Pleased were not an overly noisy side remember the Hampshire sides with Shane Warne. Can't think of a particularly noisy side these days maybe a couple of counties that play with two spinners. Most are very professional and performance oriented these days

No fan of the comp but so long as they keep it to three and a bit weeks then I can tolerate it. I do think they should allow non hosting counties the opportunity to play some CC cricket while it's on though and release more players to play for their counties whilst it is on. Glad your daughter is enjoying the atmosphere at Edgbaston it really is a terrific stadium for events such as that and the ground staff really do try their best and are to be credited each and every time I go there for the county stuff even when there's below 1,000 there like today

Ecb reporters network well boo hoo.

Bit out of order them not being able to put the floodlights on this morning but presumably they're on for the day now so could be batting in murky twilight for a while here

Alec Stewart was speaking on 5 live sports extra at lunchtime and one of the things he suggested was;
"all the chat is that 2025-2028 will be the same as 2024"
Whilst we will welcome a period of relative calm lets hope they get it right or at least don't mess things up too much more for 2024

Blast groups June and July and the knockout games in September I think is the main change that appears to be baked in till 2028

I think the last time Warwickshire won a county championship game without Sam Hain was June 2018 when we beat Durham in division two

Well played Chrissy Wright and Leicestershire

Keith Barker on fire again

Looking at the less than quarter full Trent Bridge just shows what utter contempt the ECB has for the counties.

What we need is a proper one day league so fans can follow their counties home and away and a proper one day knockout cup so fans can dream of a trip to Lord's for the final.

This halfway house with silly groups then even sillier play-offs then a random final very few appear to give a monkeys about just so they can shoehorn this format into a three week block is completely ridiculous scheduling

The idea does seem fanciful but I like the vision of growing the game rather than shrinking it as happened when the 100 was thought up.

So long as the games are May to August and fall mostly at weekends which is when the National Counties currently play I don't see an issue with the logistics perhaps best if regionalised. Some of the NCs would require lots of help from the first class county grounds for a short duration while their own playing and spectator facilities are upgraded but I see no reason why for example Staffordshire couldn't play a game or two at Derby or Edgbaston as part of double headers with the host county. I'd quite like in twenty years time for the result of all this to be we've grown from 18 to 24 first class counties

From the latest county cricket matters magazine Graham Coster writes

"Trees make cricket grounds, but cricket grounds are becoming stadiums. They're becoming stadiums because these days they're really there for just the big showdowns which apart from test matches, never see a red ball."

I have to confess my heart sinks whenever I attend New Road these days and there are black sightscreens in use and seats taken up by a temporary black comms box.

I do think there should be more greenery within the actual stadium we use. Edgbaston (fitting as it is for putting on great test matches and the Blast Finals Day and I'm led to believe the 100 aswell) never has been the most aesthetically pleasing ground when empty (looks stunning when full mind) but at least back in the day with the old pavilion you had the trees within Cannon Hill Park to enhance the view from the City End and the flower baskets added a nice touch

Also;

"Is draping a glorified bedsheet over a bank of seats really the best we can do for sightscreens?"

I think this is something that needs addressing at Edgbaston amongst several venues the ground needs to improve the way it is turned out the way for instance Trent Bridge is able to. I don't think Trent Bridge is necessarily a nicer ground (odd shaped outfield for one and some of their new stands are downright weird) but they do seem to make more of an effort on the aesthetic front IMHO

According to reports from a members forum at Surrey 2 weeks ago it was confirmed there will be Championship cricket in early July and late August and rumours of none are incorrect

Still not ideal but better than had feared based on The Cricketer/Torygraph reports

The Blast group stage ends July 15th and is more appointment to view in 2024

An excellent day for the all rounder today. A tidy spell of seam up and then an excellent steering of a chase all while giving his gloves a day off

You'd have thought a better way to set this target might've been we smash 50 in about 8 overs this morning just to get the blood pumping then allow them to knock 130 in what was left of the session.

Instead of which we've dawdled this morning I don't think Kraigg Braithwaite moved more than 5 yards from his sweeper position in front of the Hollies and that mindset has crept into the batting after lunch.
Still a chance but I'd take a draw now from here

176 off 60 overs as lunch was taken no further overs are lost

240 off 55 tomorrow are we thinking?
or
275 off 60?

To get there we need a swift Warks declaration tomorrow (perhaps following a completely in vain attempt to thrash our way to 1 bonus batting point) then joke bowl Northants up to around or just after lunchtime

Plenty of joke bowling will go on tomorrow around the counties so would be a shame if Warks decline

Play-off dates for the two promotion spots into Birmingham League Division 2. 11 am starts

Sat 16th Milford Hall v Olton & West Warks
Sat 16th Old Hill v Wellington

Sat 23rd Milford Hall v Old Hill (at Moseley CC)
Sat 23rd Olton & West Warks v Wellington (at West Bromwich Dartmouth CC)

Sun 24th Olton & West Warks v Old Hill
Sun 24th Wellington v Milford Hall

Wellington play a T20 final at Derby next Sunday hence the final two rounds of the play offs are pushed back

Tommy Rex hits a four to win the game for Kenilworth beating Knowle and Dorridge and Moseley who earlier beat Shrewsbury bring the Birmingham League title back to the second city for the first time since Warwickshire 2nds won it in 1988.

