Lastmanstands.com 8 Aside Cricket

[someblokecalleddave]

I've never seen this before, but saw an article in the paper going to work. This is the fastest growing new thing in cricket, a 20 over game played in about 2 hours, the speed of the game and the fact that it's all over and done with in approx 2 hours is the reason it's growing in the way that it is. Because our lives are lived to the max these days, people (apparently) can't afford to spend whole days playing cricket and the length of the game turns them off. This format appeals to far more people and people that would give up cricket once out of school are seeing this as an option. Have a look at the open pages and they give you the details.

Interesting things about it include...

8 aside.
20 overs - 10 bowled from one end with no change over and then swap ends for 11-20.
Last man bats on his own and can only score 2, 4, or 6.
From what I can gather, payments from players on the day, pay for the umpire.

It looks interesting and if you play it within the franchise arrangement everyone that is involved has their stats recorded and you can see where your figures lie within the world tally. A mate of mine who likes stats has become obsessed with it already from a stats point of view and loves it. It's global and there's a franchise fairly near me, but not quite close enough for me to get involved with as yet, but as this grows who knows?


http://www.lastmanstands.com/aboutlastmanstands

 

[SLA]

I've never seen this before, but saw an article in the paper going to work. This is the fastest growing new thing in cricket, a 20 over game played in about 2 hours, the speed of the game and the fact that it's all over and done with in approx 2 hours is the reason it's growing in the way that it is. Because our lives are lived to the max these days, people (apparently) can't afford to spend whole days playing cricket and the length of the game turns them off. This format appeals to far more people and people that would give up cricket once out of school are seeing this as an option. Have a look at the open pages and they give you the details.

Interesting things about it include...

8 aside.
20 overs - 10 bowled from one end with no change over and then swap ends for 11-20.
Last man bats on his own and can only score 2, 4, or 6.
From what I can gather, payments from players on the day, pay for the umpire.

It looks interesting and if you play it within the franchise arrangement everyone that is involved has their stats recorded and you can see where your figures lie within the world tally. A mate of mine who likes stats has become obsessed with it already from a stats point of view and loves it. It's global and there's a franchise fairly near me, but not quite close enough for me to get involved with as yet, but as this grows who knows?


http://www.lastmanstands.com/aboutlastmanstands

Yeah I got invited to do this but it just looks stupid. I don't think it'll catch on.

Teams have been playing the same friendly evening 20-20 rules for years now - certainly as far as I can remember, and they play them because they work. So why mess with them? 15 8-ball overs, batsmen retire at 25, wides and no-balls count 2 but no rebowl, 2/3 overs per bowler. Spreading out the batting and bowling means the best overall team wins, rather than the team with the best ringers. Good fair game and down in the pub in 2hrs 20 minutes. Don't try and fix what ain't broken.

On another note, I hate the last man standing rule, we have to play that in indoor cricket and its bloody awful. One ringer can dominate the entire game. In 8 aside outdoor cricket it would be even worse. Bowl all his teammates out within 5 overs, gives him 15 overs hogging the strike to try and get a double ton. Just how I want to spend my evenings.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Yeah I got invited to do this but it just looks stupid. I don't think it'll catch on.

Teams have been playing the same friendly evening 20-20 rules for years now - certainly as far as I can remember, and they play them because they work. So why mess with them? 15 8-ball overs, batsmen retire at 25, wides and no-balls count 2 but no rebowl, 2/3 overs per bowler. Spreading out the batting and bowling means the best overall team wins, rather than the team with the best ringers. Good fair game and down in the pub in 2hrs 20 minutes. Don't try and fix what ain't broken.

On another note, I hate the last man standing rule, we have to play that in indoor cricket and its bloody awful. One ringer can dominate the entire game. In 8 aside outdoor cricket it would be even worse. Bowl all his teammates out within 5 overs, gives him 15 overs hogging the strike to try and get a double ton. Just how I want to spend my evenings.

You might have a point with regards to the ringers situation, but it seems to be going from strength to strength, it'd be interesting to hear from someone that plays it and maybe has seen the potential for the ringers and what is done in response?

 

[SLA]

You might have a point with regards to the ringers situation, but it seems to be going from strength to strength, it'd be interesting to hear from someone that plays it and maybe has seen the potential for the ringers and what is done in response?

You'll probably get a sales rep come on and tell you its totally amazing. You have to remember its a commercial enterprise with a professional website designed to make it look like the latest thing to try and sucker people in. From their website you would think it is the no1 format of evening cricket, whereas in reality for every lastmanstands game played, there are thousands and thousands of orthodox cricket matches. The difference is that orthodox cricket does not have a boastful website. We just get on with playing cricket.

