Gloucestershire Manage An Astonishing Turnaround And Still Get Upstaged

 

Gloucestershire Win the Hard Way… Again, But Still Get Upstaged

 

September 20^th 2015

 

There is a school of thought that believes that a low-scoring limited-overs match is far more thrilling than one where a side chases down 350. There is a lot to say for this point of view: when things are not loaded in favour of the bat, when the best field is not one that had four men in close catching positions in the second tier of the stands, when every ball is a drama – a dot, a scrambled leg bye, an edge to the boundary, a wicket – when scoring a run a ball looks like a mountain to climb, you get real heroes. Every player on the field knows that his intervention may be critical: a diving stop may save a vital run; a ball in the block hole will be defended and not thumped on the half volley to the boundary; and the batsman knows that his skill and nerve will be tested to the limit. Everyone has heard the maxim “his 50 was worth a century another day”; yesterday Geraint Jones, the oldest of the Gloucestershire trio of old hands, showed what it meant. It was a day for cool heads and pragmatic batting appreciating the value of hard-earned runs.

It was also a game that illustrated the plight of the unloved 50-over game in England and Wales. A Lord’s Final has not been a sell-out for many years. The Semi-Final at The Oval was, according to reports, watched by just a few hundred die-hards. For the Final, the Home of Cricket left one stand unopened and, when Michael Klinger fell, the ground was no more than two-thirds full. And this with a London side playing one of the counties that has the biggest contingent of travelling fans in the Final. The ECB has killed this competition as a spectator event.

Gloucestershire were very much the underdog, lost the Toss and their captain and talisman to only the third ball of the morning. You know that a 1030 start at Lord’s in September means that there is a real danger of being 30-3 from the first 10 overs. Gloucestershire are also a side that would much rather chase anyway. Everything seemed to say that this was just one game to many for a young side in which the sum is very much greater than the individual parts. As the side struggled, losing a wicket just as it seemed to be beginning to recover from the last. 100-3 promised a total around 270-280; 108-5 just two overs later threatened a quick finish. Surrey fans must have been licking their lips at the prospect of getting home early from the game. One says “Surrey fans” because there must have been some in the ground, but the noise and the singing seemed to be exclusively carried out in broad West-country accents.

Gloucestershire though have been in this position time and again in the competition and have won through. When Maxi Klinger fell early it was, in a way, the best possible thing that could happen to the side because it meant that there could be no jeering that the team was a one man band if they won. You knew, instinctively, that someone else would step up. As Gloucestershire tried to get up to around 240, GO Jones, still a very determined batsman in a crisis, held up an end while Jack Taylor attacked at the other.

Still there were twists, many twists. Seeing how hard it was to lift the scoring rate, you thought of Gloucestershire’s spinners and bowlers like Benny Howell and how hard they would make it to get the ball away. Benny Howell is the archetypal county pro: the thought of him playing international cricket is just absurd. He will not score big First Class centuries or intimidate batsmen, but put him in a limited-overs match situation and he will influence the game more often than not with a quick 30 when acceleration is required, or with a mean spell of 3-25 when needed, as batsmen try to take him on and come off second best. Bob Hunt up in the Radio Bristol commentary box with the former Gloucestershire seamer, Mike Smith, called it quickly when he said that that it would not be a day for a score of 300. There was a feeling that 240 would not be easy to chase and 270 a winning score.

The average English cricket fan regards Jade Dernbach with some derision. That sells him short. His England record is far better than he is usually given credit for. Dernbach lost his way in an England set-up that could not cope with the short formats and tried too many variations because he thought that he had to, rather than doing what he does best – bowl straight at a good clip – and use the variations only occasionally for surprise effect. Having got rid of both openers, he cut the innings short with four wickets including a hat-trick. Admittedly it was a rum hat-trick with the unfortunate David Payne ducking a beamer that followed him and receiving a painful blow in the ribs, only to be given out LBW despite the ball going well down leg. Figures of 6-35 in a Lord’s Final show why the selectors persisted with him for so long.

