Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Certainly is not a fast bouncy track, low and slow
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Certainly is not a fast bouncy track, low and slow
You would certainly know more about that than me and I do seem to recall that the last time England played out there against Pakistan it was the likes of the spinners such as Yasir Shah doing the damage.Essex had just three days of red ball out of eight there and spent the rest of the time playing T20s.
What would the cost for say 24 (18 players and half a dozen backroom staff) for flights (and I doubt 6' 6" bowlers would benefit from the leg room that comes with economy so it would probably have to be a step up from that) accommodation and food?
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
Do you mean Kevin? Cos I'm sure neither Dan or David would appreciate being classed in the 70mph bracket!
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
Do you mean Kevin? Cos I'm sure neither Dan or David would appreciate being classed in the 70mph bracket!
Kevin is my generation although I never had the "pleasure" of facing him let alone umpiring in his presence! David definitely is nearer 70mph and although he was quicker at one time but relied on swing and seam rather than pace. Dan, as you know, was the fastest of the lot and at one point as quick as there was in the KPL but he seems to have has a fair deal of his pace too. Stevens "stock ball" a couple of seasons ago was actually measured at 69mph which rather says it all.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
But counties did go abroad on pre season training / tours before the hundred. It’s not a new thing.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
But counties did go abroad on pre season training / tours before the hundred. It’s not a new thing.
When we were in Barbados 10 ish years ago there there a couple of counties training and playing against each other and the locals.
Not sure why I should have to pay £50k for Kent to go on a pre season camp ?
I only suggested it because someone has to pay for it as Kent can't afford it and you don't seem to accept that. But I will try to explain how the West Indies tours came about.
They didn't take place a decade ago - the first was in 2017 and it was heavily subsidised by the Antiguan Tourist Board and by the main sponsors FGS Plant. It comprised of a 50 over competition and we did the same thing the following year but this time it was at the invitation of the West Indies Tourist Board. To suggest that those tours of the West Indies were serious in terms of the quality and type of cricket on show would be rather misleading - in 2017 we played Trinidad & Tobago, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and the West Indies U19 team and were knocked out in the Group stages in losing 5 of our 8 games but the following year we came runners up to Guyana with Jamaica, Windward Islands and the US finishing below us. We eventually lost in the semis to Barbados.
Those tours took place at the end of January/beginning of February - had we tried to do that this year we would have had missing at the very least Denly, Cox, Compton, Billings, Crawley and Linde and we would have had to have recalled the likes of Compton, Singh and Evison from their commitments. You can't go on a tour with most of your best players missing especially as this is as much a squad bonding event as anything else.
As recently as the 2010 season Kent played the following matches:
Tour game against Pakistan CC - 16 Clydesdale Bank 40 - 12 Friends Provident T20 - 16
That's 45 opportunities to see the proper 1st XI competing against other 1st XIs.
For this coming season, we can't count the 8 games in the 50 over competition because that isn't a competition of 1st X1 strength - it has even lost its sponsor, Royal London and the ECB can't find anybody willing to attach their name to it - so we have just the 28 games now of a quality equivalent to that prior to the advent of The Hundred:
CC - 14 Vitality Blast - 14
Of the 14 CC matches, 6 have to be played prior to 21st May and another 3 between 10th and 29th September leaving just 5 during the height of summer. Add the 14 Blast matches to those and supporters have just 19 games to watch the first team between the end of May and end of August when they had 31 in the same period in 2010. And we now have just 2 matches for youngsters to see the best Kent players in action for their County during the school holidays. Yes just two. How pathetic is that.
Financially we had an exceptional year in 2021 with a surplus of £383,435 for a number of reasons - £109,000 from the NHS for utilising our grounds as vaccination centres and furlough money, £30,000 donated by Club Members during Covid with the other major income not expected was the decision of the ECB to distribute to all the counties a
sum equal to 75% of the average gate receipts for T20 matches for the 3 years 2017 -2019 less the actual
income in this year and that resulted in a receipt of £272,160. We also received from the ECB a prize fund
of £70,000 for the Club’s success in winning the Vitality Blast T20 competition. To put that surplus in perspective, we had a deficit of £217,351 in 2020 and for 2022 the deficit was £31,000. That is why we couldn't afford to go abroad - well not if we didn't want to sacrifice an overseas or contracted player that is. It looks like we haven't even got one for the beginning of the season anyway which Kent have put down to the lack of availability of suitable candidates.
