Royal London One Day Cup

What was once the flagship One Day competition, with a chance for many County players that will never get the chance to play at International level, of performing at Lords in front a a capacity crown, & a great day out for members & supporters alike.
This year it has flown under the radar, kicking off yesterday on the same day of the men's Hundred's first match.
I've posted elsewhere about the dilution of this once great competition, let's not forget that we once had 2 Lords Finals each year, now this comp has been stripped of the best 30% of county players., but it's not an even split. Yorkshire & Surrey had 10 first choice players unavailable, as they are in various Hundred squads, although there's no guarantee that they will all see game-time.
Today I watched some of the Lancashire v Sussex match, interestingly it was played in the glorious Yorkshire Dales at Sedbergh School, a stunning setting. I assume that Old Trafford being the base for Manchester Originals, is maybe tied up, despite not having a game there until Sunday. Anyway the point I was making about the inequality in the Royal London Cup played out in this fixture. Lancashire had a strong side out, despite missing a few players. Sussex however where really depleted, in batting, & pretty much all their first choice fast bowling attack. They had the home side in trouble at 115-7 in the 28th over, chasing 271, after losing early wicket & the slow bowling of the experienced of Will Beer keeping it tight & the exciting 17 year old Leg-Spinner Archie Lenham taking wickets (4-59). But Danny Lamb & Tom Bailey added 112 runs as the Sussex 2nd string attack lacked class at the death as Lancashire won with an over to spare.

Rain has affected todays matches, with no results in 2 , but the Somerset v Glamorgan clash went down to the final ball in a match reduced to 37 overs. With six required from the final ball, & Glamorgan 9 wickets down, Andy Gorvin could only manage a four as Somerset sneaked home by one run. An outstanding all round display by captain Ben Green who came to the crease with his side in trouble at 5-49, & was finally out 2 balls from the end of the innings, for a fine 87 off 78 balls with 11 fours & a six, he also took 2-32.

^^ I was there yesterday it was a brilliant game and far more exciting the any 100 match I have seen, both side where a mix of a few experienced pros and young 2nd 11 players getting there chance , I enjoyed seeing the young guys come in and preform,

It was a green pitch that was doing a bit quite hard to bat on not a Normal Taunton pitch at all add there was a lot of cloud around at the start and was easy to see why Glamorgan fielded they had a blower called Hogan who was unplayable in the first 5 overs taking 4 wickets one of the best bits of fast bowling I see in ages, we had 3 rain delays when batting and I think it helped us as gave us chance to get out heads together,
It was really great seeing a couple of are excellent young players in Green and Goldsworthy do well with the bat ,
Glamorgan had the better weather for batting but we kept managing to take wickets so they didn't get away , Brooks looked excellent again still can't believe Yorkshire let him go,
Green was great with the ball showed what a great alrounder he is, special mention to Aldridge who comes from are academy and got 3 wickets looking like it really fits into the first team,

Yeh thanks for reminding me, about Brooks, he was a fans favourite & took most of his wickets at Leeds. We didn't have a choice we had an aging pace attack all 35+ Sidebottom, Brooks, Plunkett, Bresnan & Patterson. Brooks got offered 3 years at Somerset, & Yorkshire 2 years, which I think is fair for a bloke his age, you took a slight gamble on his fitness, & he's had his injuries at Somerset too. I'd admired Brooks before he came to Yorkshire as a very good white-ball bowler, but as Yorkshire targeted the Championship, we played very little One Day & T20 cricket for us. It's great to see him being used in that form of the game by Somerset.
Michael Hogan is an Aussie, been over here for years, he 40 lol. He had a bit a pace back in the day, but now he's just naggingly accurate, tall, similar to Patto at Yorkshire.
Looked like a good move to give Ben Green the captaincy, he's not far off 24, but still quite young, but enough experienced heads around him.

I'm enjoying the mix of young & old in this comp, it's a bit like last years season when players got rushed into matches with little preparation, they were forced to use a fair few youngsters for various reasons , injuries to bowlers etc. many of them wouldn't have otherwise been afforded opportunities. The only problem with too many young players is that you can get very inconsistent performances, the talent is obvious. Yorkshire have given a number of debuts in this comp, Duke & Hill had a combined age of 39, when the added 212 in partnership as they chased down a target of 328 against Leicestershire. Yesterday 18 year old, William Loxton, who has mainly been playing in Yorkshire's Academy side & not featured much for the 2nd's, made a mature 72 on debut. He came to the crease with his side in trouble, at 5-60 in the 19th over, which soon became 6-69. he was dismissed in the 48th with the score on 217, bowled out for 222, with something that could been defendable on a green seaming wicket at Scarborough. Northants innings lasted 5 balls, & the game was eventually called off.

It was good to see Glamorgan beating Essex yesterday, & Durham defeating Surrey today as both these sides progress to Thursdays final at Trent Bridge. maybe not the final that anyone would've predicted, but with so many top players missing, this competition has been unpredictable.

