FIFTEEN AND OUT!

The ECB are targeting the All Stars of the future, but need to tackle teenage angst as well, reckons Huw Turbervill

The aim of All Stars Cricket is to capture the hearts and minds of the very young, and that is commendable. Many readers and contacts of this magazine say that the major problem facing the England and Wales Cricket Board is the drop-out rate of 15-year-olds, however. 

A social-media request on this subject inspired a barrage of replies and opinions. Many said that their clubs’ colts sections are flourishing, but they have teenage angst – and there was some support for Wasim Khan’s recent call in The Cricketer for all club cricket to be T20. 

Huw Gareth Roberts is with Colwyn Bay CC. “Our drop-out zone is 15 to 18. Jobs, too much travelling and the length of the day are all factors. There is a huge amount of choice these days: the accessibility of other sports was just not around 15 years ago. It is the curse of the video game, and no cricket on terrestrial TV. All league cricket will be T20 in 10 years’ time.”

Rob Franks, from the Hampshire/Dorset area, concurs: “As a head coach I speak to our under-15s, and most say the day is too long and they have better things to do. This needs sorting quickly. We’ve had a survey and most people want 40 overs a side maximum, with a 1pm start. Currently it is 45 overs, 2pm start. Last week I was home at 10pm!”

Bedford CC’s Tom Carr joins in: “Every year our numbers drop from 40-plus to barely putting out one XI. Ideas on how to sustain numbers are greatly received!”

Benjamin Williams, of Killamarsh juniors in Sheffield, argues: “Senior cricket game needs to be completed within five hours so you are not losing all your day to the sport...” That would equate to about 35 overs per side. “An earlier start would also be better. Scrap draws. Maybe play T20 on Sundays.”

Chris Bolton, from Sarisbury CC in Hampshire, said: “Our club has 80 kids aged five to 11... we also have 20 under-15s playing regularly. The big issue is the transition into the adult game. It is becoming tougher each year.” Jamie Evans agrees: “Lots of kids vanish after under-15s. There is no interest in 45 or 50-over cricket. The day is too long.”

Alun Evans believes that the problem starts at 12: “That is when team cricket becomes for the elite. The same six bat and bowl while the others stand on the boundary.” Williams agrees: “Absolutely! How many teams have the same person opening the batting and bowling? The rest just make the numbers up.”

Tom Rawstorne said: “Also missing are thirty-somethings in league cricket, as they have spouses and kids and do not want to play the long game. League clubs are in real difficulty. You get old players and at this time of year players back from university, but there is a real struggle to get enough people in their 20s and 30s...”

Andrew Collon reflected sadly: “Times have changed; one of the things I used to enjoy at 15 was going off to play in, say, North London, and getting home at 11pm.”

Kieran James makes the point that the necessity of weekend work is a factor: “When I got to 15 or 16 I was pushed into getting a job to pay for certain things.”

Adrian Butters believes there could be too much cricket on televison, however: “As a kid on a Sunday afternoon, I watched the last 20 overs of every John Player League game, or raced home to watch the last few overs of a Gillette Cup match on Wednesday teatime on BBC2, curtains drawn to keep the sun off the screen as Asif Iqbal and Clive Lloyd traded blows. Nowadays, there is a T20 or 50-over game on most nights of the week. How many of them do you watch? Me? Probably catch the end of a couple; no more. There’s too much on; the games all start to merge into one and I end up channel hopping. I fear the same overkill is happening with adolescent and to some extent senior cricket.”

Cost of kit also a factor. The representative of a well-known manufacturer told me this situation will get worse next summer as well, when the cost of willow is due to go up 10 per cent.

It is not all doom and gloom, though. “Last Saturday I had seven under-16s in my side and they opened the batting and bowling and did well,” said Melvyn Gale, the chairman of Taunton CC. “It was similar this week. I feel there is every chance of keeping them. I give them a proper game as skipper. Sadly, I am in a minority. Get them in senior sides and back them, or they will vanish. There are lots of clubs folding here with only about eight players... strangely those left bowl lots of overs and bat high each week.”