So, in essence, we have neither a franchise that makes money or that sits anywhere near the top of those on offer around the world but that directly impacts on the County game in terms of the quality of cricket on show. And we do not have the money to spend on overseas pre season tours that will, in any event, have missing key players including the Club Captain.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
But counties did go abroad on pre season training / tours before the hundred. It’s not a new thing.
When we were in Barbados 10 ish years ago there there a couple of counties training and playing against each other and the locals.
Not sure why I should have to pay £50k for Kent to go on a pre season camp ?
I only suggested it because someone has to pay for it as Kent can't afford it and you don't seem to accept that. But I will try to explain how the West Indies tours came about.
They didn't take place a decade ago - the first was in 2017 and it was heavily subsidised by the Antiguan Tourist Board and by the main sponsors FGS Plant. It comprised of a 50 over competition and we did the same thing the following year but this time it was at the invitation of the West Indies Tourist Board. To suggest that those tours of the West Indies were serious in terms of the quality and type of cricket on show would be rather misleading - in 2017 we played Trinidad & Tobago, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and the West Indies U19 team and were knocked out in the Group stages in losing 5 of our 8 games but the following year we came runners up to Guyana with Jamaica, Windward Islands and the US finishing below us. We eventually lost in the semis to Barbados.
Those tours took place at the end of January/beginning of February - had we tried to do that this year we would have had missing at the very least Denly, Cox, Compton, Billings, Crawley and Linde and we would have had to have recalled the likes of Compton, Singh and Evison from their commitments. You can't go on a tour with most of your best players missing especially as this is as much a squad bonding event as anything else.
As recently as the 2010 season Kent played the following matches:
Tour game against Pakistan CC - 16 Clydesdale Bank 40 - 12 Friends Provident T20 - 16
That's 45 opportunities to see the proper 1st XI competing against other 1st XIs.
For this coming season, we can't count the 8 games in the 50 over competition because that isn't a competition of 1st X1 strength - it has even lost its sponsor, Royal London and the ECB can't find anybody willing to attach their name to it - so we have just the 28 games now of a quality equivalent to that prior to the advent of The Hundred:
CC - 14 Vitality Blast - 14
Of the 14 CC matches, 6 have to be played prior to 21st May and another 3 between 10th and 29th September leaving just 5 during the height of summer. Add the 14 Blast matches to those and supporters have just 19 games to watch the first team between the end of May and end of August when they had 31 in the same period in 2010. And we now have just 2 matches for youngsters to see the best Kent players in action for their County during the school holidays. Yes just two. How pathetic is that.
Financially we had an exceptional year in 2021 with a surplus of £383,435 for a number of reasons - £109,000 from the NHS for utilising our grounds as vaccination centres and furlough money, £30,000 donated by Club Members during Covid with the other major income not expected was the decision of the ECB to distribute to all the counties a
sum equal to 75% of the average gate receipts for T20 matches for the 3 years 2017 -2019 less the actual
income in this year and that resulted in a receipt of £272,160. We also received from the ECB a prize fund
of £70,000 for the Club’s success in winning the Vitality Blast T20 competition. To put that surplus in perspective, we had a deficit of £217,351 in 2020 and for 2022 the deficit was £31,000. That is why we couldn't afford to go abroad - well not if we didn't want to sacrifice an overseas or contracted player that is. It looks like we haven't even got one for the beginning of the season anyway which Kent have put down to the lack of availability of suitable candidates.
So, in essence, we have neither a franchise that makes money or that sits anywhere near the top of those on offer around the world but that directly impacts on the County game in terms of the quality of cricket on show. And we do not have the money to spend on overseas pre season tours that will, in any event, have missing key players including the Club Captain.
Good post which confirms my belief that 18 counties will become 8 or 10 in the near future. The squeeze is on.
I see Arshdeep Singh returned figures of 3-0-19-3 in the IPL yesterday. It is strange that we have him for the CC as he is more known for his white ball exploits but, as I've intimated previously, it has been a struggle for us to find an available quick on the right terms and why we have to wait 'til June for his arrival.
Match abandoned. So our pre season preparation amounts to 27 overs faced and 32.2 overs bowled. That isn't great but we have to make the most of it and accept that the priorities of the ECB are more important than enhancing the county game. Trouble is they are losing the international battle too when it comes to retaining players and in terms of where their franchise model sits against the various other ones around the world.
