Three-day cricket is not the answer

The latest idea to revolutionise the county game comes from Jack Simmons, who wants a return to three-day championship cricket in order to make way for more Twenty20. But it is a ridiculous idea.

Few would dispute that standards have risen in recent years with, first, the introduction of four-day cricket and then the introduction of two divisions. While the plethora of Kolpaks is a major irritant, they have, too, helped to raise standards. The best young players are still making their way; it does them no harm that competition for places is sterner than was once the case.

While there are flaws with the county game, the championship is certainly not one of them. The idea to cut back to three-days, while flogging bowlers into the ground with 120-over days, is clearly designed for no reason other than money. The current system is faring commendably in ensuring players who begin in Test cricket are immediately ready - from youngsters like Panesar and Cook to relative stalwarts like Sidebottom.

Simmons' idea is laden with flaws. Principally, the intensity of the county championship, which many players say has never been higher (certainly in Division One) would clearly suffer. Bowlers could not possibly operate anywhere near full capacity over such long days. Concern would switch from how to dismiss the opposition to maintaining a good over rate. Above all, the county championship would be vastly dissimilar to the model it is meant to mirror. Its number one function should be to prepare future internationals for the Test game. This would be a retrograde step in achieving that goal, and would only serve to devalue the championship.

There could well be scope for increasing the Twenty20 and making county cricket more self-sufficient. However, there are much better ways to do that. Scrapping the Pro40 to make room for more Twenty20, or extending the season into October to allow for both more Twenty20 and rest between games during the season are two possible ways forward. Simmons' suggestion, however, has no merit if England are serious in their intention to become the world's number one Test side.

FP Trophy Weekly Round-up

All eleven games ended in a result again this week. Fantastic! And there were plenty of runs to be had in the sunshine…

Sussex played host to Surrey on Thursday at Hove and were forced to field first. The Browncaps racked up 346-3 off of their fifty overs with a rapid fifty for James Benning (51), a slightly more pedestrian one for Mark Ramprakash (63) and a superb unbeaten hundred from Usman Afzaal (126*). Nobody failed though with Scott Newman hitting 43 and Ali Brown blazing a quick fire 40 not out. Young Left Arm Spinner Thomas Smith was comfortably the best Sussex bowler, finishing with respectable figures of 1-41 from his ten overs. Most of the Sussex line up got starts, but nobody was able to go on. Captain Chris Adams was the top scorer with 40, although four other players made scores in excess of thirty. Jade Dernbach (3-56) was the most successful Surrey bowler as Sussex could only manage 279-8. Afzaal completed a fine allround game with bowling figures of 2-42 from ten overs, while Matt Nicholson also took two wickets (2-59).

Friday’s game saw Gloucestershire pay a visit to Glamorgan, where they opted to field first. The Dragons were soon reduced to 92-5. Young Tom Maynard briefly impressed with a breezy 29, but the real mainstay of the innings was another youngster, Ben Wright, who hit 60 as Glamorgan closed on 202-8. There were two wickets apiece for Captain Jon Lewis (2-29), Steve Kirby (2-44) and Mark Hardinges (2-30). Buoyed by their recovery, the Dragons soon reduced the Gladiators to 16-3, with Alex Gidman, Hamish Marshall and Marcus North falling cheaply. Jason Gillespie was in inspired form and the game looked to be very much in Glamorgan’s favour. However, Craig Spearman (66) and Chris Taylor (66*) rebuilt the innings impressively and David Brown (45*) helped to take them over the finishing line with a cool 5.4 overs to spare.

From left to right: Glamorgan build a respectable but inadequate total, Jason Gillespie puts early pressure on Glos, and Taylor and Spearman guide Glos home under the lights. (Pics c/o RTE)

Saturday’s offering came from Northamptonshire, where the Leicestershire Foxes were the visitors. The Foxes amazingly rattled up 268-6, with HD Ackerman (139) the only man to score more than 23! Johann van der Wath was the most successful Steelbacks bowler, taking 2-41. The Northamptonshire reply was in tatters at 98-5, but Niall O’Brien (95) took his side close. Johann Louw (35*) and Monty Panesar (17*) had too much to do in the final over however and they finished seven runs shy, with eight wickets down. Ryan Cummins (2-35), Nadeem Malik (2-45), Garnett Kruger (2-65) and Claude Hendersen (2-38) all took two wickets for Leicestershire.

