Am not impressed with the Hundred; it feels fabricated and not necessary to me. Especially now we've lost so many players. It diminishes the Royal London for me.
I keep getting emails and facebook messages for tickets, which suggests to me that they are struggling to sell tickets
That was a deliberate scheduling decision by the ECB, and the result is that we are left with a 50 over competition where ALL the best white ball players around the country are missing, a joke.
Am not impressed with the Hundred; it feels fabricated and not necessary to me. Especially now we've lost so many players. It diminishes the Royal London for me.
I keep getting emails and facebook messages for tickets, which suggests to me that they are struggling to sell tickets
That was a deliberate scheduling decision by the ECB, and the result is that we are left with a 50 over competition where ALL the best white ball players around the country are missing, a joke.
Exactly; what a joke! And they are struggling to sell tickets it seems!
Good finish that and Kent deserved it. The difference was in the death bowling. Ours was poor to say the least which meant you ended up with 40 more than you should have. Yours was excellent which meant we left ourselves roo much to do despite having plenty of batting.
We lack firepower in the middle order. Roy Foakes and Sam are big misses and have meant we have shifted Smith up the order despite him being an excellent finisher. Burns is pretty pointless in this format as demonstrated by Clark and Overton batting ahead of him tonight. I'd genuinely be fine with Dernbach in for Burns. We don't lose any batting and we gain someone with death bowling ability. Maybe I'm being harsh.
Dernbach plays for Derbyshire mate.
Yes I'm aware we have sent our T20 captain out on loan. I think his time has probably come or nearly come in T20 (he will likely play the 50 over because everyone else will be in the bullshitdred) but given the absence of any other death bowler it would have been good to have given him a run in the side.
Selection has been inconsistent at best this year. We got it bang on at the start of the t20 but then when call ups happened we went a bit haywire. Instead of sticking to the formula and bringing in the next best in those roles we've messed about with the formula to the point where no one knows their roles. I get its tough losing one of the best opening bats in the world, your opening bowler who bats 4 and your death bowler who bats 6 but its been ridiculous.
We brought in Geddes who is a young T20 opening bat from the academy touted as the next Roy and decided to bat him at 7 or 8 below the allrounders. At the same time we messed around with Burns, Amla and now Smith as openers. Smith has done well there but he was our finisher in the absence of Foakes. Burns as I have said is less than pointless in this format. Amla did well for us in the T20 last year so I am baffled that we have only given him one game.
We threw Rikki Clarke in with no real role and despite him being "phased out" of T20s about 3 years ago. Again we only gave him 1 game. We gave Dernbach 2 despite him being our only death bowling option. We've brought in an overseas who looks decent on paper and was the best of what was available but in reality he doesn't really have a role in the side that isnt already done by Overton/Clark who have better figures with bat and ball. We've arrive at Atkinson who has done well for us and should have been given a go sooner based on last year's form but really isn't a death bowler. We have loaned out Mckerr (another who is an opening bowler not a death bowler) and then recalled him as soon as he did well only to add him to the squad but not play him.
The only thing that has been consistent is selecting 3 spinners but only bowling them a combined 6-8 overs despite them being the most economical every time and picking up key wickets.
Plunkett's complete disappearance the last 2 seasons has proven him to be the worst value for money in the history of cricket. Bet he will find a way to be fit for the cuntdred though.
We were unbeatable at the start of the tournament and I genuinely think had that side stayed together we wouldn't have lost a match. Since then it's been dreadful.
Am not impressed with the Hundred; it feels fabricated and not necessary to me. Especially now we've lost so many players. It diminishes the Royal London for me.
I keep getting emails and facebook messages for tickets, which suggests to me that they are struggling to sell tickets
It's a joke.
On the adverts every time I get one I click report ad and select the "I find this content offensive" option
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
Am not impressed with the Hundred; it feels fabricated and not necessary to me. Especially now we've lost so many players. It diminishes the Royal London for me.
I keep getting emails and facebook messages for tickets, which suggests to me that they are struggling to sell tickets
That was a deliberate scheduling decision by the ECB, and the result is that we are left with a 50 over competition where ALL the best white ball players around the country are missing, a joke.
We lose 8 of our team tonight plus Billings. And Matt Walker too because he is assistant coach to the Oval Invincibles.
What I really would like to see is any player who has played in the Hundred not being allowed to play at any time in the Royal London i.e. the players who get a county to the latter stages are rewarded. It won't happen of course and I know it would be considered sub standard but at least it would make the competition more pure from a cricketing perspective.
