Yes, there are a couple of buds on the most ambitious of trees – it must be cricket season. As has been repeatedly reported for the last week, the counties kick off the championship today earlier in the year than ever before basically at the behest of the Board of Cricket Control for India so they can play some more pointless Twenty20 in September. Of course it feels like 99% of the populace have no idea what the County Championship is.
Unfortunately the ECB’s meek climb-down to cricket’s global powerhouse hasn’t been greeted with the covering of snow it deserved (which much of the country had a week ago) but what is looking like it will be a very pleasant weekend to bowl seam-up on a greentop. You never know, there might even be some positive results if the rain stays off for a couple of days. Despite rising crowds in the four day game, this year half this season’s championship games will be played by the end of May, or the start of summer as it’s commonly known, to accommodate yet more Twenty20, which suffered from lower crowds last year, some of which will include additional overseas prima donnas to stretch county budgets further. Can we not leave the complete over-the-top grandstanding of the most one-dimensional form of the game to the IPL? The original T20 Cup worked well because it was new, cheap (£6 at Old Trafford in the first year, £18 at Liverpool last), brief and exciting; however, there were also only 3 or 4 home games for each county
A hidden product of this early start was the shift in date for the Cricketforce weekend, dubbed the biggest volunteer event in the country by the ECB, into March which, at Sefton at least – admittedly never the greatest club so far as volunteering goes – led to fairly scant attendances for both the preseason players meeting, season launch fundraising event and Saturday’s work for bringing the grounds and facilities up to scratch for the forthcoming season. The reason given that Cricketforce couldn’t be this weekend, immediately prior to our season, was that the occasional county pro wouldn’t be able to give a sightscreen a lick of paint to promote the whole shebang – something that a handful of clubs nationally benefit from. To many cricketers and club members, the thought of going to a cricket club before April is apparently completely alien so it’s hardly any wonder we were left with an unfulfilling race night.
I wonder if Lalit Modi would consider sharing any of his or the BCCI’s millions to refund the difference?
Showing posts with label april. Show all posts
Showing posts with label april. Show all posts
Friday, 9 April 2010
Monday, 20 April 2009
Pre-season build-up...
Well, here we are again.
Ian Bell’s already scored more runs than the entire Worcestershire side and almost as many as I made last season in his hopefully fruitless quest for a Test recall, it’s 2 days until the start of the LDCC season and despite a few worries along the way, I’ve made it into the 4th’s XI for the trip to Caldy on Saturday, a year and a day since turning out in the 5th’s inaugural game at the same ground on one of the coldest days on which a cricket field has been graced; a day when I discovered I could bowl inswing in three jumpers, though only with the assistance of a gale blowing across their exposed lower ground. One of those days you’re glad you’re crap at slip.
A week ago the long-range forecast read an ominously familiar 6 degrees Celsius, feels like 2 degrees, thanks to a brisk northerly but it looks like we could have one of the more meteorologically pleasant opening days for some time – last year both Sefton’s grounds were underwater (though the umpires still refused to call off the 1sts’ game until 4pm) – as even Caldy, precariously close to the Dee estuary, looks like it should make double figures with the promise of plenty of sunshine.
After 3 months of scraping ice off windscreens and traipsing through drizzle to net indoors on the bounciest tracks this side of Perth, turning to the traditional damp April greentops should cause enough challenges for those of us who’ve bothered getting a bit of practice in.
Fortunately for the 4ths, most of the top 6 are the other side of 50 (this week’s average age is around 38) and would be as likely seen in the Ukrainian gymnastics team as working on their game so they’ll still be ready to prop onto the front foot and jog the long singles, whilst the interspersed under 35s who’ve still not given up hope of that County cap, or at least another go in the 3rds, have been working on their back foot shots very nicely since the second Wednesday in January. Which will be pretty much useless until at least June.
But expectations are still high for a glorious return to the top flight; the skipper’s kept faith with the same experience which couldn’t avoid the drop last term and we’re ready(ish) to prove we still have some worth.
Ian Bell’s already scored more runs than the entire Worcestershire side and almost as many as I made last season in his hopefully fruitless quest for a Test recall, it’s 2 days until the start of the LDCC season and despite a few worries along the way, I’ve made it into the 4th’s XI for the trip to Caldy on Saturday, a year and a day since turning out in the 5th’s inaugural game at the same ground on one of the coldest days on which a cricket field has been graced; a day when I discovered I could bowl inswing in three jumpers, though only with the assistance of a gale blowing across their exposed lower ground. One of those days you’re glad you’re crap at slip.
A week ago the long-range forecast read an ominously familiar 6 degrees Celsius, feels like 2 degrees, thanks to a brisk northerly but it looks like we could have one of the more meteorologically pleasant opening days for some time – last year both Sefton’s grounds were underwater (though the umpires still refused to call off the 1sts’ game until 4pm) – as even Caldy, precariously close to the Dee estuary, looks like it should make double figures with the promise of plenty of sunshine.
After 3 months of scraping ice off windscreens and traipsing through drizzle to net indoors on the bounciest tracks this side of Perth, turning to the traditional damp April greentops should cause enough challenges for those of us who’ve bothered getting a bit of practice in.
Fortunately for the 4ths, most of the top 6 are the other side of 50 (this week’s average age is around 38) and would be as likely seen in the Ukrainian gymnastics team as working on their game so they’ll still be ready to prop onto the front foot and jog the long singles, whilst the interspersed under 35s who’ve still not given up hope of that County cap, or at least another go in the 3rds, have been working on their back foot shots very nicely since the second Wednesday in January. Which will be pretty much useless until at least June.
But expectations are still high for a glorious return to the top flight; the skipper’s kept faith with the same experience which couldn’t avoid the drop last term and we’re ready(ish) to prove we still have some worth.
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