Eight-a-side field settings

[Neil Pickup]

Evening all,

It's the national finals of the U11 eight-a-sides tomorrow, and unfortunately we'll be heading to Derbyshire with an understrength team - and whilst we'll be approaching the day with "just enjoy it - and you never know what might happen" as the main gameplan, of course we need to think about the best ways to make the most of what we've got, so any thoughts/experience would be appreciated.

It's pairs cricket, 12 overs a side, with two overs maximum per bowler

Our attack is as follows:
(A) RMF inswing - likely to be used at the death
(B) RFM awayswing - probably opening overs
2 from (C) (D) (E) RM of various dobby qualities: two skiddier and one slow inswing
(F) LB - on the slower side, decent flight/dip
(G) OB - converted seamer, more bounce than spin

Considering opening with (B) and (G) and getting the keeper (who is outstanding) to stand up to those of (C) (D) (E) that bowl, trying to force the pressure. Field wise I am thinking along the lines of third man, long off sweeper (freakishly good athlete), then in/out on the square boundaries, obviously with adaptations for the spinners with third man coming to 45 on the leg side and point expected to run a lot...

 

[silentstriker]

Keeper, bowler and six slips.

 

[Howe_zat]

Says the bowler

 

[Neil Pickup]

Really helpful, thought-provoking responses. Kudos.

 

[marc71178]

Out of interest why on Earth are you understrength for such a relatively big event?

 

[Dan]

I've coached an 8-a-side team for the last couple of years, and they made the local area final both times. The sides I had were about half normal players and half that had never played cricket before.

What we did was generally place a mid-off, wide long on, catching mid wicket, deep backward square, backward point and extra cover.

The only real variation the captain brought in (it was U/14s, so I let the captain do his job) was whether the mid wicket was a catcher or on the boundary, depending on the type of batsmen.

I can't help a whole lot, most of my coaching was teaching the new guys the basics, and tweaking the techniques of the more experienced guys to get the best out of them. The quality of the competition meant that tactics typically didn't matter a whole lot anyway.

If your keeper's good, I'm not sure whether you'd need a third man - are U/11s going to be guiding it down there that often? For the outswing bowler it could be worthwhile, but with medium pacers or guys moving it in, balls aren't as likely to fly there.

 

[Daemon]

What are the fielding restrictions like?

I've played 6-a-side and from that experience I guess you would need at least 2 guys on the boundary on the legside for all your inswing bowlers as well as the offie. Fine leg is a wasted position, Long off and deep cover are always going to be useful. Another thing you can do is put a deep cover, deep backward point, third man and bowl short slightly wide outside off, pitch up 1-2 deliveries in the over and have a long on as well. All this also depends on your bowlers accuracy and the quality of the batsmen I guess.

Good luck

 

[Neil Pickup]

Lost by one run. Twice.

Won our other game comfortably - they won the group and we finished bottom.

Cricket...