With respect to our Surrey friends on here, I'll try to give a fair & honest opinion of tonight's match.
WE SMASHED 'EM !!!!!!
What a great night for the travelling Fanackapans !
But seriously, how can, probably the richest county in first class cricket whinge about the lack of depth in their squad or perhaps there are too many options /permutations ?
Just take a good look at the Spitfire squad, please, dear friends, and give us some credit.
What our lads DO have in spades is spirit & fight. And it showed tonight.
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
Of course the ECB could be accused of misrepresentation given the lack of top overseas players given the Indians won't allow their players to partake and many others won't fly over because of Covid. So you end up with a few overseas including those that one sees in the other mickey mouse franchises around the world including the likes of the T10
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
It could be worse, Birmingham Phoenix have that well known attacking player Dom Sibley
With respect to our Surrey friends on here, I'll try to give a fair & honest opinion of tonight's match.
WE SMASHED 'EM !!!!!!
What a great night for the travelling Fanackapans !
But seriously, how can, probably the richest county in first class cricket whinge about the lack of depth in their squad or perhaps there are too many options /permutations ?
Just take a good look at the Spitfire squad, please, dear friends, and give us some credit.
What our lads DO have in spades is spirit & fight. And it showed tonight.
My whinge is not about squad depth absolutely not. Although 3 England call ups and 5 or 6 injuries throughout haven't helped. My whinge is about how we managed losing 3 key players to injury and the subsequent ridiculous selection. Chopping and changing without giving anyone a run in the side, not picking those suited to the roles they're asked to fulfil, picking Burns when we have better options and not bowling our spinners all their overs despite them alway being our best bowlers.
I gave Kent all the credit. Quote "Good finish that and Kent deserved it. The difference was in the death bowling. Ours was poor.... Yours was excellent..."
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
Of course the ECB could be accused of misrepresentation given the lack of top overseas players given the Indians won't allow their players to partake and many others won't fly over because of Covid. So you end up with a few overseas including those that one sees in the other mickey mouse franchises around the world including the likes of the T10
You know its crap when the likes of Wahab Riaz, who was last any good 10 years ago, rock up.
With respect to our Surrey friends on here, I'll try to give a fair & honest opinion of tonight's match.
WE SMASHED 'EM !!!!!!
What a great night for the travelling Fanackapans !
But seriously, how can, probably the richest county in first class cricket whinge about the lack of depth in their squad or perhaps there are too many options /permutations ?
Just take a good look at the Spitfire squad, please, dear friends, and give us some credit.
What our lads DO have in spades is spirit & fight. And it showed tonight.
My whinge is not about squad depth absolutely not. Although 3 England call ups and 5 or 6 injuries throughout haven't helped. My whinge is about how we managed losing 3 key players to injury and the subsequent ridiculous selection. Chopping and changing without giving anyone a run in the side, not picking those suited to the roles they're asked to fulfil, picking Burns when we have better options and not bowling our spinners all their overs despite them alway being our best bowlers.
I gave Kent all the credit. Quote "Good finish that and Kent deserved it. The difference was in the death bowling. Ours was poor.... Yours was excellent..."
As far as I know ( and that's clearly very little ! ) we don't HAVE, by definition, death bowlers ! We used to have dear old Mitch Clayden but he's now out to pasture with A N Other county.
And as far as injuries are concerned, you might like to take a peek into our Sick Bay.....
You mention "chopping and changing without giving a run in the side " and seemingly putting square pegs into round holes , in which case, surely you should be pointing the finger ( the one signifying "out"! ) at the squad's management ...unless they're mostly ex Surrey/England players who one shouldn't criticise.
Let's draw a line under tonight's match though & agree that the Hundred will destroy this season's 50 over competition, especially for those loyal souls on here whose summer sport is defined on the whole by supporting their county.
We have tickets for 2 matches at Beckenham & can only hope that our decimated squad is matched by those of our opponents.
As far as I'm concerned, the Hundred should have been cancelled before a ball is bowled once covid restrictions made overseas travel difficult or indeed, impossible. It's now a complete farce IMO.
As Mr F said tonight, if you watch one of the matches, who would you be cheering for ? How could you feel any affection for a particular team with its inevitable mix of players from here, there & everywhere ? Definitely no interest from us.
Let's hope that this will be the first & last so that the "average" cricket supporter can look forward to a return to normality and common sense next summer.
