County Cricket

Warwickshire 105 to win from 15 overs versus Nottinghamshire!! Touch of the T20's now perhaps!! It is the one set of circumstances, where I find a way clear to live with it!! Sibley is proving a point here as well, providing ammo for those who think he should get a gig with England! He has reached another ton!!

a hell of a blast if they make it!!

And they got there - averaging a run a ball so not as daunting as it maybe looked!! Was streamed live, and a worthwhile watch!

I know that there is only one county (I think) that charges a small amount for feed access! Given the numbers that watch via the net (much larger than claimed to be the case) each county could bring in a fair amount across the season as a whole, and could then - in turn - reduce the income received from the ECB (received AFTER initially paying in - it should be said) I reckon the uptake would be healthy enough! Either match - by - match, or season ticket for a single club.

Picture the scene.
Goes down to the last ball of the last over on day 4.

Somerset need 2 runs to win the match and title.
Essex need 1 wicket to win or a tie or draw to seal the title

With the way cricket has been this summer it could happen

(19-09-2019 21:37 )snookered Wrote:  Picture the scene.
Goes down to the last ball of the last over on day 4.

Somerset need 2 runs to win the match and title.
Essex need 1 wicket to win or a tie or draw to seal the title

With the way cricket has been this summer it could happen

For those of us without a vested interest in the outcome, let us hope it is as thrilling as that! Snooks I think we may have to do a sun dance, as the forecast is rank!

Nice to see Archer & Burns rewarded
Paceman Jofra Archer and opener Rory Burns have been rewarded for breakthrough international summers with their first England central contracts.
Archer bowled the Super Over in England's World Cup success and went on to take an impressive 22 wickets at 20.27 in the drawn Ashes series - including two six-wicket hauls in an innings.
The 24-year-old is the beneficiary of a Test and White-Ball contract, while left-handed batsman Burns collects a Red-Ball contract after scoring 390 runs at an average of 39 against Australia, his tally including a hundred in the series opener at Headingley.
Spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, however, have lost their Test contracts and will focus purely on limited-overs cricket.

This is interesting and would like to know your thoughts guys :-

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sports/cricket...ar-AAHBaAa

One thought would be to experiment is to maybe incorporate the Hundred into the championship itself and see how it would work that way rather than run the Hundred as separate competition it might give the championship a fresher edge to it but at the same time I'd like to see maybe somehow have the bottom team in Division 2 qualifying playing the Minor Counties champions in a qualifier for next season If you want to have success with thr Hundred then maybe sacrificing thr one day cup competition or keep the Hundred between counties' second XI's to allow them develop younger players for county level.

At the same time I would say make the Hundred free to air as well to get interest in it the figures from the World Cup should have shown the ECB that you could recapture a section of a TV audience tht been largely lost and I hsave always maintained that home Ashes series SHOULD always be a crown jewel in broadcasting

(21-09-2019 02:14 )babelover48 Wrote:  Nice to see Archer & Burns rewarded
Paceman Jofra Archer and opener Rory Burns have been rewarded for breakthrough international summers with their first England central contracts.
Archer bowled the Super Over in England's World Cup success and went on to take an impressive 22 wickets at 20.27 in the drawn Ashes series - including two six-wicket hauls in an innings.
The 24-year-old is the beneficiary of a Test and White-Ball contract, while left-handed batsman Burns collects a Red-Ball contract after scoring 390 runs at an average of 39 against Australia, his tally including a hundred in the series opener at Headingley.
Spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, however, have lost their Test contracts and will focus purely on limited-overs cricket.

Good and bad news!! Just reward for both given their performances (Burns in particular, proved a lot of people wrong), while Archer lived up to the 'hype'

It is just wrong - in my view - that the counties are penalised by such decisions - essentially for doing such a good job with coaching etc (yep county coaches doing a good job??). They nurtured the two guys, and now will have to find replacements for them more often than not!! Surely there can be some middle ground?? Should the clubs seek overseas/kolpaks, we all know what the response will be - dont we?? Equally, should clubs underperform as a result of losing their best players, we know that the 'knives will be out' in certain quarters - either questioning the amount received from the central pot - or putting such clubs forward as candidates for the 'cull' when arguing - as many do - that there are too many clubs at the professional level, and some should disappear! We have seen the animosity towards the idea of city based teams for the 100, How much more annoying will it be for some if their county club is lost to amalgamation or worse??

(21-09-2019 02:18 )babelover48 Wrote:  This is interesting and would like to know your thoughts guys :-

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sports/cricket...ar-AAHBaAa

One thought would be to experiment is to maybe incorporate the Hundred into the championship itself and see how it would work that way rather than run the Hundred as separate competition it might give the championship a fresher edge to it but at the same time I'd like to see maybe somehow have the bottom team in Division 2 qualifying playing the Minor Counties champions in a qualifier for next season If you want to have success with thr Hundred then maybe sacrificing thr one day cup competition or keep the Hundred between counties' second XI's to allow them develop younger players for county level.

At the same time I would say make the Hundred free to air as well to get interest in it the figures from the World Cup should have shown the ECB that you could recapture a section of a TV audience tht been largely lost and I hsave always maintained that home Ashes series SHOULD always be a crown jewel in broadcasting

Bold 1 - Flesh that suggestion out for me?? Can't really see what you mean to be honest!

Bold 2 - That suggestion is pretty close to the mark! I have thought for a long time now, that the minor counties (so - called) should have a greater place in the structure - they should never have been removed from the 50 over cup competition)! It makes no sense for the club (often Leicestershire - sorry nothing personal) that props up the rest in Div 2 to have no consequences to face for failure!