A score of 220 was disappointing, but not a complete disaster. If Surrey got the sort of start that Jason Roy is capable of giving, the match could be almost over in 10 overs, but a couple of early wickets could lead to a slow strangle. It is the sort of situation where James Fuller’s biorhythms are key: no bowler had more dot balls in the T20, nor more overs that went for 20+. Fuller though showed why he could, one day, interest the England selectors. He is fast. He can be nasty. And when the mood takes him he is a very dangerous bowler in limited-overs cricket. And he removed both openers. At 42-2 from 12 overs the contest was open, but Surrey remained just in front. Even though the over comparison showed Gloucestershire ahead most of the time, Surrey were consistently well ahead on Duckworth-Lewis. While you felt that Gloucestershire always had a wicket too many down, Surrey always seemed to be a wicket to the good.

However, Sangakkara and Burns were struggling to score. The middle overs were applying the strangle, but then, scoring at even 3 an over was not really an issue provided that wickets did not fall. At 143-2 even the most optimistic of Gloucestershire fans was just beginning to doubt, but you knew that a wicket would change everything. Sub Will Tavaré came on and held a vital catch that Sangakkara offered from Jack Tayor and the crowd was singing louder than ever: they knew that, suddenly, whatever the Sky predictor said, the match had changed. When, soon after, Rory Burns danced out, swung, missed and Roderick did the necessary, it looked as if the pressure had got to hm. Two new batsmen at the crease, the run rate required edging up towards a run a ball, each dot ball a tightening of the noose.

Gary Wilson fell cheaply, but still Surrey were at least one wicket to the good. Then Azhar Mahmood and Tom Curran fell quickly. 192-7. 27 balls left. 29 to get. For the first time you knew that Gloucestershire were going to win unless someone in the Surrey side was heroic. Even then Surrey should, by all logic, have won: 7 needed from 7 balls, three wickets left – you would back the side batting 99 times out of 100. James Burke is a little lazy going for a tight run. Misfield by Phil Dent. Gareth Roderick stretches. No dive. All gifts gratefully… but still, six balls to go, two wickets left, a set batsman on strike. It only takes an edge to Third Man to settle it. Sam Curran goes for glory and the ball drops down Benny Howell’s throat. The batsmen have crossed. Gareth Barry averages 20.6 with the bat in Tests and 24 in First Class cricket. He only needs to get bat on ball and run, but he too panics and tries to win it with one shot. Ball in the air straight to Jack Taylor on the mid-wicket boundary and, despite having the stand-out performances of the match with bat and ball, Surrey have self-destructed to a barely believable defeat as the crowd sings “Gloucestershire-la-la-la” at the top of its lungs, as it did in the great years of the 1970s.

How on earth did that happen?

Some people have tried to dismiss it as an undeserved, freak win, but it is happening too often to Gloucestershire for that. Calm captaincy, tight bowling under pressure and an ability to eke out runs from the tail have been the keys, with a team short of stars all supporting each other. Maybe it is just a one-off but it could not have been a better send-off for such an under-rated player as GO Jones who answered Gloucestershire’s SOS in 2014. And it is reward for Maxi Klinger who was on the point of not coming back in 2015 because he felt that Gloucestershire were not progressing as he had hoped, but who had enough faith to make the longest commute to work in the world to help out his adopted team.

Now, the task for Gloucestershire is to push on from here next season.

Even then, the news was not of Gloucestershire because, not far away on the South Coast, something utterly stunning was happening on a rugby field and, within a couple of hours Gloucestershire’s amazing win had been totally upstaged by Japan's rugby team.

That’s Life!!

Up For The Cup - Can Gloucestershire Finally Come Good?

 

Up for the Cup

 

September 19^th 2015

 

When I was a kid back in the 1970s the Gillette, or NatWest Cup Final were the highlight of the year. Crowds were large and noisy. Matches were televised on the BBC. And everyone wanted a trip to Lord’s at the end of the season but, if your side got there, tickets were like gold dust – it was always a sell-out. While the County Championship was the competition that carried the most prestige, winning at Lord’s in the big Final was probably what most players most desired.

It is easy to see why the competition was so popular: it was a pure knock-out – you only got one chance and, unlike its modern version, could not win the competition if you lost any match – it was not seeded and there was the romance of knowing that an upset could happen. While normally First Class county against Minor County produced a ritual slaughter (Alvin Kallicharran finished one such game with a double century and 6-32), sometimes the unthinkable would happen. In 1973 Durham beat Yorkshire and, although upsets were infrequent, ten Minor Counties won matches against First Class opposition up to the end of the knock-out tournament in 2005. When the competition was expanded to County Board teams, in theory any club player had the opportunity to be selected for his County Board XI and perhaps play against Middlesex at Lord’s, or against Yorkshire at Headingley. Even more attractive was a local derby: First Class County v its County Board – professionals v recreational cricketers, with the chance for the weekend cricketers to beat their heroes.