The same thing applies to that bizarre version of indoor cricket they have with soft balls and nets and a shorter pitch. Has anyone seen that? Its like a kids game played by fully grown adults. It has a fancy website and its own "world cup" (lol), but in reality its a distant second to normal indoor cricket as played by hundreds of amateur teams every weekend. Again, because normal indoor cricketers spend their time playing cricket rather than making up websites about it, the internet suggests a different story. Always important to remember that the internet is not reality.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

You'll probably get a sales rep come on and tell you its totally amazing. You have to remember its a commercial enterprise with a professional website designed to make it look like the latest thing to try and sucker people in. From their website you would think it is the no1 format of evening cricket, whereas in reality for every lastmanstands game played, there are thousands and thousands of orthodox cricket matches. The difference is that orthodox cricket does not have a boastful website. We just get on with playing cricket.

The same thing applies to that bizarre version of indoor cricket they have with soft balls and nets and a shorter pitch. Has anyone seen that? Its like a kids game played by fully grown adults. It has a fancy website and its own "world cup" (lol), but in reality its a distant second to normal indoor cricket as played by hundreds of amateur teams every weekend. Again, because normal indoor cricketers spend their time playing cricket rather than making up websites about it, the internet suggests a different story. Always important to remember that the internet is not reality.

I like your comment re the internet and reality! It appeals to me because, it's always struck me that indoor cricket at club level is reserved for the 'special ones' and the likes of me never get a look in. I've considered forming my own winter indoor team from blokes at work and then try and break into the local indoor league which is based around club teams, but I'm not even sure that's viable as we'd not be affiliated with the ECB and we'd probably be excluded by virtue of that and some H&S insurance clause? So this format appeals because it sounds like if there was a franchise in your area, you might have some chance of getting in a team?

 

[SLA]

I like your comment re the internet and reality! It appeals to me because, it's always struck me that indoor cricket at club level is reserved for the 'special ones' and the likes of me never get a look in. I've considered forming my own winter indoor team from blokes at work and then try and break into the local indoor league which is based around club teams, but I'm not even sure that's viable as we'd not be affiliated with the ECB and we'd probably be excluded by virtue of that and some H&S insurance clause? So this format appeals because it sounds like if there was a franchise in your area, you might have some chance of getting in a team?

Certainly a lot of the evening games we play in the summer and the indoor cricket in the winter is not against actual cricket teams; its blokes from companies, pubs, all sorts of things. The best team in our indoor league is a group from a university department. My evening league team is not affiliated to the ECB or anything.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

Certainly a lot of the evening games we play in the summer and the indoor cricket in the winter is not against actual cricket teams; its blokes from companies, pubs, all sorts of things. The best team in our indoor league is a group from a university department. My evening league team is not affiliated to the ECB or anything.

Sounds promising, I'll have to try harder I reckon, how many people have you got in your team, have you got spares or is it the same committed 6 blokes?

 

[Mugshot]

You might have a point with regards to the ringers situation, but it seems to be going from strength to strength, it'd be interesting to hear from someone that plays it and maybe has seen the potential for the ringers and what is done in response?

I like the idea for a great evening knock around almost, but it needs further development. With the ringers idea, wouldnt it be better to have 8 players given 3 overs each (or until wicket taken) so that the team has further limits on them, it stops something like this happening and could make for an interesting and quick game....its like crickets version of speed dating!

Again I do want to stress that this is just for fun evening knock arounds, perfect way to entice more younger kids to play.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

I like the idea for a great evening knock around almost, but it needs further development. With the ringers idea, wouldnt it be better to have 8 players given 3 overs each (or until wicket taken) so that the team has further limits on them, it stops something like this happening and could make for an interesting and quick game....its like crickets version of speed dating!

Again I do want to stress that this is just for fun evening knock arounds, perfect way to entice more younger kids to play.

Yeah, I've just been writing elsewhere in response to someone talking about the state of county cricket in the UK and saying about how important it is to engage more kids with the game, so for me any variant of the game that exposes people to it, who then might engage with the longer versions has got to be good surely?

 

[SLA]

I like the idea for a great evening knock around almost, but it needs further development. With the ringers idea, wouldnt it be better to have 8 players given 3 overs each (or until wicket taken) so that the team has further limits on them, it stops something like this happening and could make for an interesting and quick game....its like crickets version of speed dating!

Again I do want to stress that this is just for fun evening knock arounds, perfect way to entice more younger kids to play.

I don't understand what the benefit is over normal 11 aside cricket though? The whole reason T20 cricket has been successful is because its so simple and stays as close to real cricket as possible. This sounds like that whole cricketmax thing with powerzones that never took off.

Ironically, 8 aside cricket over 20 overs would have to be a lot more defensive and less attacking than 11 aside cricket.

 

[SLA]

Sounds promising, I'll have to try harder I reckon, how many people have you got in your team, have you got spares or is it the same committed 6 blokes?