And now to Sunday’s action. Hampshire were well and truly trounced at New Road by Worcestershire. Shorn of a number of experienced players, including both of their wicket keepers, Hampshire were only able to post 209 after stand-in skipper James Adams decided to bat. Greg Lamb top scored with 84, having been given his chance higher up the batting order. Simon Jones was in lethal form, taking 5-32, reminding those present of what he is capable of. Worcestershire reached their victory target in just 27.3 overs. Every Hampshire bowler was embarrassed by Vikram Solanki (81), Steven Davies (72*) and Moeen Ali (42*), bar Billy Taylor (1-43). The Hawks remain rooted to the bottom of the South-West table.

Northamptonshire were in action again, this time at Edgbaston, where Warwickshire batted first and made 232-8, largely thanks to centurion Jonathan Trott (120*). It is worth asking just what Northamptonshire are doing for English cricket though (other than Monty) as they used six bowlers, of whom five were ex-South African internationals. The only English bowler was the ageing Jason Brown (1-34). He happened to bowl the least amount of overs and was back up to Johann van der Wath (2-45), Andrew Hall (3-39), Johann Louw (0-43), Nicky Boje (1-33) and Lance Klusener (1-33). The batting display was at least led by an Englishman, in Stephen Peters (97*), but Rikki Wessels (another South African Kolpak) was the other main contributor (78), as the Steelbacks won with 4.3 overs to spare. David Sales, Rob White and Irishman Niall O’Brien were in fact the only other players not of South African origin. Incidentally, Neil Carter (3-31) was the top wicket taker for the Bears, another veteran South African…

Essex chose to bat first at The Brit Oval and they put Surrey to the sword in style. Captain Mark Pettini (who had the dubious honour of making a pair in mid week) smashed 144 from 120 balls and featured in a 269 run opening partnership with Jason Gallian (117). Ryan ten Doeschate (60) and James Foster (46) kept up the pressure with strike rates of 200, as the Eagles made an intimidating 391-5. Pedro Collins was the best bowler taking 2-55, while Jade Dernbach went for 107 from his ten overs. Perhaps Surrey need to think about their policy of playing only four frontline bowlers. They could only make 235 in reply, David Masters (5-17) and Graham Napier (3-41) doing the damage, with only Mark Ramprakash making fifty (98).

At one point it looked as though Durham were going to be the latest county side to succumb to Scotland. However, even though they only posted 181-9 from their fifty overs, the Dynamos achieved victory via the Duckworth-Lewis method by restricting Scotland to 52-5 from17.1 overs, over 40 runs shy of where they needed to be. The stars of the show were of course the bowlers. John Blain (3-31) and Dewald Nel (2-42) impressed once again for the Saltires and were joined by Glenn Rogers (2-36), while Callum Thorp took 2-16 for Durham. Steve Harmison took 1-15 from 4.1 overs.

Nottinghamshire overcame Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in a tight low scoring affair. 197 all out was the best the Foxes could muster and the Outlaws got home off of the final ball of their allotted fifty overs, with just two wickets remaining. For the Foxes there were fifties for Boerta Dippenaar (51) and Paul Nixon (75), while Darren Pattinson was once again impressive, taking 4-35. England hopeful Samit Patel also impressed with 3-34. Despite James Allenby’s (4-27) and Nadeem Malik’s (3-21) best efforts, Matthew Wood (50), Will Jefferson (34), Mark Wagh (37) and Adam Voges (35) scored enough between them to ensure victory for the Outlaws.

Lancashire emerged victorious in the Roses match at Old Trafford via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Yorkshire totalled 204-7 from a reduced 45 overs, Jacques Rudolph leading the way with 65. Kyle Hogg impressed for the Lightning taking 3-27 from ten overs. Lancashire reached their target with an over to spare thanks mainly to Francois du Plessis who hit an unbeaten run a ball 77, to rescue his side from 76-5. Darren Gough (3-45) and Tim Bresnan (2-45) were the best bowlers on offer for Yorkshire.

Sussex lost their second game of the week, this time to Kent at Canterbury, where a score of 218-9 was not good enough, despite Michael Yardy’s fifty (54). Simon Cook continued his impressive limited overs form, taking 3-41, while their were two wickets apiece for Yasir Arafat (2-31) and England hopeful James Tredwell (2-33). Kent made it home with 7.5 overs remaining for the loss of only one wicket. Joe Denly (83*) and Martin van Jaarsveld (109* - another impressive score) were the stars for the Spitfires, against an attack which lacked penetration. Mushtaq Ahmed cannot return soon enough for the Sharks and it is evident just how dependent they are on him.