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
I thought only 3 of our players were called up and Billings was one of them (DBD and Zak the others)
How come so many more now? Why might we lose more when 'others could get called up'
I hadn't realised this when I got tickets for the Hampshire 1 day, so whilst I will still enjoy the day, I am disappointed to not see our best players I particularly wanted to watch
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
I thought only 3 of our players were called up and Billings was one of them (DBD and Zak the others)
How come so many more now? Why might we lose more when 'others could get called up'
I hadn't realised this when I got tickets for the Hampshire 1 day, so whilst I will still enjoy the day, I am disappointed to not see our best players I particularly wanted to watch
Denly, Crawley, Billings and Blake were the original 4. As time has gone on and more and more overseas have withdrawn and we've lost DBD, Blake, Klaassen and Cox plus our two overseas.
The joke is that Kent still want to charge £25. The standard won't be substantially better than a Kent Premier League game and you can watch a Kent 2s game for free - this week's 2s match contained the likes of Kuhn, Muyeye, O'Riordan, Podmore, Quinn, Gilchrist and Qadri. The RL should be treated with the same level of expectation.
The "Oval inthingys" naturally have a number of Kent players with Matt Walker being involved, so perhaps it's not surprising their final call was Cox, to go alongside Billings and Blake and a load of Surrey players
It does feel a bizarre scenario that Walker (with the Hundred hat on) by calling up another Kent player, is making his main employer weaker!
So a squad of 14 including Groenwald who is currently injured. We also have just 4 frontline batsmen so I expect someone like Harry Finch, who has been playing a lot of 2s cricket for us, to be given a short term contract plus at least one other outsider or Academy member to be given an opportunity or two
I'd be surprised if one or 2 others aren't called up last min into squads even if they don't play - much like Roy does in the IPL every year.
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
I thought only 3 of our players were called up and Billings was one of them (DBD and Zak the others)
How come so many more now? Why might we lose more when 'others could get called up'
I hadn't realised this when I got tickets for the Hampshire 1 day, so whilst I will still enjoy the day, I am disappointed to not see our best players I particularly wanted to watch
Denly, Crawley, Billings and Blake were the original 4. As time has gone on and more and more overseas have withdrawn and we've lost DBD, Blake, Klaassen and Cox plus our two overseas.
The joke is that Kent still want to charge £25. The standard won't be substantially better than a Kent Premier League game and you can watch a Kent 2s game for free - this week's 2s match contained the likes of Kuhn, Muyeye, O'Riordan, Podmore, Quinn, Gilchrist and Qadri. The RL should be treated with the same level of expectation.
Yes, a bit annoyed at having to pay full price and not see most of the first team.
As Fanny says, there's no affiliation for any of the Hundred Teams so I might even boycott watching it on tv too. They will probably only see more tickets now because capacity has had to be reduced at other matches so people will go after all
Have they all just been assigned to teams or did teams draft these new players ?
I believe that they were drafted and I've seen that one of those that has just been selected (and an average cricketer) is being paid £24k. Newly contracted players are on barely more than that so, for someone like Cox, for example, this will be a big pay day. And therein lies the benefit for the player and negative side of things for the County.
Combining world-class fast-paced cricket, with top quality live music, The Hundred will bring entertainment to the whole family this summer, with tickets selling fast
The "Oval inthingys" naturally have a number of Kent players with Matt Walker being involved, so perhaps it's not surprising their final call was Cox, to go alongside Billings and Blake and a load of Surrey players
It does feel a bizarre scenario that Walker (with the Hundred hat on) by calling up another Kent player, is making his main employer weaker!
Although he will probably argue that it might keep a talented player like Cox at Kent in doing so, He is more or less now guaranteed a place in the Kent 1st team and gets to play franchise cricket which will make up some of the shortfall in salary when compared to his contemporaries at other Counties. It stops that whisper in his ear from the likes of Surrey "come and play for us and we'll get you into the Invincibles too".
Which brings me onto one other concern. How Ollie Robinson is feeling right now. He is, in my opinion, every much as talented a cricketer as Cox. But for the last three weeks he hasn't been able to showcase his talent. In fact, he has not played a game of any description since 13th June and was pulled out of playing for Bexley last weekend by Kent due to Covid concerns. Will we be able to hold onto him?
