• The forums will be unavailable for a few hours on Saturday 6th June, when they do return they will initially be in a degraded state with some features missing, but normal posting/reading will be possible. The main website will not be affected by these updates.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.
    Some other features of the forum are also currently disabled.

CC : Hampshire v Durham

Two Test venues have produced pitches that will do more harm than good to the spectacle of county cricket. The groundstaff at Edgbaston and Southampton should be getting a severe reprimand. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when pitches such as that are produced the clubs should be docked points. Folk will look at places like Taunton (from last week) and cry about points deductions, but if we’re talking about preparing cricketers for Test Match Cricket, they’re more likely to improve their game and their technique playing on pitches that do a bit. Anyone can bat on a road.

I agree with everything in your post but just to highlight this part - sadly i bet FTECB are rubbing their hands and slapping backs at how well theyre doing, destroying county cricket whilst getting england batsmen in form by having them rack up huge scores
 

As mentioned ad nauseam, we’ve played on three absolute roads and I still don’t feel like any team has outbowled us. The one time there was a bit of life, we soundly beat our opponent.
Agree 3 of the 4 games we've played have been on very bat friendly surfaces but the opposition bowlers have gained a total of 10 bowling points as opposed to our 4.That does concern me slightly.
 
Last edited:
I’m very confident that we’ll get a positive result next week against an out of form Lancashire. Ben Stokes playing would be a huge boost as well
 
One the positive side we're still unbeaten. Only one other side in Div 1 can say that.

Lack of bonus points are a concern though. Should pick up a few at Blackpool.

Mid May and we're already a third of the way through the County Championship.
 
Indeed.

We’ve taken 45 wickets in 4 games, which is only 25 in 3 if you consider the fact we managed to take 20 wickets in the win at Kidderminster. It’s very clear though that we’ve played on 3 absolute roads in the drawn games and (as someone else alluded to yesterday) the only decent pitch we’ve had this season has been the one at an outground.

Two Test venues have produced pitches that will do more harm than good to the spectacle of county cricket. The groundstaff at Edgbaston and Southampton should be getting a severe reprimand. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when pitches such as that are produced the clubs should be docked points. Folk will look at places like Taunton (from last week) and cry about points deductions, but if we’re talking about preparing cricketers for Test Match Cricket, they’re more likely to improve their game and their technique playing on pitches that do a bit. Anyone can bat on a road.

What is very positive, is that we’re one of only 3 teams still unbeaten AND I think it must be worth mentioning that in the three draws our batsmen have survived facing mammoth deficits and have come through the immense scoreboard pressure relatively unscathed. At no point in any game have we truly been fighting for our lives. I’m sure we’d all rather we were a bit closer to Surrey at the top end of the table, but we’re fairly solidly cemented in the mid-table for now and I’d prefer to look up and note that a win next week (or in the game after that) and we’ll be right up there.

It’s easy to criticise the bowlers. I’m not saying I don’t want more out of them, but I’d prefer to focus on the positives of having blunted opposition attacks when under pressure rather than criticise our bowlers because they’ve been given very little assistance whatsoever.

As mentioned ad nauseam, we’ve played on three absolute roads and I still don’t feel like any team has outbowled us. The one time there was a bit of life, we soundly beat our opponent.

The future is bright.
well said
 
Agree 3 of the 4 games we've played have been on very bat friendly surfaces but the opposition bowlers have gained a total of 10 bowling points as opposed to our 4.That does concern me slightly.
We've bowled first at Warks and Hants and yes, have looked toothless. We've then put 517 and 432 on the board ourselves, indicating that in both games there was not much to do.

Only Carse has, to me anyway, looked sub par.
 
As it were really, we are a tough nut to crack and credit for getting stuck in facing 500, that is an excellent mentality.

Not overly concerned with the bowling as the state of the pitches are absolutely appalling and I've made my feelings known about that a couple of seasons ago which was the worst season of cricket I've ever watch.

I sincerely hope the wicket at Blackpool serves up a better game.
 
Back
Top