Our final game takes us to Bristol where Gloucestershire chose to field first against Somerset. Justin Langer brought his impressive midweek form into this game, scoring 112 not out. Late hitting from Peter Trego (56) took the Sabres to 290-6. Mark Hardinges (3-60) and Steve Kirby (2-58) were the main wicket takers for the Gladiators. In reply, Craig Spearman upstaged Langer with an unbeaten 140 and he saw the side home along with Steve Adshead (41*), with ten balls remaining. Steffan Jones (3-53) was the pick of the Somerset bowlers.

Player of the Week: For his unbeaten 126 and 2-42 against Sussex (he also scored a rapid 43 against Essex), this weeks player of the week is Surrey’s Usman Afzaal. I reserve a special mention meanwhile for Craig Spearman (66 and 140*).

Telegraph International Fantasy Cricket

The Telegraph are running a free to play International Fantasy Cricket game for the series between England and New Zealand (Tests, ODI's and T20's). It starts on Thursday 15th May (this week)!

I have created a Super League once again:

League Name: Third Umpire
Password: international

Once again this is free to play, so sign up and good luck (Ashes 09 tickets available as one of the prizes I believe).

Another game will follow for the South Africa series later in the summer.

Championship Review – Week 4

The only thing certain about this year’s Division 1 is its uncertainty. The sun comes out and strangely it’s the bowlers who benefit. In Division 2, Essex march onwards - just.

Division 1
Starting with the early pace-setters, Nottinghamshire as they hosted Kent. Catches win matches, and Kent took ten of them to bowl Notts out for just 202. Kent were struggling themselves at 109 for 7 Ryan Sidebottom taking four of the top five in his 5-fer. However, useful lower order knocks from Ryan McLaren and Yasir Arafat took the Kent total to 238. McLaren then took six wickets as Notts made 279, Chris Read top scoring with 88. Set 244 to win, Kent were again struggling on 173 for 7 until McLaren and Arafat put on an unbeaten 71 for the final wicket to see them home by three wickets. Notts stay top of the table, but will have a severely weakened bowling attack for the rest of the summer as Sidebottom and Broad go on England duty. Kent climb to 4th and with Rob Key to come back in to the team, this result may kick-start their season.

Wickets galore on the first day at Old Trafford as Durham’s Mark Davies ripped through the Lancashire team, taking 7 wickets as the home side made just 143 in another instance of ten catches in the innings. This was enough for a first innings lead though as James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff took four wickets apiece in Durham’s reply of 114. Paul Horton scored a century in Lancashire’s second innings, in a match when the next highest score was just 40, as Lancs made 293. Durham were then skittled again for just 90 with Anderson taking five wickets and Flintoff three as Lancs ran out comfortable winners. I suspect the pitch inspectors may have more to say on this though.

The best bowling performance of the week came at Taunton, where James Tomlinson took eight wickets as Somerset were bowled out for just 126. Centuries for John Crawley and Kevin Pietersen in a stand of 190 took Hampshire to 359. By now though, the Taunton pitch was its normal placid self and Marcus Trescothick (151) and Justin Langer (188) put on 272 for the second wicket to allow Somerset to declare on 654 for 6, Zander de Bruyn falling two runs short of his century. Michael Brown scored a century as Hants batted out the match, finishing on 198 for 1.

Division 2
My two tips for promotion met at Chelmsford, with Middlesex starting on top, scoring 302, Andrew Strauss making 88 of them and James Middlebrook taking five wickets. Essex were then bowled out for just 207, with Daniel Evans taking six wickets. Middlesex managed 202 second time round, to set Essex 301 to win. At 202 for 8 a Middlesex win looked certain, but an unbeaten stand of 99 between James Middlebrook (33*) and Chris Wright (71*) against his old club, saw Essex to an unlikely victory and second place behind Warwickshire with a game in hand.

Top of the table Warwickshire were at Derbyshire where the home side recovered from 128 for 7 to make 270 in their first innings, Jon Clare and Tom Lungley both making 50s. Jonathan Trott then made a century as Warwickshire made 310 in their first innings. However, as elsewhere, batting got easier as the game progressed and Derbyshire were able to declare their second innings on 417 for 6, with Danish wicket-keeper James Klokker making his maiden century. Warwickshire batted out the time with the loss of just four wickets, for a respectable draw.

