mad
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BBC Radio coverage of County Championship in danger
It’s apparently under threat. Listening to how Dave Bracegirdle signed off earlier on the live feed as it came to a close today and was concerned to hear it hinted quite strongly that all the BBC commentataries are at risk as the Beeb are considering closing the commentary service down.
I hope folks have had chance to read Barney Ronay's piece this morning;
The problem is the collateral damage to all the other bits. The Hundred is unavoidably parasitic. It requires every other format to be subjugated and run down, although part of this is a deliberate managed decline to ensure its own success. People who have supported the game and kept it alive like the other formats. Test cricket is still the greatest cash cow. It is currently being asked to subsidise the thing that will cut its legs off, a Hundred that provides no players, no pathway, no midsummer stage in return.
It is obviously something that of all the counties our very own Warwickshire (the hierarchy) along with usual suspects Lancashire are pursuing most strongly - the threats of breakaways etc...
If you are a Warks member and want to avert a future without Worcestershire or Kent or Sussex to play then start getting active now. Tomorrow they will throw county cricket to the wolves it seems and Warks members need to be active and make their voices heard
https://www.youtube.com/live/LEqcgqmt56I?si=mtXBIZGXRrTUoDja
Really interesting to watch this is quite a wide ranging discussion. Do listen in.
Once again we at Warwicks are blessed with some of the best people in the game around
What a day and tournament for him
14 wickets and the best figures at this level by an England bowler today
Was it 2018 or 2019 when he turned out for the Seconds team at age 13/14?
Barney Ronay
What a game Test cricket is. Cut to the bone but still a different level to every other format. Its death is a paradigm of dumb consumerism. Money and margins tell you to make a worse product. At the end of which you have money, for a while, and a worse product for ever
Some reports in the Times this morning sorry haven't got the link.
What do people think?
My gut is this would be the straw that breaks the camel's back I don't think I could stomach putting any further money into a sport/sporting organisation that took money from despots with vile human rights records.
Here's an.article from.last year though;
Saudi sportswashing. Their one failure so far was sponsoring this year’s Women’s World Cup, an attempt abandoned after players and federations pushed back. This isn’t just shameless, like Aramco producing 13.6 billion barrels of oil last year while installing recycling stations for drink bottles at cricket grounds in the name of sustainability. There is something perversely aggressive about targeting events where all the competitors are women and so many are gay, as a country where their gender makes them second-class humans and their sexuality is a crime.
https://edgbaston.com/warwickshire-ccc/reciprocal-membership/
Good that Taunton and Leeds is added. I guess also includes Scarborough/York should there be championship fixtures there?
It is rather a shame you can't use it for when Warks are the visiting side however
It wouldn't half help offers like this if there was the prospect of multiple fixtures in the actual summer months to use it so it is pleasing to see some ODC games are included
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
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
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
Yesterday's game which is perhaps best forgotten and three sides are in red-ball action
Seconds playing a 4-day match away down at Bristol CC - Chris Rushworth took a wicket yesterday, interesting that Jake Lintott has joined the game today to get a feel for the red ball again
Under 18's in their final 3-day match away at Taunton Vale - Isaac Maddy in the side but hasn't had a bowl they're up against it down there and play the same opponents in Sunday's 50-over final at Kibworth CC
and today a 2-day EPP match has begun at home to Lancashire
go well all you Bears
Good to see the under 18's complete a 50-overs double over Ireland under 19's yesterday and today. Theo Wylie stood out today on a spinning track taking seven wickets as the Irish slumped after a strong start against the seamers Rory Haydon and Sam Atkinson. Earlier Daniyal Khan had top scored with 70 for the Bears.
They have a semi final up at Chester-le-Street this coming Sunday after winning their quarter final hosted by Barnt Green last Sunday in unusual circumstances (owing to damage to the pitch caused by a stray cricket ball in the warm up slipping beneath the heavy roller in operation one end was deemed unfit for left handers so it was decided after a quick phone call to Lord's that all overs had to be bowled from a single end in order to complete the tie)
Warks under 18's next home 3-day game is versus Northants starting next Tuesday
What the hell happened here then?
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_summary#m8fdd1358-59e5-4b2c-935d-008039dbdc48
Think this is an important step. Key going forward is not the format but rather not to isolate the non TMG counties. Bringing minor counties back into a competitive tournament would be great and far better than just having 8 franchises and everyone else twiddling thumbs. I do hope there's still room for a 50-over or 40-over comp though perhaps a knockout comp.
One option is to invite the National Counties (formerly the Minor Counties) to join the 18 first-class teams in an expanded competition aimed at providing promising cricketers with a pathway into the professional game.
The T20 Blast might then become a two-league affair, with promotion and relegation.
