Strange selection issues at Steyning

Sorting out the Steyning sides last night was a very strange experience. I'm used to discussing potential names that could be approached in a desperate attempt to fill out the bottom side, knowing that 9 is the minimum needed to get a side out. Once you have 9 the game can go ahead, and there's always the chance of finding someone from a pub, club etc (I remember getting my 11th for a Sunday match in a London night club about a decade ago).

Last night, the discussion at Steyning was all about who would get left out from the 3rd XI, the bottom side. Good honest club cricketers, available throughout the season, might not get a game this Saturday. What a problem to have! It's not quite as simple as just adding a side, although the numbers suggest we could, because Steyning have only one pitch. But as we have a thriving Colts section that just keeps churning out players good enough to play adult cricket, we're no doubt going to have to overcome that and create a 4th XI at some point.

Talking of the thriving Colts section, selecting the 1st XI involved picking two under 16s and narrowly leaving out an under 17. It comes to something when a player has the 95 extension to his email address to indicate the year in which he was born, and yet he isn't the youngest in a side selected entirely on merit. Rather than let anyone point it out I will make the point for you - yes, those two players are less than half my age!