Is county 2nd XI cricket fit for purpose?

Posted by Tony Hutton

It must be admitted that the ramifications of the current county cricket fixture list are wide and varied. Probably very little thought has gone into the effects on county second eleven cricket, one of the poor relations of the county game. The fact that everything at this time of year is centred on the all powerful T20 format means that those county players not involved are having to play second eleven cricket to try and get some practise and either to stay in or regain form.

Last week I featured the appearance of Lees, Ballance and Brooks in the Yorkshire second team at Durham. Today at Todmorden Lancashire fielded a side including Hameed, Chanderpaul, Davies, Jones and Jarvis all regular first teamers plus a few more with considerable first team experience.
Durham on the other hand featured only Graham Onions, recovering from injuries, together with eight or so regular second team players.

This has not been uncommon in this fractured fixture list throughout the season and begs the question what is the purpose of county second eleven cricket? My own opinion is that it should cater for the young up and coming players to give them experience of three day cricket as a stepping stone to first team championship games. They will need one or two experienced colleagues alongside them ideally those nearing the end of their careers, but to use it purely as a source of practise for regular first teamers seems to defeat the object.

The counter argument of course is where else can they go? We have seen the unedifying sight of county players appealing for Saturday league games on social media just to get a few overs under their belts. The answer of course lies in the ridiculous fixture list which has been thrust upon us with no proper county cricket at the peak time of the season. There should be a regular programme of county games all season where players out of form or recovering from injury can get practise at a proper level. Test players should be released to play in all games which do not clash with Test matches - perhaps a hard thing to find these days!

This leads me on to a wider theme highlighted at Todmorden today. No scorecards were available for quite a sizeable crowd which suggests second eleven cricket does not matter to Lancashire at least.
Good crowds for matches at club outgrounds are not unusual in the north of England, although probably unheard of in the south. Second eleven cricket is not promoted or publicised. It is hard to find out the overnight scores, without searching all the county websites. Some give scores others do not. There is no uniformity and second eleven games at soulless Test match stadiums are a complete waste of time. People will not turn up, no atmosphere, no facilities.

I realise I am whistling in the dark, nobody will take any notice, nobody cares. Well a few of us do!