There was another Cup competition, the B&H, with its early season regional league and Final in July, but it was always the consolation prize – yes, it was nice to win, but it was not a patch on winning in September.

The Cup created heroes. David Hughes pummelling the unfortunate John Mortimore in the darkness at Old Trafford to win one of the greatest ever one-day matches. Geoff Boycott hammering 146 against Surrey in 1965, which was to remain a record score in a Final for many years (Yorkshire ran up the unheard of total of 317 that day). Brian Rose and Derek Taylor combining to make a run out from the last ball of the 1977 Semi-Final, allowing Somerset to win on fewer wickets lost with the scores tied at 287.

Lancashire and Kent were the sides to beat in the ‘70s. Lancashire were one of the greatest ever one-day sides, but Kent were not far behind. And always there or thereabouts were a Gloucestershire side led by the greatest all-rounder ever… Mike Proctor. Gloucestershire have frequently fallen on hard times since but, for several years with Proctor, Zaheer, Andy Stovold and a host of lesser names in their pomp, Gloucestershire were a power in the land, just missing out on the 1977 County Championship, winning the Gillette Cup in 1973 and the B&H in 1977 and three times being beaten semi-Finalists in one or other (1971, 1972 and 1975). Time and again, Gloucestershire seemed to come up against Lancashire and, when it was not Lancashire, it was Kent blocking the way to the Final, but they were always fantastic games.

Since then, with the exception of 1999-2004 when Gloucestershire won an astonishing eight titles with a side without stars that had hit on a winning formula thanks to John Bracewell and captain Mark Alleyne, times have been hard. The team almost went under in 2011 when, after a narrowly failed bid for promotion to Division 1, the team lost almost all its stars in a desperate cost-cutting exercise. For the next three years Gloucestershire lived hand-to-mouth, with a minimum playing staff and relying on amateurs to be able to field a 2^nd XI. The core of a decent side though was built up, despite the regular loss of rising stars as there was simply no money to keep them, with some young players and a small nucleus of seasoned pros. In hindsight, the left-field signing of Maxi Klinger was a masterstroke: after an uncertain beginning he has brought the side on and there have been constant signs of halting progress. Finally, in 2015 though, things have started to look up properly: five matches won in Division 2, with the team in a cluster of sides fighting for 3^rd place; just missed out on the last evening on the T20 Quarter-Finals but, with the jewel in the crown of a deserved One Day Cup trip to Lord’s.

Gloucestershire have got through on merit, completing a difficult chase to beat Hampshire in the Quarter Final, followed up by beating Yorkshire against all the odds at Headingley in the Semi Final. 87 and 137* from Klinger make both wins look like one man shows, but that sells the side short: in the Quarter Final Gloucestershire needed 55 from 33 balls with 5 wickets down and a long tail; in the Semi-Final, Yorkshire were 50-0 from 7.1 overs and looking set for a huge total, but they were reeled in by a superb collective bowling effort led by the unsung Benny Howell.

Benny Howell plays the role that James Averis played in the Gloucestershire cup-winning sides of 1999-2004, with accurate seam bowling at a gentle medium pace that allows batsmen few liberties and the addition of runs in the middle order to boot. He is the epitome of this Gloucestershire side: he is unheralded, looks innocuous, will never play for England, but it is amazing how important he is to a team effort and how often he makes a vital contribution.

The Final looks similarly one-sided to the Semi-Final. Surrey can boast a hatful of international caps in Jason Roy, Jade Dernbach, Kumar Sangakkara, Gareth Batty and Steve Davies. Gloucestershire have Klinger and the two old-stagers with international experience, Hamish Marshall and GO Jones; apart from them, the side is as green as the Lord’s turf. All logic says that Surrey must win, but they would underestimate Gloucestershire at their peril.

When the subject of the structure of the First Class game is discussed, the existence of Gloucestershire is often called into question. If sides are to disappear, they are usually one of the first to be mentioned: “they do not produce England players and never win anything” is the argument. Winning a Lord’s Final will, hopefully, finally earn them some grudging respect and help set them up for a tilt at promotion in 2016.

