COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should high performance mean high priority? | Royal London Cup previews | You-know-what 'least enjoyable' competition | $10m fine shows ECB the way on fighting racism

COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should high performance mean high priority? | Royal London Cup previews | You-know-what 'least enjoyable' competition | $10m fine shows ECB the way on fighting racism

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper

Signings, contracts, departures and player news

Signings/Contracts: Ashraf (Sussex - end of season), Goldsworthy (Somerset - to 2024)

Released: Harry Sullivan, Josh Sullivan, Loten (Yorkshire)

Ashley Giles in talks over county cricket return (Cricketer)

Rory Burns admits he is dreaming about Surrey lifting County Championship title (LondonNewsOneline)

Sam Cook tipped as the heir to James Anderson: "He's absolutely world-class" (Cricketer)

Lewis McManus out for rest of Northamptonshire's season after operation on broken finger (Cricketer)

We're not safe yet - Yorkshire boss Ottis Gibson in rallying call to troops (Yorkshire Post)

Royal London One-Day Cup Final

Let’s look back on Lancashire v Kent finals from the past.

First up, the Benson and Hedges Cricket Cup final 1995.

Departing Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens hopes Royal London One-Day Cup final is not his last match for the side (Kent Online)

Wells determined to end 2022 season with Royal London Cup glory (Lancashire CCC)

Joey Evison braced for his accession as Kent prepare to bid Darren Stevens farewell (Cricinfo)

That Jack Bond catch was clearly great in 1971. But with fielding standards having gone up so much it is kinda ‘normal’ today.

Campaign to Save County Cricket

Ed Warner was Chair of UK Athletics and knows about running elite sport. But, sorry, the ECB is NOT going to hand over the value of the franchises in you-know-what to the 18 counties. As Mike Atherton said, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named is not about growing the game or serving the existing one, it is about creating a viable and valuable product as their existing revenue streams, such as Test cricket and bi-lateral series, are losing value. They will not want counties anywhere near that.

Sport inc.

ECB at fault for domestic schedule (London News Online)

“Not a single day of the last four rounds of the County Championship take in a Saturday or a Sunday.

“As for the players, more than half of the Surrey side likely to line-up against Northants next week have not seen any action for 45 days.”

The Hundred is English cricket's least enjoyable competition, fans survey finds (Cricketer)

This will be dismissed as 'well, they would say that wouldn't they?". But it is wrong to put the entire membership of the Cricket Supporters Association in a box marked "old fogies".

You cannot say 34 per cent of respondents under 44, 22 per cent over 65 and 92 per white is that far out of keeping with national demographics. However 90 per cent male is both disappointing and certainly a skew on figures.

A survey taking 25 minutes to complete suggests the 3,700 respondents are among the most passionate fans. Look at the small print on those make-up adverts on television confidently proclaiming "78% of those surveyed noticed fuller lips in 24 hours" and you will realise this is a huge number of replies which cannot be ignored.

It is no surprise to see the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named fail to resonate with the passionate. To purloin a famous phrase "it is not for them". It is pitched for the passionless when it comes to cricket. Fake teams, meaningless fluff sold as important and shiny, flashing things designed to attract people who don't care about the game. Or at least haven’t done until now. By definition, this is a new audience. Of course, the plan is to make them care. At least enough to open their wallets.

But emotional ties take time.

And even you-know-what can't fake that.

Thoughts on the Strauss Report (Peakfan Blog)

Clearer vision and cheaper tickets needed to enhance Premiership allure (Guardian)

Like many others, I use cricket and football comparisons a lot, see intro. This might work at League One level but the Premier League teams, let alone, the Champions League elite are way over the sporting horizon. Different profiles, different businesses, different audiences, different everything. And the aspirant Championship clubs who mortgage and then re-mortgage their future on joining the big boys merely serves to illustrate the dazzle of the top-flight.

Rugby Union is more comparable to county cricket. Not only in size and impact but the contorted positions they have taken to maintain relevance. And, it must be said, the financial problems, see the sorry story of Worcester Warriors.

The different versions of rugby in the UK have gone through some of the steps proposed for English cricket such as franchising and private equity investment. It does not seem to be a pretty sight with crowds down post-pandemic and some were falling before.

This Guardian piece suggests the sport needs to be “affordable, accessible and run with far more clarity”.

One thing cricket has over rugby is price. The Guardian is reporting it costs £50 for a ticket behind the posts for a major Premiership rugby game. Blast matches have been half that and one of the key drivers of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named is dirt cheap prices. It is one of the reasons it is making such a loss.

