Cricket!

[Berober]

Yeah, it was pretty bad in Worcestershire when my brother was going through the youth ranks, he'd get passed over for players half as good as him. Now that he's 19, he's pretty much resigned to the fact that he can get to the division below or two below County and play there consistently.

On the flip side, one of the kids I coached way back when, and gave his first junior game to, is apparently one of the 'golden boys', so I look forward to him going through the county ranks

[Chris2K]

The county scene, particularly at youth level, is really depressing. Best example I have is Gloucestershire's academy for under 17 players which has over 100 players on its books. Once they're on the books the parents are expected to pay for the kit that's needed, pay for coaching sessions, pay for matches and countless other things, but only a small handful of those players will ever be offered a proper contract with Gloucestershire themselves whilst the county pockets the money of parents who have been led to believe that their child is destined to be a star.

I used to work for Somerset part-time but didn't really get involved in anything outside the first team squad so I don't know the ins and outs of how their academy works. I know a lot of their current and former Second XI players though and once they reach a certain age they're faced with a choice. They can either continue plugging away into their late teens in the hope they'll get a call-up to the main squad and a chance to make a name for themselves (best example being Jos Buttler who was always on the fringes of the squad behind Craig Kieswetter until he got an opportunity) or they can give up on their dreams and either get a job or go back to university to get the degree they didn't think they needed when they were expecting to be a professional cricketer. If they choose that then it means no more Second XI cricket because they're not free on week days.

Also teams change their policies so often that it can be difficult to know the best route to go, Somerset used to be very much about bringing through youth players and not signing players from outside, this year Matthew Maynard has come in and all of a sudden the team is full of veteran Kolpak players whilst the younger players who played last season are either ignored, loaned out, or even released completely.

There are occasional feel-good stories, Wes Durston was released by Somerset because he wasn't part of their plans (despite being their leading T20 run scorer the previous season) but got a second chance with Derbyshire after playing for the club I score for, Wiltshire and the Unicorns Minor County side, he got offered a contract by Derbyshire and hasn't looked back since.

Not really sure what the point of this ramble was, other than I've spent the day watching a game that involved at least four people who tried so hard to get a county contract but in the end had to give up after being promised things that never materialised.

[The Lusophone]

Would opening up the county game to the second class counties again go some way to solving that? If counties like Devon who have in the past beaten some of the first class counties were allowed to progress and to enter the Test league structure there would probably be more opportunities for academy cricketers.

[Chris2K]

There's a huge gulf between minor counties and the first class counties which has opened up further and further since the minor county matches were removed from cup competitions and pre-season games between the two were abandoned and replaced with games against University sides. Most minor county sides are made up of players who are 23+ with no county links, either due to location (for example, Wiltshire is right between Somerset and Gloucestershire and neither county consider it part of their catchment area), or because they've been released or ignored for reasons that don't relate to their talent. Some of those reasons include "attitude problems" or the fact that they can score 100s and take wickets but don't have the fitness to run a half marathon so obviously can't play first class cricket.

It all comes down to money really. County cricket clubs are run in a far more businessy way than before and matches against minor county sides are not worth the time and effort for the small amount of revenue that would be generated. If anything the Second XI matches are the only real opportunities for the academy players, but as has been mentioned before the people picked to play in those games tend to be people who are in favour or already chosen to be fast-tracked, in addition to fringe 1st team squad players, many of whom are far more interested in their own situation than helping to develop a young player who might end up taking their spot in the first team squad. The counties are happy to keep that going because it benefits them in terms of looking at their academy players whilst having full control of them, whilst also not losing money as they farm the matches out to local grounds with far less expenditure than at their home ground and play them when the 1st XI matches are on.

[Matt]

So England are still shit. Sans Stokes and Root.

[Slogger]

So England are still shit. Sans Stokes and Root.

So what's the count of former colonies of yours that are now better at the game you created?

Watch out, Canada is coming, yo.

[Matt]

Are we counting rugby (both disciplines) and football? If so, I'm pretty sure all of them beat us at least one.

[Matt]

So somehow we might actually win this, we need 3 wickets in 20 overs. New Zealand need about 130 in that time and Southee seems up for it. All 3 results are still possible.

[Chris2K]

1 wicket now. Very impressive bowling performance today after very good batting yesterday. It's almost like a completely different team played the first three days.

[Matt]

Yeah I don't think we've deserved to win this at all. Root and Stokes have almost single (double?) handedly grabbed a victory out of the jaws of a humiliating defeat.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Gary MattAllister

[Chris2K]

And done. Highest number of runs in a test match where all 40 wickets have fallen.

It will be interesting to see how New Zealand respond, likely they'll be a bit stronger now their best players are more settled into test matches after selling out their preparation time to play in the IPL.

[Lineker]

Trevor Bayliss has been named England's new head coach.

The 52-year-old New South Wales coach succeeds Peter Moores, whose second spell ended in a sacking in early May.

Bayliss led Sri Lanka from 2007-2011, took temporary charge of Australia for their Twenty20 series in South Africa in 2014 and has coached Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

He played in 58 first-class matches as a batsman for his native New South Wales but never represented Australia.

[Matt]

Somewhat a shame Gillespie didn't take it but he's doing a cracking job with Yorkshire so I'd rather he stayed there for the time being

[Chris2K]

He played in 58 first-class matches as a batsman for his native New South Wales but never represented Australia.

You'd be amazed how many people there are out there who would look at this sentence and immediately declare he's not qualified to lead the England team.

[Plubby]

He'd have played 100 tests for England.

[Matt]

Ali Cook just became England highest ever run scorer. Only 30 years old too, so he should easily make 10,000 (less than 1100 to go).

[Matt]

Lyth century, geddon lad. Dunno why we don't just play the Yorkshire team.

[Plubby]

Yes, Australia does produce century-makers on debut in their thirties just for fun. Yes they're all Western Australian.

[Matt]

England just hit their highest ODI score of 408-9. Root 104, Butler 129, Rashid 63 (I think), Morgan 50. Plunkett took us over 400 after Rashid and Jordan went on consecutive balls in the last over by hitting two massive 6s in his first two balls, not bad for a number 10 batsman.

[Berober]

Duckworth Lewis is dumb.