COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Is a different Dukes ball the reason for all the runs? | Finally, an ECB chair we can believe in? | Sparkling new Potts |Best of the blogs
In many ways, it has been an uplifting week. I have seen lots of enthusiastic schoolchildren at grounds around the country, the stars have been out in the County Championship and the nascent tables are fascinating despite a glut of bore draws. As you’ll discover below, a couple of the more innovative counties are giving away thousands more free tickets this week, also it’s Stokes v Labuschagne at Durham and Yorkshire v Lancashire at Headingley. Happy days.
I am even prepared to accept new England MD Rob Key appointing Brendan McCullum as the Test team coach despite him having little experience for the role. Let’s face it, Key was highly underqualified too. I harbour doubts over both but you cannot say this is ‘more of the same’.
Change is good and, frankly, I am tired of seeing the same types of people appointed to top jobs and getting the same type of failures, no matter how hard you try to dress them up.
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Reviews of last week’s games
Cricketer Championship round-up
What happened in Round 5 of the LV= Insurance County Championship? (ECB)
Ascendancy - Lammonby, Bohannon and Bracey (Yahoo Over Cow Corner)
Championship Review (Aspiblog - A blog by an autistic person)
County cricket: London sprawling as Surrey and Middlesex top tables (Guardian)
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News, Views and Interviews
First and foremost - Get well soon Graham Thorpe
Bowlers blame smaller seam on Dukes ball for surge in County Championship run-scoring (Times) ($)
This story is a little odd. Not so much the change itself but the reaction.
The move to eight points for a Championship draw and the much-discussed request for pitch curators (are we doing that word now?) to create flatter tracks are seen as measures to improve our Test batting. But there does not seem much transparency in this latest development. This ball change was a rumour for weeks and, even after this story came out, I have not seen any clarification. What’s with the secrecy?
Overall, I'm unsure about this drift because, for the 18-county Championship to survive, it must have some intrinsic value as a sporting competition. If it is just about feeding the Test team with players (an argument both reformers and preservers have used) then ultimately it becomes a glorified practice event. We have seen far too many stale Sundays already this season with games ending in a bizarre situation where part-time bowlers deputise for tired specialists while batters compile heavy but meaningless scores.
With few fans watching and the game listing there is no pressure. This nullifies many of the benefits the situation is designed to create.
The rise of Matty Potts, the latest quick off Durham’s production line (Wisden)
‘Naughty kid’ Matty Potts targets England debut in first Test of New Zealand series (Times)
Steve Harmison has been telling everyone about this quickie for a while. He has been a great signing for my Cricket Draft team. (BTW Anyone want to invite me to their League?)
Groundbreaking Disability Premier League confirmed for inaugural season in 2022 (Cricketer)
Of course, we all applaud this. But might they have asked the senior designer to do the badges? I could do better on Canva.
Cream of men’s Test team to miss another BBL season (The Age)
This is a piece from Australia on the way interest in the Big Bash has tailed off. Certainly there is a feeling they have oversold it, trying to squeeze out too much money too quickly. Franchise cricket is susceptible to this because is artificially created by marketers and does not have the organic, generational support of something like the county game. The fizz and the fireworks work for a period but, after a while, it needs to be backed up with something real. And when you are selling your tournament as a showcase for the best talent and they don’t turn up then the punters are not going to maintain their interest.
CEO Sean Jarvis is turning Leicestershire around. Lots of interesting initiatives are coming out of Grace Road…
BBC Sport Leicester @BBCRLSport
The Leicestershire CEO @SeanMJarvis joined us tonight on the Talking Foxes podcast. We talked about The Foxes' recent poor form, and what lies ahead on and off the field... Download here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09…
Ian Holland reflects on becoming 'Cricket Superstar' (Cricket.com.au)
Has anyone had a more unusual route into professional cricket than Ian Holland - reality star, USA international, Hampshire all-rounder.
The long shadows over English cricket (New Statesman)
Wisden’s overseas County Championship XI of the 21st century (Wisden)
I must admit I never ever thought about this issue (below) but now I have a teenage daughter I realise its importance.
Making cricket more inclusive can start with very small adjustments - for example, a lot of girls don’t want to play in whites (and I assuming I don’t need to spell out why not ).
Miranda Farrell wrote about it and, I’d venture that the Rajasthan Royals’ content last season made a difference in India.
ECB back to square one in hunt for new chair as Ron Kalifa withdraws (Cricinfo)
Richard Thompson could be tempted into ECB chair role, and he would be a perfect fit (Cricketer)
English cricket needs the Surrey strut (Cricketer) ($)
Sometimes, it is the way of things. Rainbows follow showers, roses grow from manure and, just occasionally, another ECB balls-up leaves the game in a better position.
