The Cricket Thread

[Boo Khaki]

Saffers are Englanding hard here.

Always find it a bit bemusing when teams have 30 overs or so to fetch a total that is a pretty standard T20 score, and make a complete and utter arse of it inside 10-15 overs. That's cricket I suppose.

[Left Back]

16 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Saffers are Englanding hard here.

Always find it a bit bemusing when teams have 30 overs or so to fetch a total that is a pretty standard T20 score, and make a complete and utter arse of it inside 10-15 overs. That's cricket I suppose.

They’d made a c**t of it inside 3 or 4 overs tbf.  Go big or go home.

[Clockwork]

Just finished Freddie Flintoff’s ‘Field of Dreams’, great wee series. The big fella has some amount of patience with a certain few of those kids though, the man’s a Saint!!

[Mark Connolly]

29 minutes ago, Clockwork said:

Just finished Freddie Flintoff’s ‘Field of Dreams’, great wee series. The big fella has some amount of patience with a certain few of those kids though, the man’s a Saint!!

Great series. There were a few times that someone started cutting onions, especially in the last episode.

 

[peasy23]

Fair to say Glamorgan's innings was a bit of a mixed bag.

[Craig fae the Vale]

I see Scotland are playing New Zealand in a pair of Twenty20s and an ODI over the next week. How would we expect them to go? As a non cricket fan, but a fan of all Scotland teams, just wondering how we'd be expected to do against one of the bigger cricket teams.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Probably two rained off and a skelping in the other

[die hard doonhamer]

43 minutes ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

I see Scotland are playing New Zealand in a pair of Twenty20s and an ODI over the next week. How would we expect them to go? As a non cricket fan, but a fan of all Scotland teams, just wondering how we'd be expected to do against one of the bigger cricket teams.

We played against them at the T20 World Cup last year and lost by 16 runs, so were by no means disgraced. They also haven’t had a brilliant tour of England and Ireland so far, so I think there is scope for an upset in there somewhere. I think we’ll sneak 1 win, but we’ll also take a heavy defeat at some point as well.

 Different topic, but related, Kyle Coetzer has retired from the T20 format for Scotland. I’m glad he’s been able to do so before being moved out of the team, but I really think that it’s the right call, I don’t think his game is capable of the scoring rates required in the modern game. He still warrants his place in the 50 overs format though, hopefully he has a few performances left in him there. A proper Scottish cricket legend.

 Good to see Oli Hairs and Craig Wallace back in the squad for the week ahead. Hairs was really unlucky to injure his shoulder just before the World Cup last year or I expect he would have played a decent amount since. Wallace has been in superb form domestically for Forfarshire this season, he provides much needed competition for the wicketkeeper spot, with Matty Cross having had a pretty underwhelming last 12-18 months with the bat in Scotland colours. 

[Boo Khaki]

Keen to read what's inside the investigation's report on racism within Scottish Cricket. The news is reporting that the finding is that it is 'institutionally racist', so more of a structural bias against minority players rather than just a few problematic individuals within a largely decent group. Worrying, but then my experience is that Cricket does have an element of elitism about is as you progress up the grades. Perhaps not quite as snooty as golf clubs, tennis and so on where not being the 'right type' is frowned upon, but I did from time to time encounter certain teams, groups, and people who quite clearly believed that there was a certain 'something' to be preserved, defended, or not shared with people they viewed as being part of a lesser social background. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if minority players encounter the exact same thing because of their colour, religion, or ethnicity.

It's confusing because I played with and against so many minority players who where a whole-hearted part of the club, accepted entirely, never viewed or treated in any way different to anyone else, and as much as ridiculous behaviours and 'incidents' were common place on the cricket pitch, I can honestly say I never once witnessed anything I'd describe as a racist or evidence of racial prejudice in action. I'm not a minority though, so I don't feel equipped to judge really, and I certainly witnessed plenty sexism, mocking of disability, and a long while back the homophobia that was a constant part of wider society at the time. I don't for one moment believe that Scots cricket and cricketers are somehow incapable of being racist. It is totally disheartening to read that it's a fact.

[Moomintroll]

It is thoroughly depressing that the people who were in charge were WASPs in the extreme & discriminated against some of our best players because of the colour of their skin, hopefully these resignations will lead to a more diverse group of capable people taking the game forward in Scotland.

[peasy23]

It is thoroughly depressing that the people who were in charge were WASPs in the extreme & discriminated against some of our best players because of the colour of their skin, hopefully these resignations will lead to a more diverse group of capable people taking the game forward in Scotland.

I've always found it a bit strange that we don't have more players of Asian descent representing Scotland tbh. Any time I've seen games played in public parks it has always been exclusively Asian players, that obviously doesn't translate to guys going on to play organised cricket.

