Your Cricket An IT professional aged 24 planning to quit job and pursue cricket

[aged24]

Hi All,

I am a 24 years old guy currently working in IT and off late have discovered what i want to do. It"s not job and my love for cricket has brought me back to where i left my single day of cricket coaching.

I don't have any coaching experience but i do play with leather balls and a bowling allrounder. I recently discovered some good pace and i can bowl well, but need proper direction.

What do you guys suggest? Is it possible at this age with applying myself 24x7. I won't be doing anything apart from cricket if i take this step. Wjy the question? Mostly tournaments and club take young age guys and it would be really difficult without a proper chance. Can someone who has some coaching experience or any awesome bro share advice.

thanks!

 

[IceAgeComing]

that seems like a very silly thing to try and do

 

[PokerAce]

Hi All,

I am a 24 years old guy currently working in IT and off late have discovered what i want to do. It"s not job and my love for cricket has brought me back to where i left my single day of cricket coaching.

I don't have any coaching experience but i do play with leather balls and a bowling allrounder. I recently discovered some good pace and i can bowl well, but need proper direction.

What do you guys suggest? Is it possible at this age with applying myself 24x7. I won't be doing anything apart from cricket if i take this step. Wjy the question? Mostly tournaments and club take young age guys and it would be really difficult without a proper chance. Can someone who has some coaching experience or any awesome bro share advice.

thanks!

Depends on your ambition really. If you want to leave to play international cricket, I would say you are planning something bordering on stupid ... sports has a cap on age after which its too late to start. Its not like you want to quit and become a singer or a magician or something. You can start whenever you want and learn and then do stage shows. With sports your career has a shelf life. You can only play for so long, and unless you are exceptionally talented (by exceptionally I mean top 5 talents in the world), you will struggle.

Selection in most countries is after you have played multiple seasons of First-Class cricket, and been in the top top bracket. Which means if you are starting out at 24, and are going to begin coaching now at 24, it will take atleast a year before you can find yourself a decent club team. This is assuming you are just the greatest thing since Bradman. Unless you score 5 back to back double hundreds or something, you will take another year or two to break into a first class side. Then again unless you show Bradmanesque form, and score something mental and take insane number of wickets, you will need to play upto another 3 years consistantly top of the class performances before the national selectors find you eligible for selection.

So by then you are hitting 29 or 30, if you are really really good. This 5 yr curve is common in cricket for Int'l players, and even if you were a 17 yr old starting out, you would be 22/23 before you are good enough to be in contention for a national call up. There are always the ultra talented players who don't have to wait that long.

Now Int'l debuts at 30 are not unheard of, but they are not exactly common. Selectors are willing to gamble on a young guy, more than they are on the older guys. So younger players sometimes get into the side early, without putting in the full sweat in first class cricket. However once you go beyond a certain age 27 -28 ish, then you really need to bring in the numbers to be considered.

Of course there is no hard and fast rule, and you could take the David Warner route who made his Test Debut, without ever having played a first class game. Actually while this is true, but its a little deceptive. Or you could take the route of some Pakistan legends, who were basically picked straight for the national side based on their performances in street cricket.

However these are exceptions.

If you want to make a living playing first-class cricket, and then see where it takes you, then first of all there is a lot of gulf between the money in first-class and International cricket. So thats something you should keep in mind. However if you are willing to play first-class cricket, and see where that takes you, then thats definitely more doable, and within 2-3 years you could be a first-class players. Even if you never get into the national side, you could still have a 10 yr career at the first-class level. Players have been known to play into their 40s even, perhaps even longer.

However this is all just hypothetical talk.

A lot depends on where you are from. You could find it easier to break into a weaker national side, than you would for say Australia. If you are from India, then more than exceptional performances in Ranji you need a lot of luck. If you look at the 10 highest scorers in the Ranji ever, then barring 1, the rest don't have any caps for India !! Bowlers are more lucky in this regard.

Best of luck to you, in whatever you decide.

 

[Aislabie]

that seems like a very silly thing to try and do

This is quite simply the only answer I could give.

