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Dec 2021
10:31am, 21 Dec 2021
131,632 posts
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GregP
I watch a lot of the county game (obvs). It's rare I see someone who makes it look sufficiently easy to make me think an England call up is due. Not Dan Lawrence, that's for damn sure.
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Dec 2021
10:45am, 21 Dec 2021
5,580 posts
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ThorntonRunner
So what is wrong with the county championship that it is not producing players who can make that transition?
- played at wrong time of season?
- played on poor quality pitches?
- too many teams so talent diluted?
- ...?
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Dec 2021
10:55am, 21 Dec 2021
131,637 posts
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GregP
And we're back to my feeder-league point. The County game is absolutely analogous to Triple-A baseball.
As soon as anyone looks half decent at County level they get eaten by the national side never to be seen again.
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Dec 2021
11:05am, 21 Dec 2021
24,499 posts
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TROSaracen
My theory is that it's the same as we had in football for years. We've kind of developed our own form of the game, partly due to more unusual climate factors. Quagmire football pitches, lots of rain and we developed a long ball, up and at 'em, get rid of it, hit the channels, big man up top game. That style of game never developed in say Spain because they play on dry pitches, in hot conditions so possession is more important. The whole DNA of their game is different. Of course when the two worlds collided in tournaments played in heat and on dry pitches, guess which game was more suited.....
Football reformed its coaching, and was helped by massive progress in pitch technology and our players coming through are now as good as any.
Same thing required in cricket: a start would be to develop a ball that swings and seams less (Kookaburra, maybe even a less swingy version of that to take into account our very swingy typical conditions). And start working on the coaching.
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Dec 2021
11:11am, 21 Dec 2021
26,690 posts
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Nicholls595
The red ball (I would say longer form, but it usually isn't) game isn't prioritised. Until it is, coaching won't change. Balls won't change. Pitches won't change.
A return to a County competition with quality overseas players, England players and promotion and relegation to make the matches meaningful. Either that or go down the 8 franchise route. Concentrate the better players in one competition and have a county/minor county feeder league below.
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Dec 2021
11:14am, 21 Dec 2021
26,973 posts
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fetcheveryone
I like the sound of the franchise approach. Maybe even just four teams, to play shadow test matches each summer.
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Dec 2021
11:20am, 21 Dec 2021
4,024 posts
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Oscar the Grouch
That's what the two divisions was supposed to do... scuppered recently by COVID but still the right thing. My understanding is that 4 day cricket is moving to some degree from May and October next year to more traditional summer days. That will also help.
I suspect Sibley and Hameed, as the two most technically correct players, are the two to open. I do take TROs point but eventually attacks do get tired, no matter how good and if you bat for 100+ overs, you WILL have a competitive score. Look at this Test. Aussies batted at 2 per over for almost the whole of the first day. Ended it 200-2 with a tired attack. Day 2, take the game away by batting on and putting tired opposition batsmen under pressure.
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Dec 2021
11:22am, 21 Dec 2021
24,500 posts
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TROSaracen
The 'season' does need sorting out. I don't follow domestic cricket - possibly could - but there always seems to be such a proliferation of fractured competitions and it was hard to get 'into' anything. I follow lots of sports so something has to grab the attention.
I think that was why I latched into the Hundred - it was clean - a definite start and finish, and something you could follow though, uncluttered, between those two points.
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Dec 2021
11:23am, 21 Dec 2021
5,581 posts
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ThorntonRunner
And the pitches?
I vaguely know the head groundsman at the ECB's Loughborough centre . He would get tasked with producing a pitch that mimicked a particular South African test ground for example - and he'd have to produce that, outdoors, for the test squad to train on in November before the tour. OK he had access to a 30 metre "tent" with daylight lamps to keep the grass growing, but even without that pitches don't need to be what we seem to get at county level - we're not totally in thrall to the weather/climate.
Much as I dislike the concept of franchise cricket. Would a red ball tournament of maybe 6 teams, based at test grounds (already get investment in pitches), concentrate the talent (so the first change bowler still challenged you and wasn't a trundler journeyman) and help to develop test ready players?
The county championship then is the feeder into that tournament, which in turn identified the players who would make it at test level
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Dec 2021
11:25am, 21 Dec 2021
5,582 posts
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ThorntonRunner
Four posts since I started writing the above!! Glad I'm not the only one considering a franchise-like approach
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The Ashes 2009
Jun 2022