Re the hundred, through work I am good friends with a young asian bloke who has lived in london all his life, and he is very keen on it. He has no perception of counties but plays a lot cricket and is very knowledgeable about sport in general. I guess this is the market. My son is about the same age and inherits the Charlton/Dartford/Kent tribalism from me. he has hundred tickets but is just desperate to see live sport. He also has tickets for the Royal London but thinks the departure of players for the hundred might even things up and give young talent a chance. I'm going along for a few beers and to cheer Kent on
The hundred is just about as flawed an idea I have ever heard when it comes to cricket. I hope it fails miserably and never gets tried again. For me the best way to stop this ridiculous competition from succeeding is to boycott it. If they were to offer me a free ticket plus free drinks I would still tell them to poke it.
The Hundred demonstrates the contempt that the cricket authorities have for cricket fans.
It is a shit idea and was roundly rejected by anyone apart from those with their noses in the trough. Yet, they push it through, regardless. A boycott is the only rational response to this madness.
Imagine if all the money that has gone into this expensive, unwanted failure had gone into supporting the counties instead?
With respect to our Surrey friends on here, I'll try to give a fair & honest opinion of tonight's match.
WE SMASHED 'EM !!!!!!
What a great night for the travelling Fanackapans !
But seriously, how can, probably the richest county in first class cricket whinge about the lack of depth in their squad or perhaps there are too many options /permutations ?
Just take a good look at the Spitfire squad, please, dear friends, and give us some credit.
What our lads DO have in spades is spirit & fight. And it showed tonight.
My whinge is not about squad depth absolutely not. Although 3 England call ups and 5 or 6 injuries throughout haven't helped. My whinge is about how we managed losing 3 key players to injury and the subsequent ridiculous selection. Chopping and changing without giving anyone a run in the side, not picking those suited to the roles they're asked to fulfil, picking Burns when we have better options and not bowling our spinners all their overs despite them alway being our best bowlers.
I gave Kent all the credit. Quote "Good finish that and Kent deserved it. The difference was in the death bowling. Ours was poor.... Yours was excellent..."
As far as I know ( and that's clearly very little ! ) we don't HAVE, by definition, death bowlers ! We used to have dear old Mitch Clayden but he's now out to pasture with A N Other county.
And as far as injuries are concerned, you might like to take a peek into our Sick Bay.....
You mention "chopping and changing without giving a run in the side " and seemingly putting square pegs into round holes , in which case, surely you should be pointing the finger ( the one signifying "out"! ) at the squad's management ...unless they're mostly ex Surrey/England players who one shouldn't criticise.
Let's draw a line under tonight's match though & agree that the Hundred will destroy this season's 50 over competition, especially for those loyal souls on here whose summer sport is defined on the whole by supporting their county.
We have tickets for 2 matches at Beckenham & can only hope that our decimated squad is matched by those of our opponents.
As far as I'm concerned, the Hundred should have been cancelled before a ball is bowled once covid restrictions made overseas travel difficult or indeed, impossible. It's now a complete farce IMO.
As Mr F said tonight, if you watch one of the matches, who would you be cheering for ? How could you feel any affection for a particular team with its inevitable mix of players from here, there & everywhere ? Definitely no interest from us.
Let's hope that this will be the first & last so that the "average" cricket supporter can look forward to a return to normality and common sense next summer.
You and I are in agreement Fanny. I am blaming the surrey selectors and giving credit to the Kent bowlers.
Comments
Selection has been inconsistent at best this year. We got it bang on at the start of the t20 but then when call ups happened we went a bit haywire. Instead of sticking to the formula and bringing in the next best in those roles we've messed about with the formula to the point where no one knows their roles. I get its tough losing one of the best opening bats in the world, your opening bowler who bats 4 and your death bowler who bats 6 but its been ridiculous.
We brought in Geddes who is a young T20 opening bat from the academy touted as the next Roy and decided to bat him at 7 or 8 below the allrounders. At the same time we messed around with Burns, Amla and now Smith as openers. Smith has done well there but he was our finisher in the absence of Foakes. Burns as I have said is less than pointless in this format. Amla did well for us in the T20 last year so I am baffled that we have only given him one game.
We threw Rikki Clarke in with no real role and despite him being "phased out" of T20s about 3 years ago. Again we only gave him 1 game. We gave Dernbach 2 despite him being our only death bowling option. We've brought in an overseas who looks decent on paper and was the best of what was available but in reality he doesn't really have a role in the side that isnt already done by Overton/Clark who have better figures with bat and ball. We've arrive at Atkinson who has done well for us and should have been given a go sooner based on last year's form but really isn't a death bowler. We have loaned out Mckerr (another who is an opening bowler not a death bowler) and then recalled him as soon as he did well only to add him to the squad but not play him.