The role of ECB chair has been troubled for years. First there was Colin Graves, who barged through the-tournament-that-shall-not-be-named, tried and failed to extend his tenure then was accused of interference beyond his remit at Yorkshire (though his money has been keeping the club afloat for years). Eventually, he was succeeded by Ian Whatmore, who was pushed out after a few months. Since then the hunt for a replacement has been led by Ron Kalifa, who after an exhaustive search ended up thinking the best candidate was… Ron Kalifa. This ‘shoo-in’ situation reportedly put off applicants and, in the vacuum, Teflon Tom Harrison remained in post as CEO. The other lead actor in farce that is the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named had been reportedly pushed towards the door for months.
The news of Kalifa pulling out left English cricket back at square one and me thinking of a new nickname for Harrison (unfortunately Trevor Bailey had already taken The Barnacle). However Richard Thompson is in the frame and George Dobell floated that he might be able to lure back Richard Gould as CEO. These two led Surrey to great heights, off the pitch at least, in the last decade. And I say that as an Essex fan who loves to tease them as the underperforming ‘Man United of Cricket’. On my Twitter account, ‘$urrey’ are painted as the cocky braggarts who, in the words of Adam Ant, “spend their cash on looking flash and grabbing your attention”. Not that it brings them as many trophies as it should.
However, in contrast to Man United and the other greedy clubs who tried to form football’s European Super League, under these two, Surrey made decisions to sustain an 18-county structure when they could have led an eight, 10 or 12-team franchise league. This year they announced record membership figures and I have been posting videos of their impressive fan engagement executions. $urrey strike me as the best county organisation on the circuit, which is why I put my Essex credentials aside and applied for the Head of Media role recently advertised. (I did not get an interview). Thompson and Gould have excellent reputations in the game and this pair give me hope. The latter was interviewed for Harrison’s job and pitched a high-profile Blast on free-to-air television, which proves the board has always been as much to blame as those they appointed.
Mark Wood is living proof that character and personality count. Here he is (above) on a podcast “hosted by autistic students from a special school in the UK”.
A New Look For Middlesex Youth Membership (Middlesex CCC)
This is intelligent from Middlesex, dividing up their youth membership into different age brackets. Any parent knows what interests the pre-teens is not going to fly with the 16-year-olds. There have been school parties at the last two days I attended at Essex. They watched a session then played on the pitch at lunch. I believe some players went over to say hello but I wanted more of them involved. Like you manage umpiring duties in Sunday games, the tail-enders of the batting side could do 10 minutes first then the openers could pitch in once they are out. Still, the kids seemed to get into it. They cheered the ball when it came near them and roared as quick bowlers steamed in. But to truly love any sport you need to understand it. This is where the complexity of cricket is a problem and the lack of participation in state schools means modern youngsters have less of a grounding in the basics. (I learnt a lot about the longitudinal effects of sport in school on fandom in the US from a podcast I did with Rick Luker)
Which brings us to…
Revealed: The great private school cricket arms race (Telegraph)($)
Regular readers will know this is another hobby horse of mine. However, like the endless ECB affairs, I only keep writing about it because there are stories every damn week. This one talks about the ‘arms race’ among public schools to sign the best talent - bespoke scholarships, 110 per cent of fees paid, a raft of top quality coaches. There are always defenders of this position but, for me, the highest levels of the game have retreated into the hands of the elite over the past generation. The biggest issue UK cricket faces is reversing this trend because it will create more interest and more players which, in turn, creates more television eyeballs, more advertising spend and greater revenue.
English cricket seems to be the only sport that is happy to contract into its safe spaces.
