Who is playing this coming season?

Just a quick one, which of you fellas are taking to the field again this coming season?

Anyone moved clubs? Been working on anything in particular in the nets?

i am playing, and im skippering my side again

Same side for me! Mid table last year, which is what we wanted and we are starting a second team this year which could be a struggle but we will see how it goes! And had my first Uni net session last Friday and start indoor games after Xmas, so no break from cricket... How I like it!

im very much looking forward to my 2nd season of captaincy next year

I'll be playing for the same club again: Bordeaux Giscours CC, website here, though it isn't much). I keep wicket and sometimes score a few runs. After a tough season with the bat, the two main things I'll be working on the nets are:

1) Keeping my head still when preparing to face. One of my team-mates noticed last season that it was bobbing up and down a bit, so will be trying to stay as still as possible (this probably means eliminating my trigger-movement).

2) Hitting the ball harder. Last year was my first season with proper nets to hit into (cricket facilities in France being what they are), and I found I was struggling to hit boundaries. I think one of the reasons for this was in the nets, I'd hit a shot which would feel good, and think to myself "good shot, nice timing" etc. but then in a match the same shot would only bring me one or two because I wasn't really hitting it.

Wicket-keeping I won't be working onanything in particular, had my bets ever season with the gloves last year (only one catch dropped, and one tough leg-side stumping off a medium-pacer missed), just keep doing the same things again.

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet slightly, if you wish to see what cricket looks like in the South of France, there was a programm done for ITV's Little England show. One of our members uploaded the video here

Won't be playing much as time will be taken up by coaching commitments with the junior squad again, and coach education work as we try to hit schools in France.

Junior squad have a winter training program (once a month starting in January) then a selection camp early summer, and finally a couple of short (3/4 days) tournaments, one internal and hopefully a tri-series with other european countries.

May have a partnership with a supplier of equipment in the pipeline, PM me if you're going to be looking to purchase equipment either individually or in bulk please, or for further details, as I need to get a gauge on the likely demand. Cheers.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:
At the risk of blowing my own trumpet slightly, if you wish to see what cricket looks like in the South of France, there was a programm done for ITV's Little England show. One of our members uploaded the video here

MfC - Excellent video - Really enjoyed watching it. Judging from the state of the outfield there's something to be said for keeping wicket

I too enjoyed the video. Blimey, in the video, it was said that France has 44 officially recognised cricket clubs. That is two. more than Scotland.

MfC, is it all/mainly expats within the teams or do the French have an interest and play too. I know France are an ICC associate member but the team is full of Brits.

skyeman

Eymet being a very small town in the South West of France, with nearly only English expats living there, is made up of Brits (though there was a pakistani expat playing for them too). Bordeaux being bigger has more of a mix: we have South Africans, Australians, one Sri Lankan and one Pakistani, couple of New Zealanders, some Brits and a couple of bona fide Frenchmen (and myself, a mix of all sorts). Mostly clubs tend to be expats, with some more mixed than others (around Paris they are quite a few Indian/Pakistani/Sri Lankan communities, and they tend to stick together in cricket clubs too).

However, more and more Frenchmen (bona fide or second/third generation immigrants) are getting into the sport, with the result that a large majority (Mike will tell you the exact numbers) of this year's U19 were born in France. Also, next year, we're launching a huge programm to get the schools involved (I think this involves upto 14 000 people or so) which is a massive step in the development of cricket in France. Again, Mike could tell you a lot more about this than I can.

Corporal

Let's just say that the standard of pitches and outfields in France varies. Eymet's outfield is notoriously bad (it's all sandy, I tried to run my bat in off the (artificial) pitch once and it got caught in the sand and I dropped it ), but then you get some grounds with decent outfields but poor pitches which make me wish I wasn't keeping wicket . The wine's nice though .

Definitly will be playing again, back to my club at home once uni is over and hoping to score a bucket load of runs this year, may even travel home on weekends if i dont decide to join a club near newport.