England Player watch
Andrew Strauss looked in decent form with 88 for Middlesex, while Ian Bell also looked fluent without getting a big score: 48 and 28. Kevin Pietersen scored a century in what could be his only county innings of the summer. Paul Collingwood only managed four runs against Lancashire, although that was four more than Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson managed in the same match. Tim Ambrose scored an unbeaten 34 to continue to fight against the weight of runs being scored by Chris Read and Matt Prior.

James Anderson took nine wickets for Lance, and Andrew Flintoff seven in bowler friendly conditions. Flintoff’s injury make the calls for his recall moot, while Anderson would seem to be in a straight fight with Matthew Hoggard for the final seamers spot. Ryan Sidebottom took seven wickets for Notts, while Stuart Broad took the first three wickets of the Kent second innings to open up the possibility of victory.

Player of the week
It’s a very tough call this week. Paul Horton deserves a mention for his century in a game where no-one else scored fifty. James Tomlinson and Mark Davies both ran through the opposition in their matches. However, for a first innings fifty to keep his side in the game, taking six wickets in the second innings to ensure they had a gettable target and then scoring an unbeaten 37 to see the victory complete, the Player of the Week is Kent’s Ryan McLaren.

Rose Bowl Rocks to Wright!

I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the England Lions in action yesterday afternoon against New Zealand at The Rose Bowl. When I turned up England were in trouble at 132-5, but the 34 runs put on since the last wicket represented what was a good partnership so far in the match. Luke Wright was batting with Adil Rashid and I doubt that it will be the last time that these two bat together in England colours. Both are exceedingly promising allrounders, Rashid perhaps more with his leg spin bowling and Wright perhaps more with his explosive batting.

Adil Rashid shows solid defence

Wright looked every bit a class player as he demonstrated maturity in building a partnership with Rashid. Rashid was more circumspect and watchful, but looked a solid and compact player, who combined solid defence with an ability to work the ball around and manoeuvre the field, a good sign for the future of the ODI side maybe. Wright soon reached his fifty, having punished both Iain O’Brien and Jeetan Patel for erring at times in line and length. He hit three fours off of one particular O’Brien over, the first a blistering cover drive, the second a hefty pull and the third a sublime square cut.

Luke Wright square cuts for four more off of Iain O'Brien

Jacob Oram was brought on for the tourists and immediately looked dangerous. Indeed it was not long before he had Rashid caught well in the covers by Patel, before Graeme Swann was out, in rather silly fashion, playing a rash shot and adjudged lbw. Meanwhile, as partners came and went, next to fall was Tremlett, Wright went about steadily increasing his own scoring rate. His concentration was excellent and he seemed hell bent on getting that all important century. Matthew Hoggard provided an able foil for the Sussex man, getting a few boundaries down to third man and even clipping the spin of Patel to leg a couple of times. Perhaps Hoggy has his eye on the allrounder role, it wouldn’t be a surprise given his determination to get back into that England side (the same can hardly be said of Steve Harmison from recent interviews). So with able support, Wright was able to complete a fantastic century at a strike rate of around 84. Here he is reaching the landmark with a six (he was on 95).

Luke Wright brings up his 100 with a maximum

That says a lot for the player in my opinion, to have the guts to go for it when he could have just taken singles. He is obviously a confident player who trusts his own ability, which is a key mental attribute at international level.

Wright celebrates with Matthew Hoggard

Once Hoggard was clean bowled by young Tim Southee, Wright was forced to up the anti. He hit a few more boundaries, including a glorious straight six off of Chris Martin, but the England innings was over when, like Rashid, he was well caught in the covers, smashing another cover drive, this time in the air to Oram. Wright had scored 120 of England’s 280 runs, very impressive, and he had effectively rescued them from embarrassment against a much changed and depleted New Zealand side.

Jacob Oram was impressive with the ball

So what of the future for Luke Wright. Well, after this showing one can only be impressed. His excellent cameos for England in Twenty20 and ODI cricket appear to be only the cusp of a wave which is set to roll in over the international scene. Granted this was only against a depleted New Zealand side, but the bowling of Oram, Martin, Southee and Patel can not be dismissed as average and the fact that the next highest scorer in the England innings was Michael Carberry, with a painstakingly ground out 42, shows that ball was dominating bat until Wright came to the crease. His batting is undoubtedly his stronger suit, although his bowling has shown signs of improvement this season and who can forget that over which he bowled during the winter to win the game at the death for England? He clearly is a mentally strong cricketer, who is capable of adapting to different situations. He must be utilised lower down the order, rather than as a pinch hitter, as he has now proven that he operates best around number six or seven. Andrew Flintoff, most definitely now a bowling allrounder, could be well complemented in the future by Wright, a batting allrounder.

