mad
Member
David Griffin just now tweeted;
It's not just about workload but also about selling punters short.
Derbyshire in 1993
17 4-day games = 68 days
17 Sunday League games = 17 days
5 Benson and Hedges games = 5 days
2 NatWest games = 2 days92 days or 9,086 overs
Derbyshire in 2025
78 days or 6,736 overs
AND the season runs for about 3 weeks longer too
BosworthBear wrote:
I received this yesterday
I've had two county bosses contact me in the last 24 hours unprompted.
Both confirm that the 8 match CC before the Blast in June and then 3/4 play offs in September is the preferred solution. Top division of 10 to remain so the 8 games means you don't play one county and in div 2 you play one county twice!
The playoffs are back to back games in September vulnerable to weather and failing light. 4 back to back games is one of the main PCA complaints so why they think it's a good idea to have the finale of the competition done in such intensity at the end of the season is beyond me.**
🤮
They have a whole load of nonsense games that don't matter one jot in August to peddle to the masses so they've been desperately striving these last 5 years to make the rest of the summer matter almost as little as that codswallop
Nothing about the modern game and the insistence on lots of preparation time (which translates as utterly wasted 'fallow days' especially when we get lots of fallow days stacked together for weeks on end in June, July and August) and the athletic prowess some of the players possess now, the sprinting and relay catches etc... pretty as they are... will ever make up for the loss of opportunities to watch red ball cricket in places like this;
https://youtu.be/I6B6EQNPWng?si=qXlVrfko9A0jSptw
Nice interview with Tom Cartwright in the tea interval
I'm sorry you just can't call it a championship any longer if, as mooted, they cut it to 8 pissing games
4 home games FFS!?
And not even playing one of the teams in your division?! Absolute piss take!
They may as well abolish it altogether
Bring back 2 divisions of 9 and tell these bloated squads and the parasitic PCA to get the hell on with it
Love how the London media including Churchy on Comms are desperate to portray Edgbaston as having doctored a pitch to neuter their attack. Lol. Edgbaston is just like this (look up not down, pitch just gets better and better on days 2+3) and Surrey have started their season poorly by comparison to their last three seasons
Must feel like a home game for Sussex. We don't normally get weather like this in the Midlands unless it's just a bit too hot (say in mid June) but with the breeze this is gorgeous
Happy opening day of cricket season everyone enjoy. I think the green-ness of this Warwickshire team could be a good thing long term. Two years or so ago Sussex were basically a bunch of students. I think they'll be stout opponents this season
Scarily promising weather forecast for the next week and a half. Keep fingers crossed all. Been a couple of years at least since we've had a medium range forecast this early in the piece this promising. Get your money on some big run scoring this season if that keeps up especially in Division Two with Michael Neser taking a break from his annual winter the county season. Good to see Nathan McAndrew pick up a couple of wickets this morning in the Sheffield Shield Final - Day 4 starting around midnight tonight set up very nicely indeed
Lengthy feature about this on ITV Central yesterday. After the adverts forward to 10 mins in case anyone missed it;
Venue Portland Road unless otherwise stated
Second XI Friendlies (and other local to Birmingham matches)
April 7 Warwickshire v Yorkshire SEF 3 days
April 14 Warwickshire v SACA SEF 4 days
April 22 SACA v Worcestershire SEF 3 days (at Moseley CC)
April 28 Warwickshire v Worcestershire SEF 4 days
May 5 Warwickshire v Somerset SEF 4 days
July 15 Worcestershire v Zimbabwe SEF 3 days (Barnt Green CC)
September 1 Bears v SACA SET20
September 2 Warwickshire v SACA SEF 2 days
Second XI T20
May 27 Bears v Worcestershire
May 28 Bears v Glamorgan
June 2 Bears v Northamptonshire
June 4 Bears v Somerset
July 1 Bears v Gloucestershire
July 8 Worcestershire v Bears (Stourport CC)
July 16 SET20 FINALS DAY (tbc)
Second XI Championship
June 16 Warwickshire v Durham 4 days
June 23 Warwickshire v Glamorgan 4 days
July 21 Warwickshire v Middlesex 4 days
September 8 Worcestershire v Sussex 4 days (Kidderminster CC)
September 16 SEC FINAL 4 days (tbc)
ECB Under 18 Championship
June 28 Staffordshire U18 v Warwickshire U18 50-over County Cup Round 2 (tbc)
July 29 Warwickshire U18 v Worcestershire U18 3 days
August 12 Warwickshire U18 v Northamptonshire U18 3 days
Noticed the fixtures began appearing this week Middlesex, Northants and Durham have published theirs and there's a helpful webpage with them set out below.
