rod_rooster wrote:PUNTER wrote:Heard a rumour Howard from Brighton couldn't play next week so was left out of the A1 side and was going to play One Dayers but someone forgot to get the wicket prepared the B3 team was short so he played there and had a day out by the looks.
Things can't be travelling too well down Brighton as a Club. A Grade are now 4-0 so success isn't a problem but lost there E Grade the other season and Forfieted the D Grade last week so must be struggling for numbers.
Not sure about a wicket not being prepared but you cannot forfeit a side and still play a lower graded side. Therefore if the B3 side was forfeited then all sides below that would need to forfeit as well.
I thought that the Limited Overs comp doesn't count as a lower grade in that context, & only applied if we had a lower 2-day grade side? Happy for someone to point out the correct answer to that...
Anyway, yes it's true that Howie made 278 & got dropped first ball of the day. Yes he was supposed to be playing in the LOB's but made the journey across the road to the B3's to ensure they didn't forfeit.
Yes we've lost a few blokes over the past couple of years & haven't had the kids coming through (although this week we weren't allowed to pick one who has been playing in the A1's & another in the B1's because of the ridiculous heat rule). So as soon as we have a few injuries/unavailabilities (6 players from our top 2 teams this week) we have some dramas filling the lower 2 day grades.
Another issue we have at the moment is that we can always find blokes who are happy to play one day cricket but can't/won't commit for 2 days, hence the problem filling the B3s in the past couple of games.
So I don't think we're much different to a lot of other clubs re the numbers, particularly having spoken to lads from other teams. To say we aren't travelling too well as a club is probably overstating our problems slightly.