Cricketing moral dilemma

Yeah Sachin was 'tonning up' in international cricket at 16 FFS.

Goughy said:

If a 15 yr old is any good he should be playing 1st team cricket anf treated as such.

If the general standard is not the highest then maybe the opening bowler should look to find a club more of his standard.

If it is a good league then 15 yr olds that play should take what they are given, if it is a low standard then some common sense comes into play. However, 15 isnt young.

What league was it in? In know the different Yorkshire leagues pretty well.

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Yeah, the standard isnt great to be honest. Its the Bradford Mutual league, some good players in there, but we are in the bottom division.

Our bowler is nippy but is of the leagues standards...and the pitches arent the best. My take on it is if they are worried about a 15 year old batting, then they shouldnt have him in at 3.

I know when I was playing 'adult' cricket when I was 13/14, they didnt go easy on me, and I improved as a result.

It puts the bowling team in a tricky situation when they send in even younger players (say 13) . You feel like you should tone the bowling down a bit, but then you think well if they hit a couple of 4's (and some of them look like they could develop into handy players) that could change the game in a league where this season the scores have been pretty low.

What got me more though was the moaning about us not playing within the spirit of the game, when we appealed for handled ball.

I've been at square leg before umpiring when my own team is batting, and unintentionally lost concentration. Normally it only involves me forgetting to see if the batsman has properly put his bat past the crease when running, or I forget to fix the stumps up when the ball has hit them. Never not been looking during a runout, but its understandable with the game almost finishing, and probably dragging on at the time. He probably should have just given the stumping out, unless he truly believed it wasn't, but no real harm done.

Regarding the age thing, sounds like the opposition were just having a whinge. Perfectly fine what you did, as others have said.

Tom Halsey said:

It's their problem if they've picked someone who shouldn't be playing at that level, shouldn't have to accomodate them.

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Precisely, we don't get to play one hand one bounce when Saj is bowling, so why should this kid be given any leeway?

Haha genuine

I'm 14, and when I play for my club 2nd XI, I certainly don't expect any pace bowlers to slow down for me, it's part and parcel of the game, facing fast bowlers at a young age makes you a better player.

I played my first senior match when I was 12, and on that occasion, the bowlers didn't quite go full pelt, but they still sent it through at a sharp pace.

If a kid is quite clearly only playing because they're short and he's filling in at 10 or 11 (age or batting position) then obviously you go easy. Bowl ultra-flighted pie and get them caught.

But 15 year olds batting at three deserve everything they get and whining about it is nothing shy of manipulative bullplop. Sport hurts - go hard or go home!

On this subject, also spotted this story, linked off another thread:

The Telegraph said:

The West Indian management have also taken an interest in Tino Best, the short-legged and short-tempered fast bowler who played against England on their 2003-04 tour of the Caribbean. Best has been asked if he is available for net sessions, and if England keep scoring 500, he could yet be in line for a Test comeback.

In the meantime, Best is searching for a overseas player's spot in the Lancashire leagues after an extraordinary general meeting of the T. Rippon Mid-Essex League ruled that he could not play for High Roding against Springfield.

High Roding's captain Mel Hussain, brother of former England captain Nasser, was scornful of Springfield's protest, which hinged on the fact that there were two 16-year-olds in the team. Hussain was tempted to start the match with an underarm delivery, just to make a point, but in the end settled for inflicting a heavy defeat on the league leaders.

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Jono said:

I've been at square leg before umpiring when my own team is batting, and unintentionally lost concentration.

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Quite possible that I gifted a team-mate (and genuinely good friend, too) of mine a century 4 years ago by giving him not-out off a stumping 1st ball of the innings (he was batting at #1) when I wasn't concentrating properly. I don't know whether it was out, and my first reaction was that it was, but I wasn't sure enough to know.

Only century of his career to date, too.