Bashley Captain on his Fears for League Cricket and the Battle for Survival in the SPCL

For our recent newsletter, the Hawk caught up with Bashley Rydal’s long-serving captain on a tough start to the season, 15 years in the Southern Premier Cricket League, and his fears for the future of club cricket

The Hawk: Not the easiest start to the season Michael, how are you feeling as we move into June?

Bashley have always been a very strong club. I think we’re only one of two clubs never to have been relegated from the Southern Premier Cricket League in its 20-odd years of existence. That’s something everyone down here is incredibly proud of.

That’s a remarkable record. And you’ve been at the heart of it for a long time personally, haven’t you?

This is my 15th year in the league. I’ve captained the first team in 148 games - and on top of that I did a season captaining the Hampshire Academy side. So yeah, I’ve been around a while. I’ve probably had enough, if I’m honest!

Could you put your finger on what has gone wrong so far this season?

It started in the winter, really. We had a situation where six of our first-team players from last year all moved away. Five of the six, I should say. Two went to London, one went back to Plymouth, one back to Australia, and one moved just south of London.

And these weren’t fringe players - these were minor county cricketers. Top, top players. To lose more than half your team like that - in all honesty, it is almost impossible to replace.

It just happened. We’ve been here before, back in 2017, a very similar situation although that time it was more retirements. We got through it then and we’re in a rebuild phase again now.

What it has done is create a real opportunity to give younger players their chance, the likes of Cam Basey, Kieran Pardey, Xavier Deacon, players on the younger end of the scale who perhaps wouldn’t have had a look-in otherwise.

They’ve grabbed it and there have been some real positives, but equally there’s plenty of areas for improvement. That's probably the honest assessment.

You've drawn the comparison with Hampshire’s own struggles this season - young players taking time to find their feet.

Yeah, it really is almost a carbon copy in some ways. We’re bowling and fielding very well, enjoying our cricket, enjoying each other’s company off the field. But we just haven’t had the application with the bat yet.

There are three or four of us - the more senior batsmen - who just haven’t got ourselves going yet. As soon as that changes, I’m sure the wins will follow.

And morale is holding up?

The morale is still very good. We’re a tight-knit group. We’re not in panic mode. We just need to start performing much better with the bat. It’s that simple, and that complicated.

You’ve been in this league for 15 years. Has the overall quality changed in that time?

It’s a really difficult one to answer, because I don’t want to be one of those people who just says it was all better when I was in my prime.

But if I’m being honest, I think the very best is still very, very good. What’s changed is the depth. There perhaps isn’t the depth there was ten years ago.

Why do you think that is?

A few things, really. When I first started playing in the league, pretty much every club would have a professional cricketer playing for them on a Saturday - ideally one and then a homegrown pro, because that’s the maximum you can have. That just doesn’t happen anymore.

We’ve tried Tom Prest, we’ve tried Brad Currie in the past, but these guys play so much cricket now - franchise cricket, county cricket - they want their rest day on a Saturday and I completely understand that.

St Cross are blessed that Felix Organ and Dom Kelly are willing to do it, but there aren’t many pros who are.

And availability from your own players - has that changed as well?

Completely. Ten years ago I’d get frustrated with a player who missed two games a season. Now I’d be absolutely buzzing if someone only missed two.

It’s definitely changed, and I think COVID accelerated it. People realised that summer weekends are quite nice for other things.

Kids, festivals, holidays. You can’t really blame them. The world has changed. But it does make things harder.

Does that make you fearful for the future?

If we’re having this conversation in 15 years, what does the Southern Premier Cricket League look like? I genuinely don’t know. Cricket is changing so rapidly. I’m probably in a small minority that still completely loves all-day cricket.

There’s already talk of potentially moving to 50-over cricket, which is what they play in Australia and it seems to work fine over there. I do fear the game is heading towards shorter formats across the board.

The league have made a really good move in shifting Premier League fixtures to 11 o’clock starts. That’s the reality of it now.

The days of committing to 18 weeks of Saturday's plus four Sunday's for cup cricket - that just isn’t possible for a lot of people anymore.

What’s the wider picture at Bashley beyond the first team?

We’re in the T20 competition and we’re also really lucky that our fourth's captain is a real clubman who’s arranged a lot of midweek friendlies to keep people involved.

We’ve already had one touring team come down and basically drink the bar dry, which is exactly what you want. So we do have Sunday cricket, midweek cricket - we’re trying to keep as many games going as possible.

That activity funds the club.

Talking of funding, is that now harder than it used to be?

Definitely. The culture used to be that wherever you were, you’d come back to the clubhouse, have a couple of pints, stay a while.

Bashley have always been brilliant for their socials, that sense of community around the bar.

We’re actually quite lucky in one sense - we don’t own our club (ground), which takes a huge financial pressure away that a lot of clubs carry. But overall, yes - getting people through the door, keeping the bar ticking over, retaining sponsors - it’s all harder than it was.