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21/01
More not less - Jarvis click or swipe
20/01
Fixtures out today click or swipe
Spinning Snowball click or swipe
19/01
Birmingham Bears tell me that the fixtures are expected at 1 PM TOMORROW for the Blast.
Club Trent Bridge confirm that ALL COUNTY FIXTURES are released tomorrow.
18/01
When Tom Harrison and Jonathan Agnew start agreeing, you know something is wrong....
... of course it's nothing to do with their respective employers both having a vested interest in The Hundred that taints their vision of franchise, soulless collections of players without allegiance or passion for anything other than getting one over their mates, cricket. Of course it isn't.
County cricket was good enough to take England to Number 1 Test playing nation, not so long ago and it will be again; if they organise the season better and prioritise what matters.
I've heard the fixtures will be published at the end of this week or at the start of next week.
17/01
Scrap the CC - Agnew click or swipe
16/01
Dear ECB
Now England have been swept away in the Ashes, can we have the fixtures please?
14/01
Tom Harrison, cricket needs a reset (click or swipe)
06/01/22
Judging by this post (click or swipe), the fixtures won't be anytime soon.
29/12/21
Normally around this time of year Nottsview starts its countdown to the cricket season. This year however, there's no published date for the start in 2022. That is expected sometime in January, but as it stands we don't know much apart from that Notts have been condemned to the Second Division by the "as we were" vote of the other counties.
Since the vote to resume where 2019 left off, the Yorkshire eruptions started, stripping that county of International staging rights with further punishments promised, prompting Yorkshire's first eleven to ponder their futures at that county. More recently, England's Ashes campaign on the back of very little preparation has again highlighted the folly of playing County Championship cricket predominantly at the extremities of an English "summer".
Will either circumstance alter the planners thinking?
Will Yorkshire be relegated to Division 2?
In which case, does the divisional split revert to 9/9 or will someone be promoted in Yorkshire's place? Notts?
Will the Hundred resume at the height of summer, drawing the lifeblood from the counties or will a 16.4 over competition this time not be seen as adequate preparation for a Test match, unlike in summer 2021?
So will priorities switch back to Test cricket in the minds of the ECB?
We await in anticipation...
Hands-up those that Santa brought them an Adidas/NCCC bobble hat for the new season - me neither.
Something of a crossroads for English and Welsh cricket.
ReplyDeleteThere is now much stronger pressure to play more, much more, of the County Championship in the main Summer months. Also, I suspect, those vague suggestion from ECB of a couple or three extra rounds then, is seen as totally inadequate.
But Tom Harrison has so far clung onto his role and strategy like a barnacle.
In many ways our national team, and likeable and gifted captain, are carrying the can for him.
As the song goes-
ReplyDeleteThere are more questions than answers !.
My question is simple -
At what stage of 2022 will Joe Root resign as England Captain?
He must have had enough by now - looks and sounds shattered.
None of his fellow batsmen are really helping him out and occupying the crease for a days play.
Either the Blast 20 or the 100 Ball Comp must go !
ReplyDeleteTodays sporting headline in the Daily Telegraph . Ex Test players , Umpires and Officials today are slating the ECB after the current Ashes humiliation down under . The consensus is that there is not room for the two short games to be played within days/ weeks of each other . They are saying County cricket has to occupy the best parts of the cricket season . ECB are accused of prioritising " money" above everything else .
Its a good article
Many more to come no doubt including forthright views from Boycott and Vaughan to name but two .
Yes, but all the players, coaches, administrators in suits etc all want the money that’s currently on offer so it’s got to be generated somehow and as we all know county cricket is the format that doesn’t bring in the big bucks. Don’t see how how they can sort it as there’s just too many formats….unless you dispense or drastically cut down with one of them to accommodate it further
ReplyDeleteApril, (not March !) 4 Championship Rounds
ReplyDeleteMay The Blast
June, 4 Championship rounds
July, 4 Championship rounds
1st half August, 2 Championship rounds
2nd Half August and First Half September, Hundred and Royal London.
2nd Half September, 2 Championship rounds.
Season end before October !
That is 16 Championship rounds, ever team misses 2 rounds.
Rich - wishful thinking !
ReplyDeleteYou can have 100-1 that your plan never sees the light of day.
As Stonewall says - the 4 day stuff generates little -if any profit .
Its a sad fact that without the one day competitions about 50% of the current cricket Counties would be operating part- time.
I agree, is very unlikely, but this, or similar, needed to tackle our Test team failure.
