Where has it all gone wrong?

Hallway through the 4th test down under, and England are in pole position. After being put into bat (wrongly in my opinion) England continue the trend of the series. Batsmen are settling at the crease, but not converting their starts into a game changing innings. All of the top five got starts, getting to at least 20 each. After Johnson blew away the tail (yes, again) we were all out for 255. Considering the decent start we got, it was undoubtably under par. In reply I was expecting another big score from Australia, but I was wrong. Brad Haddin, who has been a constant thorn in England's side for the entirety of this series, and late resistance from Nathan Lyon, meant that England's lead was kept down to a steady lead of 50. Although it could have been a much higher lead, it still meant that England had a good advantage going into their second innings.

I stayed up till 1 30 (lunch) to see how England fared. We were 50 odd for 0. Carberry had looked a little shaky, but he was still at the crease, and Cook had been fluent and positive in his start. Even with England's soft batting underbelly in the series, I expected to wake up in the morning to find out that we had set the Australians at least 300 to win as a minimum. How wrong was I? 179 all out. My hopes had been dashed. 

The aussies made light work of the run chase. A second batting collapse was no option for Michael Clarke's men, and England were 4-0 down. Slack fielding in the shape of dropped catches didn't help England's cause, although even if they would have been taken I would have backed Australia to get over the line. 

So with one test match to go, the ashes already lost, and a 5-0 series whitewash looking inevitable for Cook and co, where has it all gone wrong?

Firstly, England's batting has not been good enough. Ben Stokes is the only player to score a century, and this highlights why England find themselves 4-0 down. Too many good starts for players, not enough conversions into high scores. Carberry is a prime example. 40 in his first innings of the series at Brisbane, 60 at Adelaide, 43 and 31 at Perth and 38 at the MCG. He's looked decent, played some nice strokes, and for the majority of his time spent at the crease he's looked relatively comfortable. But he has yet to hit that big score that changes the game in England's favour and cements his place in the team. Granted he's had some bad luck with dismissals but this can't totally be blamed for his lack of a game changing total. The same goes for captain Cook, Pietersen and Bell. As for the lower order, they've been blown away nearly every time with little resistance. They've almost looked scared to face Mitchell Johnson at times, and while I think James Anderson and Monty Panesar can be excused for not scoring, Broad, Swann, Bresnan, and Prior/Bairstow have got to hit some vital runs lower down the order.

The bowling is the next reason why we've failed. The conditions don't suit James Anderson, Broad has been good in patches, Bresnan doesn't quite cut the mustard for my money and Stokes has got potential but isn't the full product yet. Swann earlier in the series was targeted by the Australians and didn't cause too many problems. So what is the solution to our bowling woes? Although it isn't a big a problem as our batting, there's still a lot of room for improvement. Firstly, I think we should have brought either Tremlett/Rankin in from the start of the series. They can bang the ball in, and I think would be able to blow the tail away in a similar way to Mitchell Johnson. Finn can do this too, but personally I think he leaks too many runs. And secondly, the core bowlers, Anderson and Broad, need to regain their best form if we have any chance of preventing a 5-0 scoreline.

Lastly, a huge amount of credit needs to be given to our Australian opponents. Beaten 3-0 in the summer (a closer scoreline would have been fairer), they have played exceptionally well. Harris and Siddle have kept things very tight, plugging away ball after ball while Johnson has been the one grabbing the headlines. As for the batting, Watson and Rogers have given the Aussies more good starts than bad, while Haddin has come in late to hit some match changing runs towards the later of the innings. Smith, a player I don't particularly rate, has hit a couple of good scores, while Clarke is just world class. The batting performances of the tail, for me, has optimised the difference between the sides. The English tail looks weak and easily dismantled, while the aussie tail have been resilient and tough to dismiss. 

In conclusion, England will definitely have some regrets after this series. I think the decision to leave out a genuine quick bowler, loose shots by batsman and some bad luck with Clarke winning every toss. However, Australia have been outstanding. Their batting solid, their bowling consistent. Johnson has blown away our team at times, I don't think he's a world class bowler by any means, but he's been good enough to make England crumble. Well played Australia, lets hope England regroup and bounce back in 2015.   

