Is it time for #cricket to step away from the booze?

Screenshot from MerlinBirdID Common chiffchaff Eurasian wren Eurasian blue tit Mallard European robin

Very nice!
My minute and a bit on the station platform this morning.
(MerlinBird ID is good, but...that "mallard" was the station announcer...! 🦆).

There was a period (mid 2010s) when Essex appeared to be looking more to the East Anglian Premier League (north Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk) than the Essex Premier (mid- & south Essex; lots from the old “metropolitan” County). Not surprised to see a Cambridge school listed.

But also to The Oval, Headingley, and Edgbaston; Southampton, Chester le Street & Taunton, as well.

Perfect Practice Is a Myth The slogan sounds smart. The learning it creates often isn’t.

“Sport is not a still photograph.”
Loren Anderson, Perfect Practice is a Myth
#Coaching #SportsCoaching

It surprised me that the number for Essex was so high.
But I guess things have changed since Browne & Chopra retired, Bopara & Lawrence moved on.

Taking tea on the outfield? Was this usual?

Session plan(s): Video-Part-Whole
An extended games-based #coaching plan for developing batting & bowling skills, incorporating concepts of learning design and the constraints-led approach to skill acquisition.
Or…watching some video and then playing bat-and-ball games!
#CricketCoaching

I think I read somewhere that Surrey will have 13 players at the Hundred… so they will only have 5 or 6 Internationals to pick from in August…

That colorised cap is wonderful…if accurate. Might it have been less vibrant IRL?

Several abandoned accounts in that list (Essex, Lancs, Durham last posted in 2025; Leics (once, only) in 2024); one never posted.
Because they "don't get the traffic"...perhaps because there are far fewer bots on bluesky

But it _is_ a good stat, and not one I’d have guessed.
Slow pitches, bowlers not yet match fit, cold fingers for bowlers & fielders, less swing in turbulent, windy conditions?
We (Club) always used to start on the last Saturday of April. Always cold (if not rained off). Always glad to get into May!

Sorry. Can never resist a bit of proofreading.

wrt point 1. It is probably no surprise that April is a good month for scoring statically…turning for 2s is tricky on wet grounds…easiest just to stand & swing!

Certainly true if you count “proper” clubs (County affiliated) — several near me (“metropolitan” Essex) will field 6 Saturday league XIs this summer.
Although there are also non-affiliated local Clubs e.g. LastManStands

I am sure you are right, and that the 2013 figures were from a paper survey — play-cricket probably wasn’t used that widely back then, and certainly not rigorously enough to rely on any stats.

Although it might be significant that, whilst the upward trend in the numbers of women playing is mentioned, no trend for men’s participation is identified.

I can’t find the figures, just now, but I do recall reading that the numbers of players pre-lockdown was much exaggerated by over-counting on play-cricket.
From personal experience, I was on the system at least 4 times, because entries were not standardised.

The Spin | ‘It keeps you young’: England Over-70s bask in glory of Ashes and World Cup wins Late-age cricket leagues are growing fast and the national Over-70s thrived on their winter southern hemisphere tour

Success for the England over 70s in the #SilverAshes #Ashes & the over70s World Cup.
Big season ahead with the over60s & over70s #CountyChampionship with more entries than ever.
#SeniorsCricket #cricket

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/a...

I can understand the logic, but won’t it also entrench the positions of the Test- & 100-host Counties, those with an in-built advantage in (cricket) revenue generation?
Driving non-hosts to diversify further, potentially at the expense of actual cricket-related activities.

Don’t give them any ideas.

Stop Looking for Better Drills Start Building Better Problems

“What problem do my players need to get better at solving?”
Then ask:
“Does this activity actually force that problem to show up?”

The #coaching questions that should be shaping session planning.
#SportsCoaching
#EcologicalDynamics

From @revenant73.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/nomoredr...

2/2
Spinners need spin-assisted flight — top spin to drop shorter than expected, flipper and teesra (anyone really bowling this?) to scoot through further.
Actually, just bowl!

I’d say Gayle, Pollard were exceptional cricketers who happened to be exceptionally tall.

Zak Crawley? Cameron Green?

Interesting read, but I’m not entirely convinced.
The assumption is that bowlers will helpfully continue to bowl “a good length” to these tall batters, so they can “get under the ball”.
I’d hope bowlers might see the futility of simply holding this length, and mix Yorkers with bumpers.
1/2

Two days before the start of the Championship? So that will be on April 1st?

2/2
Not necessarily because they are good coaches. Certainly not because of any learning, academic or experiential.

#CricketCoaching #SportsCoaching

#Coaching

Perhaps because there is no adequate coach development, anywhere?
Coaches get appointed either because they could play, back in the day, or because they have the experience of #coaching at the appropriate level.
1/2
#CricketCoaching #SportsCoaching

Call me cynical!

The obsession with tall bowlers might recede, as batters become ever more adept at ramps & scoops. And with no slips to take edges, bounce just takes the ball over the head of short third.
Deliveries that will hit the stumps will become more important. I’d be looking for more Malinga-like bowlers.

2/2
Also, tall batters give the bowlers a taller target — a shoulder-high bouncer to Zak Crawley would be a wide to Ben Duckett. I’m not convinced that umpires always make the allowance when judging wides on width — the painted “wide line” is the guide, regardless of the batter’s height & reach.

I’m not so sure that “long levers” are really that much of an advantage for power hitting. Yes, bat speed is high at contact, but the long swing actually takes longer to “put bat on ball”.
So tall batters should be more susceptible to movement and/or changes of pace than more compact swings.
1/2