Death of County Cricket?

What idiot decided to play the CC in April?

This is the third day of Glos v Glam and not one ball has been bowled.

Guess how many real games we have at Bristol in June and July. That's right - NONE

If I wasn't a life member, I'd resign

Very frustrating.... I agree. Looks virtually certain that the entirety of Surrey vs Durham will be rained off.

At least neither Gloucs nor Glam can get relegated as a result....

Do I spot some footie talk encroaching here?

But I'm sure Gloucs will manage to get relegated somehow!

Whoops, sounding a bit like LBob for a minute there.

Actually, fairly confident this year.

Although we have not many outstanding players, one should remember that a team is greater than the sum of its parts, as the Alleyne-era-Gloucs showed.

(Though I wish Gidders Senior was a bit more positive in his approach sometimes.)

ChrisfromStroud wrote:
Although we have not many outstanding players, one should remember that a team is greater than the sum of its parts ......

Or in some cases of course it may be less than the sum of its parts (Eg West Ham last season. But I am sure that can apply to cricket as much as to football)

The CC has always began in April.

It's just this year we've had bad luck with the weather - one of the worst on record for that time of year.

By contrast March was one of the driest on record. You can't legislate for the weather.

Aidan11 wrote:The CC has always began in April.

It's just this year we've had bad luck with the weather - one of the worst on record for that time of year.

By contrast March was one of the driest on record. You can't legislate for the weather.

But you can legislate to play real cricket in the summer, not the spring.

Aidan11 wrote:The CC has always began in April.

It's just this year we've had bad luck with the weather - one of the worst on record for that time of year.

By contrast March was one of the driest on record. You can't legislate for the weather.

Just ten years ago, the Glos' first CC fixture started on the 26th April. This year it was the 5th, three weeks earlier.

Spiny Norman wrote:

Aidan11 wrote:The CC has always began in April.

It's just this year we've had bad luck with the weather - one of the worst on record for that time of year.

By contrast March was one of the driest on record. You can't legislate for the weather.

But you can legislate to play real cricket in the summer, not the spring.

To do that there would have to be a cull of the fixture list. If the ECB get their way it will be the County Championship that gets slashed.

Is that what you want?

Aidan11 wrote:
To do that there would have to be a cull of the fixture list. If the ECB get their way it will be the County Championship that gets slashed.

Is that what you want?

Obviously not, from what I've posted. Less hit-and-giggle, please...

I'd happily get rid of the hit-and-giggle but the suits want T20 because that's the current moneymaker.

Aidan11 wrote:I'd happily get rid of the hit-and-giggle but the suits want T20 because that's the current moneymaker.

True, but for how long? The IPL is already running out of steam.

Hello all

long-serving member on the cricket boards here but don't spend much time on the county ones. However the corporal (I think) pointed out that this one was being discussed here so I thought I'd wade in with some thoughts.

First off I dislike the term "hit-and-giggle" to describe Limited-Overs cricket. Several reasons, but the main one is that this so-called "hit-and-giggle" is in fact the only form of the game played in many countries (95 out of the 105 cricket-playing Nations in fact - including France, my own). Using derogatory terms such as these suggest that we in fact do not play "proper cricket" which annoys me somewhat. Anyway enough of the unpleasant thoughts...

They are several reasons which explain the poor scheduling this year (it's worse than usual certainly).

- T20 is as pointed out, the main money-spinner. As such it makes sense to hold most of it at a time when more people will be able to go. Like it or not, the counties make far more money from T20 than from the CC. Harsh on the life-long members who would like to watch more CC over the sumer months certainly, I agree.

- Again, the reason the season starts earlier rather than ending later is because of the CL (or whatever they call it). Once again, brings in a lot of money for the county game, so necessary.

- OLYMPICS!!! self-explanatory really. I love the idea of the Oympics being in London (in fact I'm coming over specially) but there's no doub it's wreaking havoc with most sporting events.

Finally, as has been said, there's no accounting for the weather. We haven't been able to play or net here since early April (though it's perking up now). Unusual and unfortunate, but what can you do?