Also trying to set up a uni cricket team so theres a chance we could be get going there as well

[quote="Mad for Chelsea"]skyeman

Eymet being a very small town in the South West of France, with nearly only English expats living there, is made up of Brits (though there was a pakistani expat playing for them too). Bordeaux being bigger has more of a mix: we have South Africans, Australians, one Sri Lankan and one Pakistani, couple of New Zealanders, some Brits and a couple of bona fide Frenchmen (and myself, a mix of all sorts). Mostly clubs tend to be expats, with some more mixed than others (around Paris they are quite a few Indian/Pakistani/Sri Lankan communities, and they tend to stick together in cricket clubs too).

However, more and more Frenchmen (bona fide or second/third generation immigrants) are getting into the sport, with the result that a large majority (Mike will tell you the exact numbers) of this year's U19 were born in France. Also, next year, we're launching a huge programm to get the schools involved (I think this involves upto 14 000 people or so) which is a massive step in the development of cricket in France. Again, Mike could tell you a lot more about this than I.


MfC - Thank you for the information and good luck with the school cricket proect. You never know, when i am in my twilight years, France could be playing England in the World Cup. Now would that not be a rivalry

Mad for Chelsea wrote:skyeman

Eymet being a very small town in the South West of France, with nearly only English expats living there, is made up of Brits (though there was a pakistani expat playing for them too). Bordeaux being bigger has more of a mix: we have South Africans, Australians, one Sri Lankan and one Pakistani, couple of New Zealanders, some Brits and a couple of bona fide Frenchmen (and myself, a mix of all sorts). Mostly clubs tend to be expats, with some more mixed than others (around Paris they are quite a few Indian/Pakistani/Sri Lankan communities, and they tend to stick together in cricket clubs too).

However, more and more Frenchmen (bona fide or second/third generation immigrants) are getting into the sport, with the result that a large majority (Mike will tell you the exact numbers) of this year's U19 were born in France. Also, next year, we're launching a huge programm to get the schools involved (I think this involves upto 14 000 people or so) which is a massive step in the development of cricket in France. Again, Mike could tell you a lot more about this than I can.

Corporal

Let's just say that the standard of pitches and outfields in France varies. Eymet's outfield is notoriously bad (it's all sandy, I tried to run my bat in off the (artificial) pitch once and it got caught in the sand and I dropped it ), but then you get some grounds with decent outfields but poor pitches which make me wish I wasn't keeping wicket . The wine's nice though .

Mike can indeed tell a bit more.

9 out of the 13 which went to the Euro for the U19s last year were french. This compares with 7 (previous year's U17s) and 6 (current year's senior squad I think) so there is good progress. Our star young leg-spinner is french from pakistani descent.

The school's program is potentially game-changing. We have been accepted as an official "sport" in primary schools. For those who don't know how the french school system works (I assume that's most of you) you do the equivalent of PE at school, which involves a different sport every term (3 terms = 3 sports per year). What this means is:
1) cricket can be one of those 3 sports
2) cricket can be used as a "discovery activity" which essentially means you do it for 1 or 2 sessions (usually towards the end of the year as a sort of "well done" to students).

there is potential to eventually target 14,000 schools. At the moment we are concentrating on 200 based around 5 different regions. The numbers are intoxicating given we actually only have about 1,200 players in the whole of France (officially).

I believe the report was out of date in the number of clubs, I think we're about 42 now.

Outfields: MfC has been spending too long in the South West if he thinks Eymet is a poor outfield, it is positively good by some standards. Quality of outfields is a genuine problem particularly from the high performance aspect, as it doesn't encourage good habits (stay low, eyes on ball, no long barriers, etc.) we are trying to teach for ground fielding.

[quote="skyeman"]

Mad for Chelsea wrote:You never know, when i am in my twilight years, France could be playing England in the World Cup. Now would that not be a rivalry

Very kind of you. I'd like to think it will happen in my lifetime (around 2050 is what we're aiming for), if the ICC lets it. Don't get me started on the ICC.

Mad - wonderful video! Geoffrey Pamer doing the voiceover?

Loved the mayor's reply when asked if he wanted a cream tea:
''My wife will try that, I'll try a beer.''

Reminded me of Skyeman!

im getting my team back to training last week in january, we are doing gym work, and indoor training, until the weather picks up for outdoor training.

I haven't played properly since I injured my neck/shoulder aged 13