We chose (or couldn't afford) to go abroad though. A game last week in Sharjah would have been a real help.
Couldn't afford and we would have had probably a third of the squad missing because they were playing at various different places around the world. The ideal prep is playing in conditions that you are likely to encounter and facing a bowler in Sharjah on a fast, bouncy deck in a sunny clime is not the same as facing one on a slow, low pitch on a cloud covered day in Canterbury. By starting the season three weeks earlier than it used to, there are inevitably going to be more weather issues and who wants to play or watch a game in temperature of 10 degrees even if the players could get out to the middle to do so? That could easily be the case next week. Assuming we get some play that is.
Any proper game is better than the players sitting inside looking out at the rain though. Other counties would have had the same issue with players away at the PSL etc, and I suspect they'll be better prepared. For a bowler, having to bowl long spells out on the field is essential to get ready
Agree with this - Its about getting miles in the legs for the bowlers on a pitch rather than indoors.
But we made a loss last year - direct expenditure grew at a faster rate than income – by £956,000 (16%) and that led to a deficit after taxation of £31,000 (2021: surplus - £383,000). We simply do not enjoy the same extra income streams that a lot of other counties especially those that are funded by hosting international matches.
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
Surely professional sportsmen should be able to adapt between differing conditions. These guys are being paid play all around the world , and have done so for many years. I am not accepting that playing T20 in the Middle East on a slow low pitches during the off season is worse preparation than batting the nets in Canterbury or Beckenham where the fast bowlers havent got full run ups , or you are using bowling machines. If they get out by playing a brainless shot thats on them , not on their preparation.
They should adapt but it takes time and time in the middle in the prevalent conditions to do so. Why do you think so many of the Aussie batsmen are going to be playing county cricket here prior to the Ashes? Why do you think when we go on tour we play warm up matches? You do know that a white ball through the air in the UAE will do nothing compared to a red ball here? That is why the likes of Stevens and Masters bowling at 70mph were so successful here.
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
But counties did go abroad on pre season training / tours before the hundred. It’s not a new thing.
When we were in Barbados 10 ish years ago there there a couple of counties training and playing against each other and the locals.
Not sure why I should have to pay £50k for Kent to go on a pre season camp ?
I only suggested it because someone has to pay for it as Kent can't afford it and you don't seem to accept that. But I will try to explain how the West Indies tours came about.
They didn't take place a decade ago - the first was in 2017 and it was heavily subsidised by the Antiguan Tourist Board and by the main sponsors FGS Plant. It comprised of a 50 over competition and we did the same thing the following year but this time it was at the invitation of the West Indies Tourist Board. To suggest that those tours of the West Indies were serious in terms of the quality and type of cricket on show would be rather misleading - in 2017 we played Trinidad & Tobago, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and the West Indies U19 team and were knocked out in the Group stages in losing 5 of our 8 games but the following year we came runners up to Guyana with Jamaica, Windward Islands and the US finishing below us. We eventually lost in the semis to Barbados.
Those tours took place at the end of January/beginning of February - had we tried to do that this year we would have had missing at the very least Denly, Cox, Compton, Billings, Crawley and Linde and we would have had to have recalled the likes of Compton, Singh and Evison from their commitments. You can't go on a tour with most of your best players missing especially as this is as much a squad bonding event as anything else.
As recently as the 2010 season Kent played the following matches:
Tour game against Pakistan CC - 16 Clydesdale Bank 40 - 12 Friends Provident T20 - 16
That's 45 opportunities to see the proper 1st XI competing against other 1st XIs.
For this coming season, we can't count the 8 games in the 50 over competition because that isn't a competition of 1st X1 strength - it has even lost its sponsor, Royal London and the ECB can't find anybody willing to attach their name to it - so we have just the 28 games now of a quality equivalent to that prior to the advent of The Hundred:
CC - 14 Vitality Blast - 14
Of the 14 CC matches, 6 have to be played prior to 21st May and another 3 between 10th and 29th September leaving just 5 during the height of summer. Add the 14 Blast matches to those and supporters have just 19 games to watch the first team between the end of May and end of August when they had 31 in the same period in 2010. And we now have just 2 matches for youngsters to see the best Kent players in action for their County during the school holidays. Yes just two. How pathetic is that.
