Yes ?
No ?

I can’t so I’m a no

No – I might get one on target out of 60.

Yes.

Not fast anymore, back too stiff

Decent wrist spin and a (not so decent) googly delivered out of the back of the hand

I haven’t even tried since I left school (it was a while ago, I’m 48) so I think I can but I probably can’t

Yes when 19 played for Maidenhead & Bray. Not sure 30 years later if I throw so well now.

Yes, I am a Stella* bowler

* Reassuringly expensive, avg. 28 this season.

Dunno, i could certainly hit the stick things aged 11.

I saw Shane Bond (ex NZ quickie) bowl at a local club a few years back. A few of the better batsmen were netting with him. He was bowling well within himself and was well past his prime anyhow.

After a while the batter asked for a ‘quick one’

Bond: ‘You sure’
Bat: ‘Yep’
Bond: ‘Okay, it’s coming full on off stump. I don’t want to hit you’
Bat: ‘No worries’

Bond runs in, bends his back. Batter hardly moved, off stump cartwheeling away.

Top sportspeople are so impressive when up close. They play a different game to most of us

Yes, had to come out of retirement twice to help club. Cricket player numbers are down and clubs are really struggling.

mefty – Member 
Yes, I am a Stella* bowler
* Reassuringly expensive, avg. 28 this season.

Overly modest mefty

I’d settle for a bowling average of 28.

Come to think of it, I’d settle for a batting average of 28 too

Top sportspeople are so impressive when up close. They play a different game to most of us

I saw Mason Crane practicing with Mushtaq on the Nursery Ground, including towel, he pushes it through faster than our opening bowler off his long run.

Overly modest mefty

I can assure you not, this is low grade pub cricket and we play on a very bowler friend pitch – 170 off 35 overs is par.

Come to think of it, I’d settle for a batting average of 28 too

I dream – see above

Cricket was always a joke version of stickball for me growing up. Just played by left-leggers in Dublin and Belfast.

Then I tried playing it at university – the only people really into cricket on the team were some Pakistani post-grads – I’d started watching some of it and following the few reports in the Irish Times (that’s not an Irish version of The Times). Having an eye for hitting a fast moving ball with a stick, we could just about bat (with our hands the wrong way round 😆 ) but jeez, as soon as they started chucking some serious balls down at us, we were bamboozled. Things got a bit better when we were shown how to hold the bat – not much.

None of us could bowl for shit though. 😀

After a while the batter asked for a ‘quick one’

Bond: ‘You sure’
Bat: ‘Yep’
Bond: ‘Okay, it’s coming full on off stump. I don’t want to hit you’
Bat: ‘No worries’

Bond runs in, bends his back. Batter hardly moved, off stump cartwheeling away.

Top sportspeople are so impressive when up close. They play a different game to most of us

😀

I used to be OK. Fast-medium pace by professional standards, could swing and seam it when I had a groove on. But if I bowled at a reasonable pace my acuracy was terrible. Back off the pace and they were lollypops.

I could wrist spin it too, but never with any consistency.

Couldn’t and can’t bat. At all.

Never tried so put me down as a probably

No idea these days, used to be pretty decent when I was about 15, not fast but tricky… but wrong country for cricket really (my uncle played cricket for Scotland, I think the only requirement was owning some white clothes)

The Bond story is cool, totally agree.

Yes. not particularly quickly, but fairly accurate in a “you miss, and I hit” kind of way. Got a few of the better batsmen in our local pub league out through what I’m told was more than just luck, so I’m happy enough with that as the only thing I usually excel in when it comes to sports is being crap at them.

On the Bond story…

In said pub league, we generally took it pretty easy, often had younger teenagers playing as well as some ringers of ex semi-pro ‘fame’. as such, we had nice rules like not being out first ball, and batsmen retiring at 25 runs. Usually it was all played very much in the spirit of being something to do on a Wednesday evening before all retiring to the pub.

On one occasion, we had an obnoxious old fart (OOF) at the non-striker’s end giving the 12yo at the other end verbal for not hitting ‘easy’ balls from our 50-odd year old spinner. Anyway, after a couple of balls he runs a bye and puts OOF on strike for his first ball. Our ‘spinner’ casually walks off towards the boundary, and comes thundering in at great speed before removing OOF’s middle stump without him even having chance to react. As you can’t be out first ball, without a word, the ball is hurled back to our ‘spinner’ who does it again. OOF wanders off looking bemused and angry, spinner then resumes slow bowling.

Not so many people knew that our ‘spinner’ actually used to be a quick and nearly broke into Somerset firsts in the 80s until he did his back. So, I can only imagine just how good an international pro could be, when a bloke in his late 50s who nearly but never actually made it as a quick, and hasn’t bowled much like that for 30+ years can produce two perfect and to normal people unplayable deliveries apparently out of nowhere.

