The battle of the sexes....is there a place for women in men's cricket?

[Flem274*]

When I was 13 the Girls High firsts, who were the national champs at the time, played us and we got smoked. All these 17 year olds did was bowl bouncers.

I'm a rank number 11 and I've only ever called for a helmet twice. That was one of those times.

#wuss

[theegyptian]

1) second xi cricket in england is pretty poor mostly with kids
2) county cricket doesn't have that many quick bowlers. You'd be luck to get anyone bowling regularly over 80mph in the seconds.
3) she likely won't be good enough for 2nd team cricket but i have no problem with her trying if sussex don't mind and it's on merit. It can only help her game for womens cricket and is nice publicity for womens cricket and sussex (even if that isn't their intention)
4) O'Brien tilts me more than anyone in world cricket. Anytime I hear doing any radio commentary here in the uk I want to throw the radio out of window. I don't necessarily disagree with everything he says there is just something about him that pisses me off. Possibly his aggressive commentary style; a bit too uptight; and the belief that he is always right. I dunno. I tend to turn the commentary off straight away when he's on these days so my reasons have faded. I just remember wanting to kill myself.

[Neil Pickup]

(1) is a legitimate point. Second XI sides have a tendency to have random 13- and 14-year-olds thrown in at the deep end, batting 9 and not bowling. Don't forget Yorkshire played a 15-year-old in their first-team two years ago... if he can play, then surely Sarah Taylor can manage it?



It looks a legitimate enquiry, particularly as it's a short-term plan at the start of the season whilst the regular 2nd XI keepers finish their exams. If she's good enough, then great. If she isn't, then it'll be obvious. Taylor must have faced 90mph on the bowling machine (hell, I've faced 83 and I'm crap).

[Cevno]

Ideally if you have total separation of sports for both the sexes then i'd rather have them sticking to it, but with the balance skewed as it is in the cricket world in terms of finances and other things, don't mind this.Should be a merit based decision though. If she is better than the other options she plays.

I am not sure, btw why people think that nobody is good enough. There's a Indian fast bowler (Goswami iirc) and she would in all probability be better than many playing Ranji for lower teams here. I maybe completely wrong but can see Bowlers doing better than batsman probably.

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by Neil Pickup

(1) is a legitimate point. Second XI sides have a tendency to have random 13- and 14-year-olds thrown in at the deep end, batting 9 and not bowling. Don't forget Yorkshire played a 15-year-old in their first-team two years ago... if he can play, then surely Sarah Taylor can manage it?



It looks a legitimate enquiry, particularly as it's a short-term plan at the start of the season whilst the regular 2nd XI keepers finish their exams. If she's good enough, then great. If she isn't, then it'll be obvious. Taylor must have faced 90mph on the bowling machine (hell, I've faced 83 and I'm crap).

Ok wtf? He looks like he's 10!

[Blain]

We had a fringe NZ woman player train with us everynow and then. We were about 3rd/4th grade mens in the Christchurch comp. She was a fast bowler for NZ.

I faced her a few times, she was about on par with the opening bowlers in that league, maybe a touch quicker. I would have thought she would have been bowling around 120ish/late teens. She would have been cannon fodder for the teams who play to a decent level though.

[hendrix]

did she get swing and seam movement?

[Blain]

Yeah I think a little (was 4 years ago now), they were grass nets though. I cant remember her doing anything too special in the air.

[SJS]

If they are good enough, why not ???

Al the reasons given by Ian O'Brian are about the player/s concerned not being good enough. If they are not good enough, they wont play. What has gender got to do with it.

This is like saying the Cambodians should not be allowed to play in the NBA because they are too short ! Why, even Americans wont make it if they were physically, or otherwise, not good enough. What's being from a group that is known to have a particular physical trait got to do with being eligible or not to play that game got to do with it.

If a woman is such a fantastic keeper that her being a real mug with the bat still makes her a candidate for a keeping slot, why talk of her being a woman and therefore not being able to play fast bowling. How many people think Chandrashekhar could have been killed by a fast bowler and therefore should have been banned from the game or from playing against teams that had real fast bowlers !

To say, as one could i Chandra's case, that those who have a limb affected by polio should not be allowed to play against the able bodied is ridiculous.

[watson]

I like to watch women do lots of things. Cricket is not one of them.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by grecian

In the end, I don't think anyone is good enough to do it ATM, but I really don't see physically why it can't happen in the future. Yet I think the same with Darts, Snooker and golf, and yet somehow it never happens.

The problem with golf is they'll never compete on a course set up for the best men's players. I've played on the exact same layout the women have at Royal Pines for the Australian Ladies Masters about 2 days after the event and shot 2 over in pouring rain with flooded bunkers and while barely hitting a fairway. The course is set up so short. They'd never make it in a men's tournament where it's set up much tougher,

As for cricket, I think the differences in strength make it hard, especially when it comes to bowling speeds.

[wellAlbidarned]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

When I was 13 the Girls High firsts, who were the national champs at the time, played us and we got smoked. All these 17 year olds did was bowl bouncers.

I'm a rank number 11 and I've only ever called for a helmet twice. That was one of those times.

#wuss

When I was in Colts a bunch of ND reps played in our league. Was pretty funny, some of them were literally twice our size.

[Himannv]

Originally Posted by Neil Pickup

(1) is a legitimate point. Second XI sides have a tendency to have random 13- and 14-year-olds thrown in at the deep end, batting 9 and not bowling. Don't forget Yorkshire played a 15-year-old in their first-team two years ago... if he can play, then surely Sarah Taylor can manage it?



It looks a legitimate enquiry, particularly as it's a short-term plan at the start of the season whilst the regular 2nd XI keepers finish their exams. If she's good enough, then great. If she isn't, then it'll be obvious. Taylor must have faced 90mph on the bowling machine (hell, I've faced 83 and I'm crap).

I reckon Sarah Taylor will be a lot more competent at that level than the kid in that picture.

[grecian]

Originally Posted by Son Of Coco

The problem with golf is they'll never compete on a course set up for the best men's players. I've played on the exact same layout the women have at Royal Pines for the Australian Ladies Masters about 2 days after the event and shot 2 over in pouring rain with flooded bunkers and while barely hitting a fairway. The course is set up so short. They'd never make it in a men's tournament where it's set up much tougher,

As for cricket, I think the differences in strength make it hard, especially when it comes to bowling speeds.

Well some have made cuts, and have qualified for mens events, so as I say I don't really see any physical reason why not, they're not going to be hitting it like A bubba, Colsaerts, Daly or Quiros, but you don't need to, to be competitive.

I did say that it hasn't happened yet, but I don't see why it can't.

[Michaelf7777777]

Yeah agree with the Women should be allowed to play "men's" cricket if they are good enough