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County Cricket 2025

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Voice of fair play said:
I actually think the idea behind it not that bad in theory

However it is abundantly clear that in practice it not working and the evidence is glaringly obvious.

If they continue to ignore that obvious evidence it will be inexcusable.

You can accept people getting it wrong but not accept them not aadmitting it when it is soo clear
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That’s what I’ve been trying to say, but perhaps not very effectively. Whatever it’s trying to do, it isn’t doing it. It’s certainly not working for the championship in the sense of making for interesting cricket. But I’m not sure what else it’s supposed to achieve. Key talks about upskilling. But what new skills are our bowlers learning from this?

You can recognise that there is a problem when chubby 45-year-old’s bowling at 70 miles an hour are successful in the championship in April and still disagree with this as a solution. The ball/pitch combination needs to be better. Too many games finish early, and we do seem to have lost from the championship the skill of game management where you need to be proactive to press home an advantage, because you cannot guarantee to take 20 wickets otherwise. But this is not the solution.
 
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Fleagle said:
That’s what I’ve been trying to say, but perhaps not very effectively. Whatever it’s trying to do, it isn’t doing it. It’s certainly not working for the championship in the sense of making for interesting cricket. But I’m not sure what else it’s supposed to achieve. Key talks about upskilling. But what new skills are our bowlers learning from this?

You can recognise that there is a problem when chubby 45-year-old’s bowling at 70 miles an hour are successful in the championship in April and still disagree with this as a solution. The ball/pitch combination needs to be better. Too many games finish early, and we do seem to have lost from the championship the skill of game management where you need to be proactive to press home an advantage, because you cannot guarantee to take 20 wickets otherwise. But this is not the solution.
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To be fair, given the hot dry spell, pitches are ideal for batting and it's likely that this round of matches would result in a lot of draws even with the Duke's ball. Historically, England have been competitive abroad and there's always been a fair percent of medium fast trundlers in the CC so what has changed?
Fast bowlers break down more easily and players aren't given a period to aclimatise when going on tour. These are the 2 issues that require addressing,changing to a Kookaburra ball in a normal English climate won't address them.
 
Parkside said:
To be fair, given the hot dry spell, pitches are ideal for batting and it's likely that this round of matches would result in a lot of draws even with the Duke's ball. Historically, England have been competitive abroad and there's always been a fair percent of medium fast trundlers in the CC so what has changed?
Fast bowlers break down more easily and players aren't given a period to aclimatise when going on tour. These are the 2 issues that require addressing,changing to a Kookaburra ball in a normal English climate won't address them.
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And also, “in the old days” in these conditions, you would assume that pitches at certain grounds, the Oval being one, would be turning like buggery on the third or fourth day. That sort of pitch has been regulated out of the game by the ECB, obliging all the counties to produce tracks that just don’t deteriorate anymore. @Hetty I think posted a day one photo on the match thread with so much green on, you would have to forgive Lees for bowling first. I think both as a spectacle in its own right and as a vehicle for producing test cricketers, the championship could do with being less uniform again.
 
Parkside said:
To be fair, given the hot dry spell, pitches are ideal for batting and it's likely that this round of matches would result in a lot of draws even with the Duke's ball. Historically, England have been competitive abroad and there's always been a fair percent of medium fast trundlers in the CC so what has changed?
Fast bowlers break down more easily and players aren't given a period to aclimatise when going on tour. These are the 2 issues that require addressing,changing to a Kookaburra ball in a normal English climate won't address them.
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The last time I believe England won the Ashes in Australia was 2010-11 and there were a number of warm up games beforehand to allow the team to acclimatise.

Fast forward to our last tour of Australia and a drubbing and we were criticised for poor preparation with no meaningful warm up games played.

We seem to be repeating the same mistake with only one warm up game again this time before the upcoming Ashes series.

In fact, I'd say our preparation in recent years has been amateurish and diabolical at times. The ODI WC in India being a good example.

So I agree, I dont think playing the Kookaburra ball in the CC is going to help much if at all but getting our team out a good month before the series starts and playing some proper warm up games will.
 
