It’s freezing cold and everywhere is flooded, so it must be the start of the county cricket season. Surrey, last year’s champions, head for Old Trafford on Friday, in what should be a three-sweater day, aiming to make it three titles in a row. And who would bet against them? It’s a superb tournament, the county championship, much more than just an opportunity for elderly gentlemen to spread their wings with a sandwich lunch. But it could certainly do with some reforms. This goes against a lot of current thinking, but why not revert to three-day matches with a points system heavily weighted against draws? This would provide considerably more excitement, with no excuse for spending ages building a big first innings, as well as providing more elbow room for other competitions.
Ben Stokes is dead right in trying to play agressive cricket and the counties should be encouraged to do the same
Nor would it be detrimental to grooming players for Test cricket. One of the main problems for the championship is the negativity that surrounds it. It has become fashionable to run it down and administrators and cricket’s grandees need to be more positive about what is a historic competition. The 2024 Playfair Cricket Annual is out this week and will almost certainly go into the bestseller lists. On the cover is a photo of Harry Brook playing an elegant cover drive. You can almost smell the mown grass and feel the excitement rising.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are dead right in trying to play aggressive cricket and the counties should start doing the same. The debate about ‘Bazball’ is absurd: for professional sport to survive it has to be entertaining, and aggressive cricket is undoubtedly far more entertaining than defensive cricket. The great teams of the past – the Windies in the 1970s and 1980s and Aussie teams under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting – provided outstanding entertainment because of their aggression. Oh, and the fact that they had some of the best players ever to walk the planet.
What will be interesting to see is whether the few England players who didn’t make a pig’s ear of their time in India can back up their performance in the county championship, Somerset’s Shoaib Bashir in particular. The lack of a really good spinner has been a problem for England for ages: Graeme Swann is about the only one England has had in recent years. And who couldn’t love a player who asked for review after being clean bowled in the final Test? Good luck ‘Bash’, your country needs you.
The Champions League is about to deliver those matches you daren’t even dream about. These are quarter-finals to feast on. Next week Arsenal are at home to Bayern, and Manchester City are away to Real Madrid. If the results go the English clubs’ way, then the semi-final will be a repeat of last Sunday’s so-called ‘Match of the Century.’ I’m not sure how many will be looking forward to that. The City/Arsenal game was like watching a lecture in quantum physics. You knew something was going on there, but you had no idea what it was.
The good burghers of Liverpool FC don’t, at a glance, have a lot in common with the Tory party, but there is a similarity when it comes to the top job. Anyone who takes over the Tory party can look forward to a lengthy spell in opposition and inheriting a disunited rabble. Anyone thinking of taking over at Anfield will have similar reservations, but for different reasons: how on earth to follow an incredibly successful, hugely popular managerial legend like Jürgen Klopp?
Is this why the great Xabi Alonso has decided to stay at Bayer Leverkusen, currently running away with the Bundesliga? My guess is he has an eye on the next but one vacancy at Liverpool. He is only 42, after all. And then a perfectly timed coronation at Anfield, taking over from Klopp’s perhaps less garlanded successor. Wise move, Xabi.
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