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Do we need counties?
By Jonathan Liew 3 months ago, 22 Comments »
There are 18 counties playing first-class cricket. That’s quite a lot. There are more domestic teams in England than in any other country. Yet they’re not evenly spread around - London and its environs has an embarrassment of teams, while parts such as the south west, the far north and most of Eastern England have none at all.
Now partly, that’s due to population: cricket teams are concentrated around the biggest cities. And yet, we persist in clinging to the county apparatus, a hotchpotch of hazily-defined localities that has very little relevance to the social geography of today. Counties don’t really exist in any meaningful sense any more; in fact, for four of the 18 counties, that’s literally true. The county system is rooted in a long gone past, and it hasn’t changed, even though everything around it has. Does the idea of ‘Warwickshire’ mean anything to anyone any more? Certainly not for someone like Ian Bell, who was born in Coventry - which since 1974 has been part of the West Midlands.
If it were only a quibble about names and boundaries, we could probably let it go. But this archaic system has a more serious effect on the domestic game. With large shifts in population and wealth away from rural England and towards the towns, some counties clearly have an inherent advantage over others. A county like Lancashire, with a catchment area of Liverpool and Manchester, the surrounding towns, Cheshire and Cumbria, have far more resource to draw on than the likes of Leicestershire, which has one medium sized town and four rival cricketing counties on its borders. It may always have been this way to an extent - pre-reform Yorkshire was bloody huge - but that doesn’t necessarily make it fair.
As a result, prosperity - and thus success - is distorted by the fact that some counties will always be struggling to prosper, regardless of cricketing merit, and some will always be comfortable. Test grounds - a major source of potential revenue - are concentrated almost exclusively around big cities. Look at the list of county champions: the top four are Yorkshire, Surrey, Middlesex and Lancashire - areas with high populations and a Test ground. Then look at who has come bottom most often: Derbyshire, Somerset, Northamptonshire, Glamorgan. When Leicestershire can’t hang on to a player like Stuart Broad, who was born in the county and has played all his cricket there, it’s clear the playing field is not level. The influx of Kolpak players have counteracted population factors to an extent - but they still need to be paid, and the biggest counties will always jostle their way to the front in this respect.
It’s possible teams like Leicestershire and Derbyshire will never again reach the pinnacle of English cricket. The best they can hope for is the odd promotion or a dart at a one-day trophy here and there, but it’s equally likely they’ll wane and recede slowly into the background. That is, unless something is done about it.
If domestic cricket is ever to make proper money - and, who knows, provide a higher standard? - it needs to brand itself in more familiar terms. In short, we need fewer teams, more fairly distributed. The quickest way of doing this would be to merge counties; in short, persuading them to vote themselves out of business. That’s not going to happen. Instead, reorganisation of domestic cricket could be craftily disguised as a PR exercise.
Ironically, the IPL might be able to teach English cricket a thing or two in this respect. Moneyed franchises they may be, but the teams in the League are based in - and upon - very real localities. The players may not be sourced locally, but that will come in time. What’s important is that a bond is being forged betwen a cricket team and a town. In England, those bonds already exist in large part: Gloucestershire is by and large a Bristol team, Hampshire a Southampton-based club, Warwickshire is a Birmingham team, and so on. Towns have a far greater emotional and economic pull than counties these days, and are far more relevant in today’s society.
The idea, then, is this, although the details are less important than the diagnosis behind them. Cut the number of teams to, say, 12, and base each one around a large town. Let’s call them, for sake of argument: Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, North London, South London, East London, Cardiff and Brighton. The South East has a quarter of England’s population, so it should have a quarter of the teams. The names, as I say, are largely irrelevant.
What English cricket would then have, essentially, is the Australian system in all but name. Teams would be able to draw on the emotional and financial clout of the major town, but talent-wise the spread would be far wider - and far fairer. It provides the best balance between levelling the playing field and preserving some semblance of geographical integrity. And the standard would improve.
Anyway, well done for getting through all that - any thoughts?
22 Comments »Essex finally win a Twenty20 competition
By Emma 2 years ago, mid-September, No Comments; be the first!
Essex look almost certain to win the Pro40 this year, and as they cruised to victory in the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup yesterday, it was easy to see why. Derbyshire did well to contain the Eagles to a total below 200 after Irani and Pettini made 60 in just under six overs. However, the game dawdled to an end when Phantoms wickets fell to insufficient cost to challenge their target.
Whilst the result was predictable, I had forgotten how much I liked visiting Derbyshire. The former Race Course Ground is some 11,000 seats light of my usual haunt, and its team are often viewed as the minnows of county cricket, but the friendliness found from fan to steward to player gives the place a strong community feel. A Test ground might have a superior square, year of tradition or impressive facilities. But you can’t tell me there is anything purer than watching a game from a chair you’ve had to pull from a stack and place at the boundary yourself.
