2019 County Championship Chat Thread.

[DiligentDefence]

Is Vancoselos still taking the gloves for Northants? If so that's some effort keeping and then opening the batting too in the long format

No, Rossington is keeping so far this season.

[andy]

Northants have signed Dwayne Pretorious for the t20 blast

[GGAS]

Dom Bess has joined Yorkshire on loan, can't get a game for Somerset.

Crazy to think he was playing for England a year ago.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Never felt a convincing pick.

[Durhamfootman]

Dom Bess has joined Yorkshire on loan, can't get a game for Somerset.

Somerset can no longer afford to prepare exploding minefields and field shedloads of spinners in their pursuit of a first Championship title

[Arthur Crabtree]

They didn't play a spinner in their only game at Turnton this year.

[GGAS]

Leach took a fifer at Trent Bridge though. Anything is possible.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Tops the averages...

[Durhamfootman]

They didn't play a spinner in their only game at Turnton this year.

of course not.... too worried that a spinner might take enough wickets, in early spring, for their pitch to come under scrutiny again and earn them an 8 point deduction. Nobody questions seamers taking wickets in April.... or anytime, for that matter.... that's just good bowling/poor batting.

Does the new dukes ball.... the one designed to let batsmen score more runs in March and October.... hamper the spinner?

[Durhamfootman]

Interesting that England will play the ashes with the style of dukes ball produced for 2017 and 2018 and not the smooth, dull, flat ball the counties are using.

'we want county batsmen to score more runs, but not the Aussies'

'we want county matches to last longer than 2 days in April and Sept, but not England matches'

double standards?

worried that England batsmen will collapse like a burst balloon even with a ball that won't get you out?

[Durhamfootman]

I hadn't realised that this season's ball had deliberately been designed to stop the bowlers flattening wickets in early and late season matches

[Alviro Patterson]

Interesting that England will play the ashes with the style of dukes ball produced for 2017 and 2018 and not the smooth, dull, flat ball the counties are using.

'we want county batsmen to score more runs, but not the Aussies'

'we want county matches to last longer than 2 days in April and Sept, but not England matches'

double standards?

worried that England batsmen will collapse like a burst balloon even with a ball that won't get you out?

Hardly double standards when England don't play with Kookaburras or SG. Those Kookaburra balls are terrible and should be banned from village cricket let alone the international game.

Also too many sub 80mph county trundlers blag too many wickets for having a bowler friendly ball, which does all sorts in the 1st session. Nothing wrong giving top order batsmen some relief in a problem area as long as the pitches offer some assistance for the bowlers.

[Durhamfootman]

Those Kookaburra balls are terrible and should be banned from village cricket let alone the international game.

Also too many sub 80mph county trundlers blag too many wickets for having a bowler friendly ball, which does all sorts in the 1st session. Nothing wrong giving top order batsmen some relief in a problem area as long as the pitches offer some assistance for the bowlers.

so why aren't England using the new ball?

my guess is that it is very similar to the kookaburra and they are afraid the ball won't swing for Santiago and the Aussies will plunder runs..... runs which the England boys won't be able to match because only 1 of the top 6 knows how to bat properly

[Alviro Patterson]

Because the new Dukes ball was modified for the County Championship. Where batting in the first 30 overs was hard work and there are trundlers like Darren Stevens picking up 5-fers with dibbly dobbly bowling.

Also it's okay for Australian cricketers to play County Cricket as preparation for The Ashes, but England players are not afforded the treatment when it comes to play Sheffield Shield or BBQ Cup cricket.

[Durhamfootman]

I hear what you are saying, but the new dukes ball has been designed solely to allow the CC to be played even earlier and even later in the season than it is now (and it's already too early and too late as it is), and England are well aware that their main (maybe even only) advantage in home tests is the swinging ball that all other sides rarely encounter. I believe this is evidenced by England's largely poor away record where this advantage is taken away.

So... the ECB want to see short test matches where the moving ball is king and England's batting deficiencies are ameliorated somewhat, and at the same time want longer CC matches where batsmen dominate so they can claim that forcing FC cricket ever further into the margins is not having a detrimental effect on the quality of the county game..... which it is.... we've seen this in test matches where 12 different opening partners were selected to partner Sir Alistair, none of whom were good enough. We've seen this when England have been forced to select 3 wicket keepers to try and cobble together some sort of batting up. And yes, we've seen this when 40 year old trundlers are taking heaps of wickets in April, May and September

Papering over the cracks by developing a ball that won't get you out, will not help England either, because all these top order batsmen who will plunder 1200 runs a season will have their stumps flattened as soon as they get an England call up because they won't have the skills to play the moving ball that England need in order to be successful at home.

What papering over the cracks will do, however, is make a nice big space in the domestic calendar at the best time of the year for young batsmen to hone their FC batting skills in a more even contest between bat and red ball, and fill it with yet another white ball, hit and giggle tournament

Still...... if it makes a few quid everything must be rosy....... mustn't it?