Match Start Times

Dasbo

There has been a lot of debate on the Cricket Europe Ireland forum about the start times of league matches, particularly in the North West.

What are people's views on the start times of matches? Should they be early, so people have a free evening? Or late, so people have a free morning?

In Munster, we used to always start at 1pm for a majority of the season, and 12 pm from mid August. But this has now been reverted to 12pm for Div 1 and 2 for the entire season.

I think the main reason for doing so was to stop matches being dragged late into the evening, and avoiding issues with poor light. The decision was received favourably by all clubs.

In my opinion, matches should start in line with ODI's which generally start at 10.45 am. Although I understand that this would mean groundsmen would have to be up at sunrise to get all the necessary work done.

What do people think?

D3PO

funny enough we were having this conversation at our match on Sunday.

LCU games are 1.30 starts, and theres pretty much a concensus that they should start earlier.

I think 10.45 is too early for a number of reasons, 1 is travel especially if you consider some of the longer journeys. Playing away to Wexford Wanderers for example with a 10.45 start is too early to expect a team from Dublin to get too.

Aswell as that you have the dew factor, the dew wont be burnt off at that hour.

However a 12 start and at a push 11.30 should be considered IMO

Dasbo

I suppose 10.45 is a bit unrealistic alright...especially given that teams have to travel as far away as Galway.

As you say 11.30 would be a good time to start, that way it gives people a chance to enjoy the evenings, because realistically your going to get very little done the morning of a match no matter what time it is on.

What baffles me about the North West league is that it appears matches are often carried on to week nights to be completed (I stand to be corrected on this). Surely if matches started earlier people would not have to give up their week nights as well as their weekend evenings.

That said...if the ICC would be kind enough to give CI a few extra bob I wouldn't be totally against giving up my evenings to play under floodlights! That would be the day...

schemingbohemia

I was in Australia recently and a mate of a mate plays cricket there (probably at say LCU division 6/7 equivalent), what they do is start at 9am but they only do one innings per Saturday and play the second innings the following weekend, seemed very very odd to me and I never got into the detail of it (like if someone's skittled do they wait until the following weekend or allow the second innings that day?).

The idea was to make it family friendly so that 'Dad' would be home by lunchtime.

I'd much rather a 11/1130 start all season long.

Dasbo

Ya I know someone who plays a similar format out in Oz as well, seems strange as the season must go on forever.

I know that in some leagues over there the situation can arise that a team can bat twice if they are bowled out quickly, something to do with claiming a bonus point win...not too sure how that one works. Maybe that might might be another reason for splitting it over two days. I could see this being a problem for team selection as well...I don't think I have ever played two matches in a row with the same team, with players being unavailable.

TrueDub

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I was in Australia recently and a mate of a mate plays cricket there (probably at say LCU division 6/7 equivalent), what they do is start at 9am but they only do one innings per Saturday and play the second innings the following weekend, seemed very very odd to me and I never got into the detail of it (like if someone's skittled do they wait until the following weekend or allow the second innings that day?).

The idea was to make it family friendly so that 'Dad' would be home by lunchtime.

I'd much rather a 11/1130 start all season long.

Works when you have a climate that allows guaranteed play, and can also guarantee that conditions will be pretty much identical on the two Saturdays. Can't see it working over here, where Saturday 1 could be a dry wicket and Sat 2 a quagmire.

I'd prefer earlier starts, but what I'd really like is a cut-off time. This would allow you to work backwards, ensuring you know how many overs you can get in, and therefore when the match is no longer viable.

Plates

I'd prefer earlier starts - I'm up early with the sprogs anyway. Only problem I can see with it is that it limits the times available for schoolboy matches - which often happen prior to adult matches on the same ground.

TheDrog

I'm happy enough with the current start times but then I have to commute to get to home matches, I have the morning to relax and make my way out. Any earlier and it would cause problems for traveling to and from those grounds further away like wexford, bagenalstown and Laois

djimi

Personally I think 1/1.30 is far too late to be starting a match. Its a pain not getting home until all hours after playing a match. For me 11.30/12 is the perfect starting time, even earlier if travelling isnt too much of a consideration.

From talking to people the general consensus seems to be that the reason games start later is to allow a junior game to be played in the morning, is that correct?

Renno

I suppose tradition must be the main reason why we have the starts we do, but after that youth games are probably the main reason.

Typically my Sunday is at the club for 9.45, train the under 9s until 11.30 and then leg it to where ever the game is on. But we also have youth games on the ground at the same time. It's not even a case of just doing it on a different day, as we're full to capacity as it is.

The Birrell Report recommended playing youth matches after adult games on a Saturday night, but we found no support for this from parents. Who would give up their Saturday night to take their kids to a match?

I think the only solution is the status quo, whereby matches start early in April and September, and 1 for the rest of the year. No reason why junior matches shouldn't start at the same time as those in the top divisions though