ReplyDeleteIf we really just go with a couple or so extra Championship games in July, we can wave goodbye to success at Test level.
You have to ask yourself this question .
ReplyDeleteIn the whole scheme of things just how important is it to have a really successful Test side these days?
Test matches over 5 days no longer generate big interest in some cricket playing Countries . Lets face it , some players are not that bothered either because of the riches available in the white ball game - (100/ IPL/Big Bash etc).
With the current bidding process to be allowed to stage Test matches in the UK then it's possible to lose money hosting a five day Test . Just ask Durham.
If you ask the ECB to list their cricket priorities I just wonder where they place Test matches these days . Does the 100 now come top of the list ? Followed by Tests , and then the Blast 20 followed by 4 day County matches and finally the 50 over Cup?
You just wonder if the latest Ashes humiliation will soon be forgotten if Stokes and Butler and Co start belting sixes out of grounds and we have an all conquering one day side . Many of the paying public are fickle and simply want to see England scoring 230 off 20 overs.
As has been said already - the 2022 cricket fixture list is going to make fascinating reading . The balls are up in the air .
The European Cricket League will be on again in February, after 2 years of Covid hiatus. Swardeston were supposed to represent England in the 2020 edition.
ReplyDeleteThe ECB have chosen to send Tunbridge Wells this year as they were 2021 Club T20 Champions. Swardeston aren't gping.
Clearly, the decision to keep to pre-Covid statuses and relegate Notts is not official ECB policy across all levels.
Unfortunately Notts were condemned by a vote by the 18 counties to resume where 2019 left off.
DeleteBut presumably it was the ECB's choice to put it to a vote; they could have just decided by themselves, no? Or, they could have had a vote among those involved at club level, but didn't in that case?
DeleteAs I se it, the ECB are ultimately responsible. And they have not been consistent across all scenarios.
Why are they so delayed anyway ? The latest root(no pun) and branch enquiry into this debacle is too soon to affect the 2022 fixtures so what has been the issue-Yorkshire saga?
ReplyDeleteTom Harrison now says red ball cricket needs to feature more prominently and that the volume of cricket played in the UK domestic season has to be reviewed . Of the four domestic competitions which one is expendable and thus free up a bit of time between April and September? If more red ball games are played during the best summer months then how will the Counties react? Many depend on white ball income on Friday evenings and Sat / Sun afternoons . Year after year we hear that changes will have to be made after the England Test team is thrashed - but very little actually happens . Are the ECB just talking the talk to try and get themselves off the hook ? Why are the 2022 cricket fixtures being delayed . Is there a last minute flap taking place because of the utter humiliation of the Test side?
ReplyDeleteIt is, answering earlier question, vital to have a successful Test side.
ReplyDeleteThat is financially and for the health of English cricket. Only the County Championship can achieve this, at present it is being prevented from doing so.
Agnew's plan would completely destroy English cricket.
Cricket fans have to speak up now via all the different forms of media . Changes could be made to the whole structure of the cricket season . Many valid opinions need to be forcefully heard first . We all now have the chance for our voices to be heard .
ReplyDeleteSo let's hear some more views on here!
Yes, I agree Mr. Nottsviewer. The 18 county system has produced many world class Test players down the years and it was this very same system that toppled the invincible Australia side in the epic 2005 Ashes encounter. Funny how it was able to produce Trescothick Vaughan Pietersen Harmison and Simon Jones that toppled possibly the greatest team ever on a par with the great West Indies side in the 1980s. It was also this very same system that won in Pakistan under Nasser Hussain which was basically impossible to do with English county cricketers and was it not the very same system with 18 counties that took the England Test side to no.1 in the world with Strauss, Cook, Swann Bell and Prior et all and as you point out this is not that long ago. Whatever system you introduce some things are just cyclical and it comes together at the same time. Langer Hayden Ponting Gilchrist Warne McGrath for example which coincided with the brilliant David Hussey not being able to force his way into their side and play a single Test. We all know what’s well and truly Quinton deKocked things up now though and it’s the introduction of the Hundred. The fixture list was already congested enough and then Harrison and his cronies bring in yet another white ball competition. This means there’s surely little room for manoeuvre with this now clogging up a month of the season played at the height of the summer ? So whilst I don’t necessarily agree with all of Aggers observations are we saying now we’re this far down the line is this the only drastic option if we want to play red ball championships games without having to accommodate them in April May&September ? I wouldn’t be a fan. I have been brought up on the first class counties system we currently have since I starting having and interest in cricket around the mid 1970s. But have the ECB got themselves into a position with hardly any wriggle room other than to do nothing and wait for a change in fortunes or do something drastic along the lines of what the BBC cricket correspondent is advocating ?
