coolerking
Member
An excellent day yesterday. Polished off Somerset quickly and very solid with the bat. Davies batted beautifully for his ton although got out to a terrible shot. Theoretically we could bomb on this morning and set Somerset a tempter this afternoon but I just don't see that happening. Let the batters get some time in the middle and then a gentle-ish workout for the bowlers later on.
A good effort for a lot of the day but like so many times last seasons we weren't able to press home an advantage when we had one. Individually the bowlers looked good but they are are a bit samey. No real pace - Burgess must have been up to the stumps for at least two of them - and so not much to blast the tail away with.
Good lord, why has OHD shaved his head? He looks... alarming.
The people who go really enjoy it.
No play today. Wet outfield.
Stayed up by the skin of our teeth. I'm not sure things have changed enough in the close season to transform this side so comfortable midtable CC obscurity would do me nicely. On the plus side, it doesn't seem possible that the batting group could be that bad two seasons in a row. A one-day trophy would be a good aim.
You're making sweeping generalisations about people who, you assume, don't watch CC. That's a huge double standard.
Of course the resources available are different but nevertheless I don't think county championship cricket makes as much effort as it should to attract a bigger and more diverse crowd. It's always someone else's fault that crowds are relatively small. Counties take their existing members for granted. They have to embrace the younger generation because if they don't sooner or later they won't have any members at all.
As for whether spectators don't 'get' the county game, first I think that's snobbery and second they're under no obligation to 'get it'. They go to watch the format that they do get and enjoy. With attitudes like this from CC fans why would they want to go and try the 4-day game, with all the sneering that's currently going on? People are being put off rather than encouraged. I rather get the feeling that county members really don't want anyone else to come to CC matches. They're set in their ways. It's the conservatism of it all that really depresses me. God knows what it's like at Yorkshire.
You'd have to go a Hundred game to find that out! Or if not, have a look at the Hundred website.
I think it's partly because of the heavy marketing but also because the organisers actually set out to offer the spectator an experience, as Stuart Cain puts it in the article Gerry linked to "You have to work hard to get people to spend money. Not because they're tight, but it's well-earned money. You have to give them a good day out." It's a tournament organised around the spectator, designed to make them feel welcome, happy and entertained. Can county cricket put its hand on its heart and say it does that?
That's not sad, that's great. I don't think county cricket and its supporters want it to change at all - they want it to stay not as it is now but as it was in some undefined past age. There's too much conservatism in county cricket, probably because of the average age and demographic of the members. I'm in my 50s myself but having seen my old man turn into a grumbling old reactionary I determined not to be a stick in the mud. If county cricket could be promoted such as to entice families in the way The 100 does then counties would have done it years ago. I've been watching Warwickshire for 40 years and now that a format has finally been found which really entertains families, especially young kids, and young women in particular, I'm not about to start saying it's ruining cricket.
Just watching the highlights back and Norwell looks almost sheepish to have denied Dunn.
They haven't even stated a position on the county game yet because they haven't had anything from the ECB. When they do, there'll be consultation. I see no reason to not take Lancs statement at face value, particularly having seen some of the LAG's tweets.
You're implying that LCCC are either lying or over-reacting? Besides, in what way are LCCC the "opponents" of LAG?
Nope, not signing that. The tone of those defending the CC, while constantly and vociferously attacking the ECB and the 100, among other targets, is becoming more and more hostile, aggressive and unpleasant, not to mention misogynistic. I prefer red ball over white ball but I'm rapidly losing sympathy for people who conduct themselves in that manner. Lancashire CCC have put out a message tonight saying that the LAG have been abusive to club staff. There's absolutely no need for that behaviour.
Edit. Added link to Lancs statement.https://cricket.lancashirecricket.co.uk/news/2022-news/lancashire-cricket-club-statement/
Great win, very comprehensive. Nice to see one or two of our lads get big scores. Hope it crosses over to the CC whenever that's back.
The one that should go is obviously the 100 because no-one else plays it. I know the ECB want to own the rights to a new form of the game but until such time as other countries want to 'buy' the format it's a dead end. But it's the one the ECB have thrown bucketloads of money at so they can't allow it to fail. Which means they ditch the RLODC (which is the basis for ODIs, which we're world champions at) or the T20 Blast (which is the most popular form of the game around the world) or county cricket (which people don't attend in anywhere near the same numbers as the other three formats, but is the training ground for Tests which is more or less the most popular format in England). There's some talk about bilateral ODIs disappearing, leaving only the WC in that format, which would mean the RLODC could go.
I didn't mind the 100 last season. It was very popular, particularly with people who wouldn't go to a red ball county game, so that's a good thing. It's also raised the profile of women's cricket; also a good thing. The point though is that it just isn't required. It's essentially a carbon copy of a tournament we already have.
Woakes and Stone played 6 CC matches between them last season so we've not exactly had the heart ripped out of the side. The big loss is Norwell: 49 wickets last season, 9 so far this season. Of the support bowlers, none of them is close to replicating their returns from last season except Danny Briggs albeit at twice the cost. It's hard to credit but the batters are doing better this year. In 2021 we didn't have anyone average over 38; in 2022 we have 3 who are averaging over 46. The whole of last year there were 8 centuries; so far this season there have been 11. Another problem is that half of last season's tons were by Rob Yates who has dropped off a cliff this year, contributing none. So we're not really trying to replace Woakes and Stone, because their overall contribution in the CC last year was minor; we're struggling to get the best out of players who excelled last year. Maybe some complacency set in, who knows.