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Jan 2022
11:51am, 19 Jan 2022
24,793 posts
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TROSaracen
Not surprisingly....I disagree.
His central point is that County Cricket is not to blame because players 'start well and get worse' (therefore international coaches are to blame).
Whilst he accepts the 'being worked out' angle, he ignores the fact that it is the grinding mediocrity of County Cricket that is at fault for the rest.
If, to take one example, James Vince had been more tested at County level and had been forced to work out his 'chase a wide one' flaw before even getting a cap, he'd have been more equipped once he got there.
Chances are he'd have still chased the odd wide one, but would be more adept at reigning it in (and more equipped at going big once he was 'in'). In short, a more vigorous County game and more red ball cricket may have turned James Vince into David Gower - or if not, at least ensured he'd never end up in the test team.
Darren Stevens, a 45 year old bits and pieces trundler still recording outstanding bowling stats, is merely used as the archetypal symbol of that mediocrity.
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Jan 2022
11:53am, 19 Jan 2022
4,529 posts
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trumpton riots
The photo is from Headingley 81, so I'm thinking it might be Dilley, as they were batting together at the end of day 4?
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Jan 2022
11:58am, 19 Jan 2022
4,157 posts
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Oscar the Grouch
I don't think he is saying that CC is not to blame per se, only that all the excuses cannot fully be laid at their door. Getting worse after a good start, when the 'only' change has been exposure to international coaches and analysts is not the fault of CC. Especially since those players are often not really allowed to play in the competition once they have been selected. The bowlers, especially, would benefit from regular bowling.
But we'd have to agree to differ 
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Jan 2022
3:51pm, 19 Jan 2022
5,687 posts
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um
Not Willis at the end of day 4?
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Jan 2022
4:15pm, 19 Jan 2022
24,795 posts
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TROSaracen
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Jan 2022
4:26pm, 19 Jan 2022
16,294 posts
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rf_fozzy
That Guardian article is good. And I agree with pretty much all of it.
I think all the calls for drafts etc are complete and utter tosh.
The bit he's missed in that article too are about the calls for 'best' v 'best' - yes, well, the England test players *don't play county cricket once they get selected for England* - so it's not best v best. It's next best v next best.
It's too late now, but if Anderson and Broad played a few more county games, more county batsmen would have to face top class international bowling.
Similarly, if Jack Leach has to play against Joe Root in a game then he's bowled against one of the best batsmen in the country.
I don't see how Dom Bess bowling for "North" against James Vince batting for "South" moves the game on any further than Dom Bess bowling for Yorkshire against James Vince batting for Hampshire.
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Jan 2022
4:39pm, 19 Jan 2022
24,796 posts
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TROSaracen
The Regional is about concentrating scarce talent into fewer teams so that Vince, batting for 'South' faces 4/5 decent bowlers, rather than blocking for 1 decent bowler then getting to feast on the remaining dibbly dobblers because the 4/5 are spread across multiple teams.
I'd also wager that if there were fewer but high quality competitive fixtures in which intensity was much closer to test cricket than the current genteel county game then there would be more value - and thus more actual release of contracted players to partake. Win/win.
I'd certainly favour this; and scrap the current bloated County structure, the very epitome of quaint old fashioned little Englander-ism to create these new regions. Radical, painful - but there is the long form of the game to be saved: domestically and internationally.
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Jan 2022
4:48pm, 19 Jan 2022
16,295 posts
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rf_fozzy
"remaining dibbly dobblers because the 4/5 are spread across multiple teams."
Darren Stevens being the prime example...
As pointed out his record, even against the offending Australian top order batsmen who've just scored lots of runs against England, in recent seasons is quite good.
And here is the nub of the contradiction in most of the arguments I've heard: That the pitches aren't good enough and so the dibbly dobbly bowlers are too effective, yet the batsmen who have good records in country cricket are "feasting" on dibbly dobbly bowlers.
Both cannot be true.
"I'd also wager that if there were fewer but high quality competitive fixtures "
Absolutley no evidence for this. The summer international calendar is too bloated and England have become more and more protective of the test players. Hence my point above.
I'll defer to Greppers, but I don't think "intensity" in the county game is particularly a problem. The last couple of seasons have shown this. All the counties wanted to win all games.
Also remember that the counties are the ones who have the development structure in place. So you'd need a complete restructure of the talent development programme. Expensive and takes a long time to do.
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Jan 2022
5:01pm, 19 Jan 2022
16,296 posts
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rf_fozzy
I also think that this view of a 'genteel' quaint english (and welsh) village green atmosphere in county cricket is now a 1970s myth - I suspect that the county championship is as cut-throat as any professional sport in this country.
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Jan 2022
8:10pm, 19 Jan 2022
24,797 posts
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TROSaracen
Thanks for the response Fozzy. Enjoyed being challenged and understand where you’re coming from, but still hold my stated view.
* tucks bat under arm and heads for the pavilion *
** hopes there’s no stray feet there **
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