March County News: New Road Flooded

 

30/03

Glamorgan Injury Blows

28/03

Boardroom shake-up at Leicestershire , or more of an enhancement really

27/03

Nathan Lyon's availability to Lancashire has been cut by CA, looking to lighten their spinner's workload.

26/03

Umpiring today at Derby is:

Derbyshire 2nd XI v South Asian Cricket Academy

24/03

Derbyshire seek replacement of Mohammed Amir

22/03

Stewart's last season

Surrey spin it too

20/03

Funding boost for Edgbaston Development

Predictably the game at Grace Road was abandoned ahead of its scheduled third day.

19/03

Leicestershire v Leeds/Bradford MCCU

No play on Day 2 either...

18/03

Leicestershire v Leeds/Bradford MCCU

Leicestershire proved the point as to why cricket isn't generally played in March or whilst we are on GMT in this country; a sunny day but no play possible on day one because of the rain that has fallen previously this closed season, " wet outfield".

Note this game is due to played behind closed doors but streamed on Foxes TV.

17/03

Results in the Abu Dhabi Super Cup

Congratulations to Ben Slater's Team Abu Dhabi (Also Rans) XI who pipped Essex in the 5th place decider by 2 wickets, mainly in thanks to Sammy King 65 and Dane Schadendorf 40.

Notts in the final were somewhat blown away against Warwickshire, sadly.

16/03

Kent's Simon Storey on balancing act of schedules, Tunbridge Wells etc

13/03

I've had a question via Email from GreenGavin, asking if we can identify who a certain person is?

If you have access to BBC iPlayer he appears in episode 8 of Clive Myries Italian Road Trip, the guy wearing the Notts Outlaws kit in the piece about playing cricket, three-quarters into the programme. 

Series 1:8 Rome

A good watch, if you like travel progs

08/03

Duncan Fearley Dies

05/03

Glamorgan Accounts

Worcestershire County Cricket Club have announced a venue change for the first two home fixtures of the 2024 season. The games will now be hosted at Kidderminster Cricket Club, a decision prompted by the recent adverse weather conditions impacting New Road.

The affected fixtures include the County Championship fixture against Durham, scheduled to begin on 19th April, followed by the fixture against Somerset, starting on 26th April. This move to Kidderminster, the Club's Official Outground, ensuring that the fixtures can proceed, offering a seamless start to the 2024 cricket calendar.

The Central Sparks fixture against Sunrisers on Wednesday 1 May has also been relocated to Kidderminster.

Ashley Giles, CEO of Worcestershire expressed his thoughts on the venue change, stating, "Despite facing four floods since the close of the 2023 season, we remained highly confident in our ability to start this season at New Road.

“However, the occurrence of a fifth flood this week has necessitated the decision to move our initial home games to Kidderminster.

“This decision, though difficult, underscores our commitment to ensuring the season progresses smoothly, prioritising the experience of our supporters and players."

The Club is currently finalising ticketing details and logistical arrangements for the relocated fixtures. Members and supporters are assured that all information will be released promptly, ensuring a smooth transition and an enjoyable experience at Kidderminster Cricket Club.

Worcestershire extends its gratitude to the staff and management of Kidderminster Cricket Club for their cooperation and support in facilitating this venue change. The Club also thanks its supporters for their understanding and continued support during this period.

Further updates will be communicated through the Club's official channels.

22/02

Tunbridge Wells Future

16/02

Randall Article

12/02

New Captains at Derbyshire

Giles Looking For the High Ground

11/02

Northants Edge Out of Town

09/02

A new year means new merch at Trent Bridge with the traditional new training shirt now being released.

Same mystifying black back [as last year's] to the shirt but the front now has black/grey with a shattered glass effect.

smashing!

Worcestershire to jettison New Road?

Middlesex Lose Main Sponsor

Jason Gallian on Essex Committee etc

Departing Andrew Replaced at Sussex

ECB umpire ends South African exchange visit.
PTG Editor.
Saturday, 3 February 2024.

PTG 4422-21482.

English umpire Russell Warren has completed his exchange visit to South Africa, where he stood in three matches in Cricket South Africa's SA20 series and served as the fourth umpire in a fourth, his visit taking him to Cape Town, Paarl just to the north, and Johannesburg.  Warren’s visit concluded the first year of the exchange program agreed upon by CSA and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that saw South African Lubabalo Gcuma stand in two matches in the ECB men’s Hundred series last August (PTG 4262-20830, 1 August 2023).

Also in the on-going SA20 series, Lauren Agenbag has so far been on-field in two matches, the TV umpire in three and the fourth umpire in another four, while Shandre Fritz has overseen six games as match referee.  The pair are the first women to feature in Playing Control Teams for what is CSA’s prime Twenty 20 competition (PTG 4398-21379, 9 January 2024).

01/02

With tickets for the T20 Blast going on sale today, we can see how keen Notts are to fill Trent Bridge...

With an on the day ticket purchase price of £29, it's evident that they're not interested in attracting new spectators.

29/01

Libby extends his contract at New Road another four years

These past couple of weeks appear to when Worcestershire get their contracts sorted - perhaps there's little else to do other than a spot of fishing from the New Road pavilion balcony!