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August 2023
- Aug 8, 2023 Because cricketers are worth it. Greed, ego and contract negotiations Aug 8, 2023
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May 2023
- May 20, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast preview | Foxes put meaning over money | Should Essex house Tigers? | Lancs v Somerset declaration row | Roach goes home | Lancs try to change rules at AGM May 20, 2023
- May 12, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Marketing trends in County Cricket | Week 6 Previews | Chaos at Derby | Cricket Paper back this weekend | Why invest in Yorkshire? | Tom Harrison paid £1.13m in final four months May 12, 2023
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April 2023
- Apr 29, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Week 3 reviews | 12-month IPL contracts offered to England players | Own your mistakes! | Sort out 'reciprocal' rights for county members | Tom Price heroics Apr 29, 2023
- Apr 21, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Championship Week 3 previews | Ballance retires | The dangerous ageism of labelling older fans 'a problem' | Saudi Arabia T20 threat | Oh Mickey (Arthur), you're so fine Apr 21, 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
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November 2022
- Nov 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: ECB change board | Back to an eight-team top division? | Smeed's move the first of many? | Hogan unretires | Major deals at Notts | Yorks racism hearing ramps up Nov 18, 2022
- Nov 3, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Richard Gould - the right CEO for the ECB ? | Shock Rushworth move | Yorkshire's key changes | New contracts - Wood, Barker, Hain | Surrey, Worcs coach appts Nov 3, 2022
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October 2022
- Oct 21, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Will a county 'go under' like Wasps? | Key says support you-know-what | Buttler & Croft contracts at Lancs | Yorks racism hearing in public? | Benefit Years no more? Oct 21, 2022
- Oct 8, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Angry reaction to Yorks' relegation | County Awards | Teams of the season | Will counties vote against Strauss Review? | Should we split cricket into two codes? Oct 8, 2022
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September 2022
- Sep 30, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Fantastic finale to the Champ season | Success at Surrey, Notts & Middx | Warks send Yorks down | Strauss Review reaction - and it's not good | Hildreth and Hogan farewells Sep 30, 2022
- Sep 16, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should high performance mean high priority? | Royal London Cup previews | You-know-what 'least enjoyable' competition | $10m fine shows ECB the way on fighting racism Sep 16, 2022
- Sep 12, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson delays county vote on Strauss review | Media blitz - Fri night Blast games, transfer window, player exodus | "One man and a dog" - still!!! | You-know-what Yr 2 figures Sep 12, 2022
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August 2022
- Aug 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: 'Over my dead body' CEO on cutting counties | The schedule is a pretzel or a Rubik's cube | Hildreth retires early | Thompson's in-tray | My Faustian bargain Aug 18, 2022
- Aug 16, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson appointed ECB chair | Special General Meeting forced at Lancashire | Yorks tribunal underway | Flintoff's Field of Dreams considered | Stevens to leave Kent Aug 16, 2022
- Aug 3, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Major moves announced | Yorks change captain | Royal London Cup is not an 'alternative' | What Dr Who tells us about the demise of county cricket | Loads of pessimism, sorry Aug 3, 2022
- Aug 1, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Will counties lose that £1.3m payment? | Why the balls have gone soft | Join Campaign to Save First-Class Cricket | B&H Cup 50 years on | Northeast's 410* Aug 1, 2022
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July 2022
- Jul 20, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Why first-class county cricket will be gone in six years Jul 20, 2022
- Jul 14, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Scarbados and Southport shine | Lancs Action Group rally members | Why do 'outsiders' love the Champ | What change will YOU make to save the game? Jul 14, 2022
- Jul 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: What Wimbledon can teach English cricket | Vaughan off-air | Gale's parting shot | Sibley, Barnard moves | 'Bazball' in the county game | Who's out of contract Jul 2, 2022
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June 2022
- Jun 24, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Last four Yorks chairs blast ECB | Champ games to be played in UAE or Sri Lanka? | Introducing the 6ixty | Seriously, how to replace the ECB? | Big Somerset signing Jun 24, 2022
- Jun 17, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Yorkshire and former players charged | Willey returns to Northants | Moeen, Sibley to move? | Chesterfield of dreams | YouTube stream hacks Jun 17, 2022
- Jun 9, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast catches fire at last | Sky's schedule, fights and food problems | Why fan engagement is the key | Yorkshire payouts Jun 9, 2022
- Jun 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast crowds struggling, are you surprised? | Foxes fight back with £10 deal | Key to cut Championship games? | Fans' banners taken down | Jim Parks RIP Jun 2, 2022
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May 2022
- May 26, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: T20 Blast Off | Ticket sales struggling because of you-know-what? | Has Championship been a let-down so far? | Surrey's classy gesture | Big sponsorship deal for Lancs May 26, 2022
- May 19, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: ECB CEO Tom Harrison goes... finally | Have bad balls helped batters? | Bees stop play | Where you get in free after tea | Why should we listen to ex-players? May 19, 2022
- May 14, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Is a different Dukes ball the reason for all the runs? | Finally, an ECB chair we can believe in? | Sparkling new Potts |Best of the blogs May 14, 2022
- May 5, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should Joe Clarke play for England? | Essex boardroom problems | Six ducks for Kent tail-ender | Yet more ECB nonsense May 5, 2022