I know at least one member of this board won't necessarily agree but I do still think there would be merit in holding onto some of the new team names/identities going forwards. Birmingham Phoenix could still exist as a concept for mens and women's T20 as it has definitely broadened appeal within the Greater Birmingham/West Midlands conurbation/region. Ditto for the Manchester Wales and Southampton teams. Perhaps less a need to retain Oval, Trent and Northern however. They can go back to being Surrey Notts and Yorkshire. Warwickshire could potentially then even field a second string/academy side in division two of whatever emerges and play at smaller grounds under the Warwickshire umbrella as could Lancs in Liverpool etc...
Couple of bits of news overnight;
Strauss Review dead in the water (well the bits that sought to wreck the county championship)
And the Hundred has cost the ECB (and by extension the counties themselves) a figure approaching £60 million (£9m plus all the bribes) in its first two years
Money the sport could ill afford to waste - plus the detrimental impact on the pre-existing formats e.g. Blast group stage being played earlier in the cooler weeks of the season and counties now unable to put on festivals of championship cricket in the school holidays
Sure the format - nobody wanted or asked for -has attracted some additional fans to the game but these may otherwise have filtered into the sport for any number of other reasons (the success of the women's and men's ODI sides in World Cups being one) without the Hundred.
Can anyone make a case for persisting with this situation or is it like three-team-cricket they tried in South Africa a few years ago - a novelty that has quickly run out of road?
Not sure what the actual record is but absolutely astonishing what they've done.
The games they've been involved in have been fantastic. I was privileged along with many on here to be at the India test match at Edgbaston back in June and that probably doesn't even rank in the top three of test matches they've been involved in over the past nine/ten months.
This morning was amazing. I would rather see England lose monumental matches by one run than win them by an innings with three days to spare!! Test Cricket in that respect is more important than results!
Had we lost at the Oval in 2005 by 1 run I'd have been utterly deflated but if we're 2-2 going to the Oval in July and get a game like last night even if we lose by 1 run I think I'd be very satisfied. Is that an age thing or symptomatic of the wider game changes?
Fixtures for the second eleven team have begun appearing on the Warwickshire website and on a couple of other clubs websites - Notts, Hants and Kent for example.
A few errors though on Warwicks website they are showing the second XI championship games as three day matches (should be four) and the second XI one day T20 games are also showing as three day matches
The first friendly appears to be Monday March 27th three day game Vs Worcestershire at Portland Road I suspect they will have a first team game at Edgbaston against the same opposition concurrently as they did last season
Since the aspects of the Strauss review relating to the domestic structure have been summarily rejected by the counties one way the counties are seeking to meet the ECB half way is by creating an 8 team top division. 8 is closer to but not nearly as preposterous as a ridiculous 6 team top division. I'm hearing discussion is/has already taken place over the way to achieve this and the most obvious way is by promoting only 1 side and relegating 3 at the conclusion of 2023 - a cpmplete reversal of what occurred in 2019 when 1 was relegated and 3 promoted ahead of 2022
One or two county chiefs are still expressing a preference for conferences like we had in 2020/2021 or removing several counties from first class status altogether. Lancashire CEO was all about this a few months ago which strikes me as a bit rich. A county that has, in close to 90 years, only won the county championship title once shouldn't be permitted to run down the likes of Durham or Essex or Leicestershire IMHO
Would folks on here prefer 1 up 3 down in one go in 2023 or a more measured 2-season approach - 2 up 3 down for a couple of years until it's sorted and until it's time for the next shambolic overhaul?
https://edgbaston.com/news/edgbaston-to-host-first-ever-blast-off-double-header/
I actually like the ambition here. Whilst slightly inconvenience to Derbyshire fans I think it is testament to how well liked Edgbaston has become as an events stadium. It's an attempt to replicate the kind of crowds we get for the Worcester game which we never seem to get for Derby/Yorkies etc... Might attract more away fans and neutrals. I know many will balk at this but I think it's a good idea I'm open minded about it at least. Guessing other grounds will try something similar on other weekends too
Excellent tournament completed by England. Great for Warwickshire now Moeen and hopefully Woakes are made availabile for the Blast ought to help boost attendances for sure. I go back to one of the comments from a gentleman at the first HPR forum in September that as soon as he saw how England were going to prepare for the Ashes last year (+ the injuries, bubbles etc...) he immediately switched off because it was obvious to him that England would get bounced around and walloped by the Aussies.
As it turned out aside from the heat in Adelaide and to some extent Sydney the conditions were quite similar to English conditions but the poor prep did for them
Contrast with how well England have prepared for this tournament. Yes they have turned themselves into a fantastic white ball team/squad and probably by some distance the best in the world at coping with all conditions (no mean feat in a format as fickle as T20 where results are less predictable) wheras in Test cricket you get the sense there isn't much of a gap talentwise between each of the top 4-5 test playing 11's in world cricket and home advantage plays a massive part still.
Elated for Moeen and Woakesy but also for Adil Rashid now a double world cup winner and alongside Stokes probably the key player in England becoming so dominant overall in the limited overs formats