Glamorgan beat Durham by 58 runs in a Final contested by the 2 newest First Class Counties. Durham got exactly what they wanted when they won the toss, & put Glamorgan in to bat, as they have chased well in this competition, but a total of 296-9 even on a good batting wicket just proved too much. Runs on the board in a Final count for a lot, with extra pressure on the chasing side. a solid batting performance by Glamorgan, with the talented Carlson, who captained the side, with the standout innings, 82 off 59 balls, with 10 fours & 3 sixes. Bancroft (55) & Dickson (84 no) gave Durham hope, after they were 74-4 in the 19th over. With the required run rate climbing Bancroft took one risk too many, & Dickson got little support, as the innings fell away.

I'm not sure what would qualify as success for this competition, but the Final was attended by a little over 7,000. A Thursday Day/Night fixture doesn't help. In the last few years the Lords Final was poorly attended when it changed to a day/night match it got worse. Travelling supporters were then forced to stay the night in London adding to the cost of expensive ticket prices.

(20-08-2021 18:41 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  I'm not sure what would qualify as success for this competition, but the Final was attended by a little over 7,000. A Thursday Day/Night fixture doesn't help. In the last few years the Lords Final was poorly attended when it changed to a day/night match it got worse. Travelling supporters were then forced to stay the night in London adding to the cost of expensive ticket prices.

Success for this competition would be to give it what it deserves - promotion and coverage! It is a damning indictment on the ever more discredited money chasing (at the expense of the very sport they are custodians of) ECB, that this competition has been unduly demoted in the domestic calendar - Thursday instead of a sports day saturday/sunday! Add to that, the lamentable coverage from SKY whose decision makers pushed the competition onto youtube. Not everyone can park themselves in front of their computer all day. Besides, we as subscribers, are paying a kings ransom to sky (true - not forced too) in the expectation of a tv service. I wonder would the Premier league followers be banished to the small screen so readily?? (would they hell).

Unfortunately, it would appear that it isn't going to be BT Sport or its successor that is going to save cricket by giving it the exposure it deserves. One thing is for sure now, SKY can no longer be relied upon!. I don't know where we go from here!!

I never want to hear another word/lecture from the 'broken records' of the SKY commentary/presenting team about the importance of the World Cup (surely now that England finally won) and how the counties are holding the national team back. Particularly as they have thrown their lot in with the hollow mickey mouse T20 and now the (16.4 over) 'HUNDRED' and abandoned (apart from Test matches) the sport
of cricket for this mass market drivel.

Boomer' you make a solid point around the availability of players, with all the first choice names hoovered up by this damn 100. It is all very well Goughie trying to say that it gives opportunities to 2nd string players etc. Maybe, but since they will be playing against their equivalents, and not the A list skilled players, will not any performance of note have an asterisk due to succeeding against lesser opposition?? Then these players - when elevated on the strength of these performances - are found wanting at the hands of the best an international opposition can muster, and fall by the wayside. How eactly does that aid England?? if that is the stated aim!!

Don't panic, we have another review of the schedule review before next season. The view for this year was to play the different formats in blocks where possible, but this now looks a flawed decision. England playing a marquee Test series with only white-ball cricket as preparation. Moeen Ali, dragged from the Hundred, literally over-night, to play a Test Match & now he is to play in the Hundred Final tonight, with another Test starting on Wednesday. Dawid Malan will paly his first Test for 3 years, & again was playing in the Hundred last night, his on proper cricket this year was 1 Championship match in early June where he score 199.
Already we have rumours regarding the expansion of the Hundred, with Durham & Bristol the most likely venues for franchise teams. Counties that are hosting a Hundred team, are now looking to sign players up from the smaller clubs, Surrey & Lancashire have been linked with Jordan & Salt of Sussex. This may well have happened anyway, but the Hundred has increased the chance of this happening.

(21-08-2021 07:47 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Don't panic, we have another review of the schedule review before next season. The view for this year was to play the different formats in blocks where possible, but this now looks a flawed decision. England playing a marquee Test series with only white-ball cricket as preparation. Moeen Ali, dragged from the Hundred, literally over-night, to play a Test Match & now he is to play in the Hundred Final tonight, with another Test starting on Wednesday. Dawid Malan will paly his first Test for 3 years, & again was playing in the Hundred last night, his on proper cricket this year was 1 Championship match in early June where he score 199.
Already we have rumours regarding the expansion of the Hundred, with Durham & Bristol the most likely venues for franchise teams. Counties that are hosting a Hundred team, are now looking to sign players up from the smaller clubs, Surrey & Lancashire have been linked with Jordan & Salt of Sussex. This may well have happened anyway, but the Hundred has increased the chance of this happening.

Leaving England and player prep to one side - although the situation faced by the players you mention, speaks for itself -. No good news there either!! The very fact that it seems likely that any schedule rethink will be based around what is best for the T20/100 comps says it all