County Championship Attendances

The new county championship gets underway is just a matter of weeks now, and instead of writing about who I think will be successful in the upcoming season or who would struggle. I thought it would be much more productive, and interesting  to write about the more underlying problem in the domestic long format of the game. Attendances.

553,000 people watched county championship cricket LIVE last year, and on the surface, that seems like quite a big number.

But if you bi-sect it and work out the average amount of people who watch every County Championship game, you quickly realise that actually, it isn't that many people at all.



A Bare County Championship Stand

Attendances on average were 800 people per day at any given County Championship game.

Possible reasons for these attendances?

1. The Rise of T20 cricket. It's no coincidence that since the arrival of T20 cricket, interest in County Championship cricket has gone down considerably. This may have had some effect on the attendances at CC games.
2. People can't afford to go to games, an adult could probably get into most County games for under £15 for the whole days play. The food can be expensive but homemade food can be taken, so overall a day at the cricket for two could cost little over £30, which is dirt cheap compared to other sports. Because of the cheapness I think this reason is invalid, but I've chucked it in the list just to even things out.
3. People just aren't available to go to games. County Championship games start midweek when people are at work, and so they aren't physically able to get to games. But this reason is slightly flawed, the games finale is on a Sunday or Saturday depending on what day it started on, most people are not at work at the weekend.

I think the reason for the low attendances is simply that interest in County Championship cricket is just not high enough, this is partly due to the rise of T20 cricket but partly due to the lack of media coverage in my opinion. For example I support Leicestershire, I live in Norfolk. No games are ever on TV, with the exception of maybe one or two at the end of the season, and I can't get any coverage on the radio. This means I have to browse the Internet just to find a scoreboard, and if I get a text commentary I'll be damn lucky.

It's a lot of effort to go through with not a lot of reward, a dull scoreboard which is usually slow updating is not a lot of reward for searching for a decent website to look on, and I can see why a lot of fans just wouldn't bother.

A solution?

Well - I think a weekly TV show dedicated to just County Championship would be perfect, cricket's version of Match of the Day.

Every Sunday night, sit down, relax, and watch your team in action. A summary of all the games that took place that week, with debates taking place regarding whatever matter had arisen in that week.

Cricket fans would get to see how their team have been getting on, and interest would start to rise. This would result in people getting more and more gripped by how their team are doing, and this could influence people getting to games.

I personally think it's a pretty damn good idea, although I am quite bias because I am the fool who created the idea in the first place!

Feel free to add your opinion on the matter in the comments box on this page, or on our Twitter page @TheSillyPoint_

England Fight Back

The first day in Dunedin was a complete wash out. I was looking forward to seeing England in Test cricket action for the first time in a long time, I'd missed a lot of the matches in India due to the time difference so I was definitely getting withdrawal symptoms.

When I switched on to watch I was dissapointed when I heard monotone Bob announce that the rain was pouring down in Dunedin and play was unlikely.

The whole days play was later abandoned.

Day two was a day to forget for England, but I'm not going to talk about that for too long, because much of my last post concentrated on the first three days in NZ.

To summarise it, England were very poor, skittled out for little over 150 with Trott being the only batsmen to score a respectable total.

Bruce Martin - Relatively Unknown

New Zealand had Rutherford and Martin on debut. One was a promising young cricketer who showed what we could be in store for in the next few years. The other was a veteran left arm spinner clearly brought in to the squad because England knew jack about him.

This curveball from New Zealand paid off. Martin picked up four wickets. While Rutherford hit a magnificent    ton 50.

This along with quick runs from McCullum meant England were deep in it.

Forty five minutes in to day 4 Alaister Cook and Nick Compton walked out in to the middle, knowing they were probably going to have to bat for the duration of the match just to scrape a draw.

Finn - Defended Excellently

They certainly redeemed themselves from the humiliation of the first innings display, if you can even call it a display. Cook and Compton hit centuries in a formidable first wicket stand. When Cook fell Steven Finn, sent in as nightwatchman, defended admirably.

His magnificent 56 sent England on their way to a first test draw against the Kiwi's.

Trott, coming in at four because of the nightwatchmen, also hit a half century to prevent NZ from a test victory to remember.

After 170 overs England finished day five on 421 for 6. The draw felt like a win, and the English comeback was complete...

But what will happen in the next two test matches over 10000 miles away in New Zealand?

Well, personally, I expect England to win comprehensibly in Wellington and Auckland. The first innings in Dunedin was a big blip, and New Zealand could not capitalize. I can't see England faltering again in this series, they will be even more determined to win after nearly being embarrassed by the underdogs.

My prediction: A 2-0 win for England providing no more days play are prevented because of mother nature. I also think Compton and Root will be hungry for runs to try and push for a Ashes selection this summer, and therefore I think they will both get handfuls of runs.