Whereas, Notts did their contract dealings before the end of 2023, but they still haven't announced anything about Alex Hales!!

New Additions to Notts Academy

MCC offers a rare chance to fix cricket’s fault lines.
Mike Atherton.
London Times.
Friday, 19 January 2024.
PTG 4410-21431.

Cricket is a sport constantly in flux and rare is the period when there has not been a sense of uncertainty hanging over it. That said, the challenges now facing the international game are broad and complex, which is one reason why the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is planning to hold a “World Cricket Connects” symposium at Lord’s in early July.  Driving the concept has been the club’s executive and its president, Mark Nicholas, and they will invite many of the game’s leading decision-makers, thinkers and voices to come together to debate the opportunities and challenges. 

Greg Barclay, president of the International Cricket Council, will give the first of a number of keynote addresses alongside the owner of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Rajasthan Royals, Manoj Badale.  They will be joined by others, such as Graeme Smith, the former South Africa Test captain and architect of South Africa’s T20 franchised competition, Ravi Shastri, recently coach of India, Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach, Clare Connor, the deputy chief executive of the England and Wales cricket Board (ECB), and Richard Thompson, the ECB chairman. (For disclosure, I’ll be contributing to a panel as well.)

The juxtaposition of the first two keynote speakers, representing the international game and the franchised world, is where the debate will, no doubt, foment. The challenges are obvious simply looking around the world game: West Indies have sent a Test team to Australia missing some first-choice players and South Africa will shortly send a third-rate team to New Zealand, having prioritised its own franchised T20 tournament (PTG 4392-21359, 4 January 2024).

This week the chief executive of Cricket West Indies, Johnny Grave, made his concerns clear. “The revenue share model is completely broken”, he said. “As an example, Cricket West Indies has spent over $US2 million [$A3m, £UK1.6m\] sending teams to Australia in the past four months and while Cricket Australia [CA] has seen all the economic benefits from those series, we have seen nothing back.  Is that really fair, reasonable and sustainable? If we really want to operate as a cricket community we are only as strong as the weakest team and we’ve got to change the mindset of bilateral cricket”.

Two weeks ago Mike Baird, the chairman of CA, accepted that the economically buoyant countries — India, Australia and England, in other words — had to do more to help . He said: “If we are in a position that national teams aren’t being prioritised then we have got a lot of work to do.  Ultimately, that might mean costs and consequences for the leading countries. There is undoubtedly an economic element, but there’s also a common-sense element in terms of the way we schedule and the way we collectively as members prioritise. So there is strong resolve but we need to move at a much quicker pace” (PTG 4393-21363, 4 January 2024).

Nicholas is hoping to harness this resolve and find consensus. Fifteen years after the free market swept through the game with the advent of the IPL, it may be late in the day — but better late than not trying at all. He said: “MCC is a neutral body that cares deeply about the game. We see an ideal opportunity, a few days after the T20 World Cup final in Barbados, to bring together many of cricket’s leading decision-makers and thinkers in an attempt to try to find consensus on what the game can do better.  It’s not right to say that cricket is in trouble”.

"In fact, in many ways, there is more growth and there are more opportunities than there have ever been. But, equally, there are challenges for Test cricket in particular and economic challenges for many of the countries outside of India, England and Australia.  This is in no way a power grab by MCC. It is an opportunity to bring people together, to share ideas, outline problems and potential solutions and create some common goals”.

Edgbaston's 'Go Green' game measures cut game-related emissions by a third.
BBC Sport.
Friday, 19 January 2024.
PTG 4410-21432.

Edgbaston's sustainability measures for England men’s Twenty20 International (T20I) against New Zealand there in early September cut carbon emissions by a third, says a report into the match's impact.  The 25,000-seater stadium, the operators of which have pledged to to become a carbon net zero business by 2030, was run entirely by wind, hydro and solar power for the T20I, other changes including free bus travel for spectators, sustainable food packaging and electric lawnmowers (PTG 4283-20909, 4 September 2023).

A report by climate action specialists 'Net Zero Now' found match-related activities emitted 33.7 percent less carbon than forecast.  That estimate, which used data from previous comparable matches at the Birmingham venue including T20 Blast Finals Day in 2020, estimated the match would have a footprint of 494 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide.  The final calculation in the report showed the reduction activities lowered the footprint to 327.79 tonnes.

"We set ourselves a target of 25 percent, so to cut emissions by more than a third is really encouraging”, said Edgbaston sustainability manager Lydia Carrington.  "The report takes into account everything from spectator travel to food, drink and merchandise bought, pitch maintenance and energy usage immediately before, during and after the game.  We will be taking the learning from the 'Go Green Game' and looking to implement more sustainable processes into our matchday delivery both for international and domestic cricket”.  Reports into the impact of climate change on sport have suggested that cricket will be the hardest hit of all those that use a pitch or field (PTG 4350-21186, 22 November 2023).

12/01

Rehan on Farhan without a mention of the "n word" - Notts. From the LCCC website

Farhan on the ECB

11/01

Hampshire in Talks with Indian Investors

New Coach at Glamorgan