I think we have a squad of about 9-10 reasonably regular players. Sometimes we struggle to get 6, we've had to play with 5 a couple of times which is almost impossible. It is really good fun, short and sweet though as its all over in an hour. Good way to keep your eye in through the winter as well. I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[someblokecalleddave]

I think we have a squad of about 9-10 reasonably regular players. Sometimes we struggle to get 6, we've had to play with 5 a couple of times which is almost impossible. It is really good fun, short and sweet though as its all over in an hour. Good way to keep your eye in through the winter as well. I'd definitely recommend it.

Yeah I've got to work on this and see if I can get something going, it's gotta be better than sitting around all winter doing nothing and then suddenly at the end of January going down the nets and bowling a single ball every 2 minutes! Any recommendations as to where I might start SLA?

 

[SLA]

Yeah I've got to work on this and see if I can get something going, it's gotta be better than sitting around all winter doing nothing and then suddenly at the end of January going down the nets and bowling a single ball every 2 minutes! Any recommendations as to where I might start SLA?

Find a local league, find some keen players?

Its a funny game indoor cricket, its less varied than outdoor cricket but still varied enough that there are different ways to be good. You need two bowlers, two all-rounders, and two batsmen, one of whom can keep wicket reasonably competently. Bowling is mainly about keeping a good line and length with a little bit of movement. Batting is either hitting hard and straight or knocking the ball into the gaps and running.

 

[SLA]

Just finished our indoor league with a 24 run win, team is still buzzing about it now. As the away team we fielded first (no toss in indoor) and restricted them to 80, which seemed less than it felt like they got. We only had five fielders, which really shows how well the bowlers bowled to keep them to only 8 an over. We got 15 off the opening over which set the tone and we stormed home in about 6 overs, and then kind of messed around because we knew run differential was irrelevant.

We finished 2nd in the 2nd division although I think we're hoping that the leagues adds enough new teams next year that we don't end up getting promoted. Have to say we all really enjoyed the indoor cricket once we got used to it, and its brought quite a few players forward in the skipper's thinking for league cricket. I got used to just flatbatting everything hard and straight back past the bowler, not sure whether that bodes well or badly for the outdoor season.

 

[Mugshot]

Yeah, I've just been writing elsewhere in response to someone talking about the state of county cricket in the UK and saying about how important it is to engage more kids with the game, so for me any variant of the game that exposes people to it, who then might engage with the longer versions has got to be good surely?

Sorry for the late reply mate.

I think it would be great, there are too many kids out there with potential who dont bother with Cricket and go along with the crowd for football etc...I saw it myself with a friend of mine at school who was absolutely amazing but gave up the bat for a football. Having something like this in the UK will bring excitement to the sport for kids as they have a shorter attention span, then over time once they have the cricket bug you can then start bringing in the longer versions as you say....

 

[Mugshot]

I don't understand what the benefit is over normal 11 aside cricket though? The whole reason T20 cricket has been successful is because its so simple and stays as close to real cricket as possible. This sounds like that whole cricketmax thing with powerzones that never took off.

Ironically, 8 aside cricket over 20 overs would have to be a lot more defensive and less attacking than 11 aside cricket.

Sorry SLA I missed the point about the younger crowd as per my reply to Dave, its all about bringing more people into the Cricket game by a short and interesting game like this.

 

[SLA]

Sorry SLA I missed the point about the younger crowd as per my reply to Dave, its all about bringing more people into the Cricket game by a short and interesting game like this.

But compared to traditional evening 20-20 cricket, this format is longer and less interesting. That's my point.

I wish we'd have a bit more faith both in the incredible sport of cricket and the attention spans of the next generation. Its silly gimmicks like this that make cricket look stupid and irrelevant.

 

[SteveyD]

Dave, the problem, and great thing, about the evening leagues, and the indoor is that they are generally run by one bloke somewhere or something.
The evening league here - the Cambridge Business House league (for pubs and companies ) has no website, there is one meeting before the start of the season to decide who plays in which leagues, and to decide what dates the games will be played, adn then results are emailed to a secretary who does tables every weekend.

Agree with you re: indoor - 6 a side is really limiting when you have a pool of 60+ players to choose from. i've played twice over last 4 years...

 

[SLA]

Dave, the problem, and great thing, about the evening leagues, and the indoor is that they are generally run by one bloke somewhere or something.
The evening league here - the Cambridge Business House league (for pubs and companies ) has no website, there is one meeting before the start of the season to decide who plays in which leagues, and to decide what dates the games will be played, adn then results are emailed to a secretary who does tables every weekend.

If they don't have a website, how do they expect to attract new teams and players?

 

[SteveyD]

If they don't have a website, how do they expect to attract new teams and players?

They aren't trying to. It's a good size and word of mouth keeps the leagues full. They added an extra league this year due to popularity. Cambs is a small place and with a huge electronics industry , everyone knows everyone from somewhere.