New County Championship Season

The new County Championship season is now under away, and although the weather is a lot colder than most sane cricketers would rather, the show must go on.

Last year, Derbyshire and Yorkshire were promoted from division two, whereas Worcestershire and Lancashire were the two teams who will be spending this year trying to get back into Division one after being relegated last year.

But who is going to prosper in this years County Championship?

And who is going to struggle?

Well - I'll start off with Division two.

As a Leicestershire fan I don't take much joy from admitting this, but it's looking quite likely that we will struggle again. We've lost a cuple of players, and the players that we've brought in are no better than the ones we've lost, with the exception of Niall O'Brien, who I rate. Sarwan will have a big role to play in his debut season as skipper, although he will miss the second half of the season because of international commitments, he will surely be greatly missed in the batting order. We also have young Shiv Thakor at our disposal, who has great potential, he could be key. If he has his breakthrough season, we could do well, if he does not, it could be the wooden spoon for Leicestershire...

Glamorgan have got to be chosen as one of the teams that will struggle, for the simple reason that they just don't have good enough players to have a good chance of posing any real threat in the division. They have Marcus North as an overseas player, he is a solid batsman, but doesn't really stand out compared to the overseas players at other counties. To conclude - I think we could be seeing Glamorgan lingering around at the bottom of the pile for another year.

Elsewhere in Division Two, I expect Lancashire to bounce straight back into Division One, led by Glen Chapple, a seasoned County Championsip player, they have quite a good squad. One star of the team is Ashwell Prince, a quality batsman who, in Division Two, has the ability to score game changing runs against any opponent. Lancashire have good players and will be hungary to put the misery of relegation last year behind them, and for these two reasons they are my favorites to go up.

The club I think will join Lancashire in Division One next year is Essex. A slightly controversial decision I know, but they are a good team who have been trying to get out of Division Two for a few years now. Led by James Foster, a very good wicket-keeper, they have a good chance of promotion in my opinion. They will have Ravi Bopara for the season, assuming he isn't picked for England. (which I hope is the case as he has never performed for England!) Although I really don't rate him as an international player, I do think he can clock up a lot of runs for his county. They also have a decent bowling attack, David Masters is a high quality bowler, and Tymal Mills has got potential, could it be his breakthrough year? They have also Saj Mahmood, who they have obtained over the winter, he, as an ex England international, has got quality, and if he shows it, Essex could be on their way to Division One.

Moving onto Div 1 now...

Nottinghamshire were my favourites for the title last year, and this year my opinion has not changed. The strength of their batting lineup is extremely impressive. They have Alex Hales and Michael Lumb opening the batting, two players who have done the same for England (albeit in T20 games) and they now have Ed Cowan for the first half of the season. The top three alone could rack up a big score, but it doesn't stop there. James Taylor, depending on international selection, will play games. Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann will also put in a performance or two here and there, when they are free from the England squad. Sheer strength in depth is my reason for choosing them, sorry Warwickshire, I don't think you'll retain the title.

Will Warwickshire Retain Their Title?

I would like to be exciting and throw a real curveball for who I think will be relegated, but I just can't see Derbyshire having the quality to survive. However, they have obtained Shivnarine Chanderpaul as their overseas player, and if Derbyshire do have any chance of staying up, the WI international needs to score big runs frequently. But one thing they will have is team spirit, a nucleus of young players will surely be putting in 110% into training and matches to try and ensure safety for the county. They need a good start to the season so heads don't drop if they have any chance of staying up.

The other club I think might see the drop is... *drum roll* Durham. Durham have a good squad on paper, you can't deny that, Graham Onions is a player a greatly admire, and personally I would like to see him get a crack at an England spot when we play New Zealand in a number of weeks time instead of Steve Finn. On their day, Durham have the players to outplay nearly everyone in the Division, but they don't seem to have their day often enough.

Only time will tell if my predictions are correct - any opinions you have on any of my predictions or your own predictions are always greatly received at TheSillyPoint. You can leave a comment at the bottom of this post, or you can contact us on Twitter @TheSillyPoint_

Cheers

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_