Moseley also go clear at the top of all time winners with 19 Championships.

Well done Barks, Umeed, Che, Yates and all at the club

What is in the best interests of the county championship?

Leave it at 8 cuckoo teams sticking out like a sore thumb failing year after year causing angst for the rest of the game.
Or...
Make it a proper 18 county-ish competition with jeopardy so it gets taken seriously all of a sudden

Either way I'd watch very little of it but what's best for the counties is what would interest me

Mark Wood btw is what? 36 now? so I wouldn't lose any sleep over him training down central contracts

Something to quiz Stuart about on Monday

Doesn't solve the issue of too many formats and absence of Championship cricket in July August and there's lots of assumptions in the piece too.

New Hundred format and private investment in English cricket move a step closer
ECB chiefs' preferred idea of expanding tournament to 18 teams will go down well with counties, but less so with investors and broadcasters

By Nick Hoult, Chief Cricket Correspondent and Will Macpherson, Cricket News Correspondent 8 September 2023 • 6:33pm

Changing the format of the Hundred and the possibility of private investment in English cricket moved a step closer on Friday when the England and Wales Cricket Board was given the green light to take new proposals to the counties.

Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, and Richard Thompson, the chairman, will now meet with counties to discuss their two ideas: private investment in the eight Hundred teams eventually increasing it to 10; or replacing the competition with a pyramid tournament involving the 18 counties across two divisions, similar to the current Blast.

The second proposal, described by insiders as an ‘investible pyramid’, is preferred by Thompson and Gould and would see teams shared equally by private investors, the county and the ECB. They believe it will unite the game and end the division between the counties and the Hundred. However, it will face major opposition from the Test grounds who currently host franchises and mean ripping up the Hundred and starting again.

The other option, to sell the current eight Hundred teams to private investors, would copy similar franchise models around the world, and attract interest from India, Saudi Arabia and investors in the United States. A third option of just selling the entire tournament was turned down last year when private investors Bridgepoint offered £400 million for a 75 per cent stake, but could also still be a possibility.

Two days of ECB board meetings ended on Thursday with Gould and Thompson given permission to take their ideas to the next stage – a meeting of all counties is scheduled on October 4 – and then stakeholders such as Sky.

It comes on the back of the most successful Hundred competition since the tournament began three years ago with healthy crowds and broadcast figures.

The 18-team model will be popular with county supporters. The ECB and the county would own the teams with invites to private investors to buy in. The host county would manage ticket sales, marketing and managing the players, decentralising the competition from the ECB which currently controls all those factors in the Hundred.

But investors will be put off by promotion and relegation while broadcasters are cool on an 18-team tournament that involves a huge increase in fixtures and believe county brands are now totally irrelevant to younger audiences. A two thirds majority of the 18 counties will have to agree for any changes to be implemented.

The support of Sky will be crucial. Without their buy in, a new tournament will be hard to make work given the lack of competition in the UK broadcast market for cricket. The counties currently receive £1.3 million per year from the Hundred, funded by the Sky deal. Sky could ask for a refund if the competition is changed before 2028, when their deal runs out.

Selling the Hundred franchises, or the entire competition, to private investors is the only realistic way English cricket can compete with other leagues for talent and keep England players from the clutches of IPL teams. Also discussed at the board meeting were pay rises for the England men’s team with multi-year central contracts to be offered but no increase in match fees, which had been expected.

The offers will be put to the players over the weekend and early next week. Mark Wood this week told Telegraph Sport he could turn down an England central contract to cash in on T20 leagues. He is not the only player considering such a move

Certainly with games barely lasting a couple of days recently puts a dampener on any enthusiasm about renewing at the prices they're charging. There is an urgent need to re-instate two divsions of nine meaning 8 home championship matches so that forking out £245 can then be argued as reasonable for the privilege.

Currently it is 7 home CC games, some hit and giggle (I can normally stomach about two of those) and 4 glorified Second XI One day cup games plus the bonus Quarter Final matches which they've had to throw in lately and reciprocal membership with a number of counties which is very hit and miss as to whether you get chance to take advantage of. I managed a day at Derby back in May saw Henry Brookes take a stack of wickets. Reciprocal membership would be quite good if there was lots of cricket in June, July and August to make use of it

Traditional memberships used to offer decent value say £150 (excluding Blast games) you wouldn't mind the CC games only lasting 2 days quite so much then