No Comments »Can we have our ball back, please?
By Emma 2 years ago, at the start of September, 1 Comment »
Some things never change, whether you are playing for school, club or country. It’s one of cricket’s charms.
Every cricket club needs understanding neighbours. There is more than one landmark case documenting the kind of troubles that can arise when a big hitting batsman decides to go aerial. So when a resident of Chelmsford was confronted with Lancashire’s twelfth man hanging over her fence this evening, it was nice to see her smilingly poke around her garden to lend a hand.
Unfortunately, as Chelmsford lacks the huge stadia of an international ground, the local houses seem to be fair game. As such, it took two attempts to find a ball of the appropriate age.
1 Comment »Going domestic…
By Emma 2 years ago, at the start of September, 6 Comments »
I didn’t get to see much of the one-day international yesterday because of work, and it doesn’t seem to have been much of a loss. So, with a brief congratulatory note to Pakistan for yet another fine bowling performance, I’m moving onto county cricket.
As much as the Championship can ever be viewed as hotting up, the Division One title race is providing as close a race as last year. A quick bit of maths suggests that unless Sussex avoid the likely draw against Hampshire today, they will remain level with Lancashire. Comparing the teams’ fixture lists for September, this weekend’s rain could prove to be decisive. Down in Division Two, Surrey have cruised their way through to automatic promotion. However, the fight between Essex and Worcestershire for the final place up will provide some tail-end tension for the season. The match between the two was rained off yesterday, leaving Essex ahead by the barest of margins with two games left to play.
In the meantime, I’m going to my last home Pro40 of the season. Who needs international cricket?
6 Comments »Twenty20 finals day at Trent Bridge
By Will 2 years ago, mid-August, No Comments; be the first!
Can’t wait for tomorrow. For various reasons I’ve yet to taste Twenty20 cricket; after the first season, I vowed it was utter tosh. But it’s since grown and, certainly from a bystander’s view, it now appears to be acknowledged as an important (the most important?) tournament in English domestic cricket. It just looks bloody fun, a riotous day out and I’ll be snapping pics on my trawl through the crowds.
It’ll be great to actually be there sampling the atmosphere and speaking to the fans. I’m really keen to see what the attraction is to, for example, someone with an indifference to cricket. My colleage went to one at Chelmsford a few weeks ago and spoke to people there, one of whom was adament that he didn’t watch, follow or particularly like cricket. He did, though, enjoy Twenty20.
Best of all, judging by Nottingham’s lack of hotel rooms, it’s going to be a sell-out too.
Stuck a preview up on Cricinfo. The teams involved are Essex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey and Leicestershire.
No Comments »We are all thankful to Darren Gough
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 3 Comments »
Never again (not this week at least) will I make disparaging remarks about Darren Gough. Essex today were nine down, with Zaheer Khan looking for his tenth in the innings for Worcesterhisre. He blitzed 50 from 33 balls before falling to Matt Mason. Good old twinkle-toes. Khan’s astonishing figures last night of 9 for 28 in 69 balls look rather less special after Gough laid into him: 9 for 138!
Not a bad effort, Zaheer.
3 Comments »Australia smash 500 in a day. Against Essex
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of September, 4 Comments »
So that pitch really is flat then. Australia romping along at about 6/over are 515 for 4. Gilchrist, though, made just 8…
One of the more pointless practice games I’ve ever known!
4 Comments »Essex smash 500 in a day. Against Australia
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of September, 5 Comments »
As if this summer’s events couldn’t get any more bizarre. Australia were chasing red leather all day at Chelmsford, as Essex smashed over 500 in day. 500 in a day - the mind boggles. Alastair Cook, massively promising 20-year-old opener, hit 214 at nearly a run a ball. I did a brief report on Cricinfo, the most interesting bit being the quotes by John Buchanan:
Coach John Buchanan remained pleased with the efforts his bowlers showed, however.
“Generally, I thought we bowled and fielded well,” he said. “There were positives from all of them. It is important we go through the physical demands of the game and all of our bowlers did that OK.”
“The energy and attitude was first-class throughout, even though a flat pitch and fast outfield did nothing to help the bowlers.”
Straws, clutching, etc. Flat pitch it may have been, but today was surely one of the more depressing for a touring side in England for a long time.
5 Comments »Dale Steyn signs for Essex
By Will 3 years ago, mid-April, 5 Comments »
A great signing for Essex as they snatch Dale Steyn, the young South African quick. It was rumoured in January Warwickshire were itching to sign him in the winter, but Essex have got in first.
