Not my best season

posted by John Winn

When I left the Riverside at tea last Monday I did not anticipate it would be my last cricket watching of the season for I expected to return on Wednesday at least but as Tony has described the weather took charge of proceedings from Tuesday onwards as it did over the rest of the country with the result that all nine championship matches ended in draws. Events at Bristol where only 73 overs were bowled were sufficient to guarantee Gloucestershire promotion and means that next season they will resume championship rivalry with neighbours Somerset for the first time since 2005, a must see match for me, let's hope the fixture list gives me two bites at that particular cherry.

The summer has been notable for its extremes of weather. On Saturday I had to retreat to the back of the Trueman stand at Headingley to escape the heat, three days later the drains in my local high street were struggling to cope with torrential rain. Some counties have suffered more than others, 14 matches in the T20 Blast were washed out, Yorkshire losing four to add to the one they lost in the one day cup and it was frustrating that just when they had got themselves into a promising position at Edgbaston a week ago Jupiter Pluvius should frustrate them once more. At least the weather allowed Kohler Cadmore and Loten the chance to offer a measure of cheer after the Kent debacle.

For Durham given that they lost the first four matches but ended up with five victories and an unbeaten run of twelve games  their supporters should not be too downhearted. Bancroft, who will return for all forms of the game next year, was a success as an overseas player and the two signings from Leicestershire, Eckersley and Raine have been outstanding. Of course problems remain, an opening partner for Lees, at least one other top order batsman and a spinner would be high on my wanted list.

Beginning with first class cricket on the 26th of March, a first for me and finishing on the 23rd of September, I saw cricket on 63 days, my lowest total for some years. It would be easy but wrong to blame the weather but rather it is simply that I have found it difficult at times to motivate myself to 'start the car'. None of my listed matches were available and of course new grounds involve longer and longer journeys and on the whole the highlights of my season have been relatively close to home. A bonus and thanks largely  to the ICC for this but I saw first class cricket on three new grounds, Weetwood, York and Sedbergh. The four days at York were splendid, apart from the result, a wonderful social occasion as well as a closely fought match and I thoroughly enjoyed my day out at Sedbergh, a feeling not shared with the Lancashire Action Group whose tweets continue to reflect their anger about playing in  'a school field in Yorkshire'.

Other highlights include two very good games at Scarborough, I even had the good fortune to miss Kim Hughes, accidentally coming across cricket at Ambleside and a last ball win for the Yorkshire Diamonds against Southern Vipers just minutes after Ben Stokes had written history at Headingley. This last occasion, like Laker's 19 wickets at Old Trafford will as time goes by turn out to be one of those events where it will be hard to find anybody who wasn't there.

Overall however 2019 must go down as a somewhat flat season for me and my report card should be marked 'could do better' which is what Mr Hancock said about my French home work in 1958. The blog will not of course close down in winter and Tony will no doubt bring us news from the displaced Arthington Festival. Keep logging on and Winter Well.