England overwhelming their opponents has been admirable but not as exciting as the domestic scene
Two men and a dog are getting rather excited in several corners of the country. At least, that is what some commentators in their armchairs or luxuriating in the plush boxes overlooking an international cricket match would have us believe as they contemplate the end of the county season.
Of course, it is very rarely two men and a dog. Domestic cricket in England is the most watched of any in the world and it always has been. Go to a state match in Sydney or Perth even when Australia ruled the world with Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist in their pomp and there would only ever be a handful of spectators in the ground. It would be no different in Jamaica in the days when Michael Holding was doing his Rolls-Royce impressions; and the same applies in South Africa and India. Domestic cricket around the world is played in not so splendid isolation.
But throughout the season in England ? and for the last two rounds of matches in particular ? drop in at Worcester or Taunton, Liverpool or Headingley and there will be a goodly sprinkling of onlookers, two thousand or more. And they are just the tip of an iceberg.
A decade or two ago the hardcore followers, who were actually present at the ground, would be augmented by regiments scouring the cricket scoreboards and reports every morning meticulously monitoring the progress of journeymen county cricketers trying to bring that pennant back to their club.
Now they can also peruse a selection of websites for up-to-the-minute information, checking if Joe Root is still holding out or whether "Metterlitharan", as the young Warwickshire left-armer, Chris Metters, is often known on those sites, has spun anyone out. We may even have discovered a worthwhile use of Twitter since it provides an easy way to let everyone know that Kyle Hogg has just snaffled another wicket at Aigburth.
In September the traffic on the Guardian website's county blog reaches M25 proportions. It is the modern day news-ticker, the contraption that Clement Attlee had in his prime ministerial office, which he referred to as his "cricket machine". Now we can appreciate the contributors' intimate knowledge of Peter Trego's tattoos as well as the gallows humour that accompanies the compulsion to check whether James Anyon has survived as a nightwatchman down at Hove or whether Gary Ballance (Dave Houghton's nephew, of course) has reached three figures for Yorkshire at Edgbaston?
There is also a wonderful ? or terrible, depending on your vantage point ? uncertainty about how things are working out on the county circuit. Deep Throat told the hacks "to follow the money" and that has been a pretty foolproof way of predicting success among our Premier League football sides.
It does not always work out like that in cricket. Much of the money belongs to Surrey but still they reside in the Division Two. They have spent, not always wisely, and their investments do not guarantee an immediate elevation. They are desperate to extricate themselves from Division Two this season. They may still do so. But Middlesex and Northamptonshire (not so much money there) remain the likeliest candidates for promotion.
As a result at such contrasting venues as Wantage Road, Northampton and Lord's there are currently pockets of great excitement. Both sides, if they are promoted, have the chance to win the pennant, something which Northamptonshire, Somerset and maybe Gloucestershire (depending on your view of history) have never managed.
Moreover, in Division One there is no order. For much of the season it seemed to be increasingly clear that Hampshire and Worcestershire were for the drop. Then what happens this week? League leaders Lancashire travel to New Road and are thrashed by 10 wickets. Thus Worcestershire's revival continues. So does that of Hampshire, who demolish Somerset by an innings.
These victories frighten the living daylights out of Tykes everywhere, since Yorkshire's hold on Division One status becomes increasingly frail as a consequence. Even Sussex could be dragged back into the dogfight.
This contrasts starkly with the international summer of cricket, where a strange pattern was soon established: England turn up and overwhelm their opponents. Which has been admirable but seldom gripping.
But domestically we are constantly surprised. The devotees can cast an eye at the next round of fixtures, which start on Wednesday and in Division One there is not a "dead" game to be found. There will be no late-season blooding of youngsters just for the sake of it. Instead there will be late fitness tests in the hope that some old stalwart can drag his body out one more time in the last-ditch pursuit of glory or survival. There are no end-of-season parties in July in Division One.
Lancashire against Hampshire at Liverpool is no formality partly because the home batsmen may have developed the yips, unlike those of Hampshire, who have been revelling at Taunton. Relegation could still haunt Worcestershire and Sussex, who meet at New Road. Likewise much hinges on the meeting of Yorkshire and Somerset at Headingley.
So there will be plenty of you out there of the same mind as the mathematician GH Hardy, who admitted his obsession. "Even if I knew I was going to die today," he said, "I think I'd still want to know the cricket scores."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/sep/03/county-championship-cricket-climax
No comments:
Post a Comment