This will be GO Jones’s last match but one before retirement. All of Gloucestershire and, probably, many fans around the country will hope that he finally wins a trophy. And few will begrudge him success.

Now, let us hope that the match is not decided by the Toss.

A Roll Of The Dice

 

Rolling The Dice

 

September 18^th 2015

 

Mid-September and barring an “if” and a “but” all is settled in the Championship, which may be why the focus have been even more sharply on the first England squad of the winter – although there is just a very brief break before the first 2-day tour match starts on October 5^th.

There was also the very low-key announcement that the Championship will stay at 16 games next season, leading to a celebration that fan power has won. However, as the key element of the change is to implement a switch to 8 teams in Division 1 and 10 in Division 2, which requires 2 down/1 up, that could only be done in 2016 anyway, for a 2017 change. Meanwhile, significantly, more and more counties have come out publically against the reduction in the Championship and other avenues for change are being explored. If change is to be in the form of a greatly modified One Day Cup, with the Championship untouched, not too many people will be unhappy with the outcome of the debate.

Late season performances are anything but irrelevant. Quite apart from the mundane issue of contracts (Buggins of Relegationshire may just save his career with the county, despite an average of 15 with the bat, if he can boost it with a couple of tons in the last two games). A 150, scored two days before the selectors meet to pick the winter touring parties catches the eye far more easily than 600 runs in May. And there is the not inconsiderable matter that two, late wins can lead to a side passing from being relegation-threatened to winning prize money

After several cracking late seasons, 2015 is a bit of a damp squib. Rain has taken its toll in the penultimate round of games. Some play was possible in all games, although Gloucestershire and Kent managed barely an hour of play before the last two days were washed-out. At face value it looked as if only the games at Chester-le-Street and at Manchester (amazingly almost untouched by rain) might possibly produce a result, but even the game at Chester-le-Street looked to have “draw” written all over it. Strange things can happen though at this time of season. Worcestershire decided to take a desperate gamble against a Durham side in free fall, setting a modest target to give themselves extra overs to take ten wickets. What was less expected was that the much-weakened Yorkshire would set up a finish against Hampshire by declaring overnight at 97-4 in return for a Hampshire forfeit to leave themselves a tricky target that rapidly became mountainous with three quick wickets.

What Sussex and Somerset made of this at Hove is anyone’s guess. Both knew that a high-scoring draw would see both all but safe barring wins for the bottom two. When Sussex recovered from 171-6 to reach 400 comfortably and claim maximum points, nothing seemed more certain than that the favour would be returned: 13 points each, thanks very much and see you next season. In the end, Sussex only claimed 11 points because an exhausted Marcus Trescothick declared early with the batting points in the bank and 210* to his personal account; it at least avoided the suspicion that Somerset might suffer a strange batting collapse once they crossed 400. Maybe the news that Yorkshire and, more surprisingly, Durham had recovered to cruise to their targets calmed the nerves and also ended any lingering possibility that Durham might be sweating on the last afternoon of the season. The upshot is that Worcestershire – cricket’s equivalent of the yo-yo – are relegated… again and that Hampshire are all but down: they need a 15 points swing with Sussex and a 17 point swing with Somerset to stay up. In other words, they must beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, take maximum batting and bowling points and hope that both Somerset and Sussex lose and, even then, 7 bonus points would see Somerset safe[1] (2 bonus points in a rain-soaked draw would also save Somerset), but Sussex, needing 9 to be safe, can only lose and stay up if Hampshire win should Hampshire fail to get maximum bonus points. Either way, both teams know that they only need to equal Hampshire’s result to be safe; Hampshire have to better theirs and, even then, it might not be enough.

While there is a frequent complaint that Team England is a closed shop and that it is harder to get out of the side than into it, there is the parallel complaint that county form does not count for enough in selection. England face two, completely different problems this winter. First they play 3 Tests in the UAE where Pakistan whitewashed them last time. Then four Tests in South Africa starting in December. Spin is expected to dominate in the former. Pace will dominate in the latter. In the UAE England will look to have the option to play three front-line spinners. In South Africa even one spinner may not get many overs with a pace-loaded attack. In South Africa England will look to play a side very similar to that which beat Australia this summer. In the UAE that tactic would almost certainly be suicidal. At the same time, remembering the last tour, England will want to play three seamers.

