper cricket at schools as 12 year olds. It does seem perverse to be trying to introduce the game at more schools, while some are arguing to deny the schools space for a saturday morning fixture list for a few weeks in may and june. Presumably there are still classes and exams in midweek which make it difficult to arrange matches then. Schools cricket must surely still be an important part of the jigsaw.
I daresay lots of other sports are marketing themselves to schools. Don't take it for granted.

11am starts for a side travelling to Clogher from Ards or the 'Dee or vice versa, or to Ballymena or Larne from the craigavon area to mention two scenarios, would mean that the sides would have to leave at 8am or 8.30,hardly the most appealing prospect for someone that has worked all week. Many a time my saturday night has started after the last ball has been bowed, the last wicket taken or the last run scored. staying behind in Dundrum, going accross the road from londonderry park for a pint in the Ards rangers, or stopping off at the Green on the way home, or taking a mini-bus to Donaghadee and making an evening in Pier 36 was all part of the fun.
I have also been dropped off outside the Coach or the Belmont in banbridge, or dropped off our younger players there, and as things stnd, from the wekend after next, all the games I am likeley to play in will HAVE to start at noon, 35 overs per side, so 12 + 2 hours at 17.5 overs per hour means tea at 2pm, 30 minutes break, and another 2 hours and I will be finished for 4.30, 30 minutes for a shower and a change & I will be home for the final scores in the pre-season football games.
I know that i used to enjoy chatting to the opposition after a game over a pint (or if i was driving a glass of coke), and never minded what time I got home at (indeed, sometimes what day i got home at), and if people are interested in the game, they will play it, if not they wont.
As for the crowds at the Muckamore Waringstown game, many times when our game has finished early (when at home), i have stopped off at the Lawn or Pollock to see a bit more cricket, and have seen quite a few players from other clubs stopping off to watch a few overs, so the interest is there, but not I feel for earlier starts.

Jeff,

Here here! Reducing the game to 40 overs for leagues below the PL is the way forward!

re start times dont make laugh last year we wanted put senior cup back 1 hour so that we could play our best 2 schoolboys againest Waringstown who agreed but we wernt allowed and ive played cricket 38 years and ill get lot replies over this suggestion why not try all cricket below PREMIER league just 40 overs as its plain too me that the gulf between premier an below is a step to far and with 8 teams the smaller clubs imo will never break through unless they throw the cashbook and pay players. If say they try it for 1 year and if the clubs vote change it back then majority rules but i think you will find that the scores and enjoyment wont change alot and worth a try ? As i think that their never be stalwarts that all clubs have and never will be again unless we help try make the day a little shorter . ED I dont think anyone means awaste of time its just that 50 over cricket is aprox a 10 / 12 hour day example is if we play cliftonville away we leave 945 for noon start ,we try be early for warm ups etc an then game goes full 100 overs add tea stop for few beers( i dont drive so im always last too leave ) then negioate trafiic ill bet you we never back in Dundrum by 10 pm and im not complaining about that but the new players coming into the game and im speaking for outside the PREMIER think that is too long a day yes m8 it was lot different when me you ivan etc played but them days will never be repeated i personally would go for noon latest start and try 40 overs for one season then ask clubs stick with it or revert back to 50 overs ps im a gambler id say they try it the never go back to 50 in lower leagues but ive lost plenty bets before and will again

i think a complete overhaul of cricket is needed. but i will not bore everyone with my ideas of how things should be changed.
i will however say that school cricket on a saturday morning is a complete waste of time!!!
i know its a long time since i played school cricket but my memories of it were that half the team didn't want to be there because they were there purely to make up the numbers and the other half didn't want to be there because they were anxious to get away to their club matches.
i don't know why schools cricket is not played mid-week, these were the only school games i enjoyed.
i've always thought it madness to play club youth matches on fri nights...then school matches on sat morning and then play a club match on sat afternoon...and maybe even sunday?!?!

school cricket mid-week and earlier start times are crucial for our game to progress

yes, lashing in belfast now too... could be a fun three nights travelling up and and down for very little if any cricket. Still not sure if we start losing overs tonight or what the score is, any ideas??

Taito - dont worry about the floodlights, its the snorkel you'll need - torrential here in (usually sunny) Hillsborough!