Cricket is a global sport that is increasing in popularity every year. As a result of this, we have many new fans of the game of many different ages that are wanting to get involved in the sport and start playing for a club. Some of these newcomers will have even higher aims – hoping that they can one day pull on the jersey of their national team and represent their country on the global stage!
I fell in love with the game of cricket during my teenage years, and I immediately started to wonder if I was too old to get involved in the game. Would the other players be much further ahead of I was given that I’d never played cricket before? How much would I have to practice in order to catch up? Did I have any chance of becoming good enough to play for my county or my country? These are all questions that I was asking!
If you’re around the age of 19 years old and hoping to get your cricket career started, you may be wondering what teams are available for you to play in! You may also be wondering whether there is any chance of you reaching the top levels of the game and becoming professional. If these sound like questions that you’d be interested in knowing the answer to, then you’ve come to the right place! In this post we’ll discuss whether you can start playing cricket at 19, what sort of teams are available for you to join, what items of equipment you’ll need, as well as how to choose your club and whether you have a realistic chance of making cricket into a career!
So, can you start playing cricket at 19 years old?
Yes, you can, as long as you’re willing to practice a lot! When you’re 19 years old you will be too old for junior cricket, so you’ll have to join your local ‘open age’ cricket side. Open age teams allow adults of all ages to compete against each other.
Many cricket clubs will have more than one open age team, and each team will select different players based on their ability. For example, if a club has an ‘A-team’, this will often be the team that has the best players in it. The ‘B-team’ would feature players slightly below that standard and the ‘C-team’ would offer opportunities to players who are newer to the game or those who have less skills and experience. If you’re 19 and have never been part of a cricket team before, it’s likely that you’ll be more suited to the lower level teams. Therefore, if I were you I’d try to join a club that has a C-team, so you can play against players that will have a similar skill level to yourself.
Regardless of which cricket team you join and what level you begin playing at, you’ll have to put in some serious time on the practice field in order to build the key skills that you’re going to need if you want to be a good batsman, bowler or fielder. Most teams will run a practice session each week that lasts about 1 – 2 hours, and these are great for getting better at the sport. However, to make serious improvements you should try to put some extra hours in too. Trust me, the game of cricket is a lot more fun when you feel like you’re contributing to the success of your team every week – and the only way to achieve that on a consistent basis is through lots of practice!
Most 19-year-old cricketers will have been playing for a few years at this point, and you’ll have to work hard to catch up with them. Personally, I’d recommend practicing basic cricketing skills at home before you join in with net sessions for a real cricket club. This will help you to feel more comfortable showing up to your first practice session. If you show up having never bowled or batted before, you may be a little embarrassed in front of your new team mates!
If you want to work on your batting outside of your club’s net sessions, I’d recommend reading my full guide on how to practice your batting at home by clicking here! In that post I share many interesting drills that you can use to build a good batting technique. If you want to work on your fast bowling skills from home, then you can read my post on that by clicking here! You should find some pretty helpful stuff in there too!
If you’ve played cricket before, and you’re looking to pick it back up now that you’re 19, this will be absolutely fine! You won’t have to work as hard in practice as a newcomer to the sport because anyone who has played cricket for a decent amount of time will have probably developed the basic techniques required to bat, bowl and field. Therefore, all you’ll need to do is refresh your memory of those techniques!
What Equipment Will You Need to Start Playing Cricket at 19?
If you’ve decided to join a cricket club, then you’re going to need some equipment that you can play with! When playing cricket at the age of 19 it’s likely that you’re going to be playing with a real cricket ball, therefore you’re going to need all of the correct protective equipment.
The essential items of equipment you’ll need to start playing for a club are as follows:
- A cricket bat that is the appropriate size for you (click here if you’d like to view my guide to choosing one!)
- A helmet
- A pair of batting pads
- A pair of batting gloves (I’ve reviewed 5 of my favourites in one of my other posts here)
- A pair of cricket shoes
- Appropriate clothing (usually white shirt and pants)
- A cricket bag to keep your stuff inside! (Click here to read my review of 8 great cricket bags)
- An abdomen guard (also known as a box or a cup, this protects the groin area)
Once you have all of the items listed above, you’ll be well prepared to start taking part in practice and matches for your club. However, there are also many optional items that cricketers love to have in their kit bags. Here are some of those:
- Arm guard
- Thigh guard (inner and outer)
- Chest guard
- Sun cream
- Sun glasses
- A hat
- Wicket keeping gloves & pads (if you fancy yourself to be the person behind the stumps)
- A couple of cricket balls
If you want to know any more about all of the items I’ve mentioned in this section, including where to buy them and how much they’re likely to cost you – I’d recommend reading my full, detailed post on cricket equipment here. No one wants to be the person that is constantly asking to borrow other people’s kit, so it’s definitely worth buying all of the essentials before you turn up to your first practice session. Also, when you buy cricket gear from good manufacturers it tends to last a long time, especially if you’re only playing one game a week!
How to Pick Which Cricket Club to Join
If you’re just getting involved in cricket at the age of 19, I’d say that your focus should be on finding a local cricket club that has good quality practice facilities. In addition to that, you should look for a club that offers as many practice sessions as possible, because these sessions will be vital to your development as a player.
Finding a club that is local to you is very important, because you won’t have to travel as far when going to practice sessions and matches. If you’re 19 and playing cricket for fun, it is likely you will have other commitments such as education or work, so the quicker you can get to the cricket ground the better!
There are other factors that may influence your choice of club. As I said earlier in the post, if you’re an inexperienced cricketer I’d look for a club that has multiple open age teams so that you can start off in one of the lower ability groups. Starting in a team like that will allow you to build your cricket skills over time and progress up into one of the better teams!
Can You Become Professional if You Start Playing Cricket at 19?
If you have the right amount of natural talent, then it’s always possible to become a professional player. However, this certainly becomes a lot more difficult if you’re 19 years old and haven’t played any cricket before. At the age of 19, the most elite players will have already had at least 5 years of coaching, and will already be representing their county/state teams. Some may even get the chance to represent their national sides! You’ll have to put in a lot of work before you can get to that level, which becomes difficult when you have to balance other commitments around your sporting life.
Having said that, cricket is full of players who have started playing the game late but still managed to become successful professionals. If you want to join them, I’d suggest that you should be looking to get roughly 5 hours of practice per week, and aim to represent your club in as many matches as possible. Anyone who has aspirations of becoming a professional cricketer, you should be dominating in club cricket, displaying regular match winning performances for your team. If you can achieve this, you could attend a trial for your county or state team, and progress from there.
Some players are born with a raw cricket talent such as the ability to bowl very fast, or great hand-eye co-ordination which helps them to become fantastic batsmen. Other players don’t have as much natural talent and will have to rely on hard work and dedication to take them to the elite levels of the sport. 19-year olds with a lot of natural ability will just have to learn to fine tune their skills, such as learning how to bowl accurate line and length, or how to show discipline in their shot selection at the crease. 19-year olds without a lot of natural talent will have to work twice as hard if they want to make it to the professional level!
In summary, it is possible for a 19-year-old that is new to cricket to turn professional, but it is also very unlikely. It would take a large amount of natural talent, and a large amount of hard work! The more you practice, the more you increase your chances of being a successful cricketer.
Conclusion
I hope this post has answered any questions that you had around this topic. Feel free to comment below if there’s something that you think I didn’t address fully! Also, if you are just getting involved with cricket, there are plenty of other posts on this site that will help you learn all about the sport. I’ve got posts covering the rules of the game and general cricketing questions, as well as others that will teach you how you can improve your batting, bowling and fielding skills. Feel free to check them out and stay tuned for more!