The only way to have your cake and eat it is to play all-rounders. Thus England have taken the pragmatic step of picking three spinners who can bat. Adam Lyth blew his chance of a reprieve by following 25 & 14 v Middlesex with 0 & 12 v Hampshire – he might have saved himself with runs in those two games to show that he was back in form – so a new opener was needed. England have covered both bases by picking Alex Hales and Zafir Ansari. The Ansari pick was widely predicted: it gives England the option of playing him as opener and third spinner. 771 runs @ 36.7 and 44 wickets @ 31, albeit in Division 2, are decent credentials. He also realised the importance of performing in September: 106 & 99 in his only two innings in the last two rounds and match figures of 5-99 v Derbyshire. With Moeen Ali bowling off breaks, Adil Rashid bowling leg spin and Zafir Ansari bowling slow left arm, England will have plenty of variety available.

With Ansari opening, England can easily play 3 seamers, 3 spinners and still bat down to #9. A potential order might be: Cook, Ansari, Bell, Taylor, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Ali, Rashid, Broad, Anderson.

For South Africa, it would be a major shock if Zafir Ansari were to be required – he has been named in the Lions party, suggesting that he will be otherwise engaged – and promoting Moeen Ali, which is an alternative to Ansari opening, would be a move asking to fail. It is still possible that Nick Compton could be pressed back into service. Of all the openers tried since Andrew Strauss retired he has by far the best record and has experience at this level. He has also been one of the chief architects of the 2015 Middlesex miracle, grinding out tough runs in difficult conditions when the batting around him has crumbled. 1100 runs @ 40.7 may not look so great, but he has specialised in scoring 50s that were worth a century in better conditions. Compton has finished the season strongly with a match-winning 71 v Durham and a match-winning 149 v Yorkshire, this last in one of the greatest turnarounds in a match since 1981.

There have been suggestions that England have changed to a revolving door selection policy. There is a little of that in the opener situation, but much of that has been inevitable. Root, Carberry, Robson and Lyth were all given a decent run but failed to produce the goods, while Jonathon Trott was the only real error: he should never have been put in that position and Lyth should have played instead of him – who knows? Lyth might have found his feet and become a success. There is also a suggestion that Gary Ballance has been harshly treated, but he has struggled too for Yorkshire, almost half his runs came in just one innings and even then he averages just 32.5 (although that is more than Adam Lyth). Ballance will come again, but James Taylor simply demanded selection and Alex Hales has scored stacks of runs in Division 1 with some incredibly punishing innings. One suspects that Hales will not get his Test debut unless there is an injury, but the experience of being on tour will only do him good.

It is a pragmatic party, designed for the job in hand. Do not be fooled into thinking that the South Africa party will be the same. England want to win this series and erase the memory of 2012. A win will send them to the greater challenge of South Africa in great heart.

 

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[1] The tie-breakers are (1) Most wins, Hampshire would have an advantage over Somerset (4 against 3), but would be even with Sussex; (2) Fewest defeats, Hampshire would have the advantage against both with 6 on this scenario against 8 for Sussex (Somerset would have 7, but will already have lost on the first tie-breaker).

Amazing Matches Show What The Fans Will Be Missing When The County Championship Ends

 

The County Championship Throws Up Another Surprise

 

September 13^th 2015

 

As we reach mid-September, a significant fraction of the population realises that, soon, something very important will be missing from their life. The cricket season is ending and, with it, something that has filled our days for almost six months.

Today is the final international match of the season. An England side, unsurprisingly written-off my many in April – let’s face it, who in their right mind would have predicted that England would finish the season with an overall winning record in Tests and that it has every chance to finish with an unbeaten series record in all formats this summer?

On September 20^th, the surprise package of the season, Gloucestershire – a team that many fans think should disappear in a Championship with a reduced number of First Class counties – will take on a Surrey side that has persistently underachieved for years but which, finally, looks to be building a formidable side for an assault on the top flight, in the One Day Cup Final. While no longer the occasion that it was in the ‘70s and ‘80s, a Lord’s Final still means a lot to players and fans. More about that another day.

The County Championship though, is what most fans will miss. Sixty-four days of passion and emotions. This season has broken an extraordinary run of seasons where there has been incredible tension down to the last session of play. Yorkshire were crowned Champions and Surrey and Lancashire were promoted mathematically with two rounds to play. The main doubt is whether Lancashire, runaway leaders for most of the season, will go up as winners of Division 2 or Surrey, 54 points behind on June 16^th, will pip them.

