County Cricket 2023

[Wowbagger]

The season starts tomorrow and Essex will play at Lords, for Middlesex's first match in the "top flight" for 5 years.

I'm thinking I ought to put in an appearance at some matches this year. The prices seem very reasonable: as an over-65, I can get into a County Championship match at Lords for £10 (half the normal Adult price). At Chelmsford, the adult tickets are £14 with no discount for old buggers.

[Wowbagger]

And… it’s raining.

[Basil]

And… it’s raining.

Ah.  A proper cricket season.

[Wowbagger]

Whoops! All of the top 4 Middlesex batsmen have been dismissed for 0. I've never seen that before. Middlesex 8 - 4.

Bearing in mind that Lancs were 7 - 6 on the same ground last September, and still won...

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Whoops! All of the top 4 Middlesex batsmen have been dismissed for 0. I've never seen that before. Middlesex 8 - 4.

Bearing in mind that Lancs were 7 - 6 on the same ground last September, and still won...

Dodgy pitch that one.  Could do with some levelling up.

[Wowbagger]

Middlesex recovered pretty respectably in the middle order, but the tail was dismissed cheaply so Essex have a lead of 96 on first innings.

A couple of Glamorgan guys hit hundreds today, so my dad would have been pleased. One of them was called Billy Root. Sounds like someone out of Under Milk Wood.

[Peter]

His brother hasn't turned out for Yorkshire.  are the central contract players sitting this round out?

[Wowbagger]

I have to confess that I didn't realise that they were brothers until I looked him up in Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, Essex seem to be building a winning lead: 199 ahead with 7 2nd innings wickets in hand. Forecast is good for today and tomorrow, wet in Chelmsford on Monday.

[Wowbagger]

Middlesex need 308 in 4 sessions. A tall order, but not impossible.

[Wowbagger]

Looking grim for Middlesex now: 77-5. Their top three batsmen contributed just 7 runs amongst them over both innings.

[Wowbagger]

Lancs 207. Essex 98-3.

Balanced, I'd say, None of the next three days, weather wise, look great for batting.

The poor old Middlesex top 3, mentioned above, managed 9 amongst them today. That brings their combined haul so far this season to 16 for 9...

[Wowbagger]

First innings lead of 12 for Essex. Lots of rain about. Gloucestershire/Yorkshire has had first two days abandoned because of a waterlogged outfield.

[Wowbagger]

Leics v Derbys already abandoned for today due to a wet outfield.

15.7mm rain overnight in Southend, a little less in Chelmsford, I think. Play due to start there at 1.10pm. Early lunch, I guess, but there's a lot more rain forecast for this afternoon. I think they'll be lucky to get an hour's cricket today.

[Wowbagger]

Very good second innings by Lancs, setting Essex a virtually impossible 339 to win in 2 sessions.

This may well be the last time that those great friends and genuine world class players Alistair Cook and Jimmy Anderson play in the same match, given that their combined ages are not far short of 80 years now.

[Wowbagger]

And Jimmy has dismissed his pal for a duck, lbw.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Very good second innings by Lancs, setting Essex a virtually impossible 339 to win in 2 sessions.

This may well be the last time that those great friends and genuine world class players Alistair Cook and Jimmy Anderson play in the same match, given that their combined ages are not far short of 80 years now.

And Jimmy has dismissed his pal for a duck, lbw.

Wrote him a letter to America that he couldn't quite read?

[Wowbagger]

Essex did quite well only to lose 4 wickets in the second innings. Surrey amassed a monster second innings, 247 / 1, to beat Hampshire. Hampshire's a good side. Ominous.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Essex did quite well only to lose 4 wickets in the second innings. Surrey amassed a monster second innings, 247 / 1, to beat Hampshire. Hampshire's a good side. Ominous.

Reading the account on Cricinfo, Mr Pope had rather a good day.  I think one of the crossovers of the 20-over game is that when a batter gets their eye in, they have so many more opportunities to score than through traditional batting techniques.  And some players have surprisingly high averages in shorter forms of the game - Virat Kohli averages 48 in tests, but 57 in ODIs and 52 in T20 internationals, which would suggest that batting more freely doesn't necessarily mean a lot of extra risk.

[Peter]

CET, might the higher averages be explained by limitations on the bowlers?  I'm not sure what they are but I thought there might be some restricting run-up and there are things like "power-plays" to consider, I think?

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I think pitch preparation may be a factor.  Test cricket wickets are supposed to offer a balance between bat and ball, whereas a T20 wicket gives maximum entertainment to the crowds when the ball comes nicely on the bat and is there to hit.  But given the way that batters sacrifice their wickets in T20, I would have expected lower averages, but some batters seem to buck the trend.

[Wowbagger]

That’s an impressive feat by Tom Price (Gloucestershire), his maiden first class century, batting at no. 9, and a hat-trick on the same day. The only problem is he will probably never have another day like that, no matter how long he plays.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

My mum used to relate stories of having gone to Lords to watch Denis Compton in his annus mirabilis and describe his flowing attacking style.  Fascinating to see his grandson being the last bastion of the old guard of opening bats guarding his wicket like his life (38* of 127 balls in a score of 113/6 on a damp day at the same ground).

[matthew]

CET, I think one of the other issues is the way that wides and particularly leg side wides are judged in the shorter form of the game. Because there is so little leeway on a legside ball in T20 and 50 over cricket the batter is able to better predict and set up for particular shots. Add in the fielding restrictions with so many fielders required within the circle and therefore fewer on the boundary the short form is more constrained on the fielding captain so when a batter is 'in' they can't just defend the rope and prevent the boundary in the same way.

My final though on the matter is the way in the longer forms a new batter is 'attacked' to get them out as they are most vulnerable early in their innings, so multiple slips etc. whilst in the short form the filed may not change as the new batter scoring more slowly while they get set is a win for the fielding side. So preventing the single to get off strike without necessarily getting them out becomes important.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

My final though on the matter is the way in the longer forms a new batter is 'attacked' to get them out as they are most vulnerable early in their innings, so multiple slips etc. whilst in the short form the filed may not change as the new batter scoring more slowly while they get set is a win for the fielding side. So preventing the single to get off strike without necessarily getting them out becomes important.

I think you have a really good point here - which makes me wonder if there's the potential to reinvent 50-over cricket by bowling to take wickets and set a field with a couple of slips.  I dont think it would work in a shorter form.

[Wowbagger]

Middlesex pick up another win!