Main difference this season is the SEC has been standardised to three groups of six teams with five matches per side leading to a final in September. Other red ball games are classed as friendlies. Warwickshire have several home in April and May. I will try to list them here along with U18's matches in the summer hols
https://countycrickethub.net/competition-fixtures.html?comp=4&year=2025
It wasn't obvious at all and not many actually know how it's sorted. If the table is exactly the same in 2025 they might change it and of course they might change the size of divisions again before the end of March so it would all then change. Seedings were not really used for the COVID seasons so they've only been in play for three seasons although they have used seedings in Div 2 when that was ten teams
In a parallel universe we finished 8th last season and ended up with Notts set of fixtures;
Surrey and Essex only once
Hants and Somerset twice
Worcester only once but Durham twice
Notts twice still as they came 7th last year (our partner seed)
Sussex only once but Yorkshire twice
It's seeded. So we get the fixtures arranged that match up Somerset's set of fixtures last season as we finished 7th in 2024 as Somerset did in 2023.
So
We get to play top seed Surrey twice but second seed Hampshire only once in 2025. Notts are our partner seed - as they finished 8th - get to play Surrey only once but Hampshire twice
And so on...
We play Somerset (seeded 3) once but Essex (4) twice whereas Notts have it the other way around
We play Durham (5) once but Worcestershire (6) twice
We play our partner seed Notts (8) twice
We play Sussex (9) twice but Yorkshire (10th seed) once. Notts get the opposite to what we get
All teams play their partner seed twice and have three fixtures against the other set of partner seeds to make it as fair as is possible
A series which has been a big advert for playing championship cricket throughout the middle of the summer months regardless of what other nonsense formats are on
Hampshire have had a less than stellar season. Nowhere in the two white ball comps but several of their batsmen have made big scores plus the ability to take twenty wickets have clumped them to second in the table. Warwicks have had several seasons themselves like that since it went to two divisions occasionally over reliant on lower order runs. Our stats look okay but there is a brittleness there hence some real shockers of late
Ironically, avoiding relegation so often is perhaps not the best thing for counties developing young players.
Think of how Ian Bell's game was honed in the very early days of 2 division cricket. Now Sussex and this Yorkshire team coming up ought to be quite a handful now I think
BBC Radio coverage of County Championship in danger
It’s apparently under threat. Listening to how Dave Bracegirdle signed off earlier on the live feed as it came to a close today and was concerned to hear it hinted quite strongly that all the BBC commentataries are at risk as the Beeb are considering closing the commentary service down.
The almost inevitable draw here coupled with Lancs forcing a win at New Road would haul is up to an almost respectable 6th.
A couple of youngsters now blooded it represents something to build on I would suggest we need a good overseas batter and bowler (barring a full season of Woakes) if we want to challenge at the top end as opposed to the bit part overseas we seem to get these days.
Given Lancashire have been relegated 4 times now since they fluked the title in 2011, Warwickshire only being relegated once in that time isn't so bad
Worcestershire are safe Exile. They are as it stands 41 points clear of Lancs. Lancs only have another 16 + 24 points to play for.
Worcs will bowl lots of spin at New Road next week to ensure they don't nause up their over rate
He had a go at the team after Worcester and then THIS happened. He's gotta be careful. Very scratch team available now with lots of weaknesses showing through. Need them to stand up tall at Trent Bridge. 11 points for safety so no need to worry about bonus points just need to be game savvy