Diary of a Vegan Cricketer (Week Seven)

Bowling well, batting like I have never batted before …. and not in a good way ….. more vegan woes, a brief return to Staffs Seniors and a trip to Trent Bridge

2024 Season Week Seven: May 13th – May 19th

On the field I continue to be useless with the bat, good with the ball, and holding my own in the field:

• Staffordshire Seniors: I made a comeback to the 1s against Shropshire. Didn’t bat, bowled 4 OK Overs and broke the big partnership but was most pleased with the way my body was fielding. First 45 over game for a long time and I was at cover or mid wicket all game and did well. Body was a little stiff afterwards but mainly through muscles letting me know they had been used. Think it will have been a one off comeback as I am at best 12th choice for the 1s, the 2s is not something I am prepared to spend time on given how difficult playing on a Tuesday is at the moment for me.
• Church Eaton 1s: made my debut in the ones in a convincing victory that didn’t require me to bat, and didn’t take long in the field but 6.1 Overs, 5 Maidens, 2 Runs and 4 Wickets was a really good performance. Probably not a one off, but I doubt I will be a regular in the 1s.
• Church Eaton Sunday XI: a solid win with the team sticking to the plan, and again fielded well enough (didn’t have much to do), bowled tidy 4 overs for 2 wickets and 8 runs, but once again a disaster with the bat: lbw once again to a decision I can’t see was out BUT I have a bat and need to be hitting the ball! I think the slow wickets are making my timing all off, and I am being too tentative. The ‘problem’ is that I am not batting in many games and the weather and volume of games is making netting very hard, and I have yet to find a good training partner at Church Eaton.

The batting will come good, and in many ways the bowling and fielding is enough for the body at the moment. I am enjoying Church Eaton and the role I am laying on a Saturday (2s) and Sunday in working on match awareness, planning and delivery.

Off the field NBCC is taking up quite a lot of time with a meeting with Ali Choudhry to discuss how he can get involved more both playing and coaching and a trip to Trent Bridge for the Out4Cricket LGBTQ+ Conference.

This was an excellent event and venue, so let me get the negative out of the way first: the vegan option was terrible. Some mediterranean roasted vegetables which were lovely and two cold deep fried ‘things’ which were chewy and horrible. And that was it! It was weird really as they had put on what looked like a lovely spread marked everything as being gluten free, nut free etc, but hadn’t labelled anything as vegan (including the pastries, cakes and biscuits). Would it have been so hard to leave parmesan cheese out of the salad and let people that wanted it add it, ditto the tuna. For a conference to discuss inclusivity the irony loomed large in my mind, but not in any of the caterers it seemed.

As I have said before my approach is not to tell people in advance that I am vegan (negates the concept of research) and not to make fuss. At the end of the season I will will produce report and share with all those that have been involved.

The conference itself was really well put together with some good speakers, and it was good to see so many old faces, and meet some new people who loved what we are doing with NBCC. The take away for me was that we are doing with NBCC is exactly what needs doing.

My vegan woes continued at Chase Golf Club. Played well, got wet, Tim fancied a sandwich before his drive back. Still absolutely no bar snack option available, except a baked potato and baked beans (no vegan butter) but as the served that last time with bacon bits in the salad I don’t count it and besides it is hardly an appealing bar snack! The chef did have a vegan pie on the main menu which he prepared, but it was a main meal (£16) and served with chips and peas. No gravy or exciting vegetables. The pie was good, but why not offer it with some vegan gravy, as a bar snack and not as a main meal?

As for the week ahead: Sands is in Spain so I am alone with the cats and dogs (so the short game on Saturday and relatively short game on Sunday got their paws up). I have the joy of some DIY jobs to do, am playing a 100 game on Tuesday evening, a T20 game on Thursday evening, and then Church Eaton 2s on Sat and Mon, where I will be captaining the team.