Indoor cricket through winter

Perth Doo’cot Cricket Club is determined to keep interest in the sport as high as possible through the winter months.

And the door will always be open for any future cricketers inspired by watching Scotland perform on the grandest of stages.

The Scotland national team recently cruised into the T20 World Cup Super 12 to set-up a shot at some of the world’s best.

While there were defeats against Afghanistan, Namibia and New Zealand this week, the‘Purple Lids’ have captured the imagination of many.

And Perth Doo’cot will be doing their utmost to entice and keep players engaged with the sport.

Indoor cricket has not long started for the winter with sessions taking place on a Monday night at the North Inch Community Campus.

“We have just started indoors,” secretary Graham Ferguson said.

“Normally we wouldn’t do that until late January.

“But trying to get indoor facilities this year was a challenge.

“We ended up getting the North Inch Community Campus on a Monday night.

“To get that, we needed to take a booking from a week past Monday all the way through to March.

“That will have its challenges to keep people interested across 22 weeks.

“But we had a big uplift during the summer with women and girls cricket so they will take some of the sessions.

“We will have sessions for the adults and older juniors, then one for the kids. We’re going to try and get creative with it.”

Graham added:“You are not going to get kids coming along‘just because’.

“You need to offer something that makes them want to play cricket.”

Perth Doo’cot players have been following Scotland’s progress at the T20 World Cup closely.

“There were a lot of emails and messages flying around when Scotland were in the qualifying competition and winning that,” Graham told the PA.

“We were certainly on a high during the qualifying. They have gone up a level and have had a couple of heavy defeats.

“The game against Namibia was a big disappointment because we could have won that and we could have got closer to Afghanistan.”

Graham continued:“The format attracts spectators and the juniors do play a short game. You are going to get more - particularly youngsters - watching a two-and-a-half hour game of Twenty20 than a seven hour test match.

“But it’s difficult because if you are a 12-year-old kid and come to play cricket, we are still going to teach you to play straight rather than hitting the ball out the ground all the time.”

To find out more about the cricket club send an email over to: perthdoocot@gmail.com