No 148, April 3: The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🟣 Happy new season 🟢 All the previews you can read 🟡 Will London teams win both divisions? 🔴 Durham, Hants, Kent make signings 🟠 Champ & Blast reduced next season? 🔵 Worcs closer to move
Cricket lightens the load of life.
When the peal of a bell punctures the murmuring excitement at 10.55am on Friday morning at county grounds around the country, summer will have officially arrived.
The pitches will be green, the clothes will be white and the sky will be blue.
Even the sun may have its hat on for the start of the season.
Until the end of September, this sporting storm in a tea cup will make a horrible, divided world seem just a little bit brighter.
Enjoy it while you can.
(See my note at the bottom)
☕️ When I started this newsletter I made two promises, it will be free forever and your data will never be misused. If you like this newsletter (and you can afford it) please consider buying me a coffee via Ko-Fi or subscribe via Patreon. All coffee buyers are name-checked in the next edition.☕️
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PS If you want to get involved in any groups to change this situation. Then there is the County Cricket Members Group and, of course, the Cricket Supporters Association.
County Championship - Round One previews
Click on each team for a different preview
Division One
Essex vs Surrey
Hampshire vs Yorkshire
Somerset vs Worcestershire
Warwickshire vs Sussex
Nottinghamshire vs Durham
Div Two
Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire
Glamorgan vs Leicestershire
Middlesex vs Lancashire
Northamptonshire vs Kent
County Championship Previews
County Championship season preview: Who can stop Surrey? | BBC Sport
County Championship 2025: Full List Of Overseas Players In Each County Squad | Wisden
2025 County Championship: Club-by-club guide to the season - BBC Sport
County Championship previews | ECB
My bold County Championship predictions for 2025 - and why Surrey won't win it | The I
County Championship season predictions: Why Surrey will not win... again | Telegraph
Can Jonny Bairstow’s Yorkshire or Archie Vaughan’s Somerset stop Surrey? | Times
Can Kane Williamson inspire Middlesex to promotion from Division Two? | Times
Season Previews County-by-county 2025 | Deep Extra Cover
Here’s a new YouTuber doing short-form previews of the County season
📱My social media BlueSky | Threads Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | X
Other preview stories
Intriguing and deep list of overseas stars head for County Championship | The Guardian
County Championship may lack glamour but it’s still the one to win | Times
"It's proper cricket" - why it's time to get excited for the County Championship | Portsmouth News
Yorkshire: Harry Brook and Joe Root to miss County Championship opener | BBC Sport
Tom Westley: Essex skipper urges younger players to create own legacy | BBC Sport
Richard Dawson: Glamorgan offer 'a lot of potential', says new coach | BBC Sport
Cameron Bancroft: Gloucestershire new captain 'boosts team' - Mark Alleyne | BBC Sport
Essex eager to end era of Surrey dominance – Jamie Porter | Echo
Durham out to 'dethrone' Surrey says new batter Emilio Gay - BBC Sport
Ben McKinney set to have key role with Durham this season | The Northern Echo
Player news - contracts, injuries
Neil Wagner returns to Durham for final four months of 2025 season | ESPNcricinfo
South Africa's Dewald Brevis signs for Hampshire to play T20 Blast, Championship | ESPNcricinfo
James Bracey: Gloucestershire wicketkeeper signs new deal until 2028 | BBC Sport
Boost for Northants as James Sales puts pen to paper on new contract | Daventry Express
Kent sign seamers Kashif and Dudgeon to cover for Agar absence | ESPNcricinfo
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West Indies seamer Roach back at Surrey for start of County Championship season | ESPNcricinfo
Brett Hampton: Hampshire sign all-rounder to replace Jack Edwards | BBC Sport
'Right place' - Andrew Flintoff's son signs for county cricket side | talkSPORT
Corey Flintoff signs rookie contract with Kent | ESPNcricinfo
News, Views and Interviews
The Hundred - ECB sale process encounters delay over future TV rights | ESPNcricinfo
Labour MP reports Yorkshire Cricket Club to FCA over membership changes | Telegraph
Rory Burns: Surrey captain says English cricket needs to 'protect' County Championship - BBC Sport
'Nothing's off the table': ECB risks angering fans with county cricket shake-up | The I
Domestic structure review aiming for 2026 implementation | The Cricketer ($)
ECB domestic review confirmed ahead of possible County Championship cut for 2026 | ESPNcricinfo
Local Radio and ECB agree new four-year deal for County Cricket Coverage
John Curtis: The Voice of New Road - Worcestershire CCC
'Cricket matches moving will have serious financial impact on Worcester' | Worcester News
Former Lancashire and England bowler Peter Lever dies aged 84 | ESPNcricinfo
Derbyshire County Cricket Club records surplus for 2024 | Destination Chesterfield
Cecil Wright: Tributes to cricket ace who played last game at 85 - BBC News
The note at the bottom…
You may have noticed I have not written my usual lengthy diatribe as much as usual in this newsletter.
That will be the norm going forward.
The world is telling me to stop whistling in the wind.
In the past few years, I have written one book, 148 newsletters and endless columns on my fears about the future of county cricket. I was interviewed for the board at Essex but rejected as a preferred candidate so I did not stand.
Over the winter, I ran a couple of letter-writing campaigns to those in power and penned many of my own. I spoke to representatives of the Culture, Media and Sport committee and travelled to the Commons to talk to the MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Sport.
None of it has made any difference.
In the meantime, the cash raised by the sale of franchises in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named has been PR-ed as a vindication of everything that has gone before.
Which, of course, is bollocks.
The deals are not done and the cheques are not written yet there are cracks. Rows over money and TV deals. It will not affect the sales, there is too much money involved. But it is telling for the future.
There is talk that this is the last year before a reduction of games in the County Championship and the Blast. The 50-over is already second-class. Again, it is indicative of the ECB’s ‘direction of travel’.
Of course, the money is critical. If we could trust the leadership of English cricket, it could even save the game. And by that, I mean ‘our game’.
But bluster, bullying and bullshit, allied with clever politicking, asidusous manipulation of the resources they control over desperate, malleable or greedy counties and a willful ignorance of the democracy that should be enshrined within the game has worked so far. So why stop now?
There I go again, repeating myself.
And that is why you will hear less from me. The ECB are not listening to anyone with less money than them, the counties are not listening to members so why bother? Cricket is a closed shop, talking to itself, serving itself and satisfied with itself. No-one is listening to the likes of us.
(Maybe I should do a KLF and return in 15 years to see who was right.)
So in future newsletters you will get the links not the comment. If that means you unsubscribe or stop buying coffees then I understand.
But now it is time for me to return to the back of the stand, earphones in, cap pulled down. Alone with my thoughts and my coffee.
Enjoying my kind of cricket while I can.
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The story of this newsletter
This newsletter started in January 2021 because, frankly, no one else was publishing one and the county game lacked promotion. It will always be free and we will never misuse your data.
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Classifieds
Links
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Grumpy mein ooncle, I am der ratty, Must be summat in common?
If anyone would like to do fantasy County Championship cricket in £5 money leagues for a bit of added interest I have 2 types set up. Full details posted here:
https://forum.thefanpub.com/t/fantasy-county-cricket-2025-cricketxi-com-5-money-leagues/2712?u=bluelionman