Although the fixtures for the National Counties Cricket Association were published some time ago, this week saw the publication of the full list of venues for the coming season. The new play cricket website for the NCCA is not always easy to find and certainly not to navigate when you eventually find it. I for one travelled via the site for the National Carpet Cleaners Association on my way there. For those still struggling with the new name it replaces the much loved, and much missed Minor Counties.
The sad thing to me, and I suspect many others, is the major change in three day championship games, which leaves us with just four games per county, two at home and two away. The first page of the new website sums up the situation as follows:-
'The National Counties Cricket Association is more than just a name change. Besides a name that better reflects the talents and importance of everyone involved at this level, the structure of games has undergone a transformation that will see less 3-day championship matches and more T20 and 50-over trophy games. An exciting time for spectators and aspiring cricketers who might otherwise struggle to commit to the lengthier games.'
If this is not a prime example of dumbing down, I don't know what is! One wonders how long before the next step when championship games will be replaced entirely by the ten over games currently being seen from Abu Dhabi on our television screens.
However ranting over (for now) and back down memory lane to recall some of the delights of Minor Counties cricket, when even the one day trophy games were played in whites. The Herefordshire website recalls the one day trophy final of 2000, still played at Lord's in those days, when they beat Cheshire in the final just eight years after their entry to the competition.
I was indeed fortunate to be there, having joined Herefordshire as a member a few years earlier when I had enjoyed my first visit to Brockhampton so much. Herefordshire batted first and thanks to a century from Paul Lazenbury and 94 from Chris Boroughs they made a challenging score of 291-6 in their fifty overs. Cheshire were restricted to 249-9 mainly due to some splendid bowling from Kevin Cooper, formerly of Nottinghamshire, who took five wickets for just 29 runs.
That season (2000) had been a vintage one for me having seen Minor Counties action at fifteen different grounds around the country as far apart as Keswick in the north and St. Just, not far from Land's End in the south. Hard to pick out the highlights but remember being particularly impressed with Truro in Cornwall, Bovey Tracey in Devon, Thame in Oxfordshire and finally the very last match to be played at the Lakenham ground in Norfolk.
The following year I was able to complete my target of seeing Minor Counties cricket in all twenty counties, including Wales Minor Counties, with Suffolk being the last one to be ticked off. Since then I have been a regular mainly at the northern counties of Cumberland, Northumberland, Lincolnshire and Cheshire, as you will find chronicled in the archives of this blog from 2009 onwards.
The first few weeks of the 2009 season saw visits to Netherfield (Cumberland), Woodhall Spa (Lincolnshire), Christleton (Cheshire) and Longhirst Hall (Northumberland) all recorded in the blog with appropriate photographs along the way. So it continued for years to come, but sadly all good things come to an end and assuming spectators are allowed in the coming season, suitably socially distanced, I anticipate only a handful of games at best.
No comments:
Post a Comment