BLOG: All the major player moves & contracts | Exploring Cricket & class | A right old 'Codgerfest' | Counties redeveloping grounds | Changes at Yorkshire | Peter O'Toole taught by Imran Khan

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper

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This feels like a particularly bleak mid-winter. Whether it is politics, Covid or Ashes cricket, it is all pretty darn miserable right now. Oh to be at Chelmsford at 11.45am on a sun-drenched Tuesday morning in June to see Sir Alastair produce another effortlessly efficient square cut to the boundary. 

At this point of the year, county cricket fans always have to keep on buggering on. It is a matter of doubling down this Christmas as I suppose as we are dealing with all together bigger buggers right now.

Anyway, this is the final newsletter of the year. I have produced 38 and they are getting more and more popular. The subscriber level is only 60 per cent of my target but the readership is high and the engagement is very high. 

So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and thanks for the support. 

Here’s to April.

All the player and coaching moves

Ben Brown joins Sussex exodus after requesting early contract release (Cricinfo)

Cleverly, Sussex quickly followed this with news about the signings of Rizwan and Khan. But still, it is a big blow as Brown is a high-quality batsman in his own right. Combine that with his ability behind the stumps and you can see why his signature may be sought-after on the county circuit. I am betting he ends up at Hampshire.

Contracts: Budinger (Nottinghamshire), Stokes (Durham), Ward (Sussex), Barker (Hampshire), Livingstone (Lancashire), Rymell, Khushi, Allison (Essex)

Coaching: ten doeschate (Kent), Crowe (Lancashire)

Retirement: Hogan (Glamorgan after 2022 season), David Lloyd (Sky)

Captaincy: Glamorgan Cricket: David Lloyd and Kiran Carlson to lead county in 2022 (BBC)

Clearly though, this was a significant story within Wales, otherwise the following would not be a headline. Glamorgan County Cricket Club appoints first North Wales captain in over 60 years (North Wales Live)

RIP: Ron Dyke (Somerset), David Smith (Derbyshire, article by Peakfan)

News, views and interviews

Kent Cricket chief executive Simon Storey reveals renovation of the Frank Woolley Stand at The Spitfire Ground will cost 'at least £300,000' (Kent Online)

While I do worry about this sort of expenditure in the current climate, the Canterbury venue was certainly lagging behind other counties when I visited in 2019. A couple of old stands were ripe for renovation. That said, it was the headquarters that most felt like an outground with grass around almost half of the perimetre and that natural banking on one side. I liked it a lot.

Meanwhile, Scarbados is getting a cool £0.25m grant for improvements plus "the Friends of Scarborough Cricket Club have provided matched funding of £123,727 giving a total project cost of £373,727". Clearly, this ground has a lot of friends.

All quiet on the Somerset Front (Grockles)

County Championship set for five rounds in mid-summer 2022 (Cricketer) ($)

The recent failures in the batting Down Under highlight the need for the red-ball calendar to be entirely re-assessed. The ECB had their minds elsewhere last summer so they dropped this, the Championship and the racism scandal off their agenda. It is coming back to haunt them. 

US cricket breaks new ground with Ireland series (AFP)

Three memories of cricket in 2021 (Guardian)

No2 and No3 are very nice selections.

Entire Yorkshire first team 'considering leaving the club' in wake of racism scandal (Mirror)

Yorkshire form partnership with Pakistan Super League team Lahore Qalandars (Borders Gazette)

Yorkshire County Cricket Club announces 'open call' for applications for Head Coach and other posts (ITV)

Haris Rauf: Yorkshire sign Pakistan pace bowler for 2022 as part of Qalandars link-up (BBC)

So, let’s turn to Yorkshire for an update. Darren Gough is in, they are advertising for coaching staff (there is radio silence from all sides on the McGrath rumour which suggests there maybe something in it) and they have signed Haris Rauf for next season as part of the Qalandars link-up. All this is progress. But if the entire first-team squad gets permission to talk to other counties then part of me thinks they may as well accept relegation and start from the bottom up. And there is another issue, have any of those sponsors they lost come back? If not, they may struggle to pay their existing squad let alone a rebuilt one. Hopefully, it will be clearer soon. As I wrote last time, as they look to change for the better there will be good people thrown out with the bad. There will be innocent casualties. Unfortunately, we live in a world where nuance, context and intention is overlooked because of the fear of bad publicity and another media pile-on. Still, it was prejudice, inept leadership, inertia and paralysis under legal threats that got us here. The same failings cannot stop the rebuilding process. 

Worcestershire CCC Inviting Charities To Apply To Become Official Charity Partner for 2022 (Worcestershire CCC) 

Kent Cricket Partners with Castore ahead of 2022 season (Kent CCC)

Castore are a new sportswear brand who have made in-roads into the football market by signing up Glasgow Rangers. They have manufactured the West Indies shirts for a few years but this is their first foray into domestic cricket. I’d love to see county shirts become more of a trend but I confess I have never bought one. They are just too expensive and, personally, I feel a bit of a plum wearing them. Is that just me?

Cricket club makes a splash with innovative use of rainwater (Teesdale Mercury)

Finally, I love this. A rainwater harvesting system is producing enough to run the pitch irrigation system and flush all the toilets at Barnard Castle CC. It’s the best piss take in that village since a certain ex-government advisor decided to... ahem... test his eyesight with a little drive.

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BLOG: What do we really want from county cricket? | A little bit of politics | Ray Illingworth RIP | All the latest county moves | Essex contract news | Yorkshire sign up two big name interim coaches

BLOG: What do we really want from county cricket? | A little bit of politics | Ray Illingworth RIP | All the latest county moves | Essex contract news | Yorkshire sign up two big name interim coaches

BLOG: Yorkshire look to rebuild | Lancashire's new ground | Coaching changes at Hants | Northants and Derbyshire overseas signings | All the latest player moves | Delay on 2022 fixture announcements
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