|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Jul 7, 2020 12:09:55 GMT
A welcome but surprising decision given the recent talk that some counties might refuse to play red-ball cricket due to all the complications that may arise. Next stop is the revised fixture list.  |
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Jul 8, 2020 8:25:08 GMT
I've yet to understand the logic behind this decision. The BBC report contains two key sentences:
"But the majority also wanted first-class cricket to appease members.
" [my underlining]
"There is still no decision yet made on when, or if, crowds will be allowed, at any point between then and the end of September."
I can't see how you 'appease members' unless you can let them into the ground - and bearing in mind the need to be Covid secure, and the membership demographic, this seems unlikely, certainly in August. I suspect many counties decided they just wanted to play some red ball cricket to combat their withdrawal symptoms. We shall see how this pans out.
|
|
|
|
Post by Wicked Cricket on Jul 8, 2020 9:14:14 GMT
My take is that accepting some red ball cricket (logic dictates that for financial reasons you stick to the one-day format - far less
complications for the players with hotels etc..) is purely to appease club Members.
Also, why not only accept Members at Championship games/50 over and Blast Pass holders for T20. That will keep numbers down
to a manageable level. Meanwhile, ALL closed matches must be filmed and shown live on the internet or TV for club supporters.
|
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Jul 8, 2020 9:35:26 GMT
My take is that accepting some red ball cricket (logic dictates that for financial reasons you stick to the one-day format - far less complications for the players with hotels etc..) is purely to appease club Members. Also, why not only accept Members at Championship games/50 over and Blast Pass holders for T20. That will keep numbers down
to a manageable level. Meanwhile, ALL closed matches must be filmed and shown live on the internet or TV for club supporters. But it's all about social distancing: 1. Will clubs have to ration the number of members eligible to attend matches?! 2. You'd probably have to insist that there are always 2 empty seats between spectators. 3. The real problem is when people are inside (as opposed to outside!) The club would be responsible for providing a Covid secure environment, so would have to cope with social distancing: a) in the pavilion (good luck with that, especially if rain drives everyone indoors.) b) in the various toilet facilities (any volunteers for toilet monitors?!) I'm very keen to watch live cricket again, but I sense that some are desperate. Bearing in mind the membership demographic, I wonder how many will want to take the risk of jeopardising their health, especially after having successfully navigated the lockdown. I sometimes feel the need to re-balance what I see as wishful thinking born of frustration and desperation! |
|
|
|
Post by coverpoint on Jul 9, 2020 11:01:00 GMT
Just demote all four counties to minor county status and make it a 14 county county championship going forward and take away all their ECB funding at the same time.
Two divisions of seven with the winners of both groups going straight to the final. Three home and three away matches.
North Division
Derbyshire Durham Lancashire Notts Warwickshire Worcestershire Yorkshire
South Division
Essex Glamorgan
Kent Middlesex Somerset Surrey Sussex
|
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Jul 9, 2020 13:33:08 GMT
Just demote all four counties to minor county status and make it a 14 county county championship going forward and take away all their ECB funding at the same time.
Two divisions of seven with the winners of both groups going straight to the final. Three home and three away matches.
North Division
Derbyshire Durham Lancashire Notts Warwickshire Worcestershire Yorkshire
South Division
Essex Glamorgan
Kent Middlesex Somerset Surrey Sussex
Why penalise them when there is an agreed opt-out clause in the agreement? It is said that the inclusion of the opt-out clause was the method used to obtain a majority vote in favour of 4 day cricket. For me, the most interesting paragraphs in the Mail article were: There remain several obstacles to the event — provisionally called the Bob Willis Trophy, as revealed by Sportsmail — taking place, such as all counties demonstrating they can provide a Covid-safe environment.
There are even suggestions that some counties could deliberately fall short of fulfilling the medical protocols, enabling them to withdraw without losing face and angering their members.Watch this space . . . |
|
|
|
Post by burgesshill on Jul 9, 2020 17:11:58 GMT
Until now I've always had sympathy for Northants and Leicestershire, but if they're planning to duck out of their responsibilities, maybe it would be better if they folded.
16 teams would cure the fixture congestion problem, as both divisions would be 8 teams, with everyone playing each other twice.
16 is also nice number if ever there was a desire for a straightforward knock out competition.
Northants releasing the one decent four day batsman they had (Newton) shows they don't give two hoots about 4 day cricket.
I reckon the supporters of those two, plus Hampshire and Gloucestershire will quickly tire of game after game of 50 overs against the same three opponents (each other) for 5 weeks, whilst everyone else is playing first class cricket.
|
|
|
|
Post by coverpoint on Jul 9, 2020 17:15:39 GMT
Just demote all four counties to minor county status and make it a 14 county county championship going forward and take away all their ECB funding at the same time.
Two divisions of seven with the winners of both groups going straight to the final. Three home and three away matches.
North Division
Derbyshire Durham Lancashire Notts Warwickshire Worcestershire Yorkshire
South Division
Essex Glamorgan
Kent Middlesex Somerset Surrey Sussex
Why penalise them when there is an agreed opt-out clause in the agreement? It is said that the inclusion of the opt-out clause was the method used to obtain a majority vote in favour of 4 day cricket. For me, the most interesting paragraphs in the Mail article were: There remain several obstacles to the event — provisionally called the Bob Willis Trophy, as revealed by Sportsmail — taking place, such as all counties demonstrating they can provide a Covid-safe environment.