Alaister Cook, KP, Trott and Bell are simply better than any bowler NZ have on offer. Although KP in particular did have a very poor test, it is nice to not hear his name in the headlines mind! Anderson is just a class above, Paneser is no Swann but he does a job.

New Zealand's Martin won't be a surprise package, England will have done more homework before Wellington. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if NZ picked another relative unknown.

Cheers

How's The County Championship Shaping Up?

This post has been written by a guest author, we know him as J. Be nice to him, it’s his first time doing this sort of thing. He's been a brave boy to volunteer to write this post...

How’s the County Championship shaping up?

Division 1

At this early stage of the season it’s very hard to make a solid judgement, early season performances can of course indicate a good season ahead, but a first game loss is not always a tell tale sign of a tough season ahead.

Nottinghamshire have started very well, having played 2 won 2, and made some shrewd off-season signings, in Michael Lumb, and the ex-Leicestershire pair James Taylor and Harry Gurney, a sign of things to come at Notts with the departure of 3 of the old guard in Shreck, Wagh and Brown and the arrival of young, hungry players.

Lancs Celebrate their Div1 Title

The reigning champs, Lancashire started with a crushing 10 wicket defeat at the hands of Sussex. However, despite this I’d expect Lancashire to recover and enjoy relative success, but not in my mind title contenders. Now on to the 2 promoted teams; Middlesex and Surrey. They squared up on round two of the season at Lords, and to my mind the surprising victor was Middlesex in a thrilling game at the home of cricket. Both teams made positive moves during the winter, with Surrey signing Jacques Rudolph, John Lewis and Murali Kartik, and Middlesex managing to pick up Olly Rayner and Joe Denly.

Surrey are my surprise team of the season, whom I predict to do well. They have a nice balance between bat and ball, young and old. Steven Davies, Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meeker, Chris Tremlett, Dirk Nannes, Rory Hamliton-Brown and of course who’d dare forget the fine wine of English cricket (improves with age) Mark Ramprakash, to name just a few, plus the signings they’ve made makes for a formidable team. Middlesex I predict will find the going tough and will do well to hold onto their div 1 status come September.

While Surrey are my surprise team to succeed, my surprise team to Struggle is the men from the North-East, Durham.I feel they’re an aging team in need of a freshen up who may find the going tough, they started with a disappointing defeat and I foresee a tough season for the Dynamo. For me mid-table mediocrity lays ahead for Warwickshire, Sussex and Somerset.

Whatever the outcome, an exciting season lies ahead for all in the County Championship, which I’m sure will be full of the typical up’s and down’s, scorching days and a few cold ones thrown in.

Tips for top 2: Nottinghamshire and Surrey

Tips for bottom 2: Worcestershire and Durham

Division 2:

Middlesex... Div2 Champions!

As I see it, division 2 is a harder one to pick. It’s a league packed with young talent, waiting to burst on to the scene, and for sure by September we’ll all be talking about a few hidden gems that were not on our lips in April.

Glamorgan I fear for, I see an extremely hard season ahead for the Welsh side. They had their golden moment in 2009, with the grand honour of hosting the opening Ashes test of the series, but I feel the momentum that comes with such an event may have passed. I struggle to see any real young quality in their squad; Simon Jones, Robert Croft and Marcus North are players of quality, but all 3 are heading towards the wrong ends of their careers. The writing may well be on the wall already, a first game defeat against Leicestershire would suggest so, a Leicestershire team who managed a measly one win last term. I may be proved wrong, (I’m rarely wrong) but good luck to em, go the Dragons!

I predict a good season for the boys down at Chelmsford, there’s a good feeling around Essex CC at the moment and they may surprise a few people this season.

Yorkshire are the big scalp for all teams this season, everyone will want to beat the big boys who’ve unceremoniously fell from grace. However, I predict the Yorkies to perform reasonably, they’ve a solid team by Div 2 standards, and a good acquisition in the Ex-Aussie test player Phil Jacques will only aid them.

Northamptonshire will again struggle I feel, they, like Glamorgan, lack any real quality and should be braced for a long, hard and ultimately disappointing season.

Derbyshire are shaping up nicely, 2 wins from 2 played. With 2 very hands overseas players in both Martin Guptill until June and Usman Khawaja thereafter, they look strong and set for a good season.

Kent are the consistent under-performers in the longer format of the game, and on paper you’d expect to be challenging come the business end of the season. They’ve had a busy off-season, both on the pitch and behind the scenes, with Jimmy Adams coming in as coach and it could be a season of consolidation for the spitfires.

It’s a tough league to call, and one which is more likely to throw up a few curveballs for us journo’s, but what will be will be, and we’ll get a better look at how things are shaping up by mid June.

Tips for top 2: Derbyshire and Essex

Tips for bottom 2: Glamorgan and Northamptonshire