Financially we had an exceptional year in 2021 with a surplus of £383,435 for a number of reasons - £109,000 from the NHS for utilising our grounds as vaccination centres and furlough money, £30,000 donated by Club Members during Covid with the other major income not expected was the decision of the ECB to distribute to all the counties a
sum equal to 75% of the average gate receipts for T20 matches for the 3 years 2017 -2019 less the actual
income in this year and that resulted in a receipt of £272,160. We also received from the ECB a prize fund
of £70,000 for the Club’s success in winning the Vitality Blast T20 competition. To put that surplus in perspective, we had a deficit of £217,351 in 2020 and for 2022 the deficit was £31,000. That is why we couldn't afford to go abroad - well not if we didn't want to sacrifice an overseas or contracted player that is. It looks like we haven't even got one for the beginning of the season anyway which Kent have put down to the lack of availability of suitable candidates.
So, in essence, we have neither a franchise that makes money or that sits anywhere near the top of those on offer around the world but that directly impacts on the County game in terms of the quality of cricket on show. And we do not have the money to spend on overseas pre season tours that will, in any event, have missing key players including the Club Captain.
I am pretty sure that article is dated 2012 which is over a decade ago. Kent have also subsequently had training camps in SA.
You also said that counties shouldnt have to go abroad and they wouldn’t have to if it wasn’t for the hundred. But counties have gone abroad and have done so for years out of choice not necessity. So it has nothing to do with the hundred whether they go or not . It’s down to whether they can afford it, and obviously Kent can’t afford 50k .
County cricket in its current format is shot, but It it is possible to make a profit as a Non test match venue. Sussex, made an operating profit of £562k in the year to October 2022 and £300k in the year to October 2021. They have developed part of their ground, phase 1 of which which is expected to bring in an annual revenue of £350k. So it is possible with the right management.
So Gilchrist is injured for the game starting tomorrow. As a result we have announced an extremely strong, on paper, batting line up with, potentially, Billings, DBD, Evison at 6, 7 or 8 and Stewart at 9. The question is, do we have enough fire power to bowl Northants out? Evison and DBD each have 22 First Class wickets and with the wicket unlikely to help our part time spinners, the pressure will be on Quinn, Hogan and Stewart to perform.
Wasn't DBD missing from the final warm up game last week, so he's even less prepared than the rest of the squad!
But, there again, Billings didn't bat in our total of 27 overs at the crease and four of our other batsmen, namely Compton, Crawley, Denly and Cox only faced 35 balls between them.
With Gilchrist out injured, we only have one other fit contracted seamer and that is Jas Singh and it was obviously felt better to have the extra batsman who can turn his arm over rather than the rookie bowler. It does mean that we will have a top 9 who all have First Class tons to their name.
What happened to the overseas bowler we were going to bring in for the start of the season?
Or will that be Depak Stevens?
We had Joel Paris lined up. Then he hurt his back so that ruled that one out.
There is another Aussie that we could look be looking at - Spencer Johnson (Seb faced him in a club game a few months ago in a T20 - he did manage to get a dozen or so before being caught trying to hit over the top and was caught in mid off - silly boy!). He's been just about the fastest in the South Australia League for a few seasons but has suffered injury wise and then hit the headlines firstly when he played for the Brisbane Heat and then for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. So much so that he has been called up for Australia A for a couple of games against NZ and there is talk that he is in the running for an Ashes place. I'm not sure when those two games are being played but Downton has now mentioned that they now hope to get someone in for game three. Billings actually played with Johnson for the Heat and Crawley faced him so it's not as if he's unknown to them either.
For those that haven't seen it and are interested, Michael Atherton interview with our dearly departed Darren Stevens:
April 18, 1997. It was five days after Tiger Woods became the youngest Masters champion, refashioning the old game as he did so. It was a fortnight before Tony Blair’s New Labour swept into power. Ben Hollioake was to make his England debut in stunning fashion at Lord’s five weeks later against Australia. A pint of beer cost £1.80. The original iPhone was a still a decade from launch.
It was also the day that Darren Stevens made his first-class debut, at Fenner’s against Cambridge University (Ed Smith got 190 for the university). Every year since then, all 26 of them, he has readied himself for the season’s start. Just before Christmas, when in conversation with another county, he thought his career might have had a stay of welcome and this year would be no different, but it was not to be. At 47 years old this month, it looks as though he will have to move on, leaving Jimmy Anderson, Michael Hogan, Tim Murtagh and Gareth Berg in the plus-40 bracket this year.