I live near Springburn Park and regularly walk through there, and a several times there has been a game in full flow there on the artificial wicket.

Also played bowls a few years ago at Weir Rec in Cathcart. On the adjacent cricket pitch their was a game underway that was about thirty handed, with boys from about 11 or 12 up to guys in their 30s.

I was talking to a mate yesterday and we both agreed that when we were young we would not have had the first idea about how to get involved in cricket or rugby as they just weren't sports that were played in Glasgow schools at the time. As much as there may well be a racism problem, there is a class one too.

[Moomintroll]

1 minute ago, peasy23 said:

I've always found it a bit strange that we don't have more players of Asian descent representing Scotland tbh. Any time I've seen games played in public parks it has always been exclusively Asian players, that obviously doesn't translate to guys going on to play organised cricket.

I live near Springburn Park and regularly walk through there, and a several times there has been a game in full flow there on the artificial wicket.

Also played bowls a few years ago at Weir Rec in Cathcart. On the adjacent cricket pitch their was a game underway that was about thirty handed, with boys from about 11 or 12 up to guys in their 30s.

I was talking to a mate yesterday and we both agreed that when we were young we would not have had the first idea about how to get involved in cricket or rugby as they just weren't sports that were played in Glasgow schools at the time. As much as there may well be a racism problem, there is a class one too.

Very true, I was lucky that I played football with someone a few years older than me whose dad was a Teacher at my School, they were English & played for Ardrossan so I got to train there because I knew them. Otherwise, although I loved watching the game, I would never have had the chance to play it, the class divide is also huge down here & a lot of potential first class players are lost to the game as a result.

[die hard doonhamer]

I personally think that classism is the biggest issue facing Scottish cricket. There needs to be so much more done to get the game in to state schools across the country, otherwise kids are only going to get in to it if a family member is already involved.

 The report is going to make interesting reading tomorrow, that’s for sure. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by die hard doonhamer

[peasy23]

I personally think that classism is the biggest issue facing Scottish cricket. There needs to be so much more done to get the game in to state schools across the country, otherwise kids are only going to get in to it if a family member is already involved.
 The report is going to make interesting reading tomorrow, that’s for sure. 

It's not only cricket that needs to be pushed more. The only team sports on offer when I was at school were football, softball and hockey. We would then get athletics from Easter until summer, we were at least fortunate enough to have tennis courts at my school.

It is a conundrum tbh, as no doubt with budgets already stretched every council would say that they don't have the resources to introduce every sport into schools.

[Salvo Montalbano]

Aye, I was lucky in that I played (with one of those cheapo bat and ball sets you used to get at the Indoor Market) and watched a bit of cricket, and that we had a sound PE teacher who also enjoyed it. In the summer term the options were usually tennis or athletics but I asked the teacher if they'd offer cricket instead and he said that if I could get another 7 or 8 boys interested then he'd take us and so we got a term of cricket rather than running around and jumping and throwing things.

[rowsdower]

I personally think that classism is the biggest issue facing Scottish cricket. There needs to be so much more done to get the game in to state schools across the country, otherwise kids are only going to get in to it if a family member is already involved.
 The report is going to make interesting reading tomorrow, that’s for sure. 

This was a big deal in Edinburgh, where I played from 14 to about 22. I got into cricket from school in England, but when moved home there was no school option, so joined a club. I regularly made the regional squads, but after weeks of turning up to nets and busting my arse, I'd see a team selected from the posh schools that never even turned up. Dont think I was robbed of a career or anything, but shitty nonetheless. Most of the committees I've been involved in have been pretty one dimensional as well.

It's an expensive game to take up, and you really have to join a club to be able to learn/practice, so there's plenty of barriers to entry for wee army neds like me.

I've also been part of clubs when they first had Asian players join, and it was an eye opener. First, having the captain open the bowling with an Indian guy sight unseen (who then literally bowled it off his own foot) to players leaving because they couldn't hack the diversity.

It has gotten better over the last 25 years, but I'm glad CS has opened this up.

[Mark Connolly]

Just the 448 examples of institutional racism

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62290554

[die hard doonhamer]

A complete failure of leadership within both Cricket Scotland, and the Western District Cricket Union, then. CS leadership has been inept in everything for a while now, so that is no great surprise.

 It’s a dark day in the history of Scottish cricket, without doubt. Hopefully the game can rebuild quickly from here. At grassroots level, I’ve only ever found the game to be open and welcoming in my limited experience of clubs in Perthshire. It should be that way for everyone. 

[Binos]

Knew an aussie guy who was good cricketer and played with Edinburgh old school types

Ridiculed every week he said for being working class aussie and not from posh school background 

Whens the classist report coming out 

[Ginaro]

Is the report available for the public to read?