County Championship

[Leothebear]

I notice every CC game in Divs 1 & 2 were drawn. OK I'm sure they were affected by the weather, but it is hardly likely to increase attendances when draws are so commonplace. I suspect attendances are pitiful.

Perhaps the County game is simply a hopeless case.

[the0ni0nking]

Haven’t they changed the ball this season so that they’re all using a Kookaburra which apparently significantly benefits the batsmen.

I was at Headingley for some of the game there earlier this month and Headingley on a cloudy April day should be a bowlers paradise. It wasn’t.

Now part of that maybe it’s Div 2 but neither side looked like steamrolling the other.

[BigB]

I notice every CC game in Divs 1 & 2 were drawn. OK I'm sure they were affected by the weather, but it is hardly likely to increase attendances when draws are so commonplace. I suspect attendances are pitiful.

Perhaps the County game is simply a hopeless case.

First class cricket in April always risky, but you can't not have it if you want test cricket to continue. Structure and scale could/should be up for grabs though.

[didds]

I notice every CC game in Divs 1 & 2 were drawn. OK I'm sure they were affected by the weather, but it is hardly likely to increase attendances when draws are so commonplace. I suspect attendances are pitiful.

Perhaps the County game is simply a hopeless case.

Yes to Kookaburra - but its not all season - the Duke will return.. Dont really know "why" (I suspect its so the 5% or whatever of county bowlers that may make test team have experience). Seems somewhat odd as its another random factor thrown into the fixture list that could affect a result unconnected to two sides relative strengths.

all the time CC games are predominantly played away from weekend days the attendance will be predominantly limited to the unemployed (who cant afford the tickets) and the retired (who may also not ). [and of course most weekends that is two days anyway obviously).

Let alone clashes then with end of season football/rugby etc.

[SalvorHardin]

Somerset still get fairly decent crowds for County Championship games. It's not unusual to see 2,000 to 3,000 even in midweek. We get around 3,500 to 4,000 for the One Day cup and sell out almost every T20 Blast match (8,500 capacity).

Attendences are helped by several factors, such as there not being too much competiton from other professional sports teams in Somerset (the only other major professional team in Somerset is Bath Rugby). The County Ground is only 5 to 10 minutes walk from Taunton railway station and a lot of people from Devon and Cornwall come to matches by train (in the summer there are 98 trains running every day between Taunton and Exeter).

I have had a season ticket for Somerset in the T20 Blast for the last three years and quite a few people close to where I sit are from Devon and Cornwall. They come by train, can have a few beers after the match and then catch one of the late trains home. The last train heading South West leaves Taunton at 11:14pm, so they don't have to rush after the match finished (or even leave with a few overs to go).

That said it's pretty clear to many of us Somerset fans that the ECB would prefer an eight team County Championship, using the current test match hosting countries, tied in with The KP Snacks tournament (aka The Hundred aka The Poor Man's Indian Premier League). There's an undercurrent of resentment amongst much of the cricket establishment, which would prefer that Yorkshire or Middlesex have Somerset's place in division one. A London based team is a far better sell to private equity and IPL team owners than a small provincial club which punches well above its weight.

[Lootman]

Attendences are helped by several factors, such as there not being too much competiton from other professional sports teams in Somerset (the only other major professional team in Somerset is Bath Rugby). The County Ground is only 5 to 10 minutes walk from Taunton railway station and a lot of people from Devon and Cornwall come to matches by train (in the summer there are 98 trains running every day between Taunton and Exeter).

I have had a season ticket for Somerset in the T20 Blast for the last three years and quite a few people close to where I sit are from Devon and Cornwall. They come by train, can have a few beers after the match and then catch one of the late trains home. The last train heading South West leaves Taunton at 11:14pm, so they don't have to rush after the match finished (or even leave with a few overs to go).

Yes, very few pro sports teams in Devon or Cornwall. Exeter Chiefs rugby team is the only good one, and I don't like rugby.

Exeter, Torquay and Plymouth all have football teams, but none are any good, The two Bristol teams aren't much better and so football fans I know in Exeter usually go to London to watch teams, often the Gunners for some reason.

No pro cricket team in Devon or Cornwall of course, and no pro team of any sport in Cornwall that I know of. I don't attend cricket matches of any type much more but I used to go to Taunton when I was in Exeter - just 25 minutes on the train. I remember seeing Botham play there back in the day, and seeing Gooch and Gower visiting. That was worth the money.

The last time I went to see Leicestershire play at Grace Road it was a weekday and there were maybe 100 people there, and I was one of the youngest ones! Only £10 to get in but I probably will not do that again.

[dealtn]

Perhaps the County game is simply a hopeless case.

Hard to claim day 4 at the Oval wasn't exciting. All 4 results possible and turned from a 4 day match to a T20 before the handshakes. The 1 hour's rain delay proved the difference unfortunately.

[didds]

Its not draws that kill interest - or not just BORING draws.

Horribly one sided games that finish in 2.5 days are no more interesting, particularly when the losing side give the impression they know they've no hope so just capitulate in order to be home that evening instead of spending yet another night in a soulless hotel room.

[cinelli]

The fact that counties get 8 points for a draw, up from last year, has something to do with it. Currently Leicestershire are third in the division 2 table having drawn all 7 of their games. This places them higher than Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, each of which have won a game.