After his release from Kent last year, he feels that he could have still played and helped with another county’s younger players. He also still thinks he could do a good job, regardless of age. “Someone asked me whether I’d be able to bowl 25 overs on the first day of the season,” he says. “I’d be pretty disappointed to be doing that on a green top, but yeah I’d have loved the opportunity and feel I could add in so many areas, not just on the pitch.”
But with young children and family settled, it would have needed to be not too far from his Canterbury home, which is where he is travelling to when we speak, having coached the juniors that afternoon at his local club, St Lawrence and Highland Court CC.
This Thursday, the start of the season, will be a difficult day for those released at the end of last term. County cricket is more than a nine-to-five job; it is an all-encompassing life for those lucky enough to enjoy a career in it, and therefore it leaves a mighty hole to fill when it’s over. “I’ll be keeping myself as busy as possible over the next few weeks to take my mind off that,” he says, relishing the coaching opportunities he has already formed with the South East Stars women’s team, for example.
“My dad passed away a couple of years ago and he said all along to give a little back, to make sure that when I went back home to the Midlands to visit my old club that I should show my face and give a little back. I feel like I’m good with young adults, young pros, and after 27 years there’s a lot of knowledge and experience in there and it would be wrong not to try to hand it down.”
There will still be playing opportunities. He was invited last year to play in a “Legends” tournament in India, which, as he was still under contract, he had to turn down, but there will be other chances. The over-40 World Cup beckons in Australia next year and he has signed to play a small amateur T20 in Cornwall this summer. But after 326 matches, it looks as though he will not add to the almost 17,000 runs and 591 wickets he took in the first-class game.
Things were very different when Stevens started in 1997. The business of county cricket was far less formal; the Professional Cricketers’ Association was not the organisation it is today; agents were a rarity, contracts barely negotiated, the cult of the coach still years away, with dressing rooms far more player-led. T20 was still six years away from being played professionally for the first time, too, and he says it is the influence of the shorter form that has been the biggest change in the time he has been playing.
“Someone said to me the other day that I’ve played in four decades, which is amazing to think, but the biggest change in that time has been T20. It’s phenomenal how it’s changed, really. Now, if you’re not scoring at eight an over in 50-over cricket there’s something wrong. In T20, 200 is becoming par. It’s crazy.”
The upside of that for a younger version of Stevens — ie a top-class domestic player, but not an international — is the proliferation of opportunities that exist now, but not before. “Yeah, I’ve still my first contract with Leicestershire pinned up on a wall at home: three and a half grand it was worth. Now, obviously, you can make a very good living, and a very good living, just playing white-ball cricket,” he says.
The rise of T20 also created opportunities for Stevens as a bowler. It was only in the latter third of his career that he began to become a highly effective wicket-taker in first-class cricket and he thinks that he was able to exploit batting techniques that had become somewhat looser. “Techniques have been hit hard. There’s so much video footage on players now. I’m not quick but I can nip the ball and get it into areas I want to. T20 cricket and white-ball cricket helped me as a bowler in red-ball cricket.”
It was the terror of facing Stevens’s nibblers on early season pitches that prompted the creation of a WhatsApp group — “Stevo’s gonna get ya”— among Australian overseas players in county cricket. Stevens laughs when I mention it and reveals the context. “I was playing golf with Travis Head, who is a good mate, at the London club a couple of years ago just before we were due to play Sussex in the Championship.
“Anyway, he got a text through when we were on one of the holes, and he said to me, ‘You know this WhatsApp group, well I’ve just had a text through from [Steve] Smith and [David] Warner saying, ‘Stevo’s gonna get ya tomorrow.’ He showed me the message, so I know it’s a legitimate WhatsApp group.
“Well, we played the next day and Travis was in shocking form just then. I didn’t say anything to him but I nicked him off only for [Jordan] Cox to drop it at slip. He came down tapping the pitch and said to me, ‘There’s your chance gone.’ Anyway, two balls later I knocked his stumps over. It was so funny.” The WhatsApp group will have to be mothballed now.
At the other end of the scale from Stevens, there were 67 men and women at the most recent Rookie Camp run by the PCA on March 2, each harbouring hopes and dreams for a long career and receiving advice from, among others, Peter Moores, the Nottinghamshire coach, and Mo Bobat, Rob Key’s No 2. So what advice, given all his hard-won wisdom and experience, would he hand out to any one of those making their debuts today? What advice, indeed, would he give to his 21-year-old younger self, knowing what he knows now?