ReplyDeleteSit down ORAC . Take a breather and have a cup of tea . Those marathon postings take a lot of brainpower and effort.
ReplyDeleteSome good points raised.
The latest news from Ozland is not what the ECB wanted to hear. Yes all the players deserved a drink or two after a long and arduous tour - but a 6am finish seems a bit unnecessary ?! Especially as it was the attending Police unit that suggested it was well past bedtime . Is there more to come out of this story I wonder?
Long tour? How many games did they play (show up to at least)? Another non-story being used as a smoke-screen by the ECB, I would suggest.
DeleteYes Notts Viewer - it actually wasn't a long tour as in bye gone days - but it just seemed like it what with all the ups and downs - mainly downs!
ReplyDeleteThe Ashes tours "down under" in the 1920s 30s must have seemed to last an eternity. The boat trip there must have taken at least 4 weeks and the same amount coming back obviously. Besides the Ashes Tests ( always 5?) the players attended many various functions and played quite a few other first class matches . Everyone on those tours must have played a fair amount of cricket. Anyone know how much money the players received on those pre Second World War long tours?
They started the First Test utterly under-prepared and never had a chance. They only played Australia in the Tests with no games against State sides. The tour opening game against familiar opponents, England Lions, was practically a wash-out. Whoever dreamt up the schedule needs sacking (unless it was an Australian), the ECB for agreeing to it need sacking too. Root's squad were set-up to fail but so long as the ECB creamed their share of the broadcasting rights, what do they care!
DeleteYes - upon reflection the Ashes tour just finished was doomed to fail. So many minus points were stacked up . Feel sorry for the long suffering Barmy Army lads and lasses . To travel all that way to see the dross England served up. They had so little to cheer about and it seemed to rain quite a bit as well .
ReplyDeleteBut at the end of the day everyone came up smelling of roses - IN THE FINANCIAL SENSE !
So from the ECB and players point of view that perhaps makes everything all right . As we all know the game of cricket these days revolves around contracts and money . That is todays priority.
Glenn Maxwell slogs a new BBL record a stonking 154no off 64. However yet another failed Test player, with either no technique and/or desire for this format, who is now cashing in with his prowess on the white ball franchise circuit(who can blame him). I wonder whether youngsters around the globe and the so called newer audiences are more interested in this slogfest compared to Australia’s dismantling of an under prepared and pitiful England side in the Test Match Arena. Sadly, I suspect I know the answer to that one and just shows the direction our game has headed in the last 10-15 years.
ReplyDelete154 scored off little over 10 overs received!
ReplyDeleteSome would say that's what they pay to see.
Others would ask - " what's the point?"
Bowlers being thrashed over and over in relentless fashion .
Boring after a while ?
Uneven contests between bat and ball become tedious after a time .
Give me a tight game to saviour.
For learning as a young spin bowler, August is a key month, normally the closest to Test wickets that we get in County Cricket.
ReplyDeleteYoung lads like LPW, the Parkinson twins, Crane etc, are not being allowed to develop as they should.
Mind you, England captain need to support and back any spinner, not virtually humiliate them, as happened to Leach.
(I back Joe Root, but think he was very wrong there).
Big thanks to Sean and our friends at Grace Road, which is the name I still prefer to use.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. Did Aggers assume his former outfit along with Derby and Northants for example would be pleased to agree to his proposals ? As he vehemently pointed out on his TMS podcast the problem is getting the 18 county CEOs to agree to such a radical new proposal, but if the so called smaller counties aren’t in favour you’ve got no chance of this reform. Without the Hundred you could have had options for August, now you’ve got little. If you kept the existing format of 18 counties and played the red ball at the same time as the Hundred, you would effectively be putting out the sides that played in last season’s RLODC. So how would that produce Test Match quality players,which is the whole point of the exercise, if the counties cannot put out their best players ? To me quite quite simply the Hundred now added to our existing schedule of 3 different formats has/will severely affect our Test Cricket but when you bring in another white ball tournament in addition to the one you’ve already got(which works nicely anyway) you’re only going in one direction which is giving priority to the white ball cricket and less to the first class game. It doesn’t matter how much spouting Tom Harrison and his cronies are doing the horsey has already bolted from his red ball stable already?
ReplyDelete