No 11, May 5 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
Two divisions v Three conferences | Catch of the year contender | Root loves Yorkshire | Notts' 1000-day war is over | Will a batsman hit 1000 runs by May 31? | Week 5 previews | Kids > TV rights
There are some big names debuting or returning to the Championship this week, including James Anderson, Travis Head, Ollie Stone and Pieter Malan. The likes of Stuart Broad, Marnus Labuschagne and Kemar Roach played last week. Even Jofra Archer got a run out in Sussex Seconds on Tuesday.
In addition, Sky Sports are showing all four days of Middlesex v in-form Gloucestershire. With the unfortunate but overdue suspension of the IPL this week, the cricketing spotlight seems to have shifted to the Championship.
It has been an excellent campaign thus far. Let’s hope it steps up still further now its moment has arrived.
Here are all the previews of this week’s games. Each team name links to a separate preview.
Nottinghamshire v Essex
Bears v Pears
Hampshire v Somerset
Leicestershire v Surrey
Middlesex v Gloucestershire
Lancashire v Glamorgan
Northamptonshire v Sussex
Yorkshire v Kent
Also…
LVCC Team of the Week – Round 4 (Deep Extra Cover)
Wisden’s County Championship team of April
I would have made room for Carse of Durham. He looks a find.
Player moves: Conway (Somerset), Quinn (Kent), Hemphrey (not signing for Glamorgan now)
Tweets of the Week
News and Views
A thoughtful piece from one of my favorite writers on the county scene. I love the way he does not thump the table to defend his view that division one and two cricket was never that far apart in standard. Instead he pitches a notion and suggests we see if it plays out. My twopence - two divisions created sustained interest for fans and pressure cricket for players. I don't really know what the second and third conferences will be playing for in September.
Meet David Bedingham, Durham's South African run machine (The Cricketer)
Bedingham says he might not have been a professional cricketer but for a car crash that now actually impedes his movement. It took pressure off him and changed his perspective so he thrived.
Joe Root on his love for playing for Yorkshire (Yorkshire CCC)
"County cricket is the bedrock of our game in my opinion. It’s where you discover your next group of Test cricketers. It’s really important that all of the time we’re trying to make the standard as good as we can." Here's the whole piece
Final thoughts on the Nottinghamshire game (Peakfan's Derbyshire blog)
It is important to promote county cricket bloggers and Peakfan is prolific. Here's a balanced piece on losing to a local rival. Such fairness is rare in the blogosphere.
Sky Sports to show County Championship clash between Middlesex and Gloucestershire (SkySports)
It seems Sky are just taking the club’s usual live stream, adding a camera and their own commentators. It begs the question, why not broadcast more feeds, albeit behind a wall or rustle up a digest show using footage? It is very cheap, live sport and fills lots of airtime. The ECB app is a decent user-experience and, of course, the YouTube streams are easy and ubiquitous. The dream scenario is the county’s streams with the BBC commentators shown through the BBC sports website and on their app. This provides both quality and reach.
However, one note of caution, someone, somewhere is already having a conversation about monetising these streams, given their popularity. Most of us can handle a few ads and we'll sign-on as long as we only have to do it once. But please do not put any major barriers between fans and the live streams.
England's best-ever one-Test players (The Roar)
Chopping and changing has created a healthy list of lone or few-cap England players. These players only got one but they were all country stalwarts. I like to think as these as the 'bad old days' but, at least, these players represented their country.
Alan Igglesden: Ex-England bowler receiving end of life care (BBC)
A sad, sad tale on a very effective Kent pace bowler who was capped by England.
A thousand runs in May – can cricket’s mystical milestone be reached once more? (The Conversation)
If it is going to happen for the first time since Graeme Hick then this is the year.
New Road to become a cashless stadium (Worcestershire CCC)
We are all going cashless right now. I get it. It’s more convenient for the customer and the vendor. Hell, I even invested all the proceeds from Last-Wicket Stand in crypto during lockdown ($LTC and a bit of $TRX since you ask). However, might this be a stretch a county grounds apart from on T20 Blast nights? I suggest that many of the venerable members around the counties may lack a smart phone, cards or the requisite skills to go cashless.
Cricket: children are the key to the future of the game, not broadcast rights (The Conversation)
This piece is two months old but I’ve just found it. It is based around the India v England series shown on Channel 4 but the argument is timeless - participation matters more than media rights. This rings true with me. Although the ECB have got it badly wrong on the-tournament-that-shall-not-be-named their resolve to create All Stars and its new, later-age variants is of critical importance. We simply must get children playing the game again. This used to start at school but the ECB's scheme puts the emphasis on clubs - not perfect but it is the best solution we possess. It has been marketed well too. I did try to get my daughter going along but alas she is just not interested. Perhaps it is here that media coverage plays its role as, surprisingly, she did express a desire to play football a few years ago so we found her a club. At 12, my daughter has little interest in watching a Premier League game but was keen to see US women's World Cup winner Alex Morgan when she came over to the WSL. That's why while my daughter play a few weeks ago, I thought ‘these are the paying spectators of women's football in the years to come’. Kids learn to understand and love a sport by playing it.
Links I like…
Fill up the Cricket Supporters Association survey
County Cricket Matters - Buy the magazine direct or on Kindle
Finally…
Yes, I am still plugging my book on county cricket and midlife.
Buy through Amazon or through me for an autographed copy
Finally, finally, let’s end on a high…
A lovely interview with Chris Cowdrey talking to the ever-smiling Alan Knott. It is not just a headshot interview, they took the trouble to edit in footage to support his recollections. A nice stroll down memory lane.
PS…
I tweeted this seconds after watching Yorkshire complete their incredible one-run win over Northamptonshire at the weekend. It was shared by many people who, like me, place a high value on the honour cricket retains relative to other modern sports. In all it received 26,000 impressions. In the past, other tweets of mine in a similar vein have attracted similar popularity. It all serves to give me a little more hope that what matters to me matters to many.