The only thing that has been consistent is selecting 3 spinners but only bowling them a combined 6-8 overs despite them being the most economical every time and picking up key wickets.
Plunkett's complete disappearance the last 2 seasons has proven him to be the worst value for money in the history of cricket. Bet he will find a way to be fit for the cuntdred though.
We were unbeatable at the start of the tournament and I genuinely think had that side stayed together we wouldn't have lost a match. Since then it's been dreadful.
Rant over.
On the adverts every time I get one I click report ad and select the "I find this content offensive" option
Surrey are already losing 17 or 18 of the squad. Including 50 over captain Burns who has been selected on the basis of being an England test player therefore one of the first round of picks and not on hos ability in the shortest format which as I've said above is none.
What I really would like to see is any player who has played in the Hundred not being allowed to play at any time in the Royal London i.e. the players who get a county to the latter stages are rewarded. It won't happen of course and I know it would be considered sub standard but at least it would make the competition more pure from a cricketing perspective.
WE SMASHED 'EM !!!!!!
What a great night for the travelling Fanackapans !
But seriously, how can, probably the richest county in first class cricket whinge about the lack of depth in their squad or perhaps there are too many options /permutations ?
Just take a good look at the Spitfire squad, please, dear friends, and give us some credit.
What our lads DO have in spades is spirit & fight. And it showed tonight.
I gave Kent all the credit. Quote "Good finish that and Kent deserved it. The difference was in the death bowling. Ours was poor.... Yours was excellent..."
And as far as injuries are concerned, you might like to take a peek into our Sick Bay.....
You mention "chopping and changing without giving a run in the side " and seemingly putting square pegs into round holes , in which case, surely you should be pointing the finger ( the one signifying "out"! ) at the squad's management ...unless they're mostly ex Surrey/England players who one shouldn't criticise.
Let's draw a line under tonight's match though & agree that the Hundred will destroy this season's 50 over competition, especially for those loyal souls on here whose summer sport is defined on the whole by supporting their county.
We have tickets for 2 matches at Beckenham & can only hope that our decimated squad is matched by those of our opponents.
As far as I'm concerned, the Hundred should have been cancelled before a ball is bowled once covid restrictions made overseas travel difficult or indeed, impossible. It's now a complete farce IMO.
As Mr F said tonight, if you watch one of the matches, who would you be cheering for ? How could you feel any affection for a particular team with its inevitable mix of players from here, there & everywhere ? Definitely no interest from us.
Let's hope that this will be the first & last so that the "average" cricket supporter can look forward to a return to normality and common sense next summer.
How come so many more now? Why might we lose more when 'others could get called up'
I hadn't realised this when I got tickets for the Hampshire 1 day, so whilst I will still enjoy the day, I am disappointed to not see our best players I particularly wanted to watch
The joke is that Kent still want to charge £25. The standard won't be substantially better than a Kent Premier League game and you can watch a Kent 2s game for free - this week's 2s match contained the likes of Kuhn, Muyeye, O'Riordan, Podmore, Quinn, Gilchrist and Qadri. The RL should be treated with the same level of expectation.
This is the release detailing the final callups
The "Oval inthingys" naturally have a number of Kent players with Matt Walker being involved, so perhaps it's not surprising their final call was Cox, to go alongside Billings and Blake and a load of Surrey players
It does feel a bizarre scenario that Walker (with the Hundred hat on) by calling up another Kent player, is making his main employer weaker!
As Fanny says, there's no affiliation for any of the Hundred Teams so I might even boycott watching it on tv too. They will probably only see more tickets now because capacity has had to be reduced at other matches so people will go after all
yep, that’s what makes sport great.
Which brings me onto one other concern. How Ollie Robinson is feeling right now. He is, in my opinion, every much as talented a cricketer as Cox. But for the last three weeks he hasn't been able to showcase his talent. In fact, he has not played a game of any description since 13th June and was pulled out of playing for Bexley last weekend by Kent due to Covid concerns. Will we be able to hold onto him?
I hope it fails miserably and never gets tried again.
For me the best way to stop this ridiculous competition from succeeding is to boycott it.
If they were to offer me a free ticket plus free drinks I would still tell them to poke it.
It is a shit idea and was roundly rejected by anyone apart from those with their noses in the trough. Yet, they push it through, regardless. A boycott is the only rational response to this madness.
Imagine if all the money that has gone into this expensive, unwanted failure had gone into supporting the counties instead?
Idiots rule, as they say.
He seems to be their biggest cheerleader ...
😉
Apart from Fanny she's a tough nut