Presumably the authorities want to encourage batsmen to play more defensively, which seems curiously at odds with the way the England team is currently playing.

Cinelli

[Lootman]

The fact that counties get 8 points for a draw, up from last year, has something to do with it. Currently Leicestershire are third in the division 2 table having drawn all 7 of their games. This places them higher than Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, each of which have won a game.

Interesting. In football draws were devalued decades ago, with the change to 3 points for a win from 2 points. So a win and a loss counts more than 2 draws. Surely cricket should do something similar.

The idea that you can play a game for 3 or 4 days, or even 5 days for a Test, and not have a result is something bemusing to foreigners but somehow we just accept it.

Now a tie is very exciting. But a draw?

[the0ni0nking]

The Kookaburra returns.

And there's a shed loads of runs in most matches.

Idiocy.

[didds]

The Kookaburra returns.

And there's a shed loads of runs in most matches.

Idiocy.

Hmmm. Maybe.

I'll say one word... Kent.

[didds]

The idea that you can play a game for 3 or 4 days, or even 5 days for a Test, and not have a result is something bemusing to foreigners but somehow we just accept it.

esepcially when 2 of the 4 days are rain followed by more rain...

Now a tie is very exciting. But a draw?

depends on the draw.

Ive seen result matches that have been boring in the extreme

[the0ni0nking]

The Kookaburra returns.

And there's a shed loads of runs in most matches.

Idiocy.

Hmmm. Maybe.

I'll say one word... Kent.

Aren't Kent that bad they volunteered for relegation before the season even began?

[didds]

Aren't Kent that bad they volunteered for relegation before the season even began?

as a Kent supporter I wished at the time they'd gone down last season.

I feared this season would be worse than 2023, and my fears have been proved true.

Lost 7, 6 of those on the bounce, and 4 of those 7 by an innings.

11 oppo first innings - 10 in excess of 400, 7 in excess of 500.

Only once have Kent had a first innings lead - the one game Kent won when somehow Lancs capitulated to 92 all out. Lancs demolished Kent in the return fixture by an innings.

Many many things wrong there clearly.

[the0ni0nking]

Only once have Kent had a first innings lead - the one game Kent won when somehow Lancs capitulated to 92 all out. Lancs demolished Kent in the return fixture by an innings.

Many many things wrong there clearly.

I fear there are many things wrong at country cricket clubs across the board - here at Yorkshire when the Rafiq scandal hit, Lord Patel came in and sacked loads of people. And Yorkshire CCC bore the brunt of that subsequently costing the club c£2m through unfair dismissal claims etc (and they've re-employed some of them!).

And yet, Lord Patel who instigated that stepped down a couple of years later. How anyone thought an appointment of someone who had never worked in private enterprise was a good appointment at the time remains a mystery to me. Anyhow, rant over on that front.

Yorkshire will cease to be a members club in due course - it's either that or insolvency. All the old members moan about it but ultimately only one person has put their money where their mouth is (Colin Graves). Even when he was booted out due to the aforementioned scandal, the loans he provided were rolled over.

[the0ni0nking]

11 oppo first innings - 10 in excess of 400, 7 in excess of 500.

Only once have Kent had a first innings lead - the one game Kent won when somehow Lancs capitulated to 92 all out. Lancs demolished Kent in the return fixture by an innings.

Many many things wrong there clearly.

Could probably be worse - you could be a Derbyshire supporter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/art ... 7led6v501o

The commentary team on Radio Leeds were at the time of that game making repeated references to them potentially winning at home for the first time in c5 years!

[Lootman]

Could probably be worse - you could be a Derbyshire supporter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/art ... 7led6v501o

The commentary team on Radio Leeds were at the time of that game making repeated references to them potentially winning at home for the first time in c5 years!

Or Leicestershire or Northants.

At least Derbyshire can blame the atrocious weather they have there for a lot of draws. June 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the infamous "snow stops play" match versus Lancashire: June 2nd, 1975 and starring Clive Lloyd. I still remember that, albeit vaguely.

[didds]

Could probably be worse - you could be a Derbyshire supporter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/art ... 7led6v501o

The commentary team on Radio Leeds were at the time of that game making repeated references to them potentially winning at home for the first time in c5 years!

Or Leicestershire or Northants.

At least Derbyshire can blame the atrocious weather they have there for a lot of draws. June 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the infamous "snow stops play" match versus Lancashire: June 2nd, 1975 and starring Clive Lloyd. I still remember that, albeit vaguely.

ISTR there is a picture of david gower in the snow!

[the0ni0nking]

[
Or Leicestershire or Northants.

At least Derbyshire can blame the atrocious weather they have there for a lot of draws. June 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the infamous "snow stops play" match versus Lancashire: June 2nd, 1975 and starring Clive Lloyd. I still remember that, albeit vaguely.

I spent a couple of years living in Northampton and have a soft spot for the place - albeit it's not really a cricket place; way more obsessed with rugby union (and bingo!)

I did visit the County Ground on a couple of occasions and I did get the impression it was a rather sorry site - so not really a surprise they couldn't get good players either! I don't know whether they own it but am surprised it's not been sold for redevelopment unless they've invested in it since.