County Cricket

Just before I take my forum leave in the next couple of days here is a nice question for you county cricket fans prompted by listening to some online radio commentary of Leicestershire v Glamorgan.

Which county out ground is your favourite?
There are some lovely out grounds around the UK. It might be one of the below or somewhere else entirely.
Scarborough, Guildford, Kidderminster, Colwyn Bay, Tunbridge Wells, Arundel, Cheltenham, Welbeck Colliery, Sedbergh School etc etc.

Totally biased & I make no excuse. The whole all-round experience, including the journey to the ground either by road or rail through the spectacular & underrated scenery of the Yorkshire Wolds. It has the biggest capacity & attendance out of all the out grounds yet maintains the intimacy. Importantly it's one of the best wickets in the country & I include Test grounds. Facilities are ever improving, & if you have time to venture outside the ground, you'll find great pubs & quality fish & chips. Walk across the road & you get a wonderful view of the North Bay, with the castle dominating the landscape. The local climate will have you reaching for a warm coat, hat & gloves, waterproofs & then shades & sunscreen all in the same day. All part of the charm, be prepared.
I made my first visit when I started work & have been going ever since, third generation of my family to do so, many memories. The festival week is not what it was, but at its peak attracted international touring sides, regarded as the best cricket festival in the world. You still get many of the greats of the game past & present around the ground. The great man Dickie Bird who has just celebrated his 90th birthday, never misses a match & I've had a few entertaining chats with him over the years.

The latest round of championship matches produced wins for Middlesex, Surrey, (who hammered a seriously out of sorts Warwickshire - does another relegation battle await??) with Durham in Div 2 - again against a team that - i think it is fair to say - were expected to push hard - and this time get closer to making it - for promotion but have instead shown no sense of their expected qualities) I wonder if Mickey Arthurs decision to try and do two jobs at once has unsettled things. It was brought up during comms, and the conclusion was no....but I wonder??

Also in Div 2. Leicestershire and Glamorgan played out an inevitable draw in the end, but Leicestershire showed that they may just 'rock the boat' - they look really strong, and will certainly be competitive (injuries plus Handscomb sticking around pivotal) while Gloucestershire can thank early summer weather for the draw they secured at home to Surrey. They were outplayed though overall!

Booms I will leave it to you to pick out individual performances, but another quality round of championship matches. I am tempted to consider sticking with the CC during the Ashes - particularly since the hyperbole and phoney war garbage has started already! Even I am tired of it!!

^^ It has to be Tim Murtagh with his 10-82, he also reached 1000 wickets for Middlesex in all formats. At 41 maybe too much to expect 1000 first class wickets, he's currently on 944. Still much better plying his trade at Lords with swing & seam that toiling away on a flat one in the heat of Sri Lanka.
The batting highlight goes to a majestic 151 by Cheteshwar Pujara.

The latest round of Championship matches saw Draws in all but one match, in which, Warwickshire walloped Hampshire by an Innings and 84. Haven't had the time to pick through the other matches to see who performed, but I will make a start by mentioning the truly unbelievable scenes down Derbyshire way that saw the Umpires not have the first idea what the rule book said about overs in the final hour.

They declared (wrongly) that Derbyshire would have 3 overs to chase down 50 odd, this after Derbyshire took the last Foxes wicket. Farce then ensued as the umps sought clarification from the ECB (god help us), and promptly changed their position to declare that Derbyshire would have only one over (not quite SA '92 world cup but not far off). Mickey Arthur went off on one, clearly thinking that his charges could throw the kitchen sink at 18 deliveries, and confronted the Ump Gatting/Rana style. We most likely haven't heard the last of it either! Somebody has to throw the dead wood that are the officials (not all) and the ECB overboard to bring just a modicum of integrity/respect back to the sport that continues to hold a revolver to its own head!

Running over the last round of CC matches, the rain was the clear winner resulting in draws in all but one match. In the Essex V Surrey match, a low scoring encounter saw only Westley and Critchley pass the 50 mark in the match, while in the bowling stakes,
Atkinson with eight for overall, was the stand out!.

Hampshire V Warwickshire saw james vince show a lone hand with two innings north of 50 (75 & 52). Among the bowlers, Woakes and Rushworth (particularly Rushworth with 10 for 76 in the match) were most successful.

Nottinghamshire v Lancashire : Bohannon (twice Bailey and Balderstone were the Lanckys main contributors - Nobody stood out with the bat for Notts. No real stand - out with the ball as wikckets shared around both teams.

Somerset v N'Hants : Sales and Taylor both passed fifty for N'Hants, but were eclipsed by Whiteman with a ton 30. Kohler Cadmore matched him however! Gregory and Leach shared 11 wickets between them but White eclipsed them with a five for in one inns.

Derbyshire v Leicestershire : leaving aside the drama of the umps and the ECB not knowing their A from their E, Patel Hill and Handscomb rescued a draw after a poor 1st Inns for the Foxes! Madsen and De Plooy put Derbyshire in the box seat 1st Inns - 2nd knock?? best to move on swiftly!! Harry Brooks with 6 for spit (what a loan signing - Warwickshire must be mad) Mulder with 5 in reply, were the best on show with the ball. Brooks though was in a different league!

Worcestershire v Sussex : Three half centuries Hose, Waite and Leach in Worcs' 1st knock. O Robinson warming up nicely with 7 for in both Worcs Inns. In Sharks only Inns Pujara (no complaints about him playing CC) was a class act once again scoring a quality ton (saw the highlights) Azhar Ali matched him though with a century of his own in the 2nd knock for the Pears!

Yorkshie v Glamorgan : Labuschagne and Sam Northeast were the main contributors in both of Glamorgan's inns, both scoring half centuries in the first, and Labuschagne doubling up in the second and Northeast repeating his 50 plus. Yorkshire fell apart in their first knock - Neser running through them with 7 for! The yorkies though doing much better second dig with 412 - Lyth a decent Ton. Wickets were shared around in both Glamorgan's Inns,

^^ Described as a magnificent 174 on Cricinfo, Lyth followed it up by a 10 ball duck & a golden duck against Durham. As they say "sport is a great leveller" "you're only as good as your last game"

Yorkshire have just forgotten how to win, 18 Championship games & counting. Durham win by 1 wicket. A great advert for the 2nd division. Baring injuries Durham will get promotion. Yorkshire will have to wait.

(14-05-2023 17:13 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Yorkshire have just forgotten how to win, 18 Championship games & counting. Durham win by 1 wicket. A great advert for the 2nd division. Baring injuries Durham will get promotion. Yorkshire will have to wait.

The 2nd div has always had it's 'pulling par' for me Booms, the teams there are so evenly matched overall (although strengths and weaknesses like all leagues). Leicestershire did well to hang on for the draw (another reason which shows the folly of downgrading it) but their early season form has deserted them somewhat! In terms of Yorkshire - they have become also rans of late. I read a few comments on the BBC cricket website (I know) about how some were calling for Gough et al to walk, and the need for a clear - out start again! Maybe slight hyperbole a la footie fans, but in an age where people are talking around counties very survival in a reduced clubs scenario, are Yorkshire considered to be 'too big to fail'?? I am being somewhat ironic, but they need something radical to turn things around at the very least!

^^ Yorkshire genuinely will be bankrupt before the season's out unless they find some cash. Then they would be able to re-form under another name.