Cricket can be humbling. But some cricket humblings are distinct.
For most cricket badgers, their first humbling at the crease comes against a county hopeful – an academy prospect with a future in the game who will flat bat the ball zipping past your ears.
That same spritely prodigy will then clean up your stumps at what seems like a million miles per hour.
However, sometimes these humblings come against 60-somethings who are fighting through dementia, arthritis or hip replacements, but playing with smiles on their faces, and socialising and exercising despite the challenges age has brought.
Sometimes these humblings come at a slower pace. Plastic bat in hand, one step at-a-time, walking not running.
Walking cricket is giving an older generation a second run at cricket, and that is humbling for many who think they are all-out.
Walking cricket takes teams of eight players batting and bowling over 16 overs each, with players batting in pairs guaranteed four overs at the crease together. When you’re out, your team loses five runs and you remain in the middle.
Runs behind square are not worth a risky ramp shot, given there’s only two runs up for grabs even against the boundary rope, so the slower format is a highlight reel of cover drives and straight shots.
A lightweight plastic ball replaces cork-and-leather, with zip and plenty seam movement.
Apart from that, it’s till the same energy-sapping, focused game of cat and mouse – even for the 13-year student of club cricket.
Jonathan Speller, cricket director at The Wimbledon Club, explained the Windmillers boast 36 players after launching in 2023 with just eight members, and even toured the continent to Vienna in 2024.
Speller said: “It’s reassuring to know that when we talk about lifelong participation in the game, we mean it now.
“We’ve had an ex-Test captain come back at 83 struggling with late-stage dementia, and you can hear he’s reliving his run up bowling to Ponting.”
Speller added: “We’re all cricket nuts, given a half a chance we’ll return to it.”
The impact of Walking Cricket, as far as Speller is concerned, is principally social.
He said: “Covid changed the landscape so much. There was a group of people that were isolated, weren’t as active as they wanted to be.
“How many people are looking for social interaction, a feeling of belonging?
“I’ve got a six and eight-year-old and all they want is to be accepted and liked, the same can be said for 80-year-olds.”
There is no better example of seeking social interaction and acceptance than former Sri Lanka captain DS De Silva.
Along with skippering his country, the leg-spinner was the first Sri Lankan to take a Test five-for on his way to 69 international wickets, and served as interim chairman of Sri Lankan Cricket after his retirement.
However, he was diagnosed with dementia and fell out of the sport until De Silva’s son, Dilshan, introduced him to the walking club…
CONTINUE READING at source: https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/sport/14112025-walking-cricket-a-second-run-for-older-generation-in-wimbledon
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