From helmet controversy, to England hopefuls – freelance cricket writer Peter Miller takes us through the main talking points from the county season so far.
The season is now a few weeks old, as long as you include the games against the various universities, and we already have talking points to mull over. The never ending tinkering with the playing conditions and various other regulations are the main focus, but England selection and the franchise T20 debates are a rumbling undercurrent to all of that. Here are the things that you should be on top of to make sure you can hold your own when talking about the county game with even the most ardent of followers.
Tosses
The removal of the toss from the start of the game if the visiting side want to bowl first has already had an impact. In the first round of matches we saw Ben Duckett make 282 not out for Northamptonshire. In round two Sam Robson made 231 for Middlesex at Lord’s while Jonny Bairstow was blasting 246 for Yorkshire against Hampshire. In addition to these three double tons there have been 10 other centuries and four team totals in excess of 400. If the plan was to remove the seamer friendly greentops that have become so common in Championship in April then it seems to have done the job.
Bowling standouts
While the pitches have been batter friendly for the most part, there have been some excellent performances from bowlers. Against Glamorgan there was a six wicket haul for Australian Clint McKay as he prevented the Welsh county from posting a big total in Cardiff. Elsewhere Neil Wagner of New Zealand out-bowled England’s James Anderson for Lancashire as he returned figures of 6-66 against Nottinghamshire. We have not seen the wickets tumbling like we have in previous early seasons, but bowlers are keeping batsmen honest.
Helmets
The new regulations about helmets passed without much comment when they were first announced in November. That wasn’t all that surprising really, not many people are riveted by the exact details of BS7928:2013, the standard to which all helmets must now comply. But there was some interest when England captain Alastair Cook wore the old style helmet during Essex’s match against Gloucestershire, making 105 and 35 not out in the game.
This presented a problem for Cook and the ECB. Here was England’s captain going against a very clear edict from his employers about the equipment he was and wasn’t allowed to use. It could have got ugly, but it didn’t. For the next match against Sussex he relented and wore a new lid and promptly got out for one run. This one could go on for a bit longer yet.
England selection chitter chatter
It wouldn’t be the county season if we weren’t talking about who should play for England in the first Test of the summer, and this year is no different. The awful news that James Taylor has had to retire from professional cricket as a result of a serious heart condition means there is a least one spot in the middle order up is for grabs. The man that put his forward as a replacement the early part of the season was Ian Bell, the man who was in possession of Taylor’s place in the batting order until the end of last summer. Bell’s 174 against Hampshire was enough to show that he is far from done as a player.
Elsewhere there are already rumblings about Alex Hales place in the Test team after he had mediocre returns in the South Africa series this winter. England’s search for a long term replacement for Andrew Strauss is now four years old and the list of failed candidates is now nine names long. Chances are that if Hales is replaced as a result of underwhelming against Sri Lanka it will be one of those that have already played for England that take his spot, there just aren’t that many players that are good enough that hadn’t already had a shot. If Sam Robson backs up that big double hundred against Warwickshire with more runs throughout the rest of the season he would be worth another shot.
T20 shakeup
No round up of county cricket talking points will be complete without a hat-tip to this old favourite. The success at the World T20 where England made it to the final has led to some saying that this is proof that nothing needs to change. Those that think that a more streamlined tournament is needed say this is missing the point. The key here is to decide which side of the debate you fall on and refuse to change your mind no matter what anyone says to you. It is what everyone else is doing.
Glamorgan Podcast
In the most exciting development in this list I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting a Glamorgan Podcast throughout the summer for the club. There will be a roundup of Glamorgan’s performances, interviews with players, chats with fans and a cricket knowledge quiz between the players with a big (cheap) prize for the winner.
It will be great fun to be involved in creating it for the club and it will be available in all the usual places that you get your podcasts – including iTunes, SoundCloud and AudioBoom, as well as the Glamorgan Cricket website.