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April 2022
- Apr 24, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Strauss Review nonsense | Key appointment doubts | Compton's stunning start | TalkSPORT's quality coverage | Syd Lawrence Apr 24, 2022
- Apr 15, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: All the Championship previews | Mickey Arthur defends county cricket | A list of the ECB's mistakes this week | Player moves Apr 15, 2022
- Apr 7, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: All the County Championship previews | Fantasy League tips | Bumble speaks out | Latest player moves | And 'Teflon Tom' wants to secure 'his legacy' Apr 7, 2022
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March 2022
- Mar 28, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should we have a fan-led review? | Surprise! Talk of culling some counties | Yorkshire can't get out of their own way | Should the ECB fine themselves? | All the moves Mar 28, 2022
- Mar 7, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Warne remembered by Hampshire | Power struggles at top of the county game | More trouble at Yorkshire | Should Durham be asking questions? | Lots of new signings Mar 7, 2022
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February 2022
- Feb 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: 'Civil War' at Yorkshire | Why Tom Harrison is cricket's Chesney Hawkes? | Mickey Arthur flies in | Surrey's 15k members | Davies banned for tweets | All the player moves Feb 18, 2022
- Feb 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Angry about the fixtures, the Yorkshire scandal and especially the ECB... here's why Feb 2, 2022
- January 2022
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December 2021
- Dec 24, 2021 BLOG: All the major player moves & contracts | Exploring Cricket & class | A right old 'Codgerfest' | Counties redeveloping grounds | Changes at Yorkshire | Peter O'Toole taught by Imran Khan Dec 24, 2021
- Dec 10, 2021 BLOG: Yorkshire look to rebuild | Lancashire's new ground | Coaching changes at Hants | Northants and Derbyshire overseas signings | All the latest player moves | Delay on 2022 fixture announcements Dec 10, 2021
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November 2021
- Nov 28, 2021 BLOG: Latest on Yorkshire racism scandal, all the county cricket moves, are ECB 'fit for purpose'? Nov 28, 2021
- Nov 10, 2021 Sign up FREE to the only County Cricket newsletter - all the latest in one place Nov 10, 2021
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October 2021
- Oct 28, 2021 It seems you can't wish Geoffrey Boycott a happy birthday anymore Oct 28, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 The Championship must find its niche again and Mason Crane must not ruin my Spag Bol again Oct 1, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 The Grumbler's County Championship team of the season - 2021 Oct 1, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 How to say goodbye to a cricket season, career or life Oct 1, 2021
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September 2021
- Sep 14, 2021 Dear Mr Dowden, first-class counties are 'art treasures' too Sep 14, 2021
- Sep 8, 2021 We love seeing the youngsters play but it helps county finances too Sep 8, 2021
- Sep 1, 2021 Why watch when there is nothing to play for? Sep 1, 2021
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August 2021
- Aug 24, 2021 The intended consequence of diminished horizons Aug 24, 2021
- Aug 18, 2021 Like the many who will follow him, red-ball Ravi will be missed Aug 18, 2021
- Aug 11, 2021 Cricket needs diversity from all sides Aug 11, 2021
- Aug 3, 2021 Gimmickry can help county cricket too Aug 3, 2021
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July 2021
- Jul 29, 2021 50 and out? Why one-day cricket may fall through the cracks Jul 29, 2021
- Jul 20, 2021 A failure of governance Jul 20, 2021
- Jul 13, 2021 Cricket, data and Foxes Jul 13, 2021
- Jul 9, 2021 Lessons from six months of creating county cricket content Jul 9, 2021
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June 2021
- Jun 30, 2021 What happens when you become a cricket 'meme’ Jun 30, 2021
- Jun 21, 2021 How 'Hobbiton' is starting a village cricket team during a pandemic Jun 21, 2021
- Jun 15, 2021 Where's the fun? Derek Randall and Spinwash show the joyful chaos of yesteryear Jun 15, 2021
- Jun 9, 2021 County cricket fans are having their say... and their 'When Saturday Comes' moment Jun 9, 2021
- Jun 2, 2021 Why cricket's best YouTube channel is under threat Jun 2, 2021
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May 2021
- May 26, 2021 Fanning the flames for REAL supporter representation May 26, 2021
- May 18, 2021 Getting back in the ground, it’s going to be pretty damn emotional May 18, 2021
- May 18, 2021 By the end of this season, we’ll know if traditional county cricket has been outgunned May 18, 2021
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October 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 Vitality Blast: Team of the Season 2020 Oct 7, 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 Streaming offers red-ball cricket a lifeline Oct 7, 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 My T20 finals days: Michelangelo, Kiss Cam and the Sugababes Oct 7, 2020
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September 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 The Grumbler's Team of the Bob Willis Trophy 2020 Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 Barmy Army 'batten down hatches' as Covid hits cricket tour business Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 No-one marketed the Bob Willis Trophy final, so I did it myself for a tenner Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Udal on Parkinson's Disease - 'When you play cricket, you learn to fight' Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Tom Banton's not Somerset's Messiah, he's a very naughty boy Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Why cricket fans will mourn this season more than most Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 Cold-blooded Murtagh takes on Donald Trump's spinner Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 By George, he's the proud No11, batting in his mother's memory Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 Bring back the 'FA Cup' of cricket Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 County game grows viewership via stream power Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 9, 2020 Financial nous like ‘Barnacle’ Bailey can guide cricket though the pandemic Sep 9, 2020