University played one of the counties. One of our friends was opening bat facing an England player whose name escapes me who was supposed to be a fast medium. Our boy played & missed first two balls, clean bowled with the third.
We are discussing whether the bowler was really medium rather than medium-fast when our mate ambled over. We put the question to him. He said. ” Couldn’t tell you. I never even saw the ball.”

wrong country for cricket

Not sure if it’s true but I read once that Scotland has more cricket clubs per head of population than England. I went to a rugby school in the Borders and the few weeks before the summer holidays when we played cricket was the best bit of PE for me. The Neanderthals that played rugby couldn’t get their heads round bowling so I did most of it. Some of us used to play cricket in the park using a litter bin as stumps, happy days.

Cricket’s a pub game like darts or boules, right? I reckon I could fling that ball and hit the sticks.

I reckon Scottish cricket is almost all relegated to the English that migrate across the borders, and edinburgh.

I used to be a half decent bowler, but got bored with the game at 15 and took up golf instead. Half decent local bowler is all though! Was brought up with the game as my Dad was really keen, but it all took too long!

Yep, used to be able to bowl reasonable medium pace, now gentle finger spin. Cricket on a summer afternoon is a true pleasure.

At school I was a fast bowler, went to University to find I was slow/medium as we had a couple of bowlers from the Irish U21 team. Bowling in the nets was always faster than on the square. Living in Scotland meant I took up cycling/sailing.

Yes I can. I can’t bowl ‘fast’ and I can’t bowl spin though. My ‘run’ up is about 3 paces, I’ve never been able to run in, I either come to a halt to deliver the ball, or fall over flat on my backside. I do bowl on target, so if you miss I will have you (if the ball has enough pace on it to dislodge a bail 😳 😆 )

Yes, leg spin, badly.

I haven’t played since I was a teenager though so it’s probably really crap now…

It’s been a few years, but yes. I could bowl swing. No idea how, but I could….

Nope, since losing the tip of my elbow years ago I can’t bowl – cricket or 10 pin.

Can’t golf
Can’t tennis
Can’t snooker or pool.

It’s like my injury was tailor made to exclude me from the things I don’t like 😉

Once took 7 wickets in a game with ‘fast bowling’.

Most of the time though the ball would shoot down legside

flight and guile (ie non-spinning) finger spin. Most of my wickets were either caught at long-on or cow where people thought they should be able to hit me out of the ground, or occasionally stumped if they charged and missed.

But I was really a keeper, and I was actually half decent at that (the nickname Pans was ironic, honest)

I can fling a ball, can’t hit much.

For some reason hardly ever got any time with the bat in school. The one time I managed to start an actual innings, I’d scored two singles and a four (my only ever four) Ray the groundsman came over to chat and decided he fancied a bowl. He was late 50s and had had polio as a child so limped a lot. He hobbled up and gave me my first ever spin ball which took out my middle stump. I was a bit pissed off tbh, the only time I’d ever actually batting properly and a grown-up ended it. Not really fair. No wonder I’m crap at cricket 🙁

Yes.

My daughter started playing last year and my wife this year, I’ve been helping out and taking my youngest to practice in the nets. Turns out I could still remember after around 30 years how to bowl. 😀

IN the sense that it would be a legal bowl yes
In the sense it might trouble you or get you out NO

IIRC my best figures were 6-23 of 5 overs. Once watch my dad bowl out blue circle factory team out for 8 (he was captaining the sunday ramblers while in the bedford first team, when wayne larkins was in the team) they let them have another go and my dad wouldn’t bowl 😀

No, I can’t throw at all. Not very manly, but my shoulder is so screwed from my last crash I can only do underarm throws 🙁

I’m in that “military medium” category – I can send a ball accurately and legally down the middle so if the batsman misses I’ll have them, but if they’re any good at all it’ll be a gift of a four (or six) as there won’t be any swing (or spin) to trouble them.

One of my sons decided this summer that he wanted to play. The pain of the first few deliveries was acute, but it turns out I can bowl accurately enough off a 2 step run up for kids practice. Better than not being able to help out, but not by much.

Yeah I can do a bit of spin. Helped that my dad used to play a bit so taught me from a young age. I never enjoyed the game so never played myself at school but have played a couple of games as an adult (where I worked at the time, the MD was a member of a cricket club and we used to have social tournaments against clients etc). I was okay against other amateurs – just pleased I could bowl straight on a full sized wicket and take a few 🙂

Yes

My cricketing claim to fame was to take a wicket for Bristol Uni 2nd XI 8) facts are my flatmate was captain and they where 1 short on on the day, I got a bowl and my “medium”pace is so medium I asked the keeper to stand up. Batter quite rightly saw I was hopeless charged me missed and was stumped ! I had the scorecard for ages but sadly lost somewhere.