 

[Abhil]

Depends on your ambition really. If you want to leave to play international cricket, I would say you are planning something bordering on stupid ... sports has a cap on age after which its too late to start. Its not like you want to quit and become a singer or a magician or something. You can start whenever you want and learn and then do stage shows. With sports your career has a shelf life. You can only play for so long, and unless you are exceptionally talented (by exceptionally I mean top 5 talents in the world), you will struggle.

Selection in most countries is after you have played multiple seasons of First-Class cricket, and been in the top top bracket. Which means if you are starting out at 24, and are going to begin coaching now at 24, it will take atleast a year before you can find yourself a decent club team. This is assuming you are just the greatest thing since Bradman. Unless you score 5 back to back double hundreds or something, you will take another year or two to break into a first class side. Then again unless you show Bradmanesque form, and score something mental and take insane number of wickets, you will need to play upto another 3 years consistantly top of the class performances before the national selectors find you eligible for selection.

So by then you are hitting 29 or 30, if you are really really good. This 5 yr curve is common in cricket for Int'l players, and even if you were a 17 yr old starting out, you would be 22/23 before you are good enough to be in contention for a national call up. There are always the ultra talented players who don't have to wait that long.

Now Int'l debuts at 30 are not unheard of, but they are not exactly common. Selectors are willing to gamble on a young guy, more than they are on the older guys. So younger players sometimes get into the side early, without putting in the full sweat in first class cricket. However once you go beyond a certain age 27 -28 ish, then you really need to bring in the numbers to be considered.

Of course there is no hard and fast rule, and you could take the David Warner route who made his Test Debut, without ever having played a first class game. Actually while this is true, but its a little deceptive. Or you could take the route of some Pakistan legends, who were basically picked straight for the national side based on their performances in street cricket.

However these are exceptions.

If you want to make a living playing first-class cricket, and then see where it takes you, then first of all there is a lot of gulf between the money in first-class and International cricket. So thats something you should keep in mind. However if you are willing to play first-class cricket, and see where that takes you, then thats definitely more doable, and within 2-3 years you could be a first-class players. Even if you never get into the national side, you could still have a 10 yr career at the first-class level. Players have been known to play into their 40s even, perhaps even longer.

However this is all just hypothetical talk.

A lot depends on where you are from. You could find it easier to break into a weaker national side, than you would for say Australia. If you are from India, then more than exceptional performances in Ranji you need a lot of luck. If you look at the 10 highest scorers in the Ranji ever, then barring 1, the rest don't have any caps for India !! Bowlers are more lucky in this regard.

Best of luck to you, in whatever you decide.

Exactly .Well said i have same thoughts.I am 22 now.I went to a coaching club last year and it was very difficult to pick up the basics.But the thing which is most important is fitness at this age u cannot become fit so easily for cricket.I would also say that keep playing club cricket or loclal cricket but don't bother to leave job for sake of cricket.There are a lot of guys who are playing for years and good enough to be in int team but are not getting chance.Even if you work 24*7 it would take atleast 5 to 7 years for getting an international that too if you perform better then the bets.

 

[Abhil]

The best age to start cricket coaching is between 8 to 14 years.After that you play under 14 ,under 15 ,under 19 .Under 19 is the most important stage and a lot of players get chances at that stage.After that under 22s and 23s and then its a long way.But fitness is main thing.Plus cricket need good body condition.If you get injured you will be out for a long time without money.If you want to play cricket just for the sake of fame and money then i would say leave this idea.I had the same idea and it was a very bad idea.You can play cricket as a hobby or make your own team and participate in local tournaments.But its almost impossible at this age to become an international cricket.Only god can make it possible.If you want to make money and are not happy with your job you can start your own work.You will be a lot happy.Cricketers don't have a moment of rest.They have to be on move every day with lot of travel and training.You need to be fit and keep running at least 10 kms everyday.Otherwise you will not be able to run and stay all day in field.Cricket requires a lot of hard work for professional level.You can see lot of international cricketers have started at young age.Virat kohli started coaching at the age 8.Sachin at the age 11.Sehwag at the age 11.Ajinkya rahane at the age 7 and lot more.I would say don't do it.