Luke Wright, 120

Watch out for Luke Wright this summer, he is coming and he is coming hard and fast!

Championship - Week 3

More damp weather meant just the one positive result this week. However, it was a good week for England wicket-keepers past and present.

Div 1
Starting at Headingley where despite the overcast conditions, Darren Gough decided that Yorkshire should bat first against Nottinghamshire. Scoring was slow and Ryan Sidebottom started with a run of seven maidens, although no wickets. A century from Jacques Rudolph helped to rescue the Yorkshire innings from 111 for 5 to 299 all out. The Notts innings followed a similar path and they looked to be in trouble at 115 for 5. However, a stands of 136 between Chris Read (142) and Graeme Swann (68) and 113 between Read and Stuart Broad (53) took Notts past 400 and meant that Yorkshire had to bat out 69 overs for a draw, which they managed with 2 wickets to spare, making 187 for 8. Notts take all of the credit though.

Rain meant that the game at Hove turned into a battle for bonus points, with Sussex making 475. Carl Hopkinson fell 3 runs short of his century, with Murray Goodwin going one run better with 98. In reply Surrey declared on 400 for 5 (century 99 for Mark Ramprakash). Sussex made 13 in 13 overs in their second innings against the testing bowling of Usman Afzaal and Ali Brown as the game petered out.

Div 2
Glamorgan batted first against Gloucestershire, scoring 277. Gloucester then declared on 141 for 4 in an effort to set up a positive result. Some declaration bowling took Glamorgan to 178 for 1 leaving Gloucester a challenging 315 to win. Gloucester lost their first 5 wickets for just 76 runs. A stand of 114 between Hamish Marshall (105) and Stephen Snell (53) gave some hope of securing a draw. However, the veterans of the Glamorgan team, Robert Croft and Jason Gillespie broke through and took the last five wickets for just ten runs and Glamorgan have as many victories in this season’s championship as they managed last time round.

Warwickshire were indebted to two stands of over 150 in their total of 433 for 8 with Tim Ambrose (156*) and Jonathan Trott (82) putting on 152 for the 5th wicket and Ambrose and Neil Carter (84) putting on 157 for the 8th wicket. In reply Leicestershire had a large stand of their own, with Matthew Boyce (106) and HD Ackerman (104) putting on 182 for the second wicket. However, from that promising position, Leicester fell away to 357 all out, with Ian Salisbury taking five wickets. Unfortunately the weather meant that the second innings wasn’t started.

Finally to Northampton, where Northamptonshire capitulated to just 168 all out having decided to bat first. The pitch then seemed to even out somewhat as Worcestershire declared on 400 for 8, with Stephen Moore continuing his fine start to the season with 109. Needing 233 to make Worcester bat again, Nicky Boje set about trying to get the runs on his own, scoring an unbeaten 226. he had plenty of support though, and the game closed with Northants on 514 for 5.

England Player watch
Michael Vaughan wouldn’t have enjoyed Darren Gough’s decision to bat first on a damp Headingley pitch, but his battling 42 and 34 show that he’s in reasonable nick, particularly as the Notts bowling attack is substantially more threatening than the Kiwi attack. Ian Bell scored 45 for Warwickshire, while Matt Prior scored 51, which is his lowest first class score of the season. Prior was outshone by his successor, as Tim Ambrose scored an unbeaten 156, and one of his predecessors as Chris Read hit 142.

For Notts, in the first innings Ryan Sidebottom was very tight, starting with seven consecutive maidens but wicketless, while Stuart Broad was more expensive, but took three wickets, including Vaughan. Both took wickets in the second innings, while their likely partner in the England team, Matthew Hoggard took two wickets in the Notts innings, but also started with four consecutive maidens. Monty Panesar went wicketless for Northants.

Player of the Week
Nicky Boje has had a good couple of weeks for Northants. However, the stars of the show this week were both wicketkeepers. Tim Ambrose is almost certain to be in the test team next week and in good form. However, for taking Notts from a position of potential defeat to a position of strength and almost forcing an unlikely victory, the player of the week is the man who should have been the England wicketkeeper since Alec Stewart retired, Chris Read