A measure of what fans will be missing has been the extraordinary events of the last four days at Lord’s. Middlesex completed one of the great comeback wins of all time to send Yorkshire crashing to their first defeat of the season. That in itself would be remarkable, but Middlesex were 0-3 after just six deliveries and bowled out for 106, conceding a first innings lead of 193.  At 145-5 second time around, 48 behind, the match should have been over that night. Somehow though Middlesex put on 440 runs for the last five wickets and knocked the stuffing out of the Champions, who capitulated tamely on the final afternoon, with a noisy crowd cheering and singing all the way.

As Middlesex were fighting back as similar story was being told at Trent Bridge, as Nottinghamshire came back from a deficit of 168 to beat Durham and Hampshire produced an extraordinary escape to come back from 390 behind on first innings and keep their survival hopes alive with a draw at Taunton. Try telling the players in these three, extraordinary matches, that the Championship does not matter and produces low-quality cricket. No other First Class Competition in the world is as tough, or as well supported.

Although the wooden spoon will mathematically become Leicestershire’s again in the next round of games, even they have won two matches and made real progress, to give their fans something to cheer.

The two issues that remain are the minor places in the Championship, although it will take something pretty amazing to stop Middlesex and Nottinghamshire being second and third respectively and Warwickshire to take fourth with its not-to-be-despised prize money. Poor Durham: runaway leaders, 29 points ahead of Warwickshire and 33 ahead of Yorkshire on June 18^th, they have taken just 37 points from their next 7 games, losing six of them and look set to finish out of the money. Indeed, Durham look set to finish only just above the relegation zone.

Only wins in their last two games can save Worcestershire and not just wins: it is quite possible that even two, twenty point wins will not be enough; hope for them comes from the fact that they play free-falling Durham on Monday, although at Chester-le-Street where batting points are grudgingly won. Hampshire too, need at least one good win and a high-scoring draw and even then will depend on Somerset or Sussex to finish badly in their last two games. Given though that they play each other starting Monday and could all but see themselves safe with a high-scoring draw, it will be interesting to see what pitch is served up at Hove.

It is not yet impossible that we may be served-up more last evening of the season drama like last season when Lancashire, needing a win to survive and send Middlesex down instead, backed Middlesex up against the wall, only to be denied in extremis by Chris Rogers.

Ah, Middlesex!!! Who, seeing their desperate plunge down the table last season from early pace-setters to a desperate last afternoon struggle for survival, would imagine that they would be Yorkshire’s closest challengers? Not for nothing were they many people’s tip to be relegated, as the Middlesex fans are reminding everyone with some relish. And they have done it the hard way.

Looking at the bare details, seven wins and only one defeat (to Champions, Yorkshire) looks pretty good, but then look how those wins have been achieved:

·         Only 5 times in 15 matches have Middlesex taken a first innings lead.

·         Middlesex’s average first innings score is under 250 – they have thrown away around 25-30 batting points.

·         In 7 of 9 completed innings, Middlesex have scored more runs in the second innings than in the first.

Middlesex’s success in 2015 has come on the basis of a stuttering batting line-up, far too dependent on tail-end runs from the likes of James Harris and Toby Roland-Jones. Seemingly all season it has been getting into a hole and then counter-punching, often through an 8^th or 9^th wicket stand, to recover a desperate situation after a top-order failure.

Whereas Yorkshire can boast eight batsmen who average over 40 and five more who average over 30, Middlesex have just three averaging over 40 and three more averaging over 30.

Five bowlers for Yorkshire have taken at least 25 wickets, while only four of the Middlesex attack have done so, yet Middlesex are finding ways somehow to win games, helped by the extraordinary figures of James Harris (69 wickets @ 24.6 and 455 runs @ 25.3, including 3x50) who needs 45 runs in his final game of the season to reach the modern all-rounder’s double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in the Championship.

Despite a huge number of Test calls that have robbed them of half their side at times, Yorkshire have been able to dig into a seeming bottomless array of talent and reserves and are deservedly Champions. No one would argue that they have been far and away the class side of the year yet, for all their problems (struggling openers, a shaky middle order and the lack of an attacking spinner), Middlesex though have got closer than anyone could ever imagine. After years of underachievement, could it be that Middlesex will get it right finally in 2016? Middlesex, being Middlesex, their supporters will know to expect the unexpected from their side: maybe 2016 Champions, maybe relegated.