“Play every day as if it’s your last. None of us knows what is around the corner and how long it will last. For my last eight years I played on a one-year contract, because of my age, so I had that attitude anyway. I’d encourage anyone to be themselves. Really be yourself and play the way you want to play and play with a bit of freedom. It’s a bit like Rob Key and Ben Stokes are trying to get the England boys to play, isn’t it? Enjoy it, love it, stay in the moment — and remember it’s an amazing game.”
There has been much criticism of our inability to produce quick bowlers and Paul Downton at the AGM admitted this to be an issue and that the situation was to be addressed. Well that appears to be the case as the rumour is that age group selectors are now focusing on youngsters with raw pace, even if they are erratic, rather than potential medium pacers who have the ability to put the ball on the spot. There is also a leaning towards those young batsmen who can play ramps, reverse sweeps, switch hits etc rather than those who might be more technically sound.
How the game has moved on. A Darren Stevens from the first group and an Alastair Cook from the second might never have made age group cricket in the modern era had they been growing up in Kent right now. Or as a pro for that matter.
Comments
Equally, it's all very well saying that we need the trip to get miles into the legs of bowlers but we are only talking about four bowlers - Gilchrist, Stewart, Quinn and Hogan as Evison and Singh have only got back recently from playing in Australia and the spinners can do that in the 2s as they won't be playing early season anyway (Linde isn't even with us yet because of the birth of his child).
And what about the batsmen? Come back from batting in Sharjah on a bouncy road and then try playing with your hands way out in front of you here. Most of them have been playing abroad anyway either on international duty or playing franchise or club cricket - in fact, as it looks like DBD will be the one to miss out, so only Leaning of our top seven wouldn't have done so. And he was the batsman with an unbeaten 52 that actually adapted to the conditions best yesterday. Crawley, Compton, Denly and Cox made 14 in total - they got out, respectively, charging the bowler, trying to square drive away from the body, playing across one that held its line and trying to drive on the up. They probably would have got away with all of those shots in Sharjah because the conditions there would be far more favourable to play those shots. The same thing happened to four of Essex's top five (made 25 between them) and they had just spent a week away in Abu Dhabi!!! Cook was the exception but then he hadn't been playing crash, bang, wallop cricket over the course of the winter!
The fundamental issue has arisen though because we start three or even four weeks earlier than we used to. We never used to have to go away to prepare and whilst doing so might have been better than watching the rain fall, it wasn't an option given how financially strapped we are especially when compared to the overall benefit. And in starting those three weeks earlier the ECB are also making early season conditions from a batting perspective that much harder and for, in all probability, more matches too.
What would the cost for say 24 (18 players and half a dozen backroom staff) for flights (and I doubt 6' 6" bowlers would benefit from the leg room that comes with economy so it would probably have to be a step up from that) accommodation and food?
But let's say that none of that is right. Are you paying for them to go then? £50k should cover it.
And finally I come back to my original point. Counties should not have to go abroad and they wouldn't have to if it weren't for The Hundred.
When we were in Barbados 10 ish years ago there there a couple of counties training and playing against each other and the locals.
They didn't take place a decade ago - the first was in 2017 and it was heavily subsidised by the Antiguan Tourist Board and by the main sponsors FGS Plant. It comprised of a 50 over competition and we did the same thing the following year but this time it was at the invitation of the West Indies Tourist Board. To suggest that those tours of the West Indies were serious in terms of the quality and type of cricket on show would be rather misleading - in 2017 we played Trinidad & Tobago, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and the West Indies U19 team and were knocked out in the Group stages in losing 5 of our 8 games but the following year we came runners up to Guyana with Jamaica, Windward Islands and the US finishing below us. We eventually lost in the semis to Barbados.
Those tours took place at the end of January/beginning of February - had we tried to do that this year we would have had missing at the very least Denly, Cox, Compton, Billings, Crawley and Linde and we would have had to have recalled the likes of Compton, Singh and Evison from their commitments. You can't go on a tour with most of your best players missing especially as this is as much a squad bonding event as anything else.
As recently as the 2010 season Kent played the following matches:
Tour game against Pakistan
CC - 16
Clydesdale Bank 40 - 12
Friends Provident T20 - 16
That's 45 opportunities to see the proper 1st XI competing against other 1st XIs.