There are even suggestions that some counties could deliberately fall short of fulfilling the medical protocols, enabling them to withdraw without losing face and angering their members.Watch this space . . . The ECB should say enough of this rubbish you either play or you get no future ecb funding. Time for the ECB to show the counties who actually runs the game. Without the ECB funding there would be no county cricket. Time for the ECB to put these jump upstarts back in their place. If it's safe to play five day test matches, football and horse racing it's safe enough to play the county championship. Ascot had a five day festival FFS! The medical protocols are not rocket science and really should be well within the capability of all counties. In the event of no cricket counties would have to refund all members in full. If a county opts out of red ball it opts out of T20 as well. |
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Jul 9, 2020 19:46:20 GMT
Why penalise them when there is an agreed opt-out clause in the agreement? It is said that the inclusion of the opt-out clause was the method used to obtain a majority vote in favour of 4 day cricket. For me, the most interesting paragraphs in the Mail article were: There remain several obstacles to the event — provisionally called the Bob Willis Trophy, as revealed by Sportsmail — taking place, such as all counties demonstrating they can provide a Covid-safe environment.
There are even suggestions that some counties could deliberately fall short of fulfilling the medical protocols, enabling them to withdraw without losing face and angering their members.Watch this space . . . The ECB should say enough of this rubbish you either play or you get no future ecb funding. Time for the ECB to show the counties who actually runs the game. Without the ECB funding there would be no county cricket. Time for the ECB to put these jump upstarts back in their place. Without the opt-out clause, it's doubtful that a majority would have voted for the 4 day game.If it's safe to play five day test matches, football and horse racing it's safe enough to play the county championship. Ascot had a five day festival FFS! The medical protocols are not rocket science and really should be well within the capability of all counties. 5 day tests require stringent Covid security, effectively locking all those involved in a single bubble for the duration of the match This is very expensive, and was only possible at grounds having a hotel. I can't see this being replicated at many county grounds, so I understand why some counties don't think it's viable, especially as the matches aren't likely to generate any income.
In the event of no cricket counties would have to refund all members in full.
I can't see members getting any benefit from the 4 day matches, can you?
If a county opts out of red ball it opts out of T20 as well.
Who says?! Did you just make that up? 
|
|
|
|
Post by coverpoint on Jul 9, 2020 20:56:10 GMT
The ECB should say enough of this rubbish you either play or you get no future ecb funding. Time for the ECB to show the counties who actually runs the game. Without the ECB funding there would be no county cricket. Time for the ECB to put these jump upstarts back in their place. Without the opt-out clause, it's doubtful that a majority would have voted for the 4 day game.If it's safe to play five day test matches, football and horse racing it's safe enough to play the county championship. Ascot had a five day festival FFS! The medical protocols are not rocket science and really should be well within the capability of all counties. 5 day tests require stringent Covid security, effectively locking all those involved in a single bubble for the duration of the match This is very expensive, and was only possible at grounds having a hotel. I can't see this being replicated at many county grounds, so I understand why some counties don't think it's viable, especially as the matches aren't likely to generate any income.
In the event of no cricket counties would have to refund all members in full.
I can't see members getting any benefit from the 4 day matches, can you?
If a county opts out of red ball it opts out of T20 as well.
Who says?! Did you just make that up?
There's no such thing as a "covid-safe environment" - you can't endlessly hide from the virus. I thought the aim was to prevent the health service being overwhelmed, which as been achieved. All you can do is take sensible precautions. One of the main things for this season is to get as much cricket in for players, particularly young ones, so their development isn't stalled. It's ridiculous getting tangled up in these details. As many European countries are back playing football right down in lower leagues where facilities are basic, I don't know why we can't get on with some cricket. Just play the four day games without the four counties and have two divisions of 7 with 3 games at home and 3 games away with the winners of each group progressing through to the final at Lords. |
|
|
|
Post by joe on Jul 10, 2020 10:16:00 GMT
All 18 counties have now agreed to a red and white ball competition.
|
|
|
|
Post by flashblade on Jul 10, 2020 10:23:25 GMT
All 18 counties have now agreed to a red and white ball competition. Maybe the ECB threatened them with Coverpoint's wrath!  |
|
|
|
Post by coverpoint on Jul 10, 2020 10:49:42 GMT
Reading the BBC quote it sounds like they threatened to withdraw / withhold ECB funding or not allow them to part in the T20 or face exclusion from future county competitions.
|
|
|
|
Post by burgesshill on Jul 10, 2020 12:04:33 GMT
Reading the BBC quote it sounds like they threatened to withdraw / withhold ECB funding or not allow them to part in the T20 or face exclusion from future county competitions. Good. If I was a member of any of those four counties I'd have been emailing them with a play these four day games or cancel my direct debit ultimatum. Probable that a few members did just that. I suspect they will have had an interesting in-box with plenty of members telling them to get on with it, or else. |
|
|
|
Post by glosexile on Jul 10, 2020 12:11:36 GMT
Reading the BBC quote it sounds like they threatened to withdraw / withhold ECB funding or not allow them to part in the T20 or face exclusion from future county competitions. Interesting comment. I must be reading the wrong BBC article...the one I have seen makes absolutely no mention of this (implied or otherwise). Are you able to supply a link of your actual source of article, in order to satisfy my curiosity? From my point of view, I hope that there was a healthy debate on all the various issues (not sure there was any real need for the high level of acrimony that was apparently reported). Not sure why my county felt the need to be one of the 4 renegade counties (7 actually voted against the proposal). Much better to accept the majority view, so glad that some pragmatic common sense has finally surfaced. |
|
