One of the last pieces in the jig saw in planning the coming cricket season's programme has arrived this week with the publication of the county cricket second XI fixtures which can be found on the ECB website. Yorkshire were the first in the field with their fixtures a few weeks ago, closely followed by Sussex and the full list now includes most of the venues, although Leicester and Northants, as ever, do not yet know where they will be playing.
The fixtures are particularly important these days with the county championship games crammed into the beginning and end of season, so it is good to have a steady flow of three day second eleven games to fall back on. In Mr Boycott's most recent pronouncement he feels that the county championship will not exist in twenty years time. If he is right, which I somehow doubt, I will not be here to see it happen but feel most grateful that I have already had seventy years of watching proper county cricket.
However back to the matter in hand. Gloucestershire second eleven appear to be breaking new ground with matches at Rockhampton, Bedminster and Bristol CC, as well as excursions into Somerset to play at Bath CC. Glamorgan are returning to Neath and Port Talbot where I think the first team played occasionally in the past. My own personal targets for new grounds will include Radlett (Middlesex), London School of Economics, New Malden (Surrey), Burnopfield (Durham) and Hem Heath (Derbyshire) although actually in Staffordshire.
Sadly one or two old favourites are not on the list. Most missed by many will be Todmorden which has staged home games for both Lancashire and Yorkshire for many years. Another Yorkshire favourite - Stamford Bridge, gets only a one day game. Add to this no Minor Counties game at
Sedbergh School in Cumbria and the demise of the St Peter's School York under 19s festival and some of the most popular grounds in the North of England no longer get a look in.
Many old favourites of course do remain. It will be a pleasure to re-visit Scarborough, Liverpool, Repton School, Crosby, York, Southport, Belper Meadows, Harrogate, Worksop College, Glossop, Denby, Marske, Blackpool and Chesterfield if I can somehow fit them all in!
For those able to travel further afield I would heartily recommend Preston Nomads (Sussex), Newclose (Isle of Wight), Kibworth (Leicestershire), High Wycombe (MCC YCs), Southgate (Middlesex), Bishops Stortford (Essex), and Horsham (Sussex).
Wherever you go enjoy your cricket and encourage the young home grown players of which there are so many. I have had the pleasure over the years of seeing young cricketers like Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Tim Bresnan, Adil Rashid and many others develop and grow up in Academy and Second team cricket. See if you can find some stars of the future too.
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