For this coming season, we can't count the 8 games in the 50 over competition because that isn't a competition of 1st X1 strength - it has even lost its sponsor, Royal London and the ECB can't find anybody willing to attach their name to it - so we have just the 28 games now of a quality equivalent to that prior to the advent of The Hundred:
CC - 14
Vitality Blast - 14
Of the 14 CC matches, 6 have to be played prior to 21st May and another 3 between 10th and 29th September leaving just 5 during the height of summer. Add the 14 Blast matches to those and supporters have just 19 games to watch the first team between the end of May and end of August when they had 31 in the same period in 2010. And we now have just 2 matches for youngsters to see the best Kent players in action for their County during the school holidays. Yes just two. How pathetic is that.
Financially we had an exceptional year in 2021 with a surplus of £383,435 for a number of reasons - £109,000 from the NHS for utilising our grounds as vaccination centres and furlough money, £30,000 donated by Club Members during Covid with the other major income not expected was the decision of the ECB to distribute to all the counties a sum equal to 75% of the average gate receipts for T20 matches for the 3 years 2017 -2019 less the actual income in this year and that resulted in a receipt of £272,160. We also received from the ECB a prize fund of £70,000 for the Club’s success in winning the Vitality Blast T20 competition. To put that surplus in perspective, we had a deficit of £217,351 in 2020 and for 2022 the deficit was £31,000. That is why we couldn't afford to go abroad - well not if we didn't want to sacrifice an overseas or contracted player that is. It looks like we haven't even got one for the beginning of the season anyway which Kent have put down to the lack of availability of suitable candidates.
So, in essence, we have neither a franchise that makes money or that sits anywhere near the top of those on offer around the world but that directly impacts on the County game in terms of the quality of cricket on show. And we do not have the money to spend on overseas pre season tours that will, in any event, have missing key players including the Club Captain.
But, there again, Billings didn't bat in our total of 27 overs at the crease and four of our other batsmen, namely Compton, Crawley, Denly and Cox only faced 35 balls between them.
With Gilchrist out injured, we only have one other fit contracted seamer and that is Jas Singh and it was obviously felt better to have the extra batsman who can turn his arm over rather than the rookie bowler. It does mean that we will have a top 9 who all have First Class tons to their name.
Or will that be Depak Stevens?
There is another Aussie that we could look be looking at - Spencer Johnson (Seb faced him in a club game a few months ago in a T20 - he did manage to get a dozen or so before being caught trying to hit over the top and was caught in mid off - silly boy!). He's been just about the fastest in the South Australia League for a few seasons but has suffered injury wise and then hit the headlines firstly when he played for the Brisbane Heat and then for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. So much so that he has been called up for Australia A for a couple of games against NZ and there is talk that he is in the running for an Ashes place. I'm not sure when those two games are being played but Downton has now mentioned that they now hope to get someone in for game three. Billings actually played with Johnson for the Heat and Crawley faced him so it's not as if he's unknown to them either.
April 18, 1997. It was five days after Tiger Woods became the youngest Masters champion, refashioning the old game as he did so. It was a fortnight before Tony Blair’s New Labour swept into power. Ben Hollioake was to make his England debut in stunning fashion at Lord’s five weeks later against Australia. A pint of beer cost £1.80. The original iPhone was a still a decade from launch.
It was also the day that Darren Stevens made his first-class debut, at Fenner’s against Cambridge University (Ed Smith got 190 for the university). Every year since then, all 26 of them, he has readied himself for the season’s start. Just before Christmas, when in conversation with another county, he thought his career might have had a stay of welcome and this year would be no different, but it was not to be. At 47 years old this month, it looks as though he will have to move on, leaving Jimmy Anderson, Michael Hogan, Tim Murtagh and Gareth Berg in the plus-40 bracket this year.
After his release from Kent last year, he feels that he could have still played and helped with another county’s younger players. He also still thinks he could do a good job, regardless of age. “Someone asked me whether I’d be able to bowl 25 overs on the first day of the season,” he says. “I’d be pretty disappointed to be doing that on a green top, but yeah I’d have loved the opportunity and feel I could add in so many areas, not just on the pitch.”
But with young children and family settled, it would have needed to be not too far from his Canterbury home, which is where he is travelling to when we speak, having coached the juniors that afternoon at his local club, St Lawrence and Highland Court CC.
