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LV County ChampionshipAs the break in the County Championship caused by the slap around known as 20Twenty comes to an end perhaps it is time to reflect on what has been a strange season so far. The First Division has split into two groups - a top four covered by 6 points and a bottom five covered by only two points. The biggest disapointment so far has been the form of Surrey. With potential bowling line up comprising four test experienced players they seem to be singularly unable to bowl out the opposition and are currently languishing at the foot of the table. There has been very little consistency in results however with most of the teams showing that they have the ability to beat any of the others. The other major problem has been the weather which has had a major influence on a lot of the matches - a situation that has not been helped by the ridiculously early start to the season to fit in the beach cricket that seems to be the "way forward". As the first class season resumes I can only hope that Surrey can begin to show some semblance of form (or at least desire) to move up the table. The Second Division is currently lead by Warwickshire (still no doubt smarting from their relegation last season) with a 16 point gap although they have played a game more than any other team. Kolpac heavy Leicester are in second followed by Middlesex and Northants. Derby, led by new captain Rikki Clarke, are in mid table and looking more of a challenger this year.Glamorgan are in the bottom two - a position that seems to have been their lot for a few seasons now and Gloucester bring up the rear - although they do have a game in hand and are only 4 points behind. I just wonder how much damage has been done to the technique and concentration levels during the recent break and whether it is actually a good thing for the game overall.. (As you might gather I am no fan of 20/20)
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Twenty20
County cricket has had many problems. The major one is that it cannot raise the finance to pay for itself directly and relies on TV money from the ECB.
The ECB now sells live TV rights exclusively to pay TV - as do overseas rights holders - so most people don't see any live cricket on TV. And if children don't see cricket on TV they won't be very interested in watching or playing the game. And there were lots of empty sights on view in the England matches played so far this year. So interest may be waning soon after the ECB sold out.
Radio commentators referred to power plays in some of the England games this year but never explained what this was so interest will also have waned as people just don't know what's going on.
County cricket also loses its test players for England duty and so they don't have the stars to attract paying customers. It has also suffered from a profusion of versions of the game and confusing names which keep changing for its competitions so most people won't have a clue which one is which.
At least Twenty20 has a name which lets people know which version it is. Previously they would have called this the Benson and Hedges Cup or some such meaningless name.
And there are just too many England matches. They just become too frequent to be special. And players like Trescothick and Harmison get burnt out and Jones and Flintoff get injured.
The changes made by cricket in recent years remind me in some ways with the decline of ITV. Each change made by ITV made sense separately - people like soaps and human interest documentaries. So more were put on. Revenue comes from ads so put on more ads. If a trailer is played people may watch the trailed show so have lots more trailers. But the end result is a channel that people give up watching as it is just a down-market cluttered mess and the share price falls year on year as people tune out.
Each decision made by cricket, having a Twenty20 circus in India and more in the UK, selling out to pay TV, adding more and more England matches or stretching out the world cup over weeks makes sense individually but will cost the game as time goes by in just the same way.
One more round.
And so the uncertainty continues. In the latest round of matches Durham beat Yorkshire in three days and temporarily replaced them at the top of the table. The next day both Notts and Lancashire won to go past them and suddenly Notts have opened a 13 point gap at the top. In the battle of the bottom two sides Kent give up a first innings lead of 127 to Surrey and then proceeded to bowl them out for 130. Martin van Jaarsveld who before had never taken more than two wickets in an innings finished with figures of 5-33. He then scored his second centery of the match to steer Kent to a four wicket victory and leave Surrey (joined by Hampshire) suddenly 10 points adrift. As Somerset (the next county up) have a game in hand both of these sides need to start putting some positive results together.
In the second division there were wins for Worcester and Essex with the other two matches drawn. This leaves Warwick on top with a 23 point gap over Middlesex. The next four counties are covered by three points and all of the group from second to sixth have a game in hand on the leaders so it is eminently possible that it might become a whole lot closer as the season wears on.
On a side issue I wonder if the scoring of his 100th century is starting to play on Mark Ramprakash's mind. Since scoring number 99 he has gone nine innings without a century (his worst run for many years) culminating in yesterday's golden duck.
Further update
After three more rather truncated rounds of the LV County Championship the situation in Division One is not a lot clearer - except that Surrey are dropping even further behind. After the latest round of matches Notts head the table with a ten point lead over Durham and Somerset, both of whom have a game in hand.Kent Lancashire and Sussex are within four points in the middle of the table and then comes Yorkshire (on the fringe of the drop zone) and finally Hampshire and Surrey (who are now 15 points short of safety with over half of the season gone). The only fact that they can console themselves with is that Mark Ramprakash has now scored his 100th century so that distraction is out of the way.
In the second division a run of three consecutive victories has catapulted Worcester to the top of the table with a fifteen point lead over Warwickshire (who have played one game less).Northants are third and then the gaps get rather larger with Essex a further 15 points back followed by Leicester, Middlesex and Derby who are covered by a two point difference. Glamorgan,after their shock victory at Essex, have moved off the bottom of the table to be replaced by Gloucester who have yet to win a match.
The Season finale
The difference between the first and second divisions for excitement in the final round of matches could not be more marked. In the second division Worcester and Warwick have the promotion places tied up and the only doubt is to who will actually win the division.
In the first division however the final round has possibilities for all eight teams involved. The one team not playing are already relegated Surrey who should really apologise to their supporters for what has possibly been the worst season in the club's history with no wins in first class cricket all season, and a lamentable performance in the one day matches as well.
As far as the rest go Notts are probably in pole position to win the title as they start the final round eight points ahead of their nearest rivals.Somerset and Durham need maximum point victories to stand a chance and Somerset have already failed in that aim being bowled out on the first day of their match for just over 200 and only getting one batting bonus point. However they have already taken four Lancashire wickets so they are still in the fight. Notts and Durham have both picked up three bonus points in their matches against Hampshire and Kent respectively. In the relegation avoidance struggle between Sussex and Yorkshire the home side have the upper hand at the end of a truncated first day.