Looking ahead (and back)

posted by John Winn

With 2013 starting to get its  feet under the table and at least in the evenings, signs that the days are lengthening it is possible to look  ahead to 'this' rather than 'next' season. My diary shows I will have a choice of  first class matches  on Friday April 5th, just over three months away, when Durham MCCU visit The Riverside and Yorkshire take on Leeds/Bradford at Headingley. If your taste is for stronger meat then championship cricket  begins the following week on April 10th.

 Most leagues have produced their fixtures and adhere to their traditional third Saturday of April start. In postings I made in 2012 I referred to the major shake up in the structure of league cricket in the north east of England which is to be implemented this year. To facilitate the formation of a second division of the ECB Premier league, three leagues with hundreds of years of history between them have disappeared and those not reaching or aspiring to status of the new second division will form a new Durham Cricket league of one division which will split into two in 2014 season. It would be surprising if such dramatic changes had not provoked discontent and this is evident on  some message boards. What I cannot find is a clear official statement of the composition of the new division and the new league, let alone fixtures. Rumour and speculation are not in short supply but I will wait for official news before commenting further.

There will be very few cricket followers who are unaware of the deaths in the last week of two very influential figures in the game and both at comparatively early ages,  Tony Greig at 66 and 'CMJ' at 67. I first saw Greig play in a John Player match at Eastbourne in 1971 against Surrey. He did not have a particularly distinguished match being run out for two, but he did take two wickets. In the Sussex side was Ted Dexter who was caught Long bowled Arnold 0 and Surrey were captained by John Edrich. Other notables playing in front of a large crowd included John Snow, Bob Willis and Intikhab Alam

A year later I saw Greig playing in 'Underwood's match' at Headingley against Australia.The future skipper made 24 and England were rescued from 128 for 7 by a stand of 104 between Illingworth and Snow which was crucial in a low scoring match. By the time I next saw England  in 1978 Greig had thrown in his lot with Packer and Ian Botham was filling the middle order all rounder slot.

Many glowing tributes have been paid to 'CMJ' since his death was announced twenty four hours ago. His  contribution to the game  is perhaps best summed up by Jonathan Agnew when he says 'It's doubtful if anyone has contributed more  in a lifetime to the overall coverage of cricket.' What I liked most about him was the obvious care he took to ensure that whilst TMS was on air the County Championship was not forgotten. This was evident in the importance he attached to the reading of scores from grounds around the country. There is a danger in these days of central contracts with counties resigned to seeing very little of their star players that test cricket is seen as something that 'floats on high' and the underpinning structure of the county game is consequently ignored. With the passing of Christopher Martin-Jenkins the first class county game may need a new champion.