Initial causes of complaint

Posted by Tony Hutton

We try very hard on this blog to restrict our comments to action on the field of play, but inevitably events off the field cause great concern and lead to a good old fashioned rant from time to time. Being of advanced years my own complaints go back as far as coloured clothing and black sightscreens, which I know we have to put up with. More recently the trend for organisations to be known by sets of initials really sets me off. Of course we have the M.C.C, the E.C.B. and Y.C.C.C, all regular causes of complaint. The latest on the block returned to proper cricket action this last weekend and prompted a visit to Alderley Edge to see Cheshire take on Oxfordshire in what is now known as the N.C.C.A.

This of course is what was known for many years as the Minor Counties, but some politically correct administrator at the E.C.B. thought the word Minor would not sell anything, so re-wrote history and had it removed. To do this and move rapidly towards endless one day cricket by terminating the long standing championship competition of three day matches into a four match lottery, large financial incentives had the move approved without question by the counties in question.

However the choice of N.C.C.A. as the new title is not without problems. In my endless search for information on the new competition on the internet I first came up with 'The National Carpet Cleaners Association', subsequently followed by the possibly more appropriate 'National Centre for Circus Arts'. This week's search however wins first prize with 'National Centre for Combustion and Aerothermal Technology'.

Of course what it really means is the National Counties Cricket Association which promotes T20 and a 50 over knock out competition, in contrast to a major three day competition over the whole season. There are financial inducements for bringing on young home grown players, which may well be a good thing, but at the expense of including former county players who used to give added experience and wisdom to the youngsters. I can think off hand of people like Derek Randall, Devon Malcolm, Paul Newman and Ashley Metcalfe who all gave excellent service to Minor Counties in the past.

Alderley Edge on a previous visit.

However, having got all that off my chest, let us return to the pleasant ground of Alderley Edge where Cheshire entertained last year's champions Oxfordshire in day one of a rare three day game. Always interesting to see who turns up to play in these games. The excellent scorecard not only listed all the players, but their clubs as well. Cheshire included professional David Wainwright, once of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, but now at Castleford cricket club, together with home grown product Ben Gibbons, now with Worcestershire.

Oxfordshire, who won the championship last season for the first time in over thirty years, have no really well known players, but make up for that with the splendidly named Marcus Campopiano and Maxamillian Mannering. Cheshire batted and the cornerstone of their innings was provided by captain and wicketkeeper Rob Sehmi, from the Oulton Park club. He made an excellent 91, just missing out on a century. After a middle order collapse, provoked by the off spin of the said Mr Mannering (5-67), tailender Barnard's 38 at number ten helped take the total to 246, perhaps slightly below par.

The Alderley Edge pavilion on a previous visit.

The constant westerly wind rather spoilt proceedings on day one and led to a tea time exit, but we followed the fortunes of the game for the remaining two days with Cheshire apparently favourites for much of the time. They bowled Oxfordshire out for 189 in the first innings with four wickets for Wainwright and three for Barnard, to give them a lead of 57. Cheshire's rather modest second innings of 199 had skipper Sehmi to thank again with 41, together with a fifty from Wainwright.

The last day target of 259, requiring the highest total of the match, perhaps made Cheshire favourites, but Oxfordshire showed why they are champions thanks mainly to skipper Harry Smith, who batted throughout the innings for 134 not out. He was ably assisted by number nine Prav Chahal who made 55 not out in a partnership of 97 to win the match for the visitors by four wickets.