But as for “accessible and run with far more clarity”, we need that desperately. Especially the latter.

Somerset CCC Board statement (Somerset CCC)

"The current domestic playing programme, which resulted in only four one-day matches being played in Taunton over 43 days in the height of summer this year, with 17 Somerset players unavailable, is unacceptable."

Somerset have opened the batting against the Strauss review with this statement. As the strongest counties without Tests grounds it is no surprise they and Essex have always seemed the most vehemently opposed.

But I wonder. With the Welsh franchise struggling for impact could the south-west county be silenced by having their own team in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named. Likewise, could Chelmsford be given a sweetener as the London/South-East home of England women's white-ball cricket.

We have seen reports of these levers being pulled or threats of such 'gifts' being taken away. Frankly, if I was the ECB that is what I would do. It’s classic ‘divide and conquer’ tactics.

News, Views and Interviews

Prince William now owns the Oval cricket ground: here’s how (Indian Express)

Essex 50s are County Champions again! (Yellow Advertiser)

Spin specialist, county run-machine: Should England recall Keaton Jennings for their Test tour of Pakistan? (Wisden)

This is a good question. Many of cricket's data crunchers would be inclined to say yes as they like to pick specialist players for special conditions.

Next Year (PeakFan)

Pitch invader who collided with England cricketer guilty of aggravated trespass (Standard)

A shallow, attention-seeker who should feel the full force of the law.

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How Yorkshire CCC has made great strides under Lord Patel - John Grogan (Yorkshire Post)

Azeem Rafiq set for new MPs' hearing over Yorkshire County Cricket racism claims (ITV)

EXCLUSIVE: Yorkshire agree six-figure compensation deal with Andrew Gale over unfair dismissal case amid fallout from Azeem Rafiq racism scandal... as the club concede their former captain and coach's claim during mediation (Mail)

Suns owner Robert Sarver banned one year and fined $10m for misconduct (Guardian)

Now, here’s a sport sending out a message regarding racism. The NBA have banned an owner from any involvement with his club for 12 months and handed him the maximum fine of $10m for misconduct, much of it racially discriminatory.

OK, it all took a year but the US is the most litigious country in the world, the owner fought it and yet the NBA managed to reach a strong conclusion in less time than it has taken to punish Yorkshire.

Club Statement: Cricket Disciplinary Committee Hearing (Lancashire CCC)

Lancashire hit with six-point Championship penalty following disciplinary hearing (Cricinfo)

A strongly worded statement from Lancashire, albeit they “respect the decision”. I can’t remember as much open dispute about disciplinary issues as this year. That may be because they are tightening the rules and interpretations.

Lancashire’s Luke Wells tweeted that "hitting my bat on the ground after being bowled last year v Glamorgan at Cardiff and shouting in frustration whilst inside the changing room at Northants" was a part of this.

Personally, I find the long, staring back at the umpire and failing to move when given out a much clearer sign of dissent. Although, that takes you down a difficult road of interpreting body language and determining what is contempt and what is disappointment.

However, I was truly saddened in Hampshire's conduct in this regard at Chelmsford this season. In contrast, this week’s game at Yorkshire, a wafer-thin, one-wicket win for Essex, was played in excellent spirit.

Exclusive: Steve Finn and Nick Knight leading contenders to be new England selector (Telegraph) ($)

Steve Harmison exclusive: Criticising the Hundred could cost me England selector job (Telegraph) ($)

Are we just recruiting selectors from the Sky commentary box now? I know they run the sport these days but this is getting ridiculous. With all the emphasis on data, sports science and the need for diversity in decision-making groups, we still just appoint from within a small cabal. This is what the public school blazers used to do when they ran cricket.

The only difference is these guys have got better tailors.

COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Fantastic finale to the Champ season | Success at Surrey, Notts & Middx | Warks send Yorks down | Strauss Review reaction - and it's not good | Hildreth and Hogan farewells

COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Fantastic finale to the Champ season | Success at Surrey, Notts & Middx | Warks send Yorks down | Strauss Review reaction - and it's not good | Hildreth and Hogan farewells
COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson delays county vote on Strauss review | Media blitz - Fri night Blast games, transfer window, player exodus | "One man and a dog" - still!!! | You-know-what Yr 2 figures

COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson delays county vote on Strauss review | Media blitz - Fri night Blast games, transfer window, player exodus | "One man and a dog" - still!!! | You-know-what Yr 2 figures

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