‘And I ended up in cricket’ still humble Atherton

Take up for cricket is a massive issue in England. In parks you find basket ball courts tennis courts, but you never see any cricket nets. ECB need to invest in outdoor cricket nets that are accessible to everyone.

If my Dad was an International test opener and just threw a ball for me to hit for hours without overegging the advice, I would be a very grateful son.

Excellent  comments , I really related to Rob Keys comments about keeping kids involved in a game. We had one player who did opened the batting and bowling and we just did fielding, killed the game for everyone else. That is where coaches and parents need to step in. Its not just about winning a match, its about building confidence, experience and fun

I can listen to Athers talk about stuff like this for hours. Key, too, is becoming a fantastic observer and commentator on the game.
Just to add to some of the stuff that they were talking about with regard to the barriers to entry for cricket; all true, but I think there's an element of overthinking the game that blights a lot of the traditional setups for cricket. Yes, equipment is expensive but a normal bat with a tennis ball is what most kids in South Asia start with - it is how a Wasim Akram, a Sanath Jayasuriya, et al., started playing. Yes, you need space but as Athers alluded to, kids in the Caribbean and South Asia don't wait for the chance to play in an open field - sometimes it is finding any space and tinkering the games rules to suit that space, no matter how restrictive.
In Sri Lanka, for instance, kids play a variation of cricket called One Bump. That variant discourages six-hitting (you are out if you hit a six), doesn't require you use full 22 yard pitch (half of that is fine), doesn't need a bowler to bowl with an action (standing over-the-arm is fine), and doesn't require fielders behind the stump (heck you don't even need a keeper). You can play the game in hallways, inside class-rooms, in one portion of a play ground. It encourages batters to learn how to hit the ball along the ground, and will involve every fielder because every fielder (even the ones patrolling the boundary line) is a close-catcher. Hours of fun.
In a similar vein, I had Pakistani classmates growing up. They'd learn how to play tapeball cricket and bring that back to their school mates. If we had a larger playing area, sometimes we'd choose to play full scale cricket, but with a tape ball.
Will One Bump or variations of cricket create international cricketers? Maybe; tapeball cricket gave us Wasim Akram and a cartel of Pakistani fastbowlers who learnt how to bowl fast without any coaching. Maybe not.
But getting people to fall in love with the game is the first challenge. And cricket, I am sorry to say, is failing to meet this challenge with kids of this generation.

I grew up in India playing on streets with a tape ball and a plank of bat; Same story in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies. It has not stopped me playing in decent-standard English leagues for twenty years now. Cricket does not have to be expensive. If England wants cricket to be a more popular sport than it is, it has to be taken away from stuffy, public school dominated club- and county set ups and opened up to people of all colours and classes who love and play the sport.

Athers is the sanest voice in the world cricket.

Keys is expounding the West Indies philosophy of cricket from the 1980s. Listen to Rob!

Really great chat on getting youngsters excited about cricket. However, one of the main problems, which they didn't mention for obvious reasons, is that cricket is not free to air anymore! (Highlights are not the same!) Not having it on terrestrial television and limiting the game to only those that can afford subscription TV has a far bigger effect than the cost of equipment. I am in that position - I remember watching the 2005 Ashes on Channel 5 and absolutely loving it - only since lockdown have I been able to watch a full test series for the second time in my life. I'm 22.

england has turned around this game. great bowling by broad. this is what we want to see. competitive cricket at its best.

The greatest game ever-cricket.

Was never Key's biggest fan as a player but as a pundit I LOVE THE BLOKE!

I'd grown up in Ireland playing the Gaelic sport of Hurling. When I moved to the UK I played football after school but one day the Cricket team where short one and the PE teacher said he'd give me a Mars bar if I filled in. I was given some pads and very used bat, not knowing the rules of cricket I was told to just block and run when the other guy told me to. So, much to everyone's annoyance, I just blocked it for what must have been a very frustrating hour of one run per over cricket. I couldn't understand why everyone was so very frustrated at me as I obtusely just blocked ball after ball. 😅


...never got that Mars bar. 🤔

We need more and more nets in the parks so kids can play cricket too

No backyard in houses these days is killing the very cricket we used to have in our days. God it's a battle in the backyard not just game of cricket and for fun and ecstasy rather than money or perks.

Michael Atherton Nasser Hussain David llyod commentary bring wonderful and amazing experience in cricket

from what I've seen through life, with kids main issue batting is the size of the bat, its nearly always too big for them (size/weight). That is what normally negatively affects a kids grip and technique.

What a brilliant segment. I feel my country NZ has suffered greatly from telling our young bowlers to be accurate and not encouraging to bowl fast or to spin it hard. Plenty of 130kph bowlers but barely anything above that.

Atherton is such a delight to listen to

Atherton is just incredible. By far the best cricket pundit across the globe.