This Thursday, the start of the season, will be a difficult day for those released at the end of last term. County cricket is more than a nine-to-five job; it is an all-encompassing life for those lucky enough to enjoy a career in it, and therefore it leaves a mighty hole to fill when it’s over. “I’ll be keeping myself as busy as possible over the next few weeks to take my mind off that,” he says, relishing the coaching opportunities he has already formed with the South East Stars women’s team, for example.
“My dad passed away a couple of years ago and he said all along to give a little back, to make sure that when I went back home to the Midlands to visit my old club that I should show my face and give a little back. I feel like I’m good with young adults, young pros, and after 27 years there’s a lot of knowledge and experience in there and it would be wrong not to try to hand it down.”
There will still be playing opportunities. He was invited last year to play in a “Legends” tournament in India, which, as he was still under contract, he had to turn down, but there will be other chances. The over-40 World Cup beckons in Australia next year and he has signed to play a small amateur T20 in Cornwall this summer. But after 326 matches, it looks as though he will not add to the almost 17,000 runs and 591 wickets he took in the first-class game.
Things were very different when Stevens started in 1997. The business of county cricket was far less formal; the Professional Cricketers’ Association was not the organisation it is today; agents were a rarity, contracts barely negotiated, the cult of the coach still years away, with dressing rooms far more player-led. T20 was still six years away from being played professionally for the first time, too, and he says it is the influence of the shorter form that has been the biggest change in the time he has been playing.
“Someone said to me the other day that I’ve played in four decades, which is amazing to think, but the biggest change in that time has been T20. It’s phenomenal how it’s changed, really. Now, if you’re not scoring at eight an over in 50-over cricket there’s something wrong. In T20, 200 is becoming par. It’s crazy.”
The upside of that for a younger version of Stevens — ie a top-class domestic player, but not an international — is the proliferation of opportunities that exist now, but not before. “Yeah, I’ve still my first contract with Leicestershire pinned up on a wall at home: three and a half grand it was worth. Now, obviously, you can make a very good living, and a very good living, just playing white-ball cricket,” he says.
The rise of T20 also created opportunities for Stevens as a bowler. It was only in the latter third of his career that he began to become a highly effective wicket-taker in first-class cricket and he thinks that he was able to exploit batting techniques that had become somewhat looser. “Techniques have been hit hard. There’s so much video footage on players now. I’m not quick but I can nip the ball and get it into areas I want to. T20 cricket and white-ball cricket helped me as a bowler in red-ball cricket.”
It was the terror of facing Stevens’s nibblers on early season pitches that prompted the creation of a WhatsApp group — “Stevo’s gonna get ya”— among Australian overseas players in county cricket. Stevens laughs when I mention it and reveals the context. “I was playing golf with Travis Head, who is a good mate, at the London club a couple of years ago just before we were due to play Sussex in the Championship.
“Anyway, he got a text through when we were on one of the holes, and he said to me, ‘You know this WhatsApp group, well I’ve just had a text through from [Steve] Smith and [David] Warner saying, ‘Stevo’s gonna get ya tomorrow.’ He showed me the message, so I know it’s a legitimate WhatsApp group.
“Well, we played the next day and Travis was in shocking form just then. I didn’t say anything to him but I nicked him off only for [Jordan] Cox to drop it at slip. He came down tapping the pitch and said to me, ‘There’s your chance gone.’ Anyway, two balls later I knocked his stumps over. It was so funny.” The WhatsApp group will have to be mothballed now.
At the other end of the scale from Stevens, there were 67 men and women at the most recent Rookie Camp run by the PCA on March 2, each harbouring hopes and dreams for a long career and receiving advice from, among others, Peter Moores, the Nottinghamshire coach, and Mo Bobat, Rob Key’s No 2. So what advice, given all his hard-won wisdom and experience, would he hand out to any one of those making their debuts today? What advice, indeed, would he give to his 21-year-old younger self, knowing what he knows now?
“Play every day as if it’s your last. None of us knows what is around the corner and how long it will last. For my last eight years I played on a one-year contract, because of my age, so I had that attitude anyway. I’d encourage anyone to be themselves. Really be yourself and play the way you want to play and play with a bit of freedom. It’s a bit like Rob Key and Ben Stokes are trying to get the England boys to play, isn’t it? Enjoy it, love it, stay in the moment — and remember it’s an amazing game.”
Hmm, what's the difference between these & " the rest" ?
How the game has moved on. A Darren Stevens from the first group and an Alastair Cook from the second might never have made age group cricket in the modern era had they been growing up in Kent right now. Or as a pro for that matter.