Fleagle said:
And also, “in the old days” in these conditions, you would assume that pitches at certain grounds, the Oval being one, would be turning like buggery on the third or fourth day. That sort of pitch has been regulated out of the game by the ECB, obliging all the counties to produce tracks that just don’t deteriorate anymore. @Hetty I think posted a day one photo on the match thread with so much green on, you would have to forgive Lees for bowling first. I think both as a spectacle in its own right and as a vehicle for producing test cricketers, the championship could do with being less uniform again.
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Easier said than done though. It's that long ago that we had pitches that assisted spin that we no longer have coaches to develop young spinners or coaches to develop batters to with the skills to play on a turning pitch.
 
mackembhoy said:
See Adam Hose had some fun with the Kookaburra yesterday.

Predominantly a T20 player for many years and only one previous FC century from 49 games and a best of 111

Scored 266 from 253 yesterday
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Stat-padding occurring all over the place in the past week and a half.
 
Problem we have is due to the improvements in ground drainage and pitch preparation we don't see the gradual deterioration that would bring in a spinner. Unfortunately long gone are the days that you would see spin and inconsistent bounce on day 4.

Another thing on this Kookaburra ball debate, one of the reasons they use them in Australia is due to the hardness of the pitches there. So unless they can replicate both the overhead and pitch conditions this experiment is always set up to fail. In Australia you have to bowl back of a length to have any success, however try bowling that length in England on soft pitches you're not going to get very far.
 
SuperSub said:
Problem we have is due to the improvements in ground drainage and pitch preparation we don't see the gradual deterioration that would bring in a spinner. Unfortunately long gone are the days that you would see spin and inconsistent bounce on day 4.

Another thing on this Kookaburra ball debate, one of the reasons they use them in Australia is due to the hardness of the pitches there. So unless they can replicate both the overhead and pitch conditions this experiment is always set up to fail. In Australia you have to bowl back of a length to have any success, however try bowling that length in England on soft pitches you're not going to get very far.
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Absolutely right, I mentioned last week (after listening to some podcast or other) that the Aussie & kiwi lads in this country have noted how unsuitable the kookaburra ball is to English conditions.
 
Is the rationale for using the kookaburra to prepare for the Ashes?

The players that will play in the Ashes are playing a test series so not overly exposed to the experiment/preparation.

Is there other rationale?
 
mackemmover94 said:
Is the rationale for using the kookaburra to prepare for the Ashes?

The players that will play in the Ashes are playing a test series so not overly exposed to the experiment/preparation.

Is there other rationale?
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You can read the rationale in Andrew Strauss' report. Its on slide 17 in the attached.

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The idea was to improve the quality of cricket when playing in England and abroad. The rationale being that the dukes favoured seamers and therefore reduced focus on pace and accuracy for fast bowlers as well as the use of spin which is low in England compared to other countries. The idea is the use of the Kookaburra would improve these skills in players which would benefit our bowling in CC as well as tests both at home and abroad.

A few issues with this, some which others have already pointed out.

1. We cant replicate the conditions of other countries where Kookaburra is used. E.g. hotter and more humid weather and harder surfaces which also help with the Kookaburra ball.
2. Most of our test players arent playing in CC games anyway so they are not benefiting from the trial.
3. I cant see how our seamers are suddenly going to start learning to bowl faster.
 
Not a lot happening at Grace Road this morning. One wicket has fell leaving Leicestershire 9 down and Middlesex are struggling to take the final wicket.

Lots of blocking and leaving the ball. I think 46 runs have been added to the score since 11am.

I’ve gone into the bar for a Poretti and to escape the sun.
 
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Darren Lehman, the former Australian international and coach of Northants saying the Kookaburra trial doesnt work in the UK just as using the dukes in Australia doesnt work. Its not suited to the UK.
 
Rob Key has today announced that for the next round of games bowlers will need to bowl blindfolded, with their non bowling arm while hoping on one leg as part of an initiative to improve cricket accuracy and quality. Rob Key said he was confident this would be another step to making England the dominant force in world cricket while delivering exciting games to spectators
 
Noticed Trevaskis batting 3 for Leicestershire, thought he must have been a nightwatchman but he's at 3 for the 2nd innings aswel
 
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