So were you the ‘one man’ who turned up to the opening day of the County Championship last week? And did you bring that famous dog with you?

Reports suggested there were more than 1,200 huddled in Baltic conditions at Chelmsford on Thursday morning. I was one of 1,000 or so the next day. It might have been more but no-one was counting all those canines.

I hope the likes of Surrey, Somerset and Nottinghamshire can beat those figures this week when they play their first home games of 2022. And, more importantly, I hope they promote their patrons.

Because we need to.

Modern sports need numbers to justify themselves - bums on seats, eyeballs on streams, followers on social media, as well as the usual sponsorship pounds and media revenue.

Then we need to shout about them.

God knows the ECB thrust selective metrics down our throats about the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named and even withheld research that did not support their narrative.

I made a little video of my trip to Chelmsford. No tricks, just two shots panning across the stadium. Yep, we need a younger crowd, a more diverse crowd and yes, yes, yes, simply more of any crowd.

But, the pictures do not lie, in most grounds there are more paying patrons than the general public would believe. In the summer, I am taking my family of four to the women’s Euro final and an England group game. That’s eight seats to two high-profile, premium events for less than the cost of my Essex membership. We all went to the Women’s FA Cup final for about £30. I am not denigrating women’s sport, I am a fan. But my decision to attend these events is heavily based on price. It will be illuminating to see the effect of ticket rises on the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named this year. Forgive the cynicism, but I suspect other metrics to be trumpeted should attendance and revenue go down.

I’m not denying county cricket is sparsely attended, predominately by older people. But there is a bedrock of customers paying proper prices. 

Let’s build on that foundation stone, not spend all our time pointing out the cracks.

So go to a game this week and shout about it. Post your pictures, feel free to tag me @The_Grumbler too.

Let’s celebrate and create rather than moan and destroy.

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Week 2 Previews

Click on each team name for a different preview

Kent vs Lancashire

Nottinghamshire vs Glamorgan

Durham vs Leicestershire

Derbyshire vs Sussex

Somerset vs Essex

Gloucestershire vs Yorkshire

Surrey vs Hampshire

The Deep Extra Cover previews

Teams of the Week 1 and player moves

Cricketer

Deep Extra Cover

Players - Patel (Nottinghamshire), Phillips (Gloucestershire)

News, Views and Interviews 

Under-fire county system is NOT to blame for England's dire form in Test cricket, insists new Derbyshire coach Mickey Arthur... and says plans to reduce 18-team structure currently in place would be 'short-sighted' (Mail)

Huge respect for Mickey Arthur taking on the Derbyshire role "because he wanted a project... something that needed fixing". I'm sure he would have had better options but this is the way passionate coaches talk and act. He has been everywhere and calls it straight. 

We have all seen stats about the lack of 80mph+ pace and quality spin faced by county batters. The ‘best v best’ is a basic coaching tenet and we have that with a top division of six last year and 10 this term. Reducing the pool of professionals can only be detrimental to the long-term health of the sport and amount of players available. 

County cricket has gone unloved by those in power for decades, leading ex-pros (who used the system for their careers) to now call rank-and-file players 'riff-raff'. So are you surprised it is not operating to its maximum potential?

And Arthur has even landed one of the most stylish English players in recent years to look after his batters.

Former England man Ian Bell takes on Derbyshire CCC batting role (Buxton Advertiser)

Rory Burns: The volume of county cricket we play is marginally unsustainable (Cricketer)

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Shrinking county game would hurt new-found drive to embrace diversity (Cricinfo)

A lovely piece from the always excellent David Hopps on the off-the-field benefits of cricket. especially diversity. The trouble with modern sport is that, over the last two decades, those in charge have become almost entirely business-orientated. 'It makes no money' is the refrain. Financial reward and societal value appear to be polar opposites.

How Franklyn Stephenson did the county 'double' and why it will never happen again (Telegraph) ($)

The remarkable part is how methodical and planned Stephenson was about breaking the record

Titles, setbacks and a reset: 30 years of Durham in the County Championship (Guardian)

Kent prospect hopeful of England future after fleeing Zimbabwe over mum's Mugabe protest (Mirror)

I saw this chap bat last week. A very good prospect indeed.

English cricketers brave spring chill at start of season (Japan Times)

Sussex appointment of Jon Filby as new chairman gets Matt Prior's approval (The Cricketer)

Worcestershire lose head groundskeeper ahead of New Road Championship opener (Cricketer)

It’s not looking good at New Road. Especially as the advertisement will have to say groundsperson in summer/scuba diver in winter.

James Bracey on England aspirations, Gloucestershire goals and Bristol Rovers' promotion hopes (Bristol Live)

Five county spinners who could challenge for Jack Leach’s Test spot (Wisden)

Cricket the priority now for sporting all-rounder Rob Yates (Express and Star)

On Villa and Man United’s books, elite youth tennis player but Rob Yates chose cricket.

This week’s evidence against the ECB…

Exhibit A

ICC consider Wasim Khan for general manager role as Tom Harrison's ECB exit looms (The Cricketer)

This story says “Tom Harrison, having been paid his bonus (understood to amount to a year’s salary), is expected to leave the organisation within weeks”. 

According to 2018/19 ECB accounts, Teflon Tom’s salary was £719,175. He had had a 19% pay rise that year and you can assume it has risen a bit since then.

Therefore his bonus and salary for his final year in charge may well amount to £1.5m.

£1.5 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An entire county only gets £1.3m a year as a bribe for acquiescing to his abomination of a tournament.

But hey, let’s not consider the counties and instead turn to the 52 ECB staff made redundant during the pandemic or the kids in the player pathways struggling to afford kit.

Actually, forget even them. Let’s put the focus on the board that appointed him, signed off this bonus and, in all probability will slide in another public-school educated sports ‘suit’ as his replacement.

If he or she does as much damage as Teflon Tom there will be little left of domestic cricket in another decade or so.

(By the way, I know I say something similar every week but evidence of more nonsense appears weekly.)

Exhibit B

Of course,  as I discussed last week, Harrison wants to ‘secure his legacy’ with a 10-year deal with Sky,

Here’s media rights expert David Murray, who has been on my own podcast, giving his view. There’s real devil in the detail.

Exhibit C

Stephen Brenkley @stephenbrenkley

In the last 15 days I have received 24 emails from ECB about various matters, mostly the 100. Not a squeak about the Championship. What is going there?

Exhibit D

English cricket on back foot after ad watchdog bans junk food campaign (The Guardian)

This is a terrible look for a competition which supposedly was family-focussed. It always made me think competition among sponsors was not that high.