No 119, Apr 18 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🔴 Championship Week 3 Previews 🟢 And Week 2 drawzzzzzzzz 🟣 The Kookaburra won't sing 🟤 Worcestershire to move? 🔵 Eight county women's teams announced 🟠 Derek Underwood tributes
It has been peeing down, we are playing with a doughball and every game is a draw.
But let’s start with the ray of sunshine that is Jack Russell.
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Championship - Round Three previews
Click on each team for a different preview
Division One
Essex vs Lancashire
Hampshire vs Warwickshire
Kent vs Surrey
Somerset vs Nottinghamshire
Worcestershire vs Durham
Division Two
Derbyshire vs Leicestershire
Middlesex vs Yorkshire
Northamptonshire vs Glamorgan
Sussex vs Gloucestershire
Signings: Wheal (Hampshire to Glamorgan - loan), Green (Somerset to Leicestershire - loan)
Championship - Round Two Review
Warm enough to remove a layer? Steady on! – Cricket51days
Scott Boland's Durham stint under threat due to heel injury | ESPNcricinfo
Which led to this…
Johnson, Sadler question Kookaburra trial after high-scoring draw | ESPNcricinfo
Mickey Arthur issues message on future use of Kookaburra ball in County Championship | The Cricketer ($)
Mickey Arthur: "On the whole, I felt the experiment of the Kookaburra ball was decent in the first two rounds. But I would shelve that now as I don't think it works in April in England. It is a warm-weather ball, a southern-hemisphere ball. It is far better in the middle of the season.”
Which, as seems usual these days, was followed to this…
County cricket needs the Kookaburra ball despite what grumpy seamers say - Vaughan | Telegraph
Mickey Arthur v Michael Vaughan? No contest.
News, Views and Interviews
Statement from the Board: Sustainability of New Road - Worcestershire CCC
Worcestershire consider leaving New Road due to flooding | Express & Star
Worcestershire County Cricket Club New Road is uncertain | Worcester News
Worcestershire could leave iconic New Road as flooding threatens club's future | Telegraph
My column in the Cricket Paper this Sunday is about the slew of recent ground developments mooted by counties.
Worcestershire’s possible move from New Road is down to all the rain that falls mainly on the River Severn floodplain. It has always been a problem but it is getting worse. Of the 30 wettest years at the ground since 1899, 19 have occurred since the Millennium.
You cannot base a business on that.
Gloucestershire have a more basic problem. They are losing lots of money. The ground in Horfield is valued at around £25m. Selling it for housing and moving to a multi-purpose venue somewhere cheaper and creating more diverse revenue streams would be a shame but, at the same time, a no-brainer.
Essex and Leicestershire are also planning ground developments. One positive of you-know-what may be that counties are being forced into sweating or rethinking their most major asset.
Gloucestershire report £1.19 million shortfall in latest club accounts | ESPNcricinfo
Sale of Bristol ground back on the agenda as Gloucester losses approach £1m | Telegraph
Warwickshire CCC releases 2023 financial results - Warwickshire CCC
French women’s cricket team disbands after probe into fake matches – France 24
The irresistible mystery of the beautiful batsman - FT
Farmer Clarkson: My latest crop? Cricket bats | Times
Freddie Flintoff's son Rocky, 16, has fans hyped in senior cricket game at Old Trafford - Daily Star
Stuart Law appointed head coach of USA men's cricket team - BBC Sport
Pioneering AI camera system that could transform county cricket | Times
Yes, this could be a game-changer for the all-important county cricket coverage on YouTube.
AI-driven cameras from companies like Pixellot have already started to cover lower-level football and basketball. I used those ‘green triangle’ AI Veo analytics cameras for my under-16s football team last season.
Cricket is a tough task for this technology but here’s where the counties should work together to find the best, most cost-efficient solution.
Or work with the governing body to do it.
Nah, no chance.
‘Deserved respect not ridicule’: Wisden speaks out over cricket’s ICEC report | Cricket | The Guardian
Why is there a fight to save English county cricket? | Reader’s Digest
Andy Umeed: Somerset and Scotland batter on return to cricket - BBC Sport
Durham selected ahead of Yorkshire to host professional women’s county team | The Guardian
Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Kent criticise ECB after missing out on Tier 1 status - BBC Sport
It turned out that these eight slots were much more coveted than I realised. Certainly judging by some rather churlish reactions from those counties who did not get one. In the soft-soap of PR speak, Yorkshire’s statement was an angry volley.
I had half-hoped that maybe teams not hosting you-know-what might get preference. But, in their infinite wisdom, the ECB went for a Dragon’s Den-style approach. I kid you not.
My experience in UK and US women’s football tells me this could be very good for cricket. And because of the cold, hard business reasons that the game seems to like these days. I went to a WSL game on Sunday and, once again, the crowd showed that, generally, young girls are much more enthusiastic about watching women play sport than men.
Unfortunately, those prepared to pay at the gate are much less important than those prepared to pay a TV subscription. And, right now, that market is unproven even in football.
Why Rajasthan Royals are training up stars of future in Cornwall | Times
The game needs county pathways.
At the moment.
But if you look at the example of the split in darts 20 years ago, the first move the new brooms made was to create their own academies. A decade or so later they were largely unshackled from the old guard.
Should it continue, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named will surely make moves to develop its own supply of players. Once that is secured, it will find an excuse to cut off the life support to the counties. No more £1.3m per year, no more CCCs.
But maybe the real concern should be the IPL - over-hyped, over-funded and increasingly over here.
A couple of UK academies have popped up already. If they are buying their way into UK franchises and clubs then they will be able to re-route some of these pathways.
And they will not be directed for the benefit of English cricket.
Derek Underwood: 1945-2024 | Kent Cricket
Derek Underwood: England and Kent great dies aged 78 - BBC Sport
Raman Subba Row: Former England batter and cricket administrator dies aged 92 - BBC Sport
Tonbridge: School's cricket nets plan could go before Gove - BBC News
Read this and weep.
There may well be more to this particular story but, despite all the top spin applied these days, public schools must strive to be exclusive and privileged. It is their entire business model. There is no point in paying a lot of extra money for the same service that everyone else gets.
And finally…
The story of this newsletter
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