 

The tens of thousands of passionate supporters of the County Championship will count the months until more thrills and spills start again next April. However, with the uncertainty about the future form of the Championship, 2015 may be the last one in which we see it in its present form.

The Re-Structuring Of The County Championship - Let's Fix What Isn't Broken

 

Fixing What Isn’t Broken: the ECB takes things out on the County Championship

 

September 10^th 2015

 

There is a persistent myth among fans that nobody watches the County Championship and that nobody is interested in it. This mainly seems to be spread by people who never attend and is rarely contradicted: after all, who is going to contradict such a self-evident fact? The fact that this perception exists that it  does not matter because nobody cares, makes the Championship vulnerable.

Anecdotal evidence though, suggests something different. What few figures are published on attendances suggest that they have been increasing steadily in recent years. County commentaries on the Internet and on Digital Radio were for some years limited to Surrey and Middlesex but, after a period of expanding gradually, were finally extended to all official games played by all First Class counties and, in 2015, even to occasional Minor County matches. Each county has its loyal listeners, many from within the county borders, others, exiles who can finally follow their team; radio stations are reported to be surprised and delighted by the listening figures. When you listen to the different counties you hear that there are listeners all around the world, many not even British, who tweet, e-mail and follow their team with passion. The CricInfo “County Cricket Live” page claims (and they should know) that several hundred fans are logged-in at any one time following text updates and chat when there is a County Championship round in progress.

Why does cricket not sell itself better by actually publishing reliable attendance figures?? Surely the technology exists to count how many people come into the ground? Administrators might just have a surprise from the figures that they obtain!!! [OK, perhaps the ECB prefers people not to know that the Championship is actually quite popular with the fans]

As a resident abroad, my own attendance at county cricket is limited to occasional days at Championship games but, on the occasions that I have attended in the last few years, I have almost always been surprised by the size of the crowd. Even on a cold Sunday in May last year, at lunchtime Lord's disgorged an amazing number of people into the walkways around the ground.

My impression is that the situation that held sway back in the late ‘70s and early '80s, when I attended more regularly, has inverted since. Then, even a mid-week Gillette/Nat West Cup game attracted a sizable crowd, while a visit to Lord's for a CC game (Middlesex v Gloucestershire), revealed an almost empty ground - I could, quite literally, count the spectators on my fingers; now, at least the impression that is given, is that Championship cricket is, at least for some counties, better attended these days than the One-Day Cup (let's face it, even the Final hasn't been a sell-out for years).

When one-day cricket started in the 1960s, it was the saviour of the counties. Grounds that were empty for Championship cricket filled for the Cup matches – to the delight of counties, the coffers swelled as a result. As a kid, my great hero was Mike Proctor and the image of him was roaring in to bowl in Cup games almost from the Jessop Tavern at Bristol, backed by a noisy, baying crowd. Now, games are played in near silence in front of empty stands. A surfeit of games and the number of meaningless games in the Group stages reduces all tension and interest and spectator interest seems minimal. In contrast, Championship crowds are swelling and the better-supported counties boast of having several thousand fans in on some days (5000+ is said to be not unusual for big days and big games), yet official attendances are never published.

Football, even rugby, carefully document how many people come through the turnstiles. Despite figures suggesting the Championship attendances have increased steadily for some years (radio commentary must have a lot to do with that), not only do attendance figures not get published, on the rare occasions when they do for the Championship as a whole, the members who have paid for the cricketing equivalent of a footballing season ticket, are not even counted!!! Can you imagine an official Premier League attendance being given as 1500 because the 20 000 fans who came using their season ticket are not officially present because they did not pay at the gate???  It is bizarre.

Yet another shake-up of County cricket is promised for 2017. I would write “threatened”, but well-placed sources say that it is a done deal. The loser is understood to be the one competition that players, clubs and fans say matters most and actually works fine: the Championship itself.

