With an empty Coke can, a plastic bottle, or even just a stone, we used to play football. Drop down a pair of jumpers for goalposts and you have an instant pitch in classrooms, corridors, and even the little patio at my grandmas house, where I played epic matches against my sister. To form a basic game of football cost absolutely nothing. And yes, cricket too: with improvised bats from bits of wood and balls shaped from scrunched-up paper. You can pretend to be a national legend when stroking a sphere of rubbish along the floor with a rolled-up umbrella.However, if you actually take the field and formally upgrade, the financial costs of playing football and cricket rapidly diverge.Ask Durham, relegated from top-flight cricket because they couldnt balance their books.Ask mum and dad when their son or daughter picks up a bat.Ask the club cricketer walking to the crease on a Saturday afternoon, where the rising price of playing is at its most extortionate. Before even being picked for his team, the treasurer will have asked for his annual subs, and while not as wallet-emptying as joining a golf club, these could be anything from ￡100 upwards, along with a weekly match fee - the last time I played league cricket, this was ￡15 a game.Still, our amateur is eager, and he has paid his bills and is striding to the middle. Depending on whether he wants his boots to fall apart before he scores that century, or he rightly understands that his feet are precious - my dad once broke his ankle darting for a quick single when one set of spikes stuck and the others slipped - and need support, he could have forked out anything from ￡20 for a pair of clodhoppers to ￡125 for a pair of cutting- edge Asics that promise to help him run quicker between the wickets.Inside this boot is a sock - white, because no one rates a player wearing any other colour. And for a day standing in the field this sock might include ventilation channels and be constructed from choice Merino wool and polypropylene to wick away moisture and set you back ￡10-￡15 a pair. And unless youre a cricket brute who thinks its okay to take guard in a pair of chinos, youll be wearing whites: a shirt and pair of trousers that may or may not be included in your team subs.Youre dressed for the sport and youve paid to be on the pitch. Now you need protection.Before pads, the Gentlemen and Players of yesteryear would suffer gangrene from cricket-ball welts. So you don modern leg guards that make you look like a stormtrooper, especially in addition to that brand new helmet, the second one you have bought in two seasons as your old lid didnt conform to the latest ECB British standard regulations banning movable grilles. Still, safety is paramount, and if your teeth get knocked out, your dentist becomes part of the cricket-cost equation, rather than the landlord after you buy that round in the pub after the game. Besides, at your level, batting on the occasional minefield wicket, you need all the defence you can get against a ball weighing 5? ounces, travelling up to 90mph - not to mention costing anything from ￡5 (if you want to bowl with something shaped liked a potato after ten overs) to ￡90. You also need hand-stitched gloves (even cheap gloves are handmade, due to their design complexity) to defend your digits, and a priceless box. Finally, and most importantly - and most expensive - your bat. Your beloved blade, an extension of your body. The bat you choose represents something of your character, and perhaps your financial situation. Some men buy flashy cars in a mid-life crisis, others buy bats. Interviewed on Test Match Special this season, fellow writer Jon Hotten wondered if the pricey clefts of his team-mates would ever make more runs than they had cost in pounds. The problem is that bat quality does tend to equal bat price. You can get lucky with a bargain plank, and find the middle pings even when the grain wavers and the knots spoil the finish, but the best willow will cost.So there our club player stands, kitted out and settled up with the treasurer, ready to face his first ball of the season, a delivery that will pitch on a wicket tended and maintained by professional ground staff. Even the mangiest of park tracks will, despite appearances, have been mowed, weeded, scarified and rolled. A strip will have been painted on, sightscreens erected, and quite possibly an umpire who is not one of your mates will be adjudicating, and expecting a few quid in exchange for listening to bowlers swear at him all afternoon.Cricket costs. It drains pockets of the impoverished keen. Its simply not a cheap sport when played properly, and I do wonder how many kids from less privileged backgrounds dont get into the game because they, or their parents, cant afford it. Good schools, usually private, provide proper facilities. Bad comprehensives cant afford a manicured square and paid coaches. Vandals set fire to my own schools artificial strip a week after it was laid.Thankfully, beyond the governing bodies who ultimately dole out cash coming in from the clubs, amateur players and spectators, there are benefactors: sponsors, broadcasters, great charities, like Chance to Shine, dedicated mums and dads who dig deep so their children can take the pitch in proper whites and proper kit, and the generous clubs who subsidise the less well-heeled player.Cricket costs, but its also a sport people obsess about. A sport we love. And when were in love, we find a way. Derek Stepan Jersey . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Cheap Coyotes Jerseys . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. http://www.cheapcoyotesjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-christian-fischer-jersey . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. Cheap Adidas Coyotes Jerseys . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Jeremy Roenick Jersey . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - As torrid as the Los Angeles Dodgers have been, Hyun-Jin Ryu is on an impressive roll, too. The rookie left-hander extended his career-high winning streak to six games with seven innings of one-run ball as the Dodgers beat Matt Harvey and the New York Mets 4-2 on Tuesday night for their first seven-game winning streak in more than three years. "Youve got to play a perfect game to beat them right now, and were not doing that," Mets manager Terry Collins said. The Dodgers improved to 39-8 since June 22, becoming the first NL team with such a run since the New York Giants from Aug. 12-Oct. 3, 1951. Their winning streak is the franchises longest since taking nine straight from May 9-18, 2010. "The Dodgers are having a lot of fun right now," Los Angeles shortstop Nick Punto said. Ryu (12-3) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked one. The left-hander is 6-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his last seven starts since July 5. The Dodgers have won each of Ryus last nine starts. "He was matching their guy pitch for pitch," catcher A.J. Ellis said. "You could tell before the game he had an edge to him. He used all his pitches." The Dodgers starters improved to 13-1 with a 1.72 ERA in their last 18 games since July 26. "Ryu is the game plan when you got a guy like Harvey out there," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Hyun-Jin was obviously up to the challenge. I was looking to see how he was going to respond to this little matchup. In the games theyve made a big deal of hes responded really well." Harvey (9-4) gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two. The right-hander wass coming off his first career shutout, pitching a four-hitter in a 5-0 win over Colorado on Aug.dddddddddddd 7. He hadnt allowed an earned run in three of his previous four starts while going 2-1 with a 0.91 ERA in that stretch. "I was pretty inconsistent all night. I just couldnt locate anything," Harvey said. "When I tried to go in, it was over the middle. When I tried to go away, I was yanking it a bit. And when youre not hitting your spots and making quality pitches against a team like that, theyre going to put the ball in play." Kenley Jansen allowed a run in the ninth, but earned his 19th save in 22 chances. Puntos RBI double scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth off Harvey (9-4). His hit in the left field corner scored Ellis, who walked, and Juan Uribe, who singled, making it 2-1. The Dodgers extended their lead to 4-1 in the sixth on Ellis two-out RBI single to left that scored Mark Ellis and Yasiel Puig, who both singled. "When our pitchers are keeping us in games like this it just takes a timely hit," Punto said. Juan Lagares homered in the first for the Mets. John Bucks RBI single with two outs in the ninth accounted for their other run. The Mets have lost eight of nine to the Dodgers. Notes: With the win, the Dodgers clinched the series and improved to 12-0-4 in their last 16 series. ... Mets 3B Wilmer Flores was out of the lineup with a stiff right ankle that he tweaked while running to third base on Monday night. ... Dodgers OF Andre Ethier was scratched with left calf tightness. ... Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez team-best streak of recording an RBI in seven straight games ended after he was hitless in four at-bats. Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys China Womens NFL Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Outlet Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale NFL White Jerseys Discount Jerseys ' ' '