WHY DO SO MANY TEEN CRICKET PLAYERS STOP PLAYING THE GAME - IS THE GAME DESIRABLE TO PLAY? ARE WE LOOKING AFTER OUR YOUNGER PLAYERS?

Many believe that junior cricket is failing with the step up to senior club cricket, after all the hard work encouraging boys and girls into cricket, many decide it’s not for them. There are only a few teens who embrace the culture and develop into adult cricket as a player, which is partly due to their ability and recognised potential by the other adult players. But do other teen players who still want to play the game get treated the same or even get a chance to play?

There are a number of sources suggesting there’s more interest in football and rugby resulting in a large number of teens deciding to take that route, together with seasons overlapping a decision is having to be made on which sport to play. Many people just assume teens are lazy and if playing doesn’t benefit them, they won’t play, others believe many teens stop playing due to exams. This is true, many teens do take a break from cricket for that reason, but is this the leading factor for why the drop off is so high? The majority of young players stop playing cricket because they have stopped enjoying the game, enjoyment is key. Cricket is an all-day game and within modern society there’s not much appeal to ‘stand in a field all day’, occasionally chasing after a ball hurtling towards the boundary, eventually you will become bored - without an active role in the team where does the enjoyment come from? A fantastic selection of tea and cakes every week cannot be the only main enticement / enjoyment of the day, however with the outbreak of Covid-19 many local clubs have stopped preparing cricket teas asking players to bring their own food.

Is adult cricket still developing and does it have the same ‘do anything to win’ mentality seen in many other sports. The younger players are ‘fitted’ into the batting tale end, and it appears less welcoming to the new teen, are the teens viewed as competition to senior team members or just less welcoming and not wanting change? This is not the case in ‘village’ cricket that is welcoming, and family orientated with a tendency towards a social drinking session on a Saturday. However, the standard of cricket isn’t at a level that develops teen players only preparing those who haven’t played hard ball cricket before. Playing at a higher club level comes with a ‘die for the badge’ mentality, could this be putting off young teens from carrying on playing and enjoying the game - what’s lacking is a middle ground. Development for young teens, need someone who can put an arm round them and help bring out the best. Although there are clubs that do this many clubs see the younger players as a potential threat to their own position within the team. Younger players have a tendency to not believe in themselves and when something isn’t going their way within the game their head can drop causing a decline in their performance.

My local club stopped playing junior cricket at under 15s due to the size of the club, although this isn’t the case for all clubs, the majority of smaller clubs don’t offer age group cricket above under 15s. The step up from junior to adult cricket is too big a step for some teen players, due to the pace / intensity and speed the ball is travelling when it comes off the bat. From a team of fourteen junior players taking the step up to senior cricket only eight players took up the challenge, with only three of the eight making it to the end of the season. Many senior players expect junior players to have the same ability as them, however senior players should look to develop the younger players and encourage them to the same level and expectation needed to play senior club cricket - club members forget they are still children. So how can we prepare juniors for adult cricket?

A third or fourth XI team gives that much needed stepping stone from junior to adult cricket and provides the younger players with an opportunity to develop in a match situation. Training sessions are also a key to the junior members where they experience bowling against the top order batsman or facing the opening bowlers in an enclosed space between the nets. This is where the junior team members learn and develop while enjoying the experience and spending time with friends. However, senior training sessions tend to have low numbers attending due to work commitments, whereas junior training sessions consistently have a high attendance. It could also be intimidating to come to a senior training session alone as the worry of not having fun or being with people of their own age, who is going to want to talk to a fifteen year old?

Junior cricket numbers has increased significantly over the last six years, resulting in very positive numbers participating the game. In March 2017 the ECB launched a brand new cricketing participation programme called ‘All Stars Cricket’. The programme was introduced for girls and boys aged five to eight in an attempt to introduce more children into the sport. In May 2021 the ECB opened registration for Dynamos Cricket, a scheme aimed at 8-11 year olds. In the summer of 2021 over 100,000 children were involved in All Stars and Dynamos Cricket setting a record-breaking summer of participation. So why is player retention in the 15 to 19 year old age bracket one of cricket’s biggest problems? How can we keep the younger generation playing when they reach the stage where they step up from junior to adult cricket? This is something that needs to be recognised so we don’t lose these increasing numbers, causing it to just become another statistic on a downward trending graph. In 2013, the ECB National Playing Survey reported that 40 per cent of youngsters that play more than 12 weeks’ worth of cricket in a season dropped out by the age of 19.

From personal experience and at the age of thirteen I played senior cricket in the third XI team and worked my way into the position of opening batsman. I was consistently scoring runs and invited to take a step up and play for the first XI, however I made the decision to stay with the third team as I was enjoying and developing my game, together with receiving support and encouragement from the senior players. I was also worried if I did play for the first XI, I would not be as involved in the game and effect progress in my development. Unfortunately, this happens regularly with young players being asked to step up to a higher team level at the club and only being used to strengthen a lower order or being bowled late in the day. This prevents many players development and stopping between the ages of 15 – 19 as they don’t gain the experience or enjoy the game.

We need to start looking after our younger players and develop them to their advantage and not the clubs advantage, young players are the future of clubs and will ensure the game of cricket is played for many more years to come.