Speculation has been rife all season. At one point a move to three divisions of seven teams seemed likely. This would have required three extra teams in Division 3 and they were even identified as being likely to be Ireland, Scotland and a combined Devon and Cornwall team. Each team would play the others in its division home and away, for a total of twelve games. Concern centred around the viability of Division 3 cricket – likely to be semi-professional, with the danger that sides stuck in Division 3 for a prolonged period would not survive – and whether or not twelve games would be enough to be a true test of the Champion county of the land. There was also the issue of just how much First Class cricket, if any, would be played during the summer Test series. This summer was bad enough, with a virtual hiatus in the Championship meaning that, potentially, the selectors might have to call up replacements based only on T20 and 50-over form. There was a danger that reducing the number of Championship matches by 25% to fit in more limited overs games would damage the Test side more than help it.

Other formulae were even more alarming. A two-division Championship with fewer matches. Imagine, nine teams and twelve games: you play everyone in your Division once and some sides home and away. The result would be to remove all credibility from the Championship. Imagine two sides in Division 1: one plays Middlesex, Yorkshire and Durham twice, the other Worcestershire, Hampshire and Somerset, all at home; which would be more likely to end up as Champions? Throw in a couple of weeks of rain in early season and the Championship would become a lottery, decided by the fixture computer. John McEnroe summed it up nicely when he screamed at officialdom “you cannot be serious”.

However, the formula that the ECB has apparently come up with is a hybrid. Fourteen games rather than twelve. Two divisions. These two points may be a sop to fans and players to convince them that things could have been far more radical and much worse. Eight teams in Division 1. Ten in Division 2.

You can do the maths yourself. In Division 1 each side will play seven rivals home and away. Integrity is preserved and, as there is usually one side in Division 1 that is so far off the pace that it is embarrassing, all the reform does is remove that whipping boy team. It is unarguable that Division 1 will become even tougher: there will be fewer easy games and every team will either be fighting for prize money or fighting against relegation to the last game. Talent will be concentrated still further and, it was stated that Sophia Gardens will be the only Test ground not to see Division 1 cricket in 2016 (that assumes though that Hampshire are not relegated this year, something that is looking increasingly unlikely as Somerset tighten the noose in their relegation clash).

Division 2 though becomes a nightmare.

The suggestion is that one team will be promoted in 2016 and two relegated. This will not please sides that have ambitions to get out of Division 2 quickly (e.g. this season’s two relegated teams, only one of whom at most can get promoted straight back).

In 2017, Division 2 will be at the tender mercies of that faceless machine. Ten teams. Fourteen games. Sides will play everyone else once and five sides home and away. Imagine your “joy” at discovering, as you could have done this season, that you got Lancashire and Surrey home and away and Leicestershire, Kent and Derbyshire (the bottom three sides) only away. The difference between a benevolent fixture computer and a malevolent one may be as many as fifty points. It also means more strong sides in the division and a greater opportunity for the fixture computer to decide which side(s) will get promoted or, at least, to influence which ones they are rather too much for comfort. Yes, it is only Division 2 but, if it is your side that is stuck there, hoping to scramble its way out, the fact that the Championship itself will stay pure will be cold comfort.

As of today, although Surrey and Lancashire are well clear at the top of Division 2, just 25 points (one more than a maximum points win) separate Northamptonshire in 3^rd and Kent in 8^th. In recent years the trend has been for the Division 2 table to be tight like this behind a single, dominant team, with as many as six sides having a chance of promotion almost to the end; years like 2015 where promotion has been clear since half way are though real exceptions. A stronger Division 2 will make the battle to get out even tougher, which may itself be no bad thing; however, for sides like Kent and Leicestershire who have fallen on hard times and are trying to get back into the top flight, it is seriously bad news, as their task has just got even harder,

When the more ambitious Division 2 counties with aspirations to play in Division 1 realise how much tougher it is going to be to achieve that aim and how hard it will be to stay in the top flight, the turkeys may realise finally that they have voted for Christmas.

A petition is circulating at https://www.change.org/p/england-and-wales-cricket-board-to-maintain-a-16-match-county-championship?recruiter=374854840&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink to maintain a sixteen game Championship. In six days it has garnered almost 1200 signatures. With the word being that the change to the Championship is agreed and will happen, only a massive outpouring of indignation could perhaps stop it, sadly, that is quite clearly not happening, Maybe people do not care enough after all. The one competition that almost everyone agrees works well is going to suffer in an attempt that many fear is futile to fix the two that almost everyone is agreed do not work properly.

However, when the full implications of the change work through, do not be amazed if the same administrators who signed